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John E. Twogood |
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John E. Twogood |
Joseph Cole Twogood was the eldest of the two sons. He was brought up a farmer, and followed it during his life. Both the grandfather and father died in the same house, the old homestead, now occupied by Albert Lawton, whose wife was the widow of Charles Twogood, brother of John E. The father died in November, 1860; the mother, Nov. 18, 1873. They are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, at Troy. They had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. The names of those who reached adult age are John E., Sherman, Eveline, Charles, Lucinda, Ann, Tisdal, Robert and Louise. Charles, Robert and Louise are deceased.
His mother's grandfather, Devotion Eddy, was one of the earliest settlers of Pittstown, taking up some four hundred acres in the southwest part, and including the lands now owned and occupied by Charles H. Barry, Esq. The Eddy family for many years was a prominent family of Pittstown. Gen. Gilbert Eddy was an uncle.
John E Twogood was two years old when his father moved from Pittstown on to a farm in Grafton, now owned and occupied by his brother, Sherman Twogood, and here he lived until he was twenty-one years of age. His education was received in the common school of his neighborhood, attending school winters, working on his father's farm summers. When he was of age he hired out to learn the carpenter and joiner trade, which he followed for sixteen years in the towns of Pittstown, Grafton and Brunswick. Up to this period Mr. Twogood had little thought of saving money, but spent it about as fast as earned.
On the 16th of November, 1854, he was married to Cordelia Lawton, daughter of William and Laura Lawton, of Pittstown. After marriage he settled on a farm of fifty acres, situated in the northeastern part of the town of Brunswick, which he had purchased a year or two prior. From this time forward he was determined to demonstrated to his friends, who had become skeptical on that point, that he could, if he chose, save money. How much getting a good wife had to do with forming this sensible resolution the writer will not undertake to determine, but certain it is, Mr. Twogood is not the first instance of a man upon whom marriage has wrought this favorable change. At any rate, Mr. Twogood not only paid for the fifty acres, but added from time to time other lands as follows: In 1856 forty acres, in 1860 sixty acres; both pieces in Pittstown, adjoining the original fifty acres. On the latter was a mill-site on the Tomhannock Creek. In 1871 nineteen acres woodland situated in Pittstown, and in 1878, in company with Joseph Cushman, of Pittstown, he purchased a farm of one hundred and twelve acres in Brunswick. In the purchase of these lands he ran in debt, sometimes to the amount of three thousand dollars, but he always paid his obligations before they were due. In 1860 he built his flax mill on the site above named, in 1867 his present residence, and in 1872 the saw mill.
By his first wife he had three children, viz.: Willie J., born July 11, 1855; Sarah A., born July 24, 1857; and Lucinda F., born April 9, 1859, - all living at home. After Mrs. Twogood's decease he was again Married, April 17, 1869, to Mrs. Martha Smith, widow of Daniel Smith, and daughter of Henry F. and Sophia Hayner. Mrs. Twogood was born in Brunswick, July 24, 1832.
Mr. Twogood has filled a number of offices in his town; was justice of the peace five years, assessor four years, and excise commissioner one year. In politics he is Republican. Under the old militia law of the State he served as a captain. Although not a member of any church, he has contributed his proportion of means towards the erection and support of all the churches in his vicinity. A useful citizen, a kind neighbor, and a genial companion, Mr. Twogood well deserves the good estimation in which he is held by the community in which he lives.
JOHN E. TWOGOOD was born in the town of Brunswick, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Nov. 6, 1816, the eldest child of Joseph C. and Lucy (Eddy) Twogood. His grandfather, John Twogood, was a son of one of two brothers who emigrated from England and settled in Connecticut some time before the Revolution. Soon after the Revolution he came to Pittstown, where he married Mercy Cole, by whom he had two sons and five daughters.
