NORTHERN NEW YORK
Genealogical and family history of northern New York: a record of the achievements of her people
in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation.
New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1910.



USHER



Transcribed by Coralynn Brown



Bloomfield Usher was born in Ireland and educated there. He married in Ireland, Jane Paine, first cousin of Thomas Paine, the American patriot and writer of revolutionary days. The Usher family came to this country and settled in Herkimer, N.Y. He established himself in business there as a manufacturer.
Children:
Mary A., William, Rebecca, Bloomfield (mentioned below), Thomas, Jane, Norman (died in infancy), Eliza, Luke (mentioned below).

(II) Bloomfield (2), son of Bloomfield (1) Usher, was born Jan. 5, 1814, died April 10, 1893. He succeeded to the business of his father. He removed to Potsdam in 1851. He was president of the National Bank of Potsdam, and director of the Frontier Bank of Potsdam. He served as state senator in 1857, was president of the village, and warden of the Protestant Episcopal church.
He married, in 1836, Ann Usher, a cousin, who died in 1865.
Children:
Bloomfield, Fanny, William, Mary, Michael, Henry, and several who died in infancy.
He married (second) Grace M. Laflin, of Pittsfield, Mass.: child, Grace.

(II) Luke, son of Bloomfield (1) Usher, was born in Herkimer county, N.Y. April 22, 1829, youngest of nine children. He attended the public schools and the Little Falls Academy, and became a civil engineer by profession. He was employed in enlarging the Erie canal. In 1851 he was chosen cashier of the old Frontier Bank of Potsdam. The bank was opened for business May 1, 1851. The stockholders were Colonel H. P. Alexander, then president of the Herkimer County Bank; J. C. Dann, then cashier of the Sacketts Harbor Bank, and Bloomfield Usher, brother of Luke, with a capital of $50,000 increased in May, 1854 to $100,000, becoming the National Bank of Potsdam under a new capital of $162,000. The capital was increased to $200,000 March 1, 1871. The stock in this bank has remained largely in the hands of the families of its founders. The Uhser brothers were able financiers, and no banking house in this section stands higher in the estimation of those in a position to know the condition of the banks of the state. Luke Usher was cashier from 1851 to 1890, and then president of the bank until shortly before his death. During all those years he was active in the business of the bank and a leader in financial affairs. HE was also a manufacturer, and president of the Potsdam Lumber Company, at Hewittville, which owns large tracts of land in the Adirondacks.
In politics he was a Republican, though he never sought public office.
He was a member and vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church, of Potsdam.
He died Jan. 16, 1902.
He married, in 1856, Hannah E. Small, of Little Falls, daughter of Isaac and Susan (Knapp) Small. (See Small III).
Children, born at Potsdam:
1. Frank, May 12, 1857, died Jan. 4, 1894.
2. Anna E., June 16, 1866; married Nathaniel R. Usher, captain in the U.S. navy.
3. Susan, April 7, 1868; lives with her mother.

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