My Genealogy Hound

NATHAN S. DENMARK, proprietor of a gristmill and two sawmills at Alpine, was born in Chemung County, N. Y., November 22, 1837, and is a son of Joshua and Cornelia (Smith) Denmark. His grandfather, C. C. Denmark, a native of Holland, emigrated to America and located in Bradford County, Pa., where he married Mary Jay, a relative of John Jay, and later removed to Chemung County, but late in life returned to Pennsylvania, where he died in 1864. His wife died the next year. They were the parents of five sons and six daughters, Joshua Denmark, the father of our subject, being seventh in order of birth. In early life he engaged in farming, but later learned the carpenter’s trade, which occupation he followed the remainder of his life. He married Cornelia Smith in Chemung County, and sixteen years later, in 1853, removed to Bradford County, Pa., his death occurring in Canton, that state, in 1885. He was a member of the Christian Church, in which he was a very earnest worker and which he served as Elder for many years, and was also Sunday-school Superintendent. His wife is identified with the same church.

The boyhood of our subject was spent in his native county until fifteen years of age, when his father removed to Canton, Pa. His education was received in the common schools of his native county and also of Canton, and after he was twenty-one years of age he attended the high school at Canton for a short time. With his father he learned the carpenter’s trade, but on arriving at his majority he commenced work on a farm. December 9, 1859, he was married to Emily Palmer, of Union, Tioga County, Pa., who was a native of that place and a daughter of Nathan and Matilda (Griffin) Palmer. Her father was an historical character in Bradford County, to which county he was taken when an infant of one year, and there he grew to manhood. In his boyhood deer were plentiful in Bradford County, and in one season he killed seventy-one deer. He was always quite prominent, holding many official positions, and died in 1885. After his marriage our subject engaged in farming for three years, but in response to the first call for volunteers to defend the Union he presented himself, but as the company was full he was not accepted. In 1862, however, he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-second Pennsylvania Infantry, and with his regiment proceeded to the front. He was in the battles of Fredericksburg, Antietam and Chancellorsville, besides minor engagements. His term of service having expired, he was mustered out. May 24, 1863, and re-enlisted February 24, 1864, in Company K, Fiftieth New York Engineers, and with his company was engaged in the building of bridges and fortifications almost continually until the close of the war. He was mustered out at Elmira, N. Y., June 29, 1865. In all of the numerous engagements and skirmishes in which he was engaged he was fortunate in escaping unharmed.

After the close of the war Mr. Denmark removed with his family to Tioga County, Pa., to a farm of one hundred and four acres, which he had purchased before hostilities commenced, and where he remained two years. In 1867 he removed to Canton, Pa., and for about ten years engaged in business, still retaining the farm, however. Three years after the removal to Canton Mrs. Denmark died, and October 4, 1870, Mr. Denmark married Miss Eunice Sellard, a native of Bradford County, and a daughter of Enoch and Clarissa (King) Sellard.

In 1876 Mr. Denmark sold his business in Canton and also his farm, and removed to Elmira, N. Y., and took charge of the United States Hotel for two years. He then moved back to Tioga County, Pa., and engaged in the mercantile business for two years, when he moved to Newfield, Tompkins County, N. Y., and engaged in farming for eight years. At the expiration of that time he purchased a sawmill and some timber-land, and gave his entire attention to the milling and lumber business for four years. In October, 1892, he moved to Alpine and bought the saw-mill and gristmill known as the Mix Mill, built by brothers of that name in 1851.

Mr. Denmark has always been a strong Republican, voting twice for Abraham Lincoln, the last time while on the battlefield. While in Canton he served as Supervisor of his ward and as Councilman, and has also held minor offices. Both Mr. and Mrs. Denmark are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is also a member of Gregg’s Post, G. A. R., of Newfield, and has been a Master Mason for years, holding membership with King Hiram Lodge at Newfield. He is likewise a member of the Knights of Pythias, and the Subordinate Lodge and Encampment of the Odd Fellows.