ARNOT Marianna Ogden

ELMIRA TELEGRAM - October 2, 1904

ELMIRA MOURNS DEATH Of A BENEFACTRESS

The Arnot-Ogden Hospital, the Best of Almira's Institutions, a Monument to the Late Mrs. Marianna Arnot Ogden. The passing out of life of Mrs. Marianna Arnot Ogden, at Lenox, Mass., last Wednesday morning, was sudden and unexpected. It caused sorrow in many households, for Mrs. Ogden was known by her good works far and wide. Born in Eimira April 10, 1825, the oldest of six children of John Arnot, sr., and Harriet Tuttle Arnot, she grew into maidenhood, loved and respected for her kindly ways. She received her preliminary education in the village schools and attended at Albany a famous seminary conducted by Professor and Mme. Mollinard. At the completion of her education she returned to her home, in this city, and  prominent in social, church and charitable affairs. She had always manifested a devout interest in Christianity and was known as an indefatigable worker in the church.  Although not a resident of Elmira for thirty years or more, Mrs. Ogden's name continued to be associated with local philanthropic work. She always retained her affection for scenes and associations of her early days. She became the wife of William B. Ogden, one of the founders and the first mayor of Chicago. They long ago resided at Highbridge, N. Y., in a beautiful home. After Mr. Ogden's death Mrs. Ogden took up her abode in New York city, and continued to maintain the Highbridge residence.  She made occasional visits to this city, always stopping at the old homestead, the residence of her brother, Matthias H. Arnot, of Lake street. She kept in close touch with events of the place of her nativity. Early in the summer she came to this city and remained several weeks.  As was her custom, she located In July at one of the Pinard cottages, on Narragansett avenue, at Newport, and her brother, M. H. Arnot, was her guest there. He returned to this city a fortnight ago, leaving his sister apparently in good health. Nearly two weeks, ago Mrs. Ogden went to Lenox with her sister, Mrs. George G. Haven, of New York. Monday she enjoyed a drive in the afternoon, but in the evening complained of a feeling of distress. Doctors and a nurse were summoned and it was believed that she was suffering from acute indigestion. However, the doctors soon diagnosed an affection of the heart. An improvement was noted Tuesday, and Wednesday morning the condition of the patient seemed encouraging. However, shortly before 9 o'clock she suffered a sudden sinking spell, and, although heroic methods were resorted to stimulate the heart action and avoid the crisis, the hand of death soon closed forever the eyes of the noble woman.  Mrs. Ogden is survived by one brother, Matthias Hollenback Arnot, of this city, and one sister, Mrs. George G. Havens, of New York; also three nieces, Mrs. James B. Rathbone, of Eimira; Mrs. Fannie Whitney, of Rochester, and Miss Marion Havens, of New York. The funeral was held at Trinity Episcopal church, at Lenox, Friday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock, and the burial was in Woodlawn cemetery, New York, yesterday morning.  Mrs. Ogden was of Scotch descent. Her father, John Arnot, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1789, a n d came to this country in 1801. In 1819 he came to the Chemung valley, and ever since the name of Arnot has been connected with enterprise, progress, education and charity in the community. He died in November, 1873. Mrs. Ogden's mother was the wife of Stephen Tuttle, who was engaged in business here in 1807 with his nephew, Robert Covell. Mrs. Tuttle was the stepdaughter of Colonel Matthias Hollenback, who had been engaged in business with Mr. Tuttle at Tioga Point and Wilkes-Barre.  Mrs. Ogden was systematic in all things. Trained in her youth, in the most practical methods of domestic procedure, she was a model house-keeper.  In fact, immediately after leaving school she assumed the duties and responsibilities of her father's household. Always kind and considerate of  servants and others with whom she had dealings, she set an example for economy, neatness, punctuality and faithfulness which brought her recognition throughout the community, and many emulated her in the conduct of their domestic affairs. Marianna Arnot Ogden is known best by those of the present generation as the founder of the famous Arnot-Ogden hospital, located on Roe avenue. This institution has been a blessing to thousands, yet , its value hasn't always been comprehended or realized. Last year nearly 700 patients were treated there. When Mrs. Ogden, in 1887, made known her intention of founding a place for the sick, there was a crying need for such an institution. Skilled and experienced In the arrangements of modern hospitals, Mrs. Ogden formulated her own plans and then gave her ideas to a competent architect to scientifically arrange before calling for plans and specifications. She had been generous to the hospitals of the metropolis, and had visited all the leading institutions where succor is given the sick and distressed. She had before that time done much of a charitable nature for Elmira, but that  did not deter her from founding a lasting memorial here for her family,  and at the same time give due attention to other worthy objects. Mrs. Ogden purchased and erected in all completeness the Arnot-Ogden hospital and it was incorporated under an act approved April 10, 1888. It was her choice that the first official board consist of her beloved brother, Matthias H. Arnot, Francis Hall (deceased), William C. Wey, (deceased), Charles J. Langdon, J. Monroe Shoemaker, Frederick Hall, John Arnot, (deceased), James B. Rathbone, James L. Woods (deceased), Truman H. Squire (deceased), J. Sloat Fassett, Casper G. Decker, and Alexander S. Diven, (deceased.) After the hospital had been fully completed at Mrs. Ogden's exclusive expense it was turned over to the board of managers.   Since its erection she has expended as much, if not more money, for improvements, than was outlayed by her for its original construction. Then she had contributed, an average of $2,000 per annum for maintenance. When Mrs. Ogden was in the city the past summer she denoted her intention of erecting a new surgical department. The work had not been contracted for, but it is probable that she made ample provision for the consummation of the plans as agreed between herself, the managers and the surgeons,who minister to the needs of the patients. Since the erection of the hospital the following endowment funds have been placed in trust for the benefit of the hospital:  The sum of $77,000 given by Mrs. FannyArnot Haven; $10,000 by Mrs. M. A. Ogden; and $10,000 by the will of Richard Suydam Palmer, to be known as the John Arnot Palmer and Richard Suydam Palmer Memorial Fund.  The sum of $10,000 is provided by Matthias H. Arnot, to be known as the  Matthias H. Arnot Fund.  The sum of $45,865 is provided from the charitable bequest of the late William B. Ogden, to be known as the William B. Ogden Charity Fund.  The sum of $500 is provided from the charitable bequest of the late Christian Assauer, and is known as the Assauer Fund.  The sum of $5,000 is provided by the will of Matthias C. Arnot, to be known as the Matthias C. Arnot Fund. In 1880 Mrs. Ogden contracted for the erection of the memorial chapel adjoining Trinity Episcopal church. She gave freely to the Southern Tier Orphans' Home fund, and to the Industrial school. In fact, when the ladies in charge of the latter Institution were worrying and struggling to meet financial obligations, Mrs. Ogden added $5,000 to her contribution and thus the association was able to cancel a burdensome debt. What she has done for individuals and families only herself knew. That she assisted many persons is known to her relatives and friends, but she never made known the extent of her generosity in this direction. Her charity was unbounded. Her means were sufficient to carry out her desires, but when she gave, it was with well-directed discretion. Words cannot depict the grand and noble character of the woman. She was permitted to live longer than the allotted time of the average woman and each declining year developed a character more sweet, more generous, more sympathizing and more experienced in directing charitable bequests. All her good acts were unostentatiously accomplished. Like other members of her family, she sought to evade publicity. But the monuments she has left to the  memory of the fair name of herself and those kin to her will endure through many generations. If there were a tablet of those who had endeared themselves in the hearts of Elmirans the name of Marianna Arnot Ogden would be the first inscribed thereon, and ther e would be none who would not countenance the selection. Those who attended the funeral from this city yesterday were Mr. and Mrs. James B. Rathbone. Ray Tompkins and J. Monroe Shoemaker, the latter two representing the board of directors of the.Arnot-Ogden Memorial hospital. M. H. Arnot  did not undertake the trip, his physicians advising against the journey. In beautiful Woodlawn, in New York city, where the remains of Mrs. Ogden now repose are the remains of her late husband and nephews, Arnot and Richard Palmer.  Submitted by Bob & Dee Austin Bond, Avon Park, FL   (Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY

 

ARNOT Fanny Haven

New York Times – September 21, 1919

Haven - On Saturday, Sept. 20, at her residence, Lenox, Mass., Fanny Arnot Haven, widow of the late George Griswold Haven of New York and daughter of the late John Arnot of Elmira, N.Y.   Funeral at Trinity Church, Lenox, Tuesday, the 23rd, at 10 a.m.

 

HAVEN Marion Arnot Haven Wickes

Special to the New York Times - November 13, 1969

Newport, R.I., Nov. 12 - Marion Arnot Haven Wickes, widow of Forsyth Wickes, died Monday at her home, Zee Rust, here.  She was 89 years old.  Her husband, a New York lawyer, died in 1964 and left an outstanding collection of porcelain and books to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

 

OGDEN William Butler

THE NEW YORK TIMES - New York, Saturday, August 4, 1877 - page 4

A REPRESENTATIVE OF AMERICA.

The life of William B. Ogden, which closed at High Bridge yesterday, not only covers a large portion of American history, but has been closely identified with some of the most important industrial developments of the last half century. Born at the beginning of Jefferson's second term, he reached man's estate when John Quincy Adams was President of the United States. He was buying land at and near the present site of Chicago when the place of the future city was marked only by Fort Dearborn and a few huts, and when the land which bears some of the costliest buildings of the metropolis of the West could be had for a few dollars an acre. His observing eye took in the future development of the great Northwest while as yet the Indian paddled his canoe on Lake Michigan, and the traveler had to pass through the villages of populous tribes of red men to penetrate into Wisconsin or to reach the banks of the Mississippi. He looked over the Western country with the perceptive faculty of a trained man of business when there were little more than 5,000 persons between Lake Michigan and the Pacific, and he lived to see the population of that portion of the country increased more than two thousand fold. He was, in one respect, the Astor of Chicago, only his practice differed from our great holders of real estate in selling whenever he had the chance, and buying back again at greatly enhanced figures when he believed it to be profitable or expedient.  Mr. Ogden's career was full of suggestive contrasts to an extent which is found in the life of but few men of business. He was the first Mayor of Chicago, and he was one of the chief sufferers from the fire which threatened to terminate the existence of the city over whose development he had watched so sedulously. We know of nothing more dramatic in the history of commercial trials and triumphs than his experience in the great fire. He reached Chicago to find not only that his great lumber yard had been burned out, but that every vestige of its contents had been blown away by the hurricane which followed in the track of the fire. The extent of that disaster, and its accompanying losses from the destruction of buildings which he owned in whole or in part, had hardly been realized before the news of the forest fires of Wisconsin broke suddenly upon him. Peshtigo was the centre of that great conflagration, and was also the seat of Mr. Ogden's saw mills and lumber business. Thus "at one fell swoop" went a large part of his property and his wealth, but these accumulated misfortunes fell upon a man who was something more than a mere money grubber, and whose practical instincts combined with his feelings of humanity nerved him to the effort of repairing a work of devastation and ruin which might well have undaunted the most stoical of men. When the American DEFOE foe shall arise to relate the details of the Chicago fire and the yet unrecorded horrors of the more terrible flame that swept the pine forests of Wisconsin, the name of William B. Ogden will have a distinguished place among the men who were first to remember in that double ruin the American spirit of hopefulness and self-help.   In the development of the railroad system of the country, Mr. Ogden has been one of the foremost and most potent of coadjutor's. The Times has before now had occasion to criticise methods of railroad reconstruction with which he was identified, and may have occasion to do so again. But the most censorious criticism cannot deprive him of the credit of being one of the most enterprising and far-seeing of the railroad magnates who have opened up the virgin lands of the continent to the settler, and who have been actuated as much by an abiding faith in the future of his country as by considerations of an immediate return for invested capital. Mr. Ogden assumed the duties of active life before he was out of his teens; he held on to them, when other men have been content to spend years of quiet and uneventful leisure. He laid the foundations of his fortune in opening up to commerce and to agriculture the great Northwest, and he closed it, retaining the Presidency of the Sturgeon Bay Canal Company, whose work is destined to bring about a revolution in the carrying trade between the lumber regions of Northern Wisconsin and Chicago, as well as to lend new facilities and new safety to the general shipping trade of the lakes. In him an American has passed away of a type which the present generation does not produce, and to which future generations will yield a degree of homage that we are but partially able to appreciate. (Note from Bob Bond -  I have some more information regarding the Ogden Family, specifically William Ogden who married Marianna Arnot. William was a very successful business man as well as a lawyer and amassed millions of dollars from his acquisitions and properties in the Northwest and Wisconsin. He was the first mayor of Chicago, also. William was born in Walton, NY, Many of Odgen family are buried in the Walton Village Cemetery. William and his wife are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City (Bronx Borough). Some more history for Elmira.   Submitted by Bob Bond) 

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES - New York, Saturday, August 4, 1877 - page 4 - Obituary

HON. WILLIAM B. OGDEN

Hon. William B. Ogden died yesterday morning at 2:20 o'clock, at his villa, Fordham Heights, in the 72d year of his age. His life was one of great public activity, and perhaps no man in the community has done so much as he to build up the great Northwest country. His inclinations never led him to office, and business activity was with him always preferable to political excitement, but he had that pride of citizenship which impelled him to come forward at times of emergency when the country needed mature judgment and energetic and in intelligent action. He had, too, that largeness of soul which kept him serene both in prosperity and adversity. When the terrible fire at Chicago in 1871 destroyed property of his amounting in value to over $1,000,000, and when the destruction of his immense lumbering factories at Peshtigo, Wis., following hard upon it, entailed an additions loss of more than $1,500,000, he never quailed in face of these two gigantic disasters. On the contrary, his fortitude was equal to the great strain which was put upon it, and, setting to work anew, he prepared to retrieve the losses which had been sustained through these crushing calamities. Mr. Ogden was born in Delaware Country, State of New York, in the year 1805, and belonged to the Ogden family of Eastern New Jersey. On both his father's and mother's side he was of distinguished lineage. The sudden death of his father while he was yet only 16 years of age called him from the study of the law, for which he had been intended, and compelled him to devote his talents, which were already conspicuous, to the business of his deceased parent. At 21 he entered a mercantile firm, with which he remained connected for a few years before proceeding westward. While following his business pursuits, he had occasion to travel a great deal, and so visited nearly all the principal cities of the Union. His duties as a citizen went hand in hand with his business activity, and in their discharge he entered the military service of the State when he was 18 years of age. He subsequently filled, for several years, the position of Brigade Inspector. It was in 1834 that Mr. Ogden came prominently into public life, being in that year elected to the State Legislature, so that the construction of the Erie Railway, which was then on the tapis, might have the benefit of his special advocacy. The advantages of the West were, however, always prominently before his eyes, and his attention had been specially directed to those of Chicago. Accordingly, he went to that city in 1835 and established a land and trust agency, which is still conducted by his brother and brother-in-law, and which has grown to be one of the great institutions of the West. His business transactions in Chicago were on an immense scale. He was quick to discern the courses of business, and equally prompt to supply the needs of the community. Not content to wait for the tardy and inadequate provision made by the authorities for the growth of the city, he laid out and constructed at his own cost more than 100 miles of streets, and he was also the first to construct a swing-bridge in Chicago. His transactions in real estate were on an immense scale, and in all his vast business transactions he labored energetically to maintain the public faith and credit. He did good service in this matter during the term of his Mayoralty, (he was the first Mayor of Chicago. ) and on one occasion, at a public meeting convened to delay the legal process of creditors, gave such urgent advice to his fellow-citizens not to tarnish the honor of an infant city that his counsel prevailed. His public spirit was great, and his energy untiring; his activity and zeal were held in check by a well-regulated judgment, and his manners and address were of the captivating order. The largeness of his enterprise and the extent of his influence will be understood from the fact that he was President of the Medical College, President of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad Company, and President of the Northwest Railroad Company. He was also chosen to preside at the great National Railroad Convention held at Philadelphia in 1850, to take measures for the construction of the Pacific Railroad; was President of the Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad Company; of the Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad Company in Indiana, until merged in the Michigan Central,  and of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners of Chicago. He was, besides. President of, and carried out largely from his own means the construction of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond-du-Lac Railroad, and took an active part in the director of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company. He several times declined the Receivership of that line at a salary of $25,000 per annum, pending the settlement of legal processes between the courts of different States through which the road passed. At last he accepted the Receivership, as no other satisfactory name could be found, but declined the large compensation, on the ground that the necessities of the road did not warrant such a disbursement. He was chosen first President of the Union Pacific Railroad upon its organization under the act of Congress, but the demands of his own vast business concerns compelled him to retire from the position. Among other interests requiring his attention, was his great lumbering establishment, the factories of which were situated at Peshtigo, in Wisconsin. A visit paid by Mr. Ogden to Europe in 1854-5 resulted in considerable benefit to Chicago. During that visit he was a careful observer of the great public works of Europe, and his examination of the canals of Holland was at the bottom of the project of carrying the waters of Lake Michigan through the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers into the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Among other advantages which accrued to the community in which he lived from his indefatigable enterprise was the introduction of reaping and mowing machines into general use, and. indeed, it was at his suggestion that the first reaper was sent to the London Exhibition of 1851.  Mr. Ogden was not without political principles, but politics with him might not be confounded with unquestioning partisanship. He was classified as a democrat of the Madison school. He had never any hesitation about opposing the nomination of his own party when they seemed to him unfit or improper. and as has been stated, was himself no office seeker. He had often been elected to the City Councils, but office had no charm for him, except when duty dictated to him that in office he would best subserve the interests of his country. In 1852 he declined a nomination for Congress. His views on the slavery question were decided; he believed that the encroachments of slavery should be resisted, and so, in the civil War he was found with the Republican Party arrayed against the pretensions of the Confederacy. That he was ready to merge his own to office and to political life when the occasion called for such self-denial was shown in 1860, when in an important emergency, he consented to accept a seat in the Illinois Senate. In the same year the expediency and propriety of nominating him for President was strongly urged, the advocates of such a course relying on the strong ground that he had been foremost and immeasurably ahead of all other men in maintaining the public credit and advancing public improvements. Indeed, the value of his labors is made manifest by the public works all through the North-west. At the time of his death he was President of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Canal and Harbor Company—an enterprise of the first importance to the lumber interest of Wisconsin, and of some moment to the country at large as forming a link in the chain of water communication between the Mississippi and the lakes.  His occupation of the villa on Fordham Heights, where he died, dates back only a few years. The same zeal which characterized him in Chicago caused him to devote a great deal of attention to the improvement of the railroad facilities of New York City. Among other things, his project of an underground railroad line has come up among the many schemes for rapid transit. His charities were large, and nearly all the institutions of the Northwest, including the Rush Medical College, the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, the Historical Society, the Academy of Sciences, the Astronomical Society, the University of Chicago, and the Chicago Women's Home, were recipients of his bounty. Mr. Ogden married Miss Arnot, the daughter of Hon. John Arnot, of EImira. He leaves behind his wife, and one brother and three sisters, of his near relatives.   Submitted by Bob Bond   

 

Centennial History of Delaware County, New York : 1797-1897

WILLLIAM B. OGDEN. (I am indebted to Hon. Andrew H. Green of New York for the most of the information contained in this sketch. The pamphlet referred to is No. 17 of the Fergus Historical Series, relating to early Chicago events). The family to which William B. Ogden belonged came to Delaware county from Morristown, New Jersey. It seems to have enjoyed the special friendship of Governor Dickerson of that State, because we find that a younger brother of William B. was named after the governor Mahlon Dickerson Ogden. It is stated that Abraham the father of William started out to find a suitable place in which to settle. He had about determined upon Washington, the new capital of the nation; but he met a friend in Philadelphia, who had purchased a large tract of land in the wild regions on the upper Delaware. He set forth so attractively the opportunities for land and lumber in this picturesque region, that it ended in the agreement of the Ogdens to go to Delaware county instead of Washington.   Accordingly in 1797 a colony of this family, all bearing substantial bible names, found their way into the valley of the Delaware and settled at Walton. Here Isaac and Abraham established a sawmill for cutting up the vast amounts of timber which was found around them. Subsequently they added to their establishment a mill for filling the cloth which the settlers brought to them.  Here William, the son of Abraham, was born in 1805. Long afterward when he had become a prosperous and well-known public man, he spoke of his early life: "I was born close by a saw mill, was early left an orphan, was cradled in a sugar trough, christened in a mill pond, graduated at a log school house, and at fourteen fancied I could do anything I turned my hand to, and that nothing was impossible."  In his boyhood he was remarkably athletic, and was fond of hunting and fishing. His father was obliged to make it a rule for him, that he must not fish more than two days in the week. He was a notably good shot * in the days when good shooting was not uncommon. (*Turkey shooting was a favorite amusement, in those days. Usually a colored man owned the turkey and was paid twenty-five cents by each one who shot. If the marksman hit the head of the turkey it was his; but if he hit any other part it still was the negro's. When young Ogden shot he was made to pay twice the regular rate. The poor darkey would shout, "Dodge, dodge old gobbler, Ogden is going to shoot. Shake yer head, darn ye, don't you see that rifle pointing at ye?" See Arnold's memorial of W. B. Ogden).  It had been determined in the family councils that William should study law, and he had begun to make preparation for his professional studies. At this time, 1820, his father suffered a, stroke of paralysis from which he died in 1825. The duty of the son was to take up the responsibilities of the father and abandon his chosen career. This he did bravely and without hesitation. For the next ten years he was the intrepid business man of Walton. In 1834 when he was still a young man of twenty-nine he was elected to represent the county in the State Assembly. The scheme for building the Erie railway with State aid was in that year before the legislature. Mr. Ogden, although inexperienced in legislation, was put forward as a leader in the advocacy of the desired measures. He made a speech on the subject lasting through three days, which is still spoken of as showing the far-sighted discernment of the future financier.  It was during this winter that he became interested in the subject of real estate in the little village of Chicago. His friend Arthur Bronson of New York, and his future brother-in-law the late Charles Butler, had visited the west and had become impressed with the prospects of this place. A land company was formed and Mr. Ogden was asked to take up his residence there as its agent.  Mr. Ogden therefore removed to Chicago in 1835 and entered on that splendid career which ended only with his life. Chicago had then only 1,500 inhabitants. But he was one of those who saw its future possibilities at the head of lake navigation and as a railroad center. Two years later it received a charter as a city, and had then reached a population of 3,500. Mr. Ogden was elected the first mayor of the new city. To him more than to any other man it owes its position as the great mid-country metropolis.  It is impossible that he should have gone on with all his great enterprises without reverses. During the crisis of 1857 he was largely interested in the extension of the railroad which is now the Chicago and Northwestern. This corporation defaulted in the payment of the interest on its floating debt. Mr. Ogden was the endorser of its paper to the extent of a million and a half of dollars. The response of his friends in this embarrassment is one of the most creditable things in financial history. Samuel Russell, the founder of the house of Russell & Co. in China, placed nearly half a million of dollars at his disposal; Robert Eaton, of Swansea, Wales, sent him eighty thousand dollars to use at his discretion; Matthew Laflin of Chicago tendered him from himself and his friends one hundred thousand dollars; and Col. E. D. Taylor repeatedly offered like substantial assistance. But Mr. Ogden contrived to weather this storm without accepting this magnanimous aid. He was often heard to declare that it was worthwhile to become embarrassed in order to experience the generosity of such friends.  The active spirit of Mr. Ogden kept him busy during all these years in developing new lines of industry. He founded an immense lumbering establishment at Peshtigo in Northern Wisconsin; he organized great iron and coal works at Brady's Bend in Pennsylvania; he was the leading spirit in the movements connected with the Union Pacific railroad, the Fort Wayne railroad, the Chicago, and Northwestern railroad and many others.  So much of his time was now required in New York on account of his great interests, that in 1866 he purchased for himself a home on Fordham Heights near New York, which he called Boscobel. The Chicago people never quite forgave him for this desertion of the city he had done so much to build up. But he did not give up Chicago. He always retained a house and a legal residence there. He considered himself as a Chicagoan living for convenience in New York.  He was at Boscobel when word came to him in 1871 that Chicago was on fire. He started thither by the earliest train. On his way he received notice that his lumbering village at Peshtigo, two hundred miles from Chicago, was also entirely destroyed by fire. We may well suppose that Mr. Ogden was not the least brave of those who confronted the disasters of that terrible time. By their courage and intrepidity they turned the ruin of Chicago into lasting benefit, and gave it an impulse toward greatness which it has never lost. Up to 1875 Mr. Ogden had lived a bachelor, both at Chicago and Boscobel. But in that year he married Mary Arnot, daughter of Judge John Arnot of Elmira, and took her to reside at Boscobel. Here he died in 1877 aged seventy-two years. He left behind him a great name for financial skill and enterprise, for openhearted generosity, and for a most attractive and charming personality. He never forgot his native town or county. In his will there was a clause bequeathing a sum of money to be expended in the discretion of his executors for charitable objects. This clause was attacked in the courts but was settled by compromise, and from it the sum of $20,000 was received for the establishment of a library in the village of Walton. A beautiful building for this purpose has been erected at a cost of $14,500.  Submitted by Bob Bond

 

PALMER John Arnot

New York Times - November 8, 1885

Suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage , at New-Haven, Thursday, Nov. 5, John Arnot Palmer, eldest son of the late Richard Suydam Palmer and Fanny Arnot Palmer Haven, in the 19th year of his age.  Funeral from his late residence, 24 East 39th St. on Sunday, Nov. 8, at l o'clock P.M.  Kindly omit flowers.   502