Daniel Isaac Devoe's obituary from the Fort Plain Standard (c. 1930) reads:
Daniel I. Devoe died at his home on Lydius street, Fort Plain, on Sunday night,
February 25. Mr. Devoe had been in ill health for several years but been confined
to his home only during the past few months. Mr. Devoe had been one of Fort Plain's
most prominent citizens for 45 years and his passing has created widespread sorrow
in the town in which he passed so many years of his active and fruitful life. Daniel
Isaac Devoe was the son of Daniel Anthony Devoe and Maria Snell of Fordsbush.
The Devoe family is of pioneer Colonial stock. Anthony Devoe moved from present
Renssalear county to Andrustown in 1798. Cornelius Devoe, his son, was born there
and was a farmer of Warren, Herkimer county.
Daniel Anthony Devoe, son of Cornelius Devoe, was born in Warren April 19, 1820.
He leased and subsequently bought a farm in the town of Warren. In 1863 he purchased
a 200-acre farm on Clinton's road, just south of its junction with Seeber's Lane. He moved
to this place and lived in the handsome brick house standing on a knoll and overlooking
a considerable extent of fertile farming country. The Harvey Wagner farm stood directly
opposite the Devoe place. Daniel Anthony Devoe was prominent in the life of his day
and acted as a trustee of the Church of the Messiah, Universalist, Fort Plain. He died
December 28, 1898. He has the following children: Nelson, who died at the age of 4;
Margaret Ann (Mrs. Schuyler Duryee of Everett, Washington); Charlotte (wife of Dr.
Alvero Zoller of West Union, Iowa); Ida (who died at an early age); Demetra Estelle
(Mrs. Frank W. Bauder, Fort Plain); Daniel I. Devoe, who was born at the family home
in Warren on January 19, 1860. He moved to the town of Canajoharie when his father
bought land in that town in 1863. Following his schooling in the local district school,
he entered Clinton Liberal Institute, then at Clinton, from which he graduated in 1878.
He later attended the Rochester Business College. In 1879, Mr. Devoe came to Fort Plain
where he took a position as clerk in the drug store conducted by Pettit and Reid. In 1880
he went into the drug business in Canajoharie in partnership with John N. Snell. Later
Thomas E. Dygert bought Snell's interest, after which the firm became Devoe and Dygert.
In 1885 Mr. Devoe returned to Fort Plain, after selling his interests in the Canajoharie store.
D. I. Devoe and his brother-in-law, Walter F. Shumway, formed the partnership known as
Devoe and Shumway and bought out the long-established drug business, then conducted
by Pettit and Smith. Mr. Devoe then became interested in the manufacture of knit underwear
and, in 1893, he sold his share in the drug business to Mr. Shumway, who has conducted
it ever since. Mr. Devoe installed his knit goods business in the former Elwood silk factory
on Upper Canal street. In 1902, it was incorporated as the Fort Plain Knitting Co., and, after
a long time, it did a very extensive business. Conditions in the knit goods business became
unfavorable and Mr. Devoe closed his mill in 1928 and retired from active business.
For nearly half a century -- 47 years to be exact -- D. I. Devoe was a trustee of the Universalist
Church of Fort Plain and did a tremendous work toward its upbringing.
Mr. Devoe was a member of Fort Plain lodge, No. 433, F and A M, in which he was master of
four years; Hiram Union Chapter, No. 53, Royal Arch Masons; Knights Templar Commandery,
No. 26, Little Falls; Ziyara Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Utica. Mr. Devoe was a member of
the Knights of Pythias. Before he retired from business, he was a member of the present
Fort Plain Community Club.
Mr. Devoe was a lifelong member of the Republican party and was a successful candidate
for county treasurer, a position which he held for three years.
On May 24, 1882, Mr. Devoe was married to Agnes E. Shumway, daughter of Joseph Hill
Shumway and Cornelia Van Horne Sunmway. They had one child, Ethel, now Mrs. Eugene
Mercer Weiskotten of Utica. Mrs. Devoe died on Janaury 8, 1915. Mr. Devoe married Miss
Lillian Adria Failing on June 1, 1916. Mrs. Devoe is the daughter of the late Adam L. Failing
and Rachel Smith Failing. A number of years ago, Mr. Devoe purchased the present handsome
brick Devoe residence on Lydius street. Mr. Devoe was a man of culture, with a taste for good
literature which he gratified in his excellent library. He was very much interested in the history
of the Mohawk valley and its Indians and he possessed a fine, large and varied collection of
Mohawk Indian and other relics, which he had gathered during his lifetime. Mr. Devoe was a man
of genial nature with a kindly outlook on life and a most happy and friendly feeling for mankind.
He was deeply interested in the progress and prosperity of Fort Plain and did everything in his
power to promote it. He was always ready to assist anyone and his generosities were many.
His many friends, who enjoyed his genial and cultured society and his kindly personality
deeply feel the loss of one of Fort Plain's outstanding citizens and extend to his bereaved
wife and daughter, their most sincere sympathy. [Article continues, but the piece is lost.]
Chris DeVoe, CZCD@@aol.com , is interested in learning anything about Daniel's date of
death or his second wife, Lillian Adrian Failing (daughter of Adam L. and Rachel (Smith) Failing)
(married 6/3/16). She was also a Snell descendant.
Who is this family member?