The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-07
THOMAS c. PLATT
PASSES FROM LIFE

Continued from Page One.
Senator Roscoe COnklings candidacy for
the Presidential nomination. the honor
able degree of Master of Arts. On that
same day the university conferred upon
William Tecumseh Sherman the degree
of LII d. A fragment from the address
of William Walter Phelps. orator of the
day. Mr. Piatt committed TO memory,
and often quoted In later years:
BE wise rather than eloquent: be kind
rather than polite: be useful rather than
famous"
Forced TO abandon his idea OF taking
a full collegiate course, Mr.. Platt re-
turned to Owego and started business as
country druggist, forming a eo-part-
nership with Frederick K. Hull, under
the firm name Of Plat & Hull. In 1854,
when he was twenty-one years old, he
married his cousin. Ellen Lucy Barstows
daughter of Charles r. Barstow. orig
inally OF Stockbridge. Mass. Miss Bar
stow was then seventeen years old. They
had three sons, Edward T. Plat, now
treasurer of the United States Express
Company; Frank H. Plat. member of
the law firm of O'Brien. Boardman,
Platt & Littleton, of which former SUI
preme Court Justice Morgan J. O'Brien
is the head and director In the express
company, and Henry B. Platt. vice pres
ident OF the Fidelity and Deposit Com
pany of Maryland. The mother of these
boys died at the Fifth Avenue Hotel
February I3, 1901 She was buried at
Owego.
Had Religious Training.
Mr.. Platt's father was a rigid church.
man OF the older type.
AZ had such surfeit Of church-going
in my youth" Thomas c. Platt once
said. that If it could be averaged up and
spread out it would do for all my life"
But with his entry into business life
the son became a deacon In the Presby-
terrain church and also sang in the choir.
His name throughout his county then
was Deacon Platt." In later years.
after coming to New York, he attended
Rev. DR.. Parkhursts church. at Madi-
son avenue and Twenty-fourth street,
and was a pewholder in the Marble Col
legiate Church, and also a friend of its
pastor, Rev. Dr. David ]. Burrell.
MIR. PIatt was not sufficiently robust
10 enter the Union forces in the civil
war as an active fighter. He early de-
veIoped stomach trouble, which chung
to him the remainder of his life. But
at the opening of the war he offered his
services in any capacity for which he
was physically qualified, and Gov. Edwin
D. Morgan appointed him an auxiliary
member OF the war committee Of the
State. and he was active in raising funds
for the maintenance of troops, his drug
I store being headquarters for the work.
On November Is, 1872, the firm Of Plat
& Hull sold out to Ely & Co., of Owego.
and Mr. Platt retired from the drug busl-
ness. In the twenty years he was q
member of the firm, Mr.. Platt wrote his
advertisements and mixed politics with
pharmacopoeia in an amazing fashion.
He had no liking for Andrew Johnson,
and attacked Johnson and advertised the
medicaments of Plat & Hull in the same
paragraphs.
Varied Business Pursuits.
Mr. Plat had not confined himself in
his business interests TO the drug trade.
In 1855 he was one of the directors of
the Congress Gold Mining Company at
Central City, Colo, and later was di-
rector of the Southern Central Railway
Company, of New York. Eventually he
became president OF this latter company.
He also was a member of the firm of ].
F. Brown & Co, lumbermen, in Meeosta
County. Mich: director of the Muskegon
and Big Rapids Railroad Company, presi-
dent Of the Tioga Manufacturing Com
pany, of Big Rapids. with large lumber
and mill interests on the Muskegon River.
and for many years president OF the
Tioga National Bank, of Owego. He
also was treasurer Of the Owego Driving
Park Association
After the Greeley campaign in 1872
when Mr.. Plat had retired from the drug
business. he came to New York and,
with others. started the Republic, news