SPENCER KELLOGG
The ancestry of Spencer Kellogg, the subject of this memoir, dates back to the early settlement of New England, where several of the members distinguished themselves in civil, military and commercial life. Lieut. Joseph Kellogg came to Connecticut from England probably in 1651, and joined the church in Hartford on October 9, 1653. In 1662 he moved to Hadley, Mass., where he died in 1707, aged eighty years. As lieutenant he led the men of Hadley in the Falls fight in May, 1676. On May 9, 1667, he married Abigail Terry, daughter of Deacon Stephen Terry, of Dorchester, Winsor, and Simsbury. She was born in Simsbury, September 21, 1646. Lieutenant Kellogg left fourteen children, of whom Nathaniel was married on March 28, 1692, to Sarah Boltwood, granddaughter of Robert Boltwood, one of the original settlers of Hadley. Their son, Nathaniel Kellogg, jr., born September 26, 1693, died August G, 1770, became a noted surveyor, and was made a lieutenant in 1748. He served as selectman of Hadley most of the time from 1735 to 1761. He married Sarah Preston, and their son, Joel Kellogg, born in 1724, was married in 1748 to Joanna Clark, and died at Whateley, Mass., October 22, 1798. Levi Kellogg, son of Joel, was born in Hadley, Mass., October 3, 1760, was married on August 30, 1782, in Northampton, Mass., to Cynthia Wright, and died in Utica, N. Y., January 30, 1845. His wife was born September 3, 1764, and died in Plainfield, Otsego county, October 19, 1813. They were the parents of Spencer Kellogg and several daughters. Levi Kellogg was drafted in the summer of 1776, when only fifteen years of age, as a soldier in the Revolutionary war from Northampton. He served four months under Capt. Oliver Lyman and Colonel Dyke. In 1777 he was under Capt. Simeon Clapp. He then volunteered and served in the same company and regiment under Colonels Tupper and King and Captains Fairchild, Porter and Strong, until the surrender of Burgoyne. Late in life he drew a pension. About the year 1800, or before, he moved to Plainfield, Otsego county, N. Y., and settled on a farm.
Spencer Kellogg, the only son of Levi and Cynthia (Wright) Kellogg, was born in Williamstown, Mass., September 10, 1786, and died in Utica, N. Y., December 31, 1871, When a small boy he came with his parents from Williamstown to Plainfield, Otsego county, where he was reared on a farm and received a common school education. Endowed with qualities of a high order he early manifested an aptitude for business pursuits, and for several years prior to 1824 he was engaged in the general merchandise business in Plainfield. Here he acquired the rudiments of that mercantile training which won him eminent success in after life. In 1824 he removed to Utica and for a long time conducted a large dry goods trade with remarkable energy. His first partner was S. H. Reynolds. Later he was associated with his son, Palmer Vose Kellogg, and with others. He was also prominently identified with other enterprises of importance. He was largely instrumental in the building of the Utica and Black River railroad, and was one of its first board of directors. He was also one of the prime movers in inaugurating steam manufactures in Utica. In these as well as in other movements for the advancement of the city's material interests he took a foremost part and contributed both means and influence. No man's enthusiasm and public spirit exceeded his in its constancy and application, and none took deeper pride in the general welfare.
In politics Mr. Kellogg was an old line Whig and an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, and afterward became a staunch Republican. He was also a strong abolitionist and an active promoter of non-slavery principles. He held various local offices, and in 1841 was mayor of the city of Utica. He was especially prominent in religious circles, being an invaluable member, elder, and trustee of the First Presbyterian church, and taking also an active part in its Sunday school and Bible class as long as his age and health permitted. He was for many years a beloved Bible . teacher, and signally illustrated a Christian spirit, not only in his words, but by his deeds. He sought earnestly the correction of prevailing evils and the redress of wrongs. His strength of mind, his boldness and indomitability, and his power of execution presented him to strangers chiefly as the embodiment of force, and his friends recognized him as personifying delicacy and sensibility. He was affectionate and more tender of heart than irresistible of hand. During the cholera epidemic of 1832 he devoted his time, energy, and sympathies to the suffering and dying and to comfort their afflicted families, and on one occasion took some bereaved daughters to his own home. Throughout a long and useful life, replete with good deeds and kind acts, and uniformly successful from every point of view, he lived as a model citizen, enjoying universal respect and esteem, and winning the confidence and approbation of his fellow men.
Mr. Kellogg was married in Plainfield, Otsego county, on October 7, 1810, to Miss Margaret Stewart Palmer, daughter of Vose and Celinda (Stewart) Palmer, who was born in Plainfield, Conn., June 18, 1791, came to Plainfield, N. Y., with her parents when very young, and died in Utica May 29, 1876. Their first home in Utica was on Whitesboro street; later they built and occupied the brick house on the south side of Court street, near Cornelia; and still later they erected the dwelling on Genesee street, now owned by their son, Charles C., and where both their deaths occurred. They had nine children: Palmer Vose, who died in Chicago, Ill.; Levi, who died aged four; a daughter who died in infancy; Cynthia S. (Mrs. James Rockwell), of Utica; Levi Spencer, who died at the age of twenty; Mary A. (Mrs. James K. Hitchcock), who died in Orange, N. J , February 21, 1896; Gustavus A., who died in 1850; and Charles C., and Sarah S. (Mrs. Frederick W. H. Sheffield), both of Utica. Charles C. Kellogg was born in Utica September 2, 1828, was educated at Hamilton College, and became a partner of his brother Palmer V. in the mercantile business. He subsequently engaged in the lumber business, founding the present firm of Charles C. Kellogg & Sons' Company. Mr. Kellogg has been for many years one of Utica's most prominent business men.
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