My Genealogy Hound

CASSIUS CLAY CARLEY, a prominent resident of the town of Homer, is now practically leading a retired life, which is, however, not without some occupation, for he has large dairying and farming interests that claim a large share of his time. He has been identified with agricultural interests all of his life, although his life has also been spent in other pursuits. He became a resident of Homer in 1886, when he started a bakery in the village, which he owned and operated until he retired from business in 1896, during which period he easily sustained a reputation for superior goods and attractive manners in the treating of his customers.

Mr. Carley was born in Marathon, this county, July 23, 1844, and is a son of Hon. Alanson and Sally (Courtright) Carley. As he was the youngest of twelve children, he naturally enough remained with his parents on the homestead and gave them the care and filial attention that was their due in their declining years. This of course limited his education to some extent, and this lack of the best school training undoubtedly changed his entire career, for he had in early life contemplated pursuing a college education, and then of enjoying a professional career. At the age of eighteen he left the Marathon district school, which he had attended very irregularly because of pressing duties claiming most of his time, and entered the post-office at Marathon, his father then being postmaster. With the change in the head of the office, our subject retired, and was bookkeeper nine years in the milling business of his father and elder brother, Alanson A., the business being conducted under the style of A. Carley & Son until 1876, when Cassius C. and his brother purchased the property and ran it until 1879. He then retired from the mill business and engaged in farming and in raising thoroughbred Jersey cattle, having for a number of years the only herd of pure stock in the whole county. He was also an extensive poultry fancier, and was a local authority on the fine points of the various breeds. He made a study of stock, with the result that few men in this section were ever so well informed on the subject as he. In recognition of his valuable experience and excellent judgment, the board of directors of the Broome County Fair for eighteen years were wont to elect him by acclamation as one of the judges of live stock. Mr. Carley is the proprietor of two farms, both well cultivated and stocked, 200 acres in Freetown township and 60 acres in Marathon. He lives in a fine home in the village of Homer. He is not a member of any church, but has been chorister and has sung in the choir of the M. E. Church for thirty years.

Our subject’s father, Hon. Alanson Carley, was born in Otsego County, in the town of Butternuts, June 6, 1797, but at the age of two he was taken with the rest of the family to Marathon, this county, where all his after years were spent, and where his memory as a pioneer resident and merchant is still green in the minds of the older residents. His father, Ebenezer Carley, located a home on the west side of the river, and after a life spent in battle with the forces of nature in improving his farm, and in transforming it into a cultivated tract, died and was gathered to his fathers. Alanson Carley received his education in the district schools, and took up the pursuit of farming, cultivating an estate of some 140 acres in the central part of the town of Marathon left by his father, which Alanson partly inherited and partly purchased from the other heirs. He later branched out in business, becoming a merchant, and opening the first dry goods store in Marathon in the early 30’s. He continued to operate this store until 1856-57. He was very successful, and held a large trade, for his patrons learned to rely on his representations and to have the greatest confidence in his goods, such was the high regard in which he was universally held. It was in this connection that he was enabled to show his kind heart to those in need, and to evince a generous liberality that is seldom equaled. When times were hard he sold willingly to those who were in financial straits, and carried their accounts until they were better able to pay for the goods. Very frequently he went much farther than this and gave outright to the poor, with no expectation of any return. He was indeed a good man. He was equally at home in many lines of activity. When the Syracuse & Binghamton R. R. was first suggested, he became one of its projectors, and served as one of its directors until the road was completed and in running order, taking an active and important part in the construction of the road. He built the railroad depot, and a large hotel near by, then known as the Carley House, but now generally referred to as Roger’s House. He was a miller, and conducted a very successful and profitable business, his mill being located at Marathon. We should certainly expect a man of his standing and solid position in the community to be connected with some banking institution, and so it is with little surprise that we note that he was a director in the First National Bank of the neighboring village of Cortland. Before the late war he was a Whig, but on the disruption of that party on the question of slavery, he cast in his fortunes with the Republican party. He was ever prominent in politics. He was elected a member of the State Assembly, and represented Cortland County creditably in the Legislature. In 1840 he was elected sheriff of the county, and held the office for two terms. He was also a supervisor and justice of the peace of the town of Marathon for many years. During the war he was post-master at Marathon, and at that time exhibited a high patriotism and love of the nation, by pledging himself to support the widows of any of the volunteers who enlisted from Marathon, should it chance they fell. In this as in all other of his actions he was as good as his word. What a blessed relief it must have been to the Marathon volunteers, when they took leave of friends and loved ones, that, come what would, their wives would not want during the life of this prominent citizen and philanthropist should they fall on the field of battle. He was a member of the Universalist Church, and a true Christian gentleman, contributing in more ways than one for the support of both his own and other town churches. On April 8, 1879, he was called to his reward. His wife Sally, who was a daughter of Thomas and Hester Courtright, was a member of the M. E. Church, and an earnest worker in the Master’s cause. Benevolent and kind-hearted, she knew what it was to offer comfort to the sorrowing one, and to solace those who were stricken with misfortune or affliction.

Our subject married Mercy Tarble of Freetown, this county, in 1869, and had two sons. Leon Alanson, an attorney of Syracuse, N. Y., was the elder. At the age of twenty he graduated from the University of Syracuse, being the president of the class of sixty or seventy members. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-two, and is now a member of the flourishing legal firm of Carley & Turner. Daniel Arvine, the younger, died at the age of four years. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Carley became united in matrimony with Mrs. Annette Glover of the town of Homer, in 1886. This union has resulted in the birth of one child, Oliver Eades. Mr. Carley has always been a stanch Republican, and a willing worker, when called, in the interests of the party, but he could never be accused of blowing his own horn or of trying to advance his cause with his fellow-townsmen. He is content to remain in private life, and perform his public duties simply and with little ostentation.