TOWN OF CORNING. 



275 



ness, and other enterprises which are developing the 

 resources of Southern New York. In these pursuits Col. 

 Walker has achieved honor and fortune, has earned the 

 respect of a legion of friends, and set an example before 

 the young men of this generation worthy to be emulated. 



HON. GEORGE B. BRADLEY 



was born in the town of Greene, Chenango Co., N. Y., Feb. 

 5, 1825. His grandfather, David, and his father, Orlo F. 

 Bradley, were both natives of Richfield Co., Conn. David 

 Bradley removed to Chenango County during its early settle- 

 ment, was a farmer by occupation, and died at about eighty- 

 four years of age. His father died in Corning in 1845. 



Mr. Bradley spent his time until he was sixteen on the 

 farm, and at the common schools, and was subsequently a 

 student at the Ithaca Academy. In 1845 he became a stu- 

 dent of law, with Judge Monell, of Greene, N. Y., with 

 whom he remained only a short time, and was afterwards a 

 student with James Crombie, of Fulton, Oswego Co., N. Y., 

 and was admitted to the bar in May, 1848. In June of 

 the same year he settled in Addison, Steuben Co., in the 

 practice of his profession, where he remained the balance of 

 the year ; and after practicing for some four years in Wood- 

 hull, in the year 1852, settled in Corning, where he has 

 since resided, in the practice of the law. 



He has been a member of the law-firms of " Bradley & 

 Brown" and " Bradley & Kendall," and is still a member 

 of the latter firm. 



Mr. Bradley is a Democrat in politics, and holds an in- 

 fluential position in that party. In the fall of 1873 he was 

 elected to the Senate of the State from the Twenty-seventh 

 Senatorial District, and served efiiciently in that body during 

 the term of 1874-75. In the fall of 1875 he was re-elected, 

 and discharged the duties of senator during the following 

 term (1876-77). Under the administration of Governor 

 John T. Hofi"man he was appointed a member of the consti- 

 tutional commission of the State of 1872-73, and in the fall 

 of 1878 was a candidate of the Democratic party for judge 

 of the Court of Appeals. 



Mr. Bradley married, in 1850, Hannah E., daughter of 

 John Lattimer, of Woodhull. 



FRANKLIN N. DRAKE 



was born in the town of Milton, Chittenden Co., Vt., Dec. 

 1, 1817. His father, Elijah Drake, was a native of New 

 Windsor, Conn. ; was married to Polly Tambling, a native 

 of Lee, Berkshire Co., Mass. ; was a farmer by occupation, 

 and died in 1829, at the age of fifty-six, in the town of Mil- 

 ton. His wife was subsequently married to Christopher 

 Cadman, and removed to Le Roy, Genesee Co., N. Y., 

 where the smaller children, at the time of their father's 

 death, were reared. 



Of eleven children, Mr. Franklin N. Drake was the 

 ninth child. At the age of fifteen he began a clerkship 

 in a drug-store at Le Roy, where he remained for three 

 years, followed by one year spent in the West, and one 

 year as clerk in the drug business in "New York City. In 



the year 1840 he returned to Le Roy, and opened busi- 

 ness for himself in the hardware and grocery trade, which 

 he continued for some fourteen years. In the spring of 

 1854 he purchased timber-lands in Cohocton, Steuben Co., 

 and began manufacturing lumber on quite an extensive 

 scale, running some six mills, and shipping his lumber to 

 various markets North, 



In the year 1866 Mr. Drake sold his lumber in- 

 terest in Cohocton, having previously, with seven others, 

 purchased a tract of coal and lumber land near Blossburg, 

 Pa., built a railroad connecting their lands with the Tioga 

 Railroad, and developed their lands for coal and lumber 

 purposes, under the name of " Bloss Coal-Mining and 

 Railroad Company," of which he was general superintendent. 



In 1867, Mr. Drake removed to Corning, and the same 

 year the company bought the Tioga Railroad, and he was 

 elected president of the same. In 1871 the Bloss Coal- 

 Mining and Railroad Company sold their mine and roads 

 to the Blossburg Coal Company, of which company Mr. 

 Drake was elected president, and still holds the office, as 

 also the presidency of the Tioga Railroad Co., with office 

 located at Corning. The company, in 1876, extended their 

 railroad to the city of Elmira. In 1870—71 he was a 

 director of the Erie Railway. Mr. Drake has never been 

 solicitous of any political preferment, but rather preferred a 

 strictly business life, never accepting any office except 

 that at one time he was supervisor of the town of Cohoc- 

 ton, and served as auditor one term at Corning. In the 

 year 1840 he married Abigail, daughter of Giles Man- 

 waring, of Bethany, Genesee Co., N. Y., but a native of 

 Lynn, Conn. She was born in 1819. Their children were 

 three sons and three daughters, of whom only two sons 

 reached manhood. Henry lived to the age of twenty-six, 

 and died in 1873, leaving a wife and two children. 



James A. Drake, the only surviving son and youngest, 

 married Isabella, oldest daughter of Hon. C. C. B. Walker, 

 of Corning, and is in business with his father. 



ELLSWORTH DAGGETT MILLS. 



Ellsworth Daggett Mills, second son of Charles Lewis 

 Mills and Maria Ann Kellogg, was born at Fairfield, Conn., 

 May 8, 1836. The Mills family is of English origin. The 

 first American progenitor was Peter Walter Mills, who, upon 

 leaving England, went first to Leyden, Holland, where he 

 was called Vondermeulen. He came to America between 

 1636 and 1640, and settled at Windsor, Hartford Co., 

 Conn. Soon after his name was changed back to Mills by 

 an act of the Colonial Legislature of Connecticut. 



His son, named Peter, had twelve children. Three of 

 his sons were graduates of Yale College, and became minis- 

 ters of the gospel. The eldest, Jedediah, was for fifty years 

 pastor of the first church in Huntington, Conn. His wife 

 was a granddaughter of Robert Treat, who was Governor 

 of Connecticut for several years. His son, Elisha, lived 

 in Huntington, and represented that town in the General 

 Assembly of the State for thirty consecutive years. 



Charles L. Mills removed from Fairfield, Conn., to Steu- 

 ben County in the year 1835, and settled at Centreville, in 



