REUBEN TOWER
Reuben Tower, agriculturist, was born in Waterville, Oneida county, N. Y., January 17, 1829.

He is of the seventh generation from John Tower, who emigrated from Hingham, in Norfolk, England, and settled in what is now Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637; and whose long line of descendants had been eminent, first in conspicuous services in wars with the Indians; the French and Indian war and the Revolution; and in subduing the wilderness, as well as in various lines of business, science and the learned professions.

Reuben Tower, father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Rutland, Mass., February 15, 1787. He married Deborah Taylor Pearce, of Little Compton, Rhode Island, February 15, 1808, at Paris, Oneida, county, N. Y., and settled in Sangerfield, Oneida county, N. Y. He died at St. Augustine, Florida, March 14, 1832.

His business was that of a general merchant, and his life was marked by an interest in all concerns of public welfare and the development of his adopted State, especially in the projection and completion of the Chenango Canal. He was an honorable and able member of the New York Legislature of 7828.

His family embraced eight children, of whom the eldest was Charlemagne, a graduate of Harvard College in the Class of 1830, and a distinguished lawyer and capitalist of Philadelphia.

Reuben, the youngest son, commenced his educational career at old Oxford Academy and continued his preparation for college with three years at Phillips Exeter Academy at Exeter, N. H. He was admitted into the Freshman Class at Harvard University in 1848, but illness forced him to abandon his university career at the close of his sophomore year.

He then turned his attention to business affairs, and before he was twenty-one years of age was conducting a flourishing enterprise in the manufacturing of alcohol and also fattening cattle, and his business ability and success are well indicated by the fact that at twenty-five years of age, he had accumulated a capital of $23,600.

A natural love of agriculture led him to direct his energies and mind toward the science of land tillage, and there is no phase of agriculture that has not engaged his attention, and no department in which he has not achieved success.

As a stock breeder his reputation is well nigh national, and he has raised herds of blooded cattle, and a score of high bred horses, that would do credit to a Kentucky stock farm, the colts selling at from $400 to $2,000 each.

One permanent mark of his enterprise as an agriculturist is worthy of conspicuous mention, namely. the splendid reservoir and system of water works which he constructed on the farm of Charlemagne Tower, over which he had supervision. This system of water works is far superior to that which supplies the adjoining village. The reservoir covers two and two-thirds acres of ground, with an average depth of seven and one falf feet, and attracts many visitors.

But while Mr. Tower has achieved a high reputation as an agriculturist, he has made an impress upon the village of Waterville that shall herald his name for many generations. Indeed, so long as the village exists it will proclaim his spirit of enterprise and advancement in its streets and environments. Here truly, he has made himself a part of Oneida county, and set his seal upon it.

His fellow citizens could not but see the value of a man both educated and practical and they elected and re-elected him president of the village of Waterville for a long series of years, and during all this he threw the same energy and zeal into his official duties that he always manifested in his private affairs. He was not satisfied to perform simply absolute and routine duties. The point with him was, not how little he could do, but his constant anxiety was to plan and perfect some new methods of benefiting the village. One street required filling, another needed cutting down, another to be curbed; none were neglected. Some changes and repairs were costly ones, but the progressive village president did not wait for public funds to be provided. He gave more from his own private purse than he asked from the village treasury, and also furnished many laborers from his own individual force.

So it came, that the handsome village of Waterville bears testimony throughout its length and breadth, to years of vigilance and self-sacrifice on the part of a president who had striven, not always without opposition from well-meaning fellow-townsmen, to improve and beautify the place, which shall forever hold his name, in the grand "Tower Avenue" that owes its attractive length and breadth, as well as its name to him.

But it was not in the welfare of the corporation alone, that he took delight. Citizens of Waterville to-day attest that nothing seemed to give him so much pleasure as to see the working men come in on Saturdays and get their pay.

Mr. Tower is a Democrat in politics and was elected to the office of Supervisor of Sangerfield five successive years, and always by large majorities, notwithstanding the party vote was very close. It was a striking case of the office seeking the man, for Mr. Tower never solicited a vote, nor pulled a wire, and yet he sometimes received a two-thirds majority. His services on the Board of Supervisors were on the line of economy, good legislation and honest work. A leader among Democrats, he was awarded a prominent place in the board, where his rare judgment, sterling integrity, and genial temper were thoroughly appreciated and fully recognized.

Not only was he appointed on the most important committees, but as a special evidence of the high regard of his fellow-members, he was, at one time, the recipient of a handsome and valuable gold headed cane from the board.

With no self vanity to gratify, with none of the petty views of the small politician, he despised every form of wickedness and meanness, and his friends consider the intrinsic worth of his dignity and ability deserving of almost any office.

Mr. Tower's residence is the most interesting feature of Waterville to visitors, and one's attention is immediately drawn to it by its famous "chime of bells."

His reception room is nearly one hundred feet long, forty feet wide, and fifteen feet high, with Axminster rug of wondrous size, nearly hiding the hard wood floor. Beautiful wainscoting in massive paneled oak extending half way to the lofty ceiling from the sides of the room. Costly pictures adorn the walls, not the least prized of which are half a dozen, representing high bred horses of his own raising. The room is heated by a mammoth fire-place, of pressed brick, the expense of which must have been fabulous. Here huge birch logs blaze on andirons of "ye olden tyme."

Windows set high in the walls invite views of neat outbuildings, yard, fields and village street, while from the observatory, which crowns the building, one holds the vast expense of Oriskany Valley within his easy scope.

The bell tower is one hundred and three feet in height, and its "chime" of ten large bells makes the music of the village, and wafts the time to all the country for miles around. The smallest bell weighs three hundred and seventy-five pounds, the largest one over a ton. This tower is also embelished with the large illuminated dials of a village clock, which strikes both the quarters and the hour, with echoing melody.

The social characteristics of Mr. Tower are admirable. In family relations his attachments are most ardent, and there is always a charming atmosphere of geniality and good spirits in his presence and conversation. Faithfulness to duty and steadfastness in friendship are traits in his character that have ever won the admiration of all. A cultured man of superior intellect, he is generous both in mind and heart, liberal in his estimate of his fellow men and kindly just in all his dealings with them. Gifted with a fine presence, and natural, easy dignity, he is a grand type of the thorough gentleman.

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