188 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



felt, and applied himself very earnestly to supply by reading 

 and study. During the years 1816—17 he engaged in farm- 

 ing with his brother-in-law, Adam Haverling, — a part of 

 the time at a compensation of eight dollars per month. 



In the spring of 1818 he was elected to the office of 

 constable and collector of the town of Bath, and in 1819 

 he was appointed to the office of deputy sheriif under 

 George McClure, the duties of which he continued to dis- 

 charge until 1820. In the year 1820 he was appointed 

 marshal for the county of Steuben to take the census. 



On the 6th of January, 1820, he was married to Sarah 

 McBurney, daughter of Hon. Thomas McBurney. She 

 died May 15, 1828, leaving no children. 



The arduous duties of marshal he performed generally 

 on foot, traversing a territory which extended to Ontario 

 County on the north, to Livingston County on the west, 

 and to Tompkins County on the east, embracing a territory 

 more than double the present limits of Steuben County. 

 Upon the completion of his report he received the public 

 thanks of the authorities for the remarkable faithfulness 

 and accuracy of his returns, accompanied by a handsome 

 set of table-silver. In the year 1821 the office of high- 

 sheriff becoming vacant by the death of Henry Schriver, 

 he was appointed in his place. In 1823, when a change 

 in the constitution of the State took place, the office of 

 high-sheriff, which had previously been conferred by a 

 council of appointment, became elective, and he was then 

 chosen by the people to that office, and served till 1826. 

 During the last years of his life he referred to an elm-tree 

 still standing within the limits of the village of Watkins, 

 which marked the boundary-line between the counties of 

 Steuben and Tompkins, under which he had more than 

 once watched in the night for fugitives from justice, who 

 had motives for crossing the bounds at unseasonable hours. 

 While discharging the duties of his office, he engaged with 

 characteristic public spirit in establishing lines of mail- 

 coaches between the principal towns of Southwestern New 

 York and Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Wash- 

 ington. In this branch of business he was associated with 

 Judge Cook, of Bath, and others. In the management of 

 these lines of stages, which were of great public utility at 

 that period, he became strongly impressed with the impor- 

 tance of railroad facilities, in the promotion of which he 

 subsequently took so conspicuous a part. In the year 1826, 

 Mr. Magee was brought forward by his fellow-citizens as a 

 candidate for Congress. He was elected by a very con- 

 siderable majority, and was again a successful candidate for 

 the same office. 



During both these terms in Congress he took a promi- 

 nent position. General Jackson, who at that time occupied 

 the presidential chair, regarded him as a man of extraordi- 

 nary sagacity and soundness of judgment, and made him 

 his confidential friend and adviser. He often consulted 

 him upon important questions, and offered him a seat in 

 his cabinet, which Mr. Magee, however, declined. 



Mr. Magee was married to Arabella Steuart, Feb. 22, 

 1831, at Washington. She died at Watkins, May 16, 1864. 

 She was the mother of ten children, four of whom survived 

 her and her husband, namely. Duncan S., George J., John, 

 and Hebe P. Magee, and only two of whom are now living, 



viz., Gen. George J. Magee, of Watkins, and Mrs. Hebe 

 P. Ellsworth. 



In 1831 the Steuben County Bank was established. 

 Mr. Magee was chosen its first president, and evinced much 

 skill and fidelity in conducting its affairs until his death, a 

 period of thirty-seven years. 



During his residence at Bath, Mr. Magee was one of the 

 projectors of the New York and Erie Railroad, and devoted 

 himself with characteristic energy to the carrying forward 

 of that great enterprise, strongly anticipating as he did its 

 great influence in the development of the resources of the 

 " Southern Tier" counties of the State and its general utility. 

 He was associated with John Arnot, Constant Cook, Charles 

 Cook, J. H. Chedell, and J. S. T. Stranahan in construct- 

 ing the road from Binghamton westerly to Hornellsville. 



Mr. Magee was the projector and largely instrumental in 

 the building of the Conhocton Valley Railroad from Corn- 

 ins: to Buffalo, a work in which the interests of the citizens 

 of Steuben County were immediately concerned. His ef- 

 forts and personal sacrifices in its behalf are well known 

 among his neighbors, the older citizens of that county. 



In 1851 he became interested in the Blossburg and 

 Corning Railroad, which was chiefly indebted to his ener- 

 getic co-operation for its completion. At that period the 

 coal business had assumed but little importance in the Tioga 

 Valley. Mr. Magee made his first purchase of coal lands 

 in 1859, and opened the mines at Fall Brook in the same 

 year. Entering upon this new field with his usual resolu- 

 tion and sagacity, overcoming obstacles which, to other 

 minds, might have appeared insurmountable, he soon found 

 this work growing so rapidly upon his hands as to demand 

 his constant attention, and his later years were chiefly de- 

 voted to its prosecution. 



In 1864, Mr. Magee removed from Bath to Watkins, in 

 the county of Schuyler. Prior to this time, in 1859 and 

 afterwards, he made extensive purchases of village property 

 at the head of Seneca Lake, for the location of trestle-works, 

 basins, etc., for the delivery and shipment of coal ; for the 

 purpose of boat-building ; for a steam flouring-mill ; for 

 dwellings for his workmen ; for his own residence ; and for 

 other purposes. These buildings and improvements de- 

 manded a very large outlay, and furnished employment 

 to a large number of laborers. The business interests of 

 the village received a visible impulse from the commence- 

 ment of these operations, and these interests Mr. Magee 

 always manifested a cordial desire to promote in a substan- 

 tial manner. He was a liberal contributor for the purchase 

 and improvement of the present cemetery grounds near 

 Watkins. 



He was an earnest and faithful attendant upon the Pres- 

 byterian Church, of which he was a member, and provided 

 for the erection of the large Presbyterian church edifice in 

 Watkins at a cost of $50,000. 



In 1867, Mr. Magee was chosen a delegate to the Con- 

 stitutional Convention of the State of New York, and his 

 last public services were rendered as a member of that body. 

 He did not live to see the work of that convention com- 

 pleted, but his influence as a member was conservative and 

 valuable, and his opinions were regarded with respect. 



Mr. Magee died of paralysis, at Watkins, N. Y., April 



