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Don Carlos Larrabee |
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DON CARLOS LARRABEE (deceased). On the
brilliant roll of preeminently self-made men of our times who have
achieved a large measure of success, stands, among the most prominent, the
name of this able jurist and cultured gentleman, whose lustrous light has
been so suddenly forever extinguished. The deceased was born March 5,
1830, at Almond, N. Y., the eldest son of Willett and Rosanna Larrabee,
the former of whom was one of the pioneers of Almond, as well as one of
its prominent attorneys. When the subject of this biographical memoir was
quite young, the family moved to Whitesville, N. Y., where the boy was
mainly reared, and where he received the greater part of his school
training. When fifteen years of age he came to Ulysses, and here entered
the store of his uncle (the late Collins Smith), with whom he remained in
the capacity of clerk about four years; then, for a time, was employed in
the store of W. T. Jones & Bro., in Coudersport. Returning to Ulysses, he
was here engaged as a clerk in the store of Ambrose Corey, but shortly
after took up a farm west of Lewisville (still known as the Larrabee
farm), and for three or four years worked on the same, boarding in the
meantime with his uncle. Soon after attaining his majority, young Larrabee
obtained employment as a brakeman upon the Erie Railroad, and was quickly
promoted to conductor, a position he so successfully filled until the fall
of 1857, that he was then advanced to the still more responsible post of
train dispatcher, at Dunkirk, N.Y. Leaving the railroad service, however,
he returned to his old home in Ulysses, where, in 1859, he associated
himself in mercantile business with Burton Lewis, under the firm name of
Larrabee & Lewis, carrying on business in the store now owned and occupied
by D. J. Chappel & Son. Soon after this he was elected justice of the
peace, which office he held until October, 1862, when he was elected
sheriff of Potter county. In 1858 his firm became Larrabee, Lewis & Co.,
by the addition of another partner, and the following season they built
the Ulysses Academy. When partly completed it was blown down, but Mr.
Larrabee remarked to his co-partners: “We’ll rebuild it.” It was rebuilt,
and has ever since stood as a monument of his interest in the cause of
education. Upon the completion of his term of office as sheriff, Mr.
Larrabee entered the office of Hon. A. G. Olmsted as a student of law, and
in June, 1866, was admitted to the bar, becoming a partner with Mr.
Olmsted, with whom he remained until January 1, 1883, at which time the
latter was made judge. He then formed a co-partnership with his nephew, W.
I. Lewis, an arrangement which the death of Mr. Larrabee terminated. In
1876 he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, served one
term, but declined re-election. Mr. Larrabee left his home on Tuesday
evening, March 12, 1889, for Harrisburg, Penn., where he had some
business. On his return trip, on the morning of the 14th, while on the
cars, and when about three miles below Renovo, he was suddenly stricken
with apoplexy, dying almost instantly and without a struggle. So beloved
was he, and such was his popularity, that the special train which brought
the remains to Coudersport was loaded with people who had come from all
along the route to pay their respects to their deceased neighbor,
counselor and friend. The funeral, which was conducted by the Trinity
Commandery, K. T., of Bradford, Penn., took place on Sunday, March 17, the
public services being held in the court-house. “His professional character was above reproach. While possessed to a reasonable extent of the frailties of human nature, yet he never so far forgot himself, or the respect due to the court, as to allow anger to so far control his acts as to cause language ever to fall from his lips unbecoming to a court-room, a place where the rights of properly, personal liberty and sometimes human life, were passed upon. Self-control was one of the marked characteristics of his professional life. To the younger members of the bar he was never patronizing, but always kind, courteous and considerate. In his professional relations with other members of the bar, his word was his bond. He tried his causes upon their merits, rather than upon technicalities and legal quibbles; he sought only the just and legal rights of his clients, and was never willing to be a partner in any way to unjust extortion or oppressive demands. Earnest and zealous in the fight, he was always liberal and manly in compromise or settlement. His mind was clever, logical and vigorous. He readily grasped and analyzed the facts in a case, and was equally clear in his application of law; ingenious in cross-examination, he had an unusual faculty of impressing a jury with the justice of his case and his confidence in the truth of his cause. His whole life, as a lawyer, has been an undying example to the younger members of the bar; and to his courteous dignity and influence is due, perhaps, more than to any other one cause, the almost universal and kindly professional spirit and mutual confidence at present existing among the members of the bar of Potter county, a credit to itself as well as to him through whose influence this result has to a great extent been brought about. As a citizen, his loss falls heavily, not only upon the borough of Coudersport and those within the immediate influence of his daily life, but upon the whole county as well. The activity and usefulness of his life was not confined within the walks of his profession; he was actively engaged with every enterprise looking to the advancement of the public generally. To him was largely due the increased educational interests of Coudersport, and at the time of his death he was earnestly pushing a railroad enterprise, the success of which would greatly promote the welfare and growth of the whole county. In the midst of the period of this greatest usefulness in his life work he felt the cold hand of the Angel of Death, paused to rest, and left the wheels of time to move on without him, leaving the record of a life that all would do well to imitate, and which entitles him to a respectful and honored position in the records and history of this court, in the hearts of its members, as well as in the memory of the people of Potter county at large. “Potter county, ss. Certified from the records, this 21st day of May, A.D. 1889. Signed, Wm. A. Crosby, prothonotary.” In social life Mr. Larrahee was a good citizen, a kind neighbor, a faithful friend; upright in all his dealings, charitable to the poor, and to the unfortunate ever considerate. He was a charter member of Eulalia Lodge, No. 342, F. & A. M.; a charter member of Coudersport Chapter, No. 263, B. A. M., and a member of Trinity Commandery, No. 58, K. T., .of Bradford, Penn. He was identified with the Republican party as one of its most active members, having been chairman of the county committee and delegate from time to time. On February 2, 1858, Mr. Larrabee was married to Mary J., daughter of A. A. Gridley, of Lewisville, Potter county, and their children are Carrie M. (now Mrs. S. A. Phillips, of Coudersport) and Leon E. These the husband and father has left with a grief too poignant and too sacred to be commented upon, but with a heritage of his pure life and noble deeds, and a blessed hope of a happy reunion in the home above. History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania : with biographical selections, including their early settlement and development, a description of the historic and interesting localities, sketches of their cities, towns and villages, portraits of prominent men, biographies of representative citizens, outline history of Pennsylvania, statistics. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1890, pages 1159-1161 Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors. View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file! Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com .
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