Clarence M. Boorn, station agent, telegraph operator, freight agent, and passenger agent at Seward station, Schoharie County, is a capable, pleasant, accommodating official, well adapted for the responsible position that he holds. He was born September 6, 1863, in Decatur, Otsego County, N. Y., the town in which both his father, Nathan Boorn, and his grandfather, whose name was Amos, first drew the breath of life. Amos Boorn was the son of one of the earliest settlers of Decatur, and was born and reared in a log cabin. A man of industrious habits, energetic and ambitious, he cleared the timber from a large tract of land, and thus reclaimed from the wilderness a fine farm. He lived to the age of seventy years.
Nathan Boorn was born in the log house in which his parents began housekeeping. In the days of his boyhood and youth he greatly assisted his father in felling the giant trees of the forest and in tilling the soil. He afterward learned the blacksmith's trade, and for many years followed it in his native town. Subsequently removing to the near-by town of East Worcester, he there set up his smithy, and now, though he is seventy years of age, he is still active.
"Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow."
He married Catherine Brazie, one of the thirteen children of Francis Brazie, of Cooperstown, N. Y. Four children were born of their union, and three are living, as follows: Clarence M.; Ortentia, wife of Alfred R. Robbins; and Friend. Both parents are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics the father is an uncompromising Republican, and, though never an office-seeker, has served two terms as Town Clerk.
Clarence M. Boorn was educated in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen he left home in order to study telegraphy. As soon as he had acquired a sufficient knowledge of the art, he was appointed night operator at one of the stations on the Delaware & Hudson River Railroad, and he has since, for a period of seventeen years, been in the employ of the same company. For some time he had charge of the telegraph office at Unadilla, whence he was transferred as agent to Schenevus, also in Otsego County, and in 1896 came to Seward. Here he has faithfully and satisfactorily performed the duties pertaining to his office, and in every way has proved himself worthy of the confidence reposed in him. Politically, he is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party.
On March 19, 1890, Mr. Boorn married Miss Edna M. Winegard, who was born in Seward, one of the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Abram Winegard, well-to-do and prominent members of the farming community of this town, and pillars of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Boorn have one child, Carl W. Mr. Boorn attends the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Boorn is an active member.