My Genealogy Hound

H. M. KELLOGG conducts the leading hardware store of the village of Cortland, and is at the same time one of the best known and best liked of the citizens of that thriving and industrious community. For over twenty years he has been an extensive dealer in shelf and heavy hardware, house furnishing goods and tinware, together with the thousand and one things which go to make up the stock of an up-to-date general hardware store. He has a very fine and spacious place of business, completely equipped and fitted for carrying on his enterprise, and has made a most enviable record in introducing some of the specialties which he handles. Especially is this true in his line of stoves, of which he has the exclusive agency for the celebrated “Garland” make, and has also the Dockash and the Magee. A plumbing and gas-fitting department is also carried on in connection with the other business.

Mr. Kellogg was born in Williamstown, Oswego County, N. Y., and was a son of Jeremiah Kellogg who at one time was a well known expert in the art of carding, weaving and dressing of wool-stuffs. He was also the author of a very valuable booklet, which set forth his methods of handling materials in all of the above processes, and he was considered by men of discriminating judgment to be a standard authority. The father of our subject spent his life at Williamstown and Pulaski in Oswego County, and later lived at Cazenovia, Madison County, N. Y. His health failing, he decided to go to Swartout, Polk County, Texas, where he hoped to win back his former strength and health. He set out for that destination in 1852 via the Mississippi River, and proceeded as far as the Red River, when he was taken seriously ill. To avoid the yellow fever, which was raging down the river, and which in his weakened and enervated condition he dreaded, he bought a team and set out for his destination overland. He completed the trip, but arrived at his journey’s end on a mattress more dead than alive. He lived but a short time, and his remains were sent back to Cortland for interment. His age at the time of his demise was fifty-five. He had married Eunice Dodge, daughter of Amasa Dodge; she was a native of Herkimer County, but had come to Cazenovia with her parents. She was born in 1808 and lived a long life, dying in 1892. These children were born to our subject’s parents: Francis C.; Horace W.; William L.; Sarah L.; and Henry M., the subject of this writing.

The latter was given a good education in the public schools and at Cortland Academy. He began life as a school-teacher, being employed at Fremont, Ohio. He then took to railroading, and was a fireman on the Little Miami R. R., running out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a noteworthy fact that when Lincoln, after his election to the Presidency, journeyed to Washington to assume the power and responsibility of the chief magistrate of the land, our subject fired the engine which drew the special over a part of the distance. When Fort Sumter was fired on, Mr. Kellogg almost immediately enlisted in the Union service. He entered the army April 20, 1861, and joined Co. G, 5th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf. When his first short time enlistment expired, he re-enlisted in Co. G, 55th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., under the command of John C. Lee, and with this company served through the war, being honorably discharged May 31, 1865. That Mr. Kellogg’s war record was of the best, both his long service and the testimony of his comrades in arms bear witness to. He was unscathed by bullets, but is minus the sense of hearing in one ear, a loss which he does not seriously regret in view of the outcome of the struggle. After the war, Mr. Kellogg in company with Capt. L. T. Stewart formed a partnership under the style of Stewart & Co., and conducted a grocery business at Savannah, Ga. In this line of trade our subject spent two years, and was then appointed a government agent to care for the claims for the loss of property in the South, occasioned by the war. He held this position for two years, then came back to the North, and located at McGrawville, this county, entering upon a dry goods business with W. W. Alton, under the firm name of Alton & Kellogg. In 1868 Mr. Kellogg sold out his interests in McGrawville and moved back to Savannah, where he accepted an appointment as book-keeper for the Georgia Central R. R. Co., and as accountant in the United States Custom House, Savannah, Georgia, for three years. This position he resigned in 1871, and coming to Cortland, N. Y., became the partner of D. C. Cloves in the grocery business as Cloyes & Kellogg. In 1876 he sold his grocery business, and with Frank Place he began the present hardware trade. Mr. Place remained in the firm until 1881, when he sold his interest to his partner. This business has grown, as has been stated above, until it is now the largest in this section. Mr. Kellogg enjoys to the extreme the confidence and esteem of the large wholesale concerns all over this country, so that his trade facilities are of the best. His hundreds of customers appreciate his abilities as a buyer, and throw their trade to him accordingly. He deals in goods of the better grade, and is a splendid judge of real values.

Mr. Kellogg married his wife in the South. She was Miss Ella Quantock, daughter of James Quantock of Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Quantock was a gentleman of English descent, and during his life was an extensive dealer in lumber in Savannah. Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg have had three children born to them: Florence D., who wedded Mr. J. C. Puder of Savannah, Georgia, and has one child, Elenor; James H., who was finishing his last term and ready to graduate from the Cortland Normal School, in 1888, and at seventeen years of age was just about entering upon a course at Syracuse University, when death claimed him; and Carrie Rene, now a student in the Cortland Normal School. The death of the only son was a very sad blow to his parents and his many friends. Though quite young in years, he was one of the most promising youths of the village; bright, clever, and a fine musician he was loved by all. The immediate cause of his untimely decease was an acute attack of peritonitis, which baffled the physicians’ skill.

Mr. Kellogg is a member of the M. E. Church of Cortland, and has been one of its trustees for fourteen years. He is a very busy worker in Sunday School affairs, being a great friend of all the children. In fraternal matters, Mr. Kellogg affiliates with the Masonic Order, and is of the O. U. A. M. He is a comrade and past commander of Grover Post, No. 98, G. A. R., and the local camp of the Sons of Veterans is styled the James H. Kellogg Camp in honor of the son who died. Mr. Kellogg has for several years been one of the railroad commissioners of his town, and has charge of accounts that cover $250,000.00 worth of bonds, issued in aid of the Ithaca & Cortland and the Utica, Chenango & Cortland railroads. He is also secretary of the Erie & Central New York R. R. He is a director of the Cortland National Bank, and has valuable holdings in other local institutions. His beautiful home ever accords a hearty welcome to his many friends, and all his circumstances and surroundings are of the most desirable kind. In personal affairs, Mr. Kellogg is exceedingly genial and enjoys the height of popularity. As a business man he is broad and liberal, yet shrewd and far seeing as well. He is a good financier and manager, as his own prosperity gives good evidence.