Sypher, Obadiah Lum (10 October 1833–18 August 1907), antique dealer and furniture manufacturer, was born in Flushing, New York, the son of Abraham Sypher, a miller, and Abigail Ann Lum. Soon after Obadiah’s birth, the family moved to the township of Blooming Grove, in Orange County, New York, a region where large crops of wheat were grown and ground in gristmills along the streams. As the American West opened to farming, gristmills in New York became unprofitable, however, so they were shut down or redesigned for other uses. In 1850 Obadiah was living with his father and working as a miller. But in 1860 he was no longer living at home, and by 1863 he had moved to Manhattan, where he was working as a clerk in a furniture store owned by Daniel Marley. It is not known how Sypher became associated with Marley. It is possible that there was a connection through ...
