Chester Adgate Congdon - Early Life

Early Life

On his paternal side he is sixth in descent from James Congdon, a Quaker from England who settled in Rhode Island in the first half of the seventeenth century. On his paternal side all ancestors were of English origin. On his mother's side his ancestry was English and Dutch. All of his ancestry had been in North America since the early colonial period. In the public schools of Elmira, and Corning, New York, Chester A. Congdon acquired his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in the East Genesee Conference Seminary at Ovid, New York. His collegiate work was done at Syracuse University, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied law under the preceptership of Hiscock, Gifford & Doheny at Syracuse, New York, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar of that state. After admission to the bar in New York state, Mr. Congdon taught school for about a year in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before he went to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1879, where he was admitted to the bar of that state and there established himself in the practice of law. On the 29 of September, 1881, at Syracuse, New York, Mr. Congdon was married to Miss Clara Hesperia, a daughter of the Rev. Edward Bannister, a clergyman of San Francisco, California, and to them were born seven children: Walter Bannister Congdon, Edward Chester Congdon, Marjorie, Helen, John, Robert, and Elisabeth Congdon. Chester and Clara would later bring Clara's nephew Alfred Bannister to live with them after being orphaned at 6 years old.