Howard Eaton Lomax, M. D., the leading physician of New Baltimore, Greene County, N. Y., is a native of the city of Albany, and was born on April 30, 1868, son of John and Martha (Eaton) Lomax. On the paternal side he is descended from French Protestants, or Huguenots, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, fled from persecution in their native country to England.
The Doctor's paternal grandfather emigrated from England some time after his marriage, and, settling in Boston, Mass., there engaged in the manufacture of soap and tallow candles. His son John was born in England, but was brought up in Boston, and learned the harness-maker's trade in that city. Nearly forty years ago John Lomax, the Doctor's father, took a position with Holland Terrell, the well-known harness manufacturer of Albany, and is now foreman of the establishment, which is said to be the largest of its kind in the world. He is an active Republican, and he takes a warm interest in all Masonic affairs. Among the Masonic offices he has held may be named the following: Master of Mount Vernon Lodge, F. & A. M., in 1870; secretary of the same for fourteen years; director in the Masonic Relief Association of Albany, and one of its trustees for fifteen years; and secretary of the Masonic Veteran Association for three years. His wife, Martha, was born in Chelsea, Mass. She is a member of the Episcopal church. Of their eight children five are living — Ella, Hattie, Fannie, Howard E., and Edith. Ella is the wife of Harry Knight, of Denver, Col.; Hattie is the wife of C. W. Forman, of Yorktown, N. Y.; Fannie is Mrs. Charles A. Pray, of Lebanon, Me.; and Edith is principal of the Albany Training School for Teachers.
Dr. Lomax was graduated from the Albany High School in 1888. He subsequently engaged as a draughtsman in New York City for a year with Gillam, the celebrated cartoonist of Judge. He then entered the Albany Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1892, and he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession in this town. During his first year in the high school he was awarded a gold medal for excellence in drawing, being the first boy and the first Freshman to receive a medal in the history of that school. He still retains much of his early skill with the pencil. The Doctor's course in the medical college was one of distinction. He won two prizes, and at graduation received honorable mention in three subjects. Since coming here he has built up the largest practice the town has ever known, and is as popular as he is successful. He has been three times vice-president of the Greene County Medical Society, and has written numerous papers and addresses on medical subjects, and some articles for publication in medical journals. He is a devoted student of natural history, and has a fine entomological collection, also an interesting collection of snakes and serpents.
Dr. Lomax is a fine singer and a skilful performer on the piano, organ, and flute. He began playing the flute in early boyhood, under the instruction of his father, who was a fine flutist and a member of Gilmore's celebrated band when first it was organized. When a boy of only sixteen the Doctor was in demand for orchestras. As he became older his musical ability was of great service to him, enabling him to pay his college expenses. For two seasons he performed on one of the day boats running from Albany, and in the evenings played in the orchestra at the Leland Opera House. For two seasons he was at Saratoga in the orchestra and for two seasons at the Prospect Park House in the Catskills. He has played under all the leading conductors of Albany, and is well known among the musicians of that city.
Like his father, Dr. Lomax is interested in masonry. He is now serving his second term as Master of Social Friendship Lodge, No. 741, of New Baltimore, and has held various other offices in the lodge, among them that of Senior Deacon. In politics he is a Republican. For the last four years he has been one of the health officers of the town. He is a Deacon in the Dutch Reformed church, of which both he and his wife are members, and Mrs. Lomax has played the organ for both church and Sunday-school.
The Doctor's marriage took place in September, 1897. Mrs. Lomax is the daughter of Newton Sweet, a leading citizen of New Baltimore. Her grandfather, Joshua Sweet, who was born in Chesterville, Albany County, was a carpenter by trade. He worked on the old Catskill Mountain House, and later came to New Baltimore and engaged in contracting and building until his death, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife, Laura Baker, died at the age of seventy-four. She was one of the eight children of an Englishman who came with his family from England to Philadelphia, from there by stage to New York, thence up the Hudson to Albany, and thence by stage to Coeymans. He engaged in mercantile life in New York City, and there fell a victim to small-pox. Joshua and Laura Sweet were the parents of three children: Frank; Newton; and Laura, who married Watson Ham.
Newton Sweet was born in this town on December 16, 1848. After attending Coeymans Academy for four years, he began teaching school winters and working at carpentering summers. This he continued till twenty-four years of age, when he left off his trade and thenceforward kept at his professional work all the year. He taught successively in the graded school at the Iron Works, Troy, where he remained five years; in the graded school in Coeymans; in New Baltimore for a year; and then, in the year 1893-94, in West Coxsackie. While at New Baltimore he was elected Supervisor for 1887 on the Republican ticket. The following year he was elected School Commissioner from the Second District of Greene County, which included the towns of New Baltimore, Coxsackie, Greenville, Durham, Ashland, Windham, and Prattsville. He had eighty schools to look after and a hundred teachers to examine, and must visit each school twice a year. After serving three years he was re-elected for a second term, at the close of which he began teaching in West Coxsackie. At the end of a year there he was secured for the New Baltimore school, but while attending a teachers institute in Cairo, where the Republican convention was in session, he was nominated for the Assembly. He was triumphantly elected by a majority of four hundred, going ninety ballots ahead of the ticket in this town, and being the third Supervisor ever elected on the Republican ticket in this Democratic stronghold. He voted for the Raines Bill, and in 1897 was re-elected by a majority of five hundred and fifty. During his two terms he rendered his constituents valuable service. He introduced a bill to prohibit vivisection in the public schools, and served on various educational committees.
Mr. Sweet has resided in New Baltimore village for the last eighteen years. He is prominent in Masonic circles and in the Knights of Pythias. His wife, Adelaide, was born in Coeymans, the daughter of Philip and Jane (Van Allen) Winne. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet have five children — Frank, Jane (Mrs. Lomax), Laura, Isaac, and Arba. Frank is the foreman of Cushman's bakery in New York City. He married Marietta Vanderpool, daughter of Dr. A. V. S. Vanderpool, of this town. Isaac has been for the last three years quartermaster on the "Dean Richmond." Arba is preparing to be a locomotive engineer.
Mrs. Lomax taught school in New Baltimore with most flattering success for some time before her marriage. She is a fine musician. The Doctor and his wife have one son, Edmund W. Lomax.