My Genealogy Hound

HON. JAMES H. TRIPP. This collection of the biographies of prominent men of Cortland County would be decidedly incomplete without mention was made of one, who so fittingly represents the banking interests, and who is so closely in touch with the commercial progress and development of this section. For the past thirty years Mr. Tripp has been identified with banking interests, and is known all over the State of New York as a man who is eminently qualified for the positions he holds. He is president of the First National Bank of Marathon, having been made the head of this solid financial institution at its organization in June, 1884; this bank was an outgrowth of a private banking business, in which Mr. Tripp was associated, that first took its station in the world of business in 1867. He is also a director of the Homer National Bank, which he helped to organize. Banks and banking interests have in recent years claimed the most of his attention, although he has other important interests in both the county and abroad throughout the state. He served as vice-president of the American Banker’s Association for the State of New York in 1897, each state having but one such representative, and has frequently delivered addresses before the association on matters pertaining to banking. Sound financial judgment and integrity of conduct are key-notes of Mr. Tripp’s success. His connection with a business enterprise is a guarantee for safe, conservative methods. The First National Bank of Marathon holds an enviable place among kindred institutions of Central New York, and this reputation Mr. Tripp has ever made his business to sustain. He has thus been of vast assistance in maintaining the credit and integrity of the business interests of Marathon and the county.

Mr. Tripp was born in Columbia County, N. Y., January 17, 1832, his parents being Daniel A. and Loretta (Haviland) Tripp. Anthony Tripp, his great-great-grandfather, was of English extraction, although born in this country. The son of Anthony, John Tripp, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Dutchess County, this state, of Quaker stock. A Revolutionary officer, Commissary Burns, had headquarters in his home.

Daniel Tripp, our subject’s grandfather, was born in Dutchess County about 1769, and lived there until he attained the years of manhood, when he removed to the town of Ancram, Columbia County, from where he removed in 1838 to the town of Dryden, Tompkins County, where his death occurred in 1856. He was a farmer by occupation, and a Quaker in his religious views. He married Elizabeth Aiken, a native of the town of Pawling, Dutchess County, and to them were born two sons and one daughter, who lived to an age of maturity.

Our subject’s father, Daniel A. Tripp, was born August 31, 1804, in Columbia County, where he was reared and educated. He settled down there as a farmer, and continued to be a resident of that county until 1837, when he removed with his family to the town of Dryden, Tompkins County, where he lived until 1839, when he made his final removal to the town of Harford, Cortland County, where he continued to follow agricultural pursuits until he retired from active life. His death took place in 1883. In regard to his politics, it may be said that he was a Democrat of pronounced views, and took an intelligent and hearty interest in all local affairs that concerned the public welfare in the least. He married the mother of our subject, who was a daughter of Benjamin Haviland, a native of Greene County, this state. She was born March 9, 1809, and died in March, 1873. The fruits of this union were nine children, by name: Eugene H. of Greene County, N. Y.; Hon. James H., the subject of this mention; Charity H. of the town of Harford, Cortland County; Elizabeth C., also of the same town; Louisa, the wife of Henry Thomas; Daniel B., assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Marathon, and a prominent and influential resident of that town, whose life is treated on another page; Edward W. of Medina, Orleans County, this state; Mary, deceased; and John C., also deceased.

Hon. James H. Tripp commenced his education in the public schools of the county, and completed his schooling in Cortland Academy. He taught school in Cortland County five winter seasons, working on his father’s farm in the summer. In February, 1856, he came to Marathon, and took a clerkship in the general store of Peck & Adams; after three years and a half in this subordinate capacity, he took an interest in the firm’s business, and for two years and a half, the firm was known as Peck, Adams & Tripp. When the partnership was dissolved in the winter of 1862, our subject took a position as cashier in the banking house of H. J. Messenger of Marathon. In August of that year, he went to Canandaigua, N. Y., to take charge of a bank, of which Mr. Messenger was president, remaining in the employ of that gentleman until the spring of 1866. In the autumn of 1865, Mr. Tripp purchased a stock of goods of Messrs. Peck & Co., of Marathon, and entered into a partnership with Lyman Adams — our subject and his partner conducting a general mercantile business under the firm name of Tripp & Adams. This business alliance continued until 1883, when they sold out their mercantile interests, but still continued in the banking business. About 1867, Messrs. Tripp & Adams had ventured into a private banking business, which they conducted alongside of their mercantile business until 1883, and by itself until June, 1884, when the First National Bank of Marathon was organized, this new institution absorbing the most of the old bank’s business. Hon. James H. Tripp, our subject, was made the head of the new bank because of his extensive knowledge of the business, and because of the large amount of stock he had subscribed. Mr. Tripp has other interests in farms and real estate that are of themselves very valuable. He is a Republican in his political preferences, and served two years as a Member of the Assembly in the years 1892 and 1893.

Mr. Tripp is a man of public spirit, and his touch may be seen in many of the phases of the development and growth of Marathon. Generous and obliging to all, who are entitled to fair treatment, he is at once the most popular and most prominent man of Marathon, if not of the county. Among the prominent and representative citizens of the county, whose portraits we present in this book, we take pleasure in giving that of Mr. Tripp as a gentleman of exceptional worth and good standing.