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This biography is from Landmarks of Albany County, New York, edited by Amasa J. Parker of Albany, N. Y., Syracuse, N. Y.; D. Mason & Co. Publishers, 1897.

George N. Best

George N. Best, son of Thomas and Magdalene (Roseuberger) Best, was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, June 13, 1845. His parents were natives of the United States and moved to Canada to engage in farming. Mr. Best attended the public schools and at the age of seventeen moved to New York State, settling at Saratoga Springs. He worked on a farm one year and desiring to enter commercial life he availed himself of an opportunity to go into the lumber business. He made his home with his brother and engaged in transporting lumber from the western part of New York State to New York city. His abilities were soon recognized and warranted his filling, for several years, the position of foreman for C. U. & R. English, timber dealers and lumber forwarders. Subsequently, Mr. C. D. English died and Mr. Best entered into partnership with Mr. R. English. The name of the firm remained the same as it was before Mr. English's death. This firm carried on an extensive business, doing government contract work on Lake Champlain and also engaging in the ice business. While connected with this work, Mr. Best made his home in Schuylerville for five years. In 1878 he moved to Castleton, N. Y., and English, Best, and a Mr. Washburn bought Campbell Island in the Hudson River opposite Cedar Hill. Here ice houses were erected and a large ice business was carried on. In 1881, English and Best bought the property on which Mr. Best now lives and erected a mammoth ice house on the bank of the Hudson. In 1884 Mr. Washburn sold out his interest in the island to English and Best, who thereupon formed a co-partnership. In 1887 this firm commenced doing business in New York city under the name of the Cedar Hill Ice Company. In 1890 Mr. English sold his interest in the ice business to a Mr. Sherman and a Mr. Carmen, who became partners with Mr. Best. In 1894 Mr. Best bought them out and continued the business alone. In February, 1896, he discontinued the New York business, having sold it to the Consolidated Ice Company, who contracted with him to purchase his ice for a term of years. Mr. Best is now enjoying a large, well paying business and lives in a palatial residence overlooking the Hudson River at Cedar Hill. He has twenty-five acres of land, used for gardening, and also owns considerable property in Saratoga county. He is president of the Albany and Castleton Ferry Company, and is an elder in the Reformed church of Bethlehem. October 15, 1867, he married Ursula Lockrow of Saratoga. They had one son, Harvey A., who managed the New York office and who died in 1894 in his twenty-sixth year.



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