Full text of "Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York"

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT

CYCLOPEDIA

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

WITH A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COUNTY

Hon. OBED EDSON.

PUBLISHED BY

JOHN M. aRESHAM & CO.

EDITED BY

BUTLER F. DILLEY.

Nos. 1218 and 1220 Filbert Street, Philadelphia.

JULY, 1891.

: Jas. H. Rodgers Printing Company
Philadelphia.

INTRODUCTION.

rTTlIE PUBLISHERS of this vnlunie tnkv pleawiuv ia presenting it to their
i. patrons in (JhiuitaiKpui County, believing that, biographical ly, it is inucli
the superior of anything ever oflfereil to the people of Western New York, and
the mechanical workmanship is so far beyond anything heretofore attempted
in this county, that no comparison is possible. While we have paid especial
attention to biographj', the interesting ''Sketch of the History of ('iiautau([na
County," written by the masterly mind of the Honorable Obed Edson, oi'
Sinclairville, is the best compact account of the county's early history extant,
and cannot fail to attract a deep interest.

It was originally the intention to present the work in the old style, by
grouping each town, village and city by itself, and to introduce the reader to
the "History of the County" before reaching the main contents of the book,
but, after consideration, we decided to depart from the rut ol' custom, and to
insert the biographical sketches at random in the l)ook, and supplement it
with the story which tells of early times, the whole to be preceded by a
comprehensive index, by means of which the reader may turn to any desired
place at will.

Our engravings, it ^vill be noticed, are of steel and photographic repro-
ductions made by the superior half-tone process; no wood cuts are inserted,
consequently the likenesses presented are accurate and correct. The residences
portrayed are elegant specimens of Chautau([ua County homes, and the old
Court House, which has about outlived its usefulness, and is soon to be
rejilaced, would, without this photograph, soon have remained to memory alone,

6 PREFACE.

and the appearance of the building in wliich justice had been administered for
so many years, would not be known to the coming generations.

Our biographies are, in the main, correct. We have exercised great care
in securing accuracy of names and dates, and have submitted, where practicable,
the manuscript, more than once, for correction. Some of our subscribers failed
to return corrections, but they were very few. Doubtless some errors will
appear, but there will not be many.

UjJon the whole, we have received very hearty co-operation, and we feel
a just pride in the results of our labors. Our only wish is that the book will
give pleasure to the present generation and to the generations to come; that
when the future historian enters Chautauqua County, he can begin where we
concluded, and carry the chain fifty years farther.

The Pltblishers.

I'lULADEM'HiA, Pa., July 20th, 1891.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Akirich, John J 8.3

Reebe, Miltou E. (House) 40

Brewer, Hon. F. B HI

Burns, Andrew 194

Burns, Andrew (Honsel l^*"

Babcock, Norman 230

Babcock, Alpheus ■ 235

Beebe, Milton E 284

Burgess, Rev. Clialon 346

Bloomquist, ( )tto L 499

Chase, Dr. William 73

C'uriLs, Major E. A 132

Gushing, Addison C 209

Carpenter, Col. Elial Foote 301

Case, Henry R 319

Corbett, Hon. Charles 11 372

Cushiug, Com. W. B., U. S. N 483

Chautauqua County Court-IIouse 670

Edson, Hon. Obed 220

Evergreen Cemetery 259

ICureka Factory (Howes) 16

Fuller, Frederick A., Jr 253

Fenner, Hon. M. M 391

Haywood, Col. Rufus 91

Howes, Simeon 136

Howes, Simeon (Residence) 139

Hooker, Hon. W. B 145

Huntley, W. W 305

Hungerford, Sextus H 621

Kingsbury, Henry C 125

Lockwood, Clark R 38

Lord, Bela B 296

Livermore, Mi-s. R. S 666

Morgan, Charles W 240

Morris, Hon. Lorenzo 247

Ornies, M.D., Cornelius 556

Ormes, Dr. F. D 560

Pattersou, Hon. George \V 54

Patterson, George W 60

Putnam, Major E. P 59

Peacock, .Judge William 213

Record, John G 106

Ryckman, (i. E 444

Smith, Hon. Hiram 20

Stafford, Austin H 24

Scofield, Carl W 31

Saxton, Isaac A 1 82

Sessions, Hon. Frank E 275

Sherman, Hon. Daniel 431

Van Dusen, Hon. A. A 64

Weeks, Charles E 46

Watson, Albert S 385

W'aterhouse, Dr. John \ 422

Waterhouse, Dr. John A. (Residence) 425

Wright, Reuben G •')36

Wright, Reuben G. (Residence) 539

TABLE OF (X)NTENTS.

Poor-. l^'O^f '■ '^--^

P,ige

Aldrich, John J. . • «'-

Abbey, Chauiicey 113

Aldrich, Seth 217

Andrus, Wilson S 237

Anderson, John H 269

Adams, D. B 281

Allen, Herbert W 290

^ Arnold, William H 310

Appleyard, Joseph 344

Ames, M.D., Edward 3ti2

Arnold, Capt. Joseph S 3f)4

Andrews, George 307

Allen, Charles G 368

Albro, Victor A 417

Abbott, Joseph 436

Arnold, George M 449

Alford, Dexter 470

Avery, Sherman S 479

Andre^vs, Joseph H 624

Bootey, Kdward R 28

Bemus, M.D., William M 30

Blackmarr, Hamlin 42

Breed, DeWitt C 44

Barrows, Henry R 55

Barrows, Ransom J 61

Brownell, Peter R 81

Burritt, Dr. Franklin 88

Bemus, M.D., William P 98

Benson, John B . 99

Brewer, Hon. Francis B 110

Boughton, Joseph T 115

Bolton, Stephen N. . .118

Burlaund, Gust. . . .127

Brown, Arthur L 134

Burlin, Anson A 143

Bull, Abraham 152

Barker, Hon. George H'l

Burns, Andrew 195

Bratt, Anthony .207

Bemis, Philander W. 226

Babcock, Norman 231

Babcock, Alpheus 234

Broadhead, William ■ 249

Butler, Nelson .... . . 261

Blanchard, Dr. Koberl N 271

Beebe, Milton E. (Residence, 49) 2S5

Barlow, Byron A. 294

Bemis, Harvey 311

Brown, Nathan 313

Baldwin, Levi 315

Blood, Charles 332

Butler, Capt. James 334

Burch, Hiram 341

Bixby, Lewis B 342

Brownell, Smith II 343

Burgess, Rev. Chalon 347

Bird, Alberte 303

Bennett, Capt. James P 376

Briggs, Frank 376

Becker, Ellas 380

Burton, Hiram A 387

Briggs, Carey 389

Bissell, D.D.S., J. E. W 396

Page

Brockway, Hon. Charles IS. . . 400

liaxter, John P 408

Blanchard, Flint 414

Brooks, Horatio G 474

Brown, Marshall 476

Bacon, George R. . ■ ■ . 486

Bennett, Lyman 496

Bloonuiuist, Otto L 498

Bookstaver, Hon. ^Villiam . . 498

Beebe, Charles Vincent 501

Barker, C'orrington 502

Bentley, Fred. A 543

Bond, Orlando 551

Baumgart, Gustav 553

Bandiualli, Rev. Jolin 582

Benjamin, M.D., Mirza N 584

Bourne, John 585

Bailey, Clayton E 593

Babcock, Hon. Jerome . . . 001

Burges.s, Celiu 605

Blanchard, James C 606

Brown, Rush 'i07

Barris, Michael 607

lirowu, Donald S 60S

Barnes, Alpha ('09

Bosworth, William A <)10

Bilsborrow, George 611

Baker, Dermouth R 625

Birdsey, Capt. Comfort .... 625

Birdsey, Phineas . 626

Burnmaster, Henry 626

Barnes, Calvin W 627

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Cady, Sylvester S

C'hace, Dr. William

Cranston, Fre<leric"k L. . .

Crandall, VVilliam A

C'luney, Col. Thomas T. .

Cobb, Albert S

Codingtou, SO

Clark, Hiram C

Crissey, Samuel Slii'iianl

Curtis, Major Enocli \

Clark, Josephus H. .

( olburn, Charles D

Cobb, William J

Coffin, Benjamin J. . . . .

Clark, Whitman

Cushing, Addison C

Catlin, .\shbill R

Cobb, ( 'harles E

Cronyn, Dr. William .1

Crosgrove, Robert E

t alhoun, Archibald

Colburu, Charles R

Carpenter, Col. Elial Foote . . .

Caldwell, Samuel

Clinton, Simeon

Case, Henry R

Cochrane, James

( oveney, Thomas R

Curtice, Charles S

Corbett, Hon. Charles H. . . .

Clark, William T

Case, Hon. Theodore \

Colvin, Joel

Casselmau, Benjamin

Candee, William E

Calvert, Rev. Thomas E

Crocker, Washington

Covin, William

Cushing, Com. Wm. liarker, CS.N

Culver, Stephen

Crandall, Jay E

Crissey, Edward J

Case, Fred. W

Cushman, Ma.son

I'age

52
72

Cole, William H. .
Crossman, I'hineas .
Chapman, Charles K.
Carlson, Samuel S. .
Collins, John B. .
Curtis, Rinaldo 1. .
Cipperly, Clarence P
Cowing, Ransom F".
Coates, Leroy P. . .
Camp, Wilson . . .
Christy, Henry R. .
Chapin, Charles B. .
( 'oleman, William F.
Crosby, Charles R. .

Page
. 506
.507
. 508
.508
. 509
.550

553
. 599
. GOO
. 601
. 603

603
. 604
. 605

Dean, Benjamin S. .
I Douglas, (ieorge B.
j Day, Ralph B. . . .
I Doi-sett, Daniel B. .

- . . 7S

... .SO

. . . .SO

. . 103

Dotterweich, Andrew 121

Derby, Silas S 128

Douglas, William R 133

Douglas, Charles M 152

Dougla.s, George B 153

Derby, John K 167

Davis, Gilbert L 286

DeVoe, Eugene E 329

Dean, M.D., Hermon J 336

Dudley, Eugene E 349

Davenport, Ellen M 366

Davis, Ely 378

Dorn, Dexter D 402

Dawson, John W 403

Donelson, John 410

DodJ, M.D., A. ^Vilson 478

Dewey, Lester R 490

Davis, Joseph 510

Dennison, Edward 547

Dean, Otto K 577

Doty, Alexander H. 578

Drake, Edwin 597

Dickerman, E. H 598

Dickson, Dwight 598

Dean, George R 612

Ellis, Francis D. . .
Endresi?, William Fries
Edson, ( )be(l
Ewell, Carlos ....
Evergreen ('emetery
Edmunds, Fred. W.

Ely, John H

Evarts, Dr. Raymond N
Eaton, Alfred ....
EULs, Mollis Fay . .
Ellis, James S. ...
Edmunds, Joseph Wilson
Ehlers, Charles ....
Elkins, Hon. Harvey S.

Field, Frank B . .
Fenton, Kinery W.
Frey, Rev. Andrew
Fuller, Arad . . .
Forbe.s, Elias . .
Fitch, Rufus . .
Fuller, Frederick A.
Fink, Ellis ....
Flagler, James H. .
Frisbee, Sardius . .
Fenton, Gov. Reuben
Fay, Elisha U. . .
Fargo, Orange A. .
Feuner, Hon. Milton
Fenton, Martin L. .
Fuller, Mathew . .
Fenton, Bicknell D.
Forbes, Colonel David S,
Freeman, Prof. Andrew
Felton, John W. .
Falconer, William T
Fuller, David M. .
Flisher, Jared B. .
Fuller, George W.
Fuller, Guy H. . .
Faringtou, Daniel M
Fenton, Rev. William H

TAHLE OF CONTENTS.

Fenner, Nathaniel J 573

Fessenden, Ralpli < ' 574

Feltoii, Alonzo 574

Fay, John K 575

Flahaven, Charles J (512

Fiuck, Henry 032

Green, Eleazer 18

Griswold, Daniel 97

Gardner, Roland W 114

Green, John T 156 \

Gifibrd, Frank E 166 !

Greene, Leverett B. 175

GiHord, Sam. J 201

Green, William F 204

Grasho, John 233

Gifford, Dr. Joseph C 244

Garfield, Joseph 381

Gifibrd, John 398

Green, Frederick R 406

Griflith, Samuel 424

Garfield, Fred. 11 442

Godard, Albert H 455

Griswold, Warren 458

Gardner, Frederick 1) 481

Gokey, Noah W 613

Giles, Abel S 549

Gay, Henry R 570

Grover, Horace N 57 1

Goodell, Harry E 571

Gage, Seneca H 572

Gron, Frederick 573

Hoyt, Peter H 42

Holmes, Victor 51

Hall, William 57

Hosier, Sidney M 67

Holstein, Augustus 87

Haywood, Col. Rufus 90

Howes, Simeon 137

Hooker, Hon. Warren B 144

Hunt, Frank, D.V.S 148

Hardenburg, John M 150

I'age

Hyde, Rev. William L 1.57

Holt, Walter W 102

Huntley, Joseph W 1(>4

Hilliard, John 165

Himebaugh, William L. . 169

Hough, Eugene K 227

Hiler, Orlando J 263

Horton, Nathan J 269

Huntley, William \V 303

Huyck, Andrus M 315

Hall, Ralph A _335-

Hurlburt, George F 337

Haskin, Fernando Cortez .... 339

Hitchcock, Milo 351

Hunt, William 352

Hall, Ralph H 382

Hall, John A 369

Hall, Robert M 375

Hardenburg, Jacob 395

Houghton, Franklin J 434

Hall, Hervey 452

House, David 401

House, Cyrus 472

Huyck, Richard 474

House, John 475

Hull, Albert W 480

Horton, Alonzo C 514

Hale, Elijah E 544

Hall, Aaron . 507

Haas, Peter 568

Harrison, Benjamin L 569

Hopkins, Newell P 569

Hopson, M.D., Edwin R 569

Ilarell, William II 586

Hiller, Orville M 586

Hill, Nelson H 594

Hungerford, Se.xtus II 620

Hall, Richard A 033

Isham, 1 )octor E 440

Isham, ( ieorge P 51.^)

,T.

.James, Israel

Jones, Thomas C 196

Jones, Thomas A 239

Josselyn, George S 204

Jillson, DeWitt G 300

Johnson, Jedediah M 340

Jennier, Elias II 348

James, Albert A 565

Jones, Carletou M 565

Jenks, Lafayette 566

Johnston, Robert M . 507

Jackson, Francis B 579

Jones, George W 618

Johnson, Oscar W 619

.Johnson, .lohn 619

Johnson, Louis L 620

Kidder, Samuel 100

Kingsbury, Henry G 124

Knox, Melvin J 155

Kimball, Pearl C 170

Kelsey, Andrew, Jr 418

Kane, Robert 446

Keith, John F 451

Kirkland, Albert 459

Kilbourn, Elisha E 467

Kofod, John 516

Klawiter, Rev. Anthony ... 583
Kieswetter, M.t)., Paul 11. . . .611

Kendrick, Henry L 614

King, Ephraim T 615

Knowlton, Hiram L 616

Kewley, John 017

Kingsley, Eunnett T 617

Lannes, Andrew Julin 33

Lyon, Charles 36

Lockwood, Clark R 39

Lewis, Nathan D 48.

La Due, Jerome 79

I>undquist, Olof 96

Libby, A. H 153

Lake, Hon. Henry C 160

Livingston, John J 177

TAI1LI-: OF CONTEXTfi.

Luphani, Ariodi . .
LanJscIioof, Joseiih, Jr.
I^et, Willis ]). . .
Imvc, Joy ...
Lombard, Lucius

Loi-d, ]'.ela B

Lambert, Hon. Joliii S.
Lee, (ieorge . . . •
Lanphere, Ca|it. Jolin 1
Langford, John ...
Lnsoelles, Jjolin IL . .
Lauphere, Chauncy A.
Leonard, Clayton D. .
Lown, Andrew . . .
Leet, George Edwin .
Lake, Edwin P. . . .
Lnnt, Alfred J. .
Lowell, Albert 1'. . .
Liverniore, Emory W

Martin, Hon. William
MeDonougl), Michael
Minion, James H. . .
Merrill, David E. . .
Myriek, Cornelius W.
Maynard, J. D. . . .
Montgomery, Harvey
Mulgrew, James . . .
Morgan, Charles W. .
Morris, Hon. Lorenzo
Mawliir, George D. .
Mawhir, John . . .
Murray, ( liarlcs I).
Mericlc, .\ndrew J. .
Minor, WilliiHH K.
Martin, William
Milspaw, Wesley . .
Maginnis, Henry J. .
Morian, Alexander
Mathews, Benjamin 1'
Mace, William . . .
Munson, Milton .J.
Miison, Addison . . .
Mai-sh, tieorge W. . .

. 192
. 200
201!
21 T)
2f;5
2'.>7
32'.)
3S.S
370
413
449
4o3
489
494
532
614
028
629
(ifi-

. 71
93
. 94
. 123
. 158
. 1.59
. 164
.216
. 240
. 246
. 265
. 271
. 277
. 280
. 292
. 309
. 324
. 356
. 358
. 380
. 305
. 395
. 407
. 410

Madigan, .lohn . .
Mead, AmosT., Jr.
May, Francis . . .
Munson, Alson N. .
Mimson, Henry S. .
Mahle, Jercmi.ah
McGinnie,s, Joseph .
M.aple.s, Chariest;.
Miniger, William L.
Merriam, F. T. . .
Munson, Harry S.
Morris, John W.
McFadden, .John
Maxwell, Robert A.
Mead, Edmund . .
Montgomery, W'illiani
Marvin, Frederick N
McAllister, James .
Miniger, Alexander M
Ma.son, Silas W. . .
McDauiels, Almeron
Moore, Israel (i.
Martin, Jonas . . .
Martin, George Le Roy
Moon, Col. Jeffrey T. .
Mahoney, John . . .
McCartliv.John . .

N.
Nichols, Bcnjaniin .
Newton, Sherman U.
Newell, Thomas J.
Newton, William M.
Noxon, Matthew S.
Nichols, Ira C. .
Northam, Solomon I!
Newbury, Adelbert A
Newl.and, Robert
Newman, Harry J
Near, Lafayette .
Nixon, Hon. S. Frederick
Norton, Sylvanus
Nobles, George .
Nevins, Milo P.
Neill, Hugh . . .

r-.xgi-
4-24
427
438
448
452
477
492
494
516
517
518
530
.534
543
540
579
592
(■30
(131
631
633
034
035
035
(SO
037
637

89
147
178
203
366
440
460
464
488
492
519
038
038
639
640

Page

Olson, ( )lof A 85

Ottaway, Arthur I! 94

O'Brien, John W 108

Odell, Henry W 520

( )l.som, Louis 520

Ormes, M.D., Cornelius .... 5.57
Omes, M.D., Frank I ). . 501

O'Connell, John F 590

Osnier, Richard A 041

Osborn, Elmer 041

Peckliam, \'cruou E 27

Patterson, lion. Geo. W' 55

Patterson, George W 61

Putnam, Major Edgar P. .68

Phillips, Philip 75

Pardee, Myron W 109

Price, Addison A. and Wilson A., 122

Pennock, Jonathan P 127

Pitts, John W 147

Peterson, A. John 149

Peacock, Judge William .... 212

Pierce, Levi J 210

Phillips, Albert L 288

Pettit, William W 292

Parker, Amos 357

Phillips, Brewer D 300

Powers, William E 404

Patterson, John K 405

Palmer, Alfred 411

Porter, Oscar L 419

Price, Oscar F 420

Phillips, Peter G 401

Post, Daniel Hazeltiue 402

Perry, William I! 497

Peacock, Thomas A 521

Peters, Arthur 521

Prenderga.sl, Hon. Henry A. . .522

Payne, Charles S 523

Peckham, William (i 524

Phillips, Hurlburt L 525

Pabody, Ezra F 525

Parks, George W. 541

TAHLE OF CONTENTS.

Preudergast, Dr. William
Piiiilus, Michael, Jr. . .
I'ickanl, Major AIouzo .
I'elton, Marcus Aliihoiizo
Palmer, Daniel N. . . .

Peirce, Albert P

Palmer, K. 11. . .
Pratli. r, Al.ral.aii, S. . .

5(!2

580
. r,93

020
. 042
. 042

043
. 044

Smith, D.D., Kev. Cl\arles

Shearman, Col. Silas, R.

A.P

Kecord, l.srael .104

Record, John! i 107

Rykert, Gilbert M 108

Roesch, Lewis 108

Rugg, Corydon A 199

Rii.s.sell, David 238

Rossiter, (leorge I. ...... . 273

Reynolds, Henry 323

Rowley, Ira I) 374

Rathbun, D.DS., Chauni'cy M. . . 399

Reed, William F. L. F 4Ui

Root, Will M 428

Roberts, Thomas IT 439

Ryckman, G. P^ 445

Eider, Delos J 480

Randall, Nelson 487

Risley, Laurens ( i 045

Ross, M.D., Artemus 040

Reed, Richard 047

Robinson, William 11 047

Rush, Jolui P. 048

Smith, Hon. Hiram 21

Sheldon, Hon. Porter . ... 22

Stafford, Aastin II 25

Scofield, Carl W 31

Strong, M.D., Thoma,s D ... 80

Simmons, Harvey 101

Stearns, Crawford 129

Slotboon, John A 149

Starring, Alfred A 108

Skinner, Edward A . . 173

Slieldon, Hon. Albert B .179

Sly.W. S

Severance, Henry . .
Shattuck, Lawrence E .
Skidmore, S. M . . . .
Saxton, Isaac A . . . .
Sherman, David () .
Sternclierg, John .1
Swezey, Samuel N . . .
Shaw, Horace II . . . .
Sessions, Hon. Frank E

Shaw, Robert

Sterling, Charles II
Skinner, Homer J .
Stoddard, Oren ...
Sturdevant, Charles B .
Smith, William L . .
Skinner, George L . .
Sherman, Winslow . .
Strong, William C) . . .
Shaw, Dr. Orriu C
Swetland, M.D., Benjamin
Sheldon, Charles E .
Scott, J. Frank . . .
Sherman, Judge Dauie
Shaver, James II . .
Spencer, Frank G .
Sherman, Charles II
Stetson, Oliver . . .
Smith, MD., Charles
Scofield, Dr. Era M .
Snyder, Julius L .
Simmons, Alexander .
Sexton, WMlliam . . .
Sikcs, Iddo A . . . .

Shaw, Frank E

Seymour, M.D., (Jeorge W
Sykes, Lieutenant William
Stoneberg, John A . .
Stone, Anson A . . .
Strong, Walter E
Sackett, Marcus
Stebliins, Charles

I'agf
E. . . 181
P. and

. 189
. 190
200
, i05
220
182
245
250
258
270
274
290
298
314
310
330
332
349
350
354
3-55
359
300
427
430
4.30
44J
455
458
405
473
491
490
522
520

Page

Smith, Daniel C

. . 641

Sawln, Horace!! . .

. . 542

Stebbins, All)erl 11

. . 545

Strunk, WillitUM 1'

. . .545

Smiley, John

. . 548

. 549

Sixbey, Herman . .

. . 504

Stai)f, Frank V .

. . 581

Stapf, John A

. . .582

Stearns, Hon. L. F . . .

. . 688

Simmons, Franklin . . .

. . 589

Solomonson, Andrew, Ji-

, - .589

Strong, Gilbert W

. 044

049

Simpson, Rev. Charles

, . 0.50

Spear, John T

. . 050

Spear, Thomas

. . 051

Stearn.s, E. P

. 051

Sears, Hiriau

. •i52

Smith, I)avid, Jr. . .

Stevens, M.D., Allen A. .

. 0.53

Slocum, Jonathan II. .

. 053

Shults, Charles J

. 054

Sweeney, Michael W. . . .

. . 055

. . 050

Skinner, l<;iial \\ . . . .

. - 050

529
530
532
533
534

Tucker, Rev. ( 'liarles E 34

Thompson, Norman 1! 35

Tousley, John II 02

Thompson, Hugli \V 100

Taylor, David II 172

Thomas, I'red. W 172

Tower, Klish.a, .Ir 223

Thayer, J. L 232

Toomey, Daniel F 291

Tifliiny, Albert J 293

Talcott, Chauncy Q 308

Towne, Hon. George E . . . . 325

Taylor, James 490

Taylor, John 491

Taylor, Seymour A 491

Taylor, Edgar S 491

Tennaut, Delos < J 552

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Tennant, Alviu J .
Tennant, Jolin A .
Torrey, David A .

Tellt, Asa

Thonipsou, Lewis B.
Taylor, A.M., Almon N.

Tallman, John

Tolles, Edgar B. . . .
/Truesdell, Zebedee .
Taylor, Erastus II. . . .

Page

. 5.54
. 568
. 613
. G57
. G57
. 658
. 658
. 659
660
, 660

Usborne, William 06 1

V.
Van Dusen, Theodore F . . . . 26

Van Dusen, George C 32

Vincent, James 156

Van Dusen, Hon. Almon A . . 65
Van Buren, James Lyman . . . 355
Vandergrift, William K., Jr . . 384
Valentine, I'eter F . . . . 584
Vandergrift, Theophiliis J . . G61

Page

Warner, Lucius Bolls 17

Weeks, Charles E 47

Walker, William H 163

Widman, Albert C 165

Wheeler, Frank S 180

Waggoner, Daniel L 206

Wilson, David A 222

Woleben, Marvin H 225

Wilcox, Charles N 245

Wilson, F. B 267

Weaver, George K . . . 272

Ward, James H 273

White, Dr. Squire 288

Warr, Jesse 311

Wincli, Jay 321

Walker, James C 338

Weeden, Lyman F 353

Williams, Samuel P 362

WVtson, Albert S 384

Wilson, Lydell L 409

Waterhouse, M.D., John A . . .423

Page

Watrons, Justin 493

Wright, Reuben CJ 537

Wilson, W. Thomas 563

White, Charles F 587

Woodbury, Hon. Egbert E . . . 590

Wade, Arthur C 591

Woodward, John 595

Walter, Joseph M 597

Wilson, James 623

Wallace, Matthew 624

Wicks, Charles H 662

Wilson, William H 663

Wiggins, Elmer H 663

Wood,SamneI 664

York, Stephen H 437

Young, William B 434

Zahn, .John M.

Sketch of the Early History of CiiAUTAiniUA County 673

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY,

T . UCIUS BOLLS WARXER. It may be

^~^ said of Lucius Bolls Warner, without
detracting aught from any other whose name
stands high on the roll of Jamestown's useful
citizens, that his honesty and integrity, his career
of industry and his public-spirited services and
liberal contributions for the development and
the prosperity of his town, furnish an example
that may be profitably followed by every young
man who aspires to a position of thrift, useful-
ness and respectability. He was born at Mill-
ington, Middlesex county, Connecticut, March
3, 182<S, and is a son of Ephraim and INIary
SjMDcer (Miner) Warner.

In 1850 he came to Jamestown, where he es-
tablished himself in the furniture and chair
business. After five years of unremunerative
returns in that line of business, Mr. Warner,
having faith in a rapid future development of
Jamestown, resolved to deal largely in lumber.
He then commenced the planing-mill and lum-
ber business on Baker street, south of the Outlet.
After fourteen years of successful business, his
mill was destroyed by fire, August 23, 18G7.
He then purchased the property on Baker street
south of the Outlet, known as the Baker mill,
where his mill and lumberyards are at present
situated.
2

For over thirty-three years his business has
increased with the growth of the town, until now
his lumber plant is one of the important and
essential enterprises of Jamestown. His plant
covers three and one-half acres in extent, em-
bracing large storage yards, a saw-mill, 56 x 90
feet in dimensions, and a planing-mill 56 x 106
feet in dimensions.

One who is well acquainted with Mr. Warner
and his works states that every facility known
to the trade is afforded the customei-s of this
house, and its high rejiutation, maintained for a
third of a century in the same location, is the
best evidence of its popularity and stabi]it3^

Mr. Warner is a man of good judgment in
financial matters. In politics he is a rei^ublican,
but takes no active part in political affairs, and
desires no office. Unsolicited, he has held a num-
ber of offices of public trust, where he reudei-ed
good service with credit to himself. No citizen of
Jamestown has ever been more interested in its
prosperity, or contributed more freely to any
object calculated to advance its material, mental
or moral welfare than Lucius Bolls Warner.
Commencing life as a poor boy, he has won both
ample fortune and honorable position, by ability,
energy and inflexible honesty. In 1887 he sup-
plied a great need in Jamestown by erecting

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

wliat is known as the Warner block. It is an
imposing five-story brick biiikling, of SO x 15(3
feet in dimensions. It is occupied by kirge
stores and business offices. He enjoys the
good will and respect of the citizens of James-
town, and is recognized by all who know him as
a public-spirited citizen. He possesses those
characteristics which clearly define a strong in-
dividuality, self-reliance, even temper on trying
occasions, and uniform kindness. Honesty, in-
tegrity, generosity and public-spiritedne.ss are
some of the pronounced traits of character on
which Mr. Warner has built a symmetrical man-
hood of substantial moral worth.

Tj^LEAZEK GKEEN, a member of the
-"■^ Cliautau(|ua county bar, was born at
Remsen, Oneida county, New York, ]March
16, 1846, and is the youngest son of Eleazer,
Sr., and Sylvina (Kent) Green. His paternal
grandfather, Ezra Green, was a native of
Litchfield, Connecticut, where he was a hotel
keeper, served in the Revolutionary war, re-
moved to Oneida county, N. Y., where he ibl-
lowed farming, was a Presbyterian and married
Amy Church of his native State, by whom he
had thirteen children. His matei'ual grand-
father, Silas Kent, was born in New England,
removed to Oneida county, this State, married
Annis Dayton, by whom he had seven children ;
he was a farmer and died when comparatively
a young man.

Eleazer Green, Sr., was born in Oneida county,
May 16, 1800, and removed in 1847 to Chau-
tauqua county, where he died September 12,
1884. He was a man of intelligence and edu-
cation, served for several years as superintendent
of the public schools of Oneida county, and was
also a teacher for many years in the schools of
that county. He was one of the early aboli-
tionists, and after the Republican party came
into existence he supported its principles. He
was a prominent and useful citizen of the town
of Busti, in Chautauqua county, owning a large

farm in that town, which he managed success-
fully for many years. He married Sylvina
Kent, and they passed over sixty years of a
happily married life together. They were the
parents of six children : Broughton W., a farmer
of Busti ; Sophia (deceased), who was the \s ife
of George W. Smith, of Ohio ; Betsy S., wife
of Elias Hurlbut, of Kansas; Amy C, wife of
Amos Palmer, of Jamestown ; William E., who
died at the age of sixteen years, and Eleazer.

Eleazer Green was reared in the towns of
Busti and Harmony, and received his education
in the common schools and Westfield academy.
Leaving school in 1867, he entered the Albany
Law School, graduating therefrom in 1868, when
he was admitted to the bar; he then entered the
law offices of Cook & Lockwood, where he read
for two years; he then opened au office in James-
town, where he has since practiced his profes-
sion. In 1882 he became a member of the
present law firm of Sheldon, Green, Stevens &
Benedict. In addition to his law practice he has
dealt in real estate. He is the founder of " Green-
hurst," ujjon Lake Chautauqua, where the hotel
known as "The Greenhurst" is situated.

On November 5, 1873, Eleazer Green mar-
ried Mary E. Brown, daughter of Samuel and
Clarissa Brown, who formerly lived at Ashville,
Chautauqua county. They have three children :
Edward James, born April 6, 1875; Ella W.,
born November 15, 1876, and Clara L., born
August 24, 1879. Mr. Green is a republican
and an attendant at the Congregational church.

Aside from the duties of his law practice, Mr.
Green has interested himself in the subject of
fish culture, and has devoted much time and
attention to the subject of increasing the supply,
in Lake Chautaufpia, of the famous food and
game fish — the muskallonge. The muskallonge
had never been propagated artificially, and it
was necessary to study its habits in order to suc-
cessfully and intelligently do so. Mr. Green,
believing in the practicability of the idea, raised
a fund with which to pay the expense of experi-

:5£/'^ ^//x#-

OF CHAX-TAUQUA COUNTY.

ments, contributing iurgely of his own means to
the enterprise, corresponded with Seth Green,
one of the fish conunissioners of the State of
New York, and a noted fish culturist, sending
]Mr. Green muskallonge, from time to time, for
his examination, that he might learn more of
their hal)its, time of spawning, etc., and such an
interest was awakened that the commissioners
of fislieries of the State of New York, took hold
of tlie enterprise, and, with the fund raised by
Eleazer Green, augmented by State funds, pro-
secuted experiments until it has been demon-
strated that muskallonge can be successfully
hatciied artificialiv.

HON. HIRAM S3IITir, ex-member of the
General Assembly of New York and
a highly respected citizen of Jamestown, is
a son of Rodney B. and Achsah (Blodgett)
Smith, and was born in the town of Han-
over, Chautauqua county. New York, October
2o, 1819. His paternal grandfather, Isaac
Smith, of English descent, was a native of
Massachusetts and removed, in 1802, to the
town of Gorham, Ontario county. Eight years
later he came to Sheridan and soon afterwards
removed to Hanover, this county. He was a
farmer, served in the war of 1812 and partici-
pated in the disaster at Buffalo. The forced
march home from that city induced a fever
which resulted in his death. He married a Miss
Morton and had nine children: Henry, Hiram,
Matilda, Rodney B., Roxanna, Esther, Atilla,
Benjamin and one whose name is forgotten.

Rodney B. Smith, the third son, and father of
Hon. Hiram Smith, was born February 3, 1799,
in Whately, Hampden county, Mass., and died
at "Smith's Mills," in May, 1873, aged seventy-
four years. At fifteen years of age he volunteered
to take his eldest brother Henry's place in the
army and was in the battles of Chippewa, Black
Rock and Williamsvilie. Henry, who was but
eighteen years of age, returned from the army
to care for his seven younger brothers and sisters^

who were orplianod within one year bv the death
of both father and mijther. Rodney 1^. Smitii,
after the war of 1812, engaged in business witli
good success. In 182-1 he became a sub-eon-
tractor under Thompson & Bird, for tlie con-
struction of tlie Black Rock dam, in connectiou
with tlie Erie canal, and afterwards was a con-
tj'actor on the canal until its completion. He
then returned to this count)', where he purchased
a small mill of his brother and enlarged it into
what is now known as Smith's Mills. He also
erected a distillery, tannery and store, and for
thirty years was actively engaged in these dif-
ferent lines of business. He was a member for
several years of tlie ^Methodist Episcopal church
and a useful citizen of the community in whicii
he resided, but for the last thirty years of his
life he became entii-ely liberal in his theological
ideas. He married Achsah Blodgett, and to
them were born seven sons and seven daughters,
of whom four are living: Hon. Hii'am ; Lyman
B., a lawyer of Buffalo; Myron, an officer of
the Third Wisconsin Cavalry during the late
war, and now engaged in farming in Kansas;
and Byron, who resides on the homestead.

Hiram Smith was reared on a farm and
thoroughly trained to an active business life.
He received his education at Fredonia academy,
and at an early age entered into the general
business of milling, distilling, merchandising
and farming at " Smith's Mills." During the
late civil war he entered the Federal service,
was appointed by President Lincoln as a United
States quartermaster, and at the end of nearly
four years' active service was honorably mus-
tered out with the rank of major. After the
war Major Smith went to St. Louis, where he
was engaged in business one year. In 1867 lie
returned to .Jamestown, where he embarked in
merchandising, whicli he followed during 1867.
Three years later he engaged in his present
prosperous and extensive life and fire insurance
business.

September 10, 1844, he married Melissa P.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Love, daughter of Major George Love, of For-
estvillc. They are the parents of two children :
IMary, wife of Mason M. Skiff, a graduate of
Union college, and now coiuraissiouer of public
works ; and Major George R., who graduated
from West Point Military academy in 1875,
afterwards married Coriune Barrett, grand-
daughter of Major Samuel Barrett, of James-
town, and is now stationed with United States
troops at Leavenworth, Kansas, iiaving been
appointed paymaster in the United States army
by President Arthur in 1882.

In political opinion Hiram Smith was a dem-
ocrat until 185C, after which he affiliated with
the Republican party until 1872. In 1859
and 1860 he was elected as a member of the
New York Legislature from the Second Assem-
bly District of Chautauqua county, and served
in that body as chairman of the committee on
roads and bridges, besides being a member of
the committee on railroads, revision of towns
and counties, and several other important com-
mittees. He received the nomination of the
Democratic party for Congress in 1884, but was
not successful, as at that time the republicans
had a majority of ten thousand votes in the
Thirty-fourth Congressional District. Mr.
Smith is regarded as one of the reliable busi-
ness men and substantial citizens of Jamestown.
In 1890 Mr. Smith was the democratic nominee
for Congress in tiie Thirty-fourth Congressional
District.

HON. PORTER SHELDON is one of
Jamestown's most distinguished citizens,
and Chautauqua county's most eminent lawyers.
With Chief Justice Fuller, of the Supreme
Court of the United States, Long John Went-
worth, and other able and talented men, he took
prominent part through the many .stormy ses-
sions of the Illinois Constitutional Convention
of 1861 that gave to Illinois her present State
Constitution. Porter Sheldon was born at Vic-
tor, Ontario county, New York, September 29,

1831, and is a son of Gad and Eunice (Hors-
ford) Sheldon. The genealogical record of the
Sheldon family in western New York begins
with Capt. Sheldon, who was a descendant of
the Sheldons who emigrated from Germany to
England, and from thence came to Vermont, and
afterwards settled in New York. Capt. Sheldon
(grandfather) was an officer in the war of 1812,
and after its close removed to Monroe county, this
State. His son, Gad Sheldon (flither), was born
in Vermont, reared in Monroe county, and
early in life became a resident of Ontario coun-
ty, where he died in 1874. He was a farmer,
and married Eunice Horsford, a native and
resident of New York. Their family consisted
of five sons and one daughter : Mary E. ;
Charles H., a real estate dealer of Rochester,
N. Y. ; Carton W., of Rockford, Illinois, and
secretary of a large insurance company having
its principal office at that place ; Alexander, a
prominent lawyer ; Porter and Ogilvie.

Poi'ter Sheldon received his education in the
common schools of Ontario county, and Fre--
donia academy of Chautauqua county, from
which he was graduated in the class of 1852.
After graduation he took up the study of law
with George Barker, afterwards read with Alvali
Warden, a jjromineut lawyer of Ontario county
and a brother-in-law of William H. Seward,
and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme
Court at Batavia in 1854. Immediately after
admission he formed a partnership with his
brother Alexander, at Randolph, Cattaraugus
county, where he remained until 1856, when he
came to Jamestown and opened an office. The
next year he removed to Rockford, Illinois,
where he secured a lucrative practice, and at-
tained such favorable standing with the people
of Winnebago county that he was elected in
; 1861 from that county as a delegate to the State
j Constitutional Convention of that j'ear. He
' was one of the twenty-two republican members
of that notable body, which contained many of
I the leading men and ablest jurists of that State.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Convened amidst the opening scenes of the
greatest war of modern times, the convention
was agitated in its deliberations hy the intro-
duction of sectional topics and the exhibition
of sectional prejudice. He took a prominent
part in some of its stormy sessions, and thus
became well known throughout the State. Five
years later — in August, 1866 — he returned to
Jamestown, and formed a law-partnership with
his brother Alexander, who died shortly after-
wards. From that time until the present he
has practiced continuously, but about five years
ago he retired from the main part of his com-
mon practice, and since then has only appeared
in some of the most important cases that have
come before the courts. In 1868 he was elected
a member of the Forty-first Congress to repre-
sent the then Thirty-first District of New York,
composed of the counties of Chautauqua and
Cattaraugus. His services in that body were of
such a character as to win the approval of his
entire constituency of all parties.

May 12, 1858, he married Mary Crowley,
daughter of Hon. Rufus Crowley, of Randolph,
Cattaraugus county, N. Y., who was a promi-
nent republican leader of that county, and has
served several terms as a member of the State
Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon are the
parents of three children : Cora, wife of Her-
bert W. Tew, cashier of the City National Bank ;
Ralph C, engaged in business with his father ;
and Harry, a clerk in the City National Bank.

Mr. Sheldon is a large man, of fine personal
appearance and agreeable manners. He is pres-
ident of the American Aristotype Company of
Jamestown, and in various other ways is inter-
ested in the thrift and advancement of his city.
No man in the State has made a better reputa-
tion as a lawyer, and no man in the county is
more popular with his fellow-citizens thau Mr.
Sheldon. His reputation is lasting and his popu-
larity is enduring, for the one is founded on his
acknowledged ability as a lawyer, and the otiier
upon his useful services rendered this county.

TJ USTIN H. STAFFORD, ex-clerk of the

■'^*- courts of Chautauqua county, commander
of James M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the
Republic, and a member of the reliable and
successful pension attorney firm of Waiter &
Stafford, of Jamestown, was born in the town
of Ellington, Ciiautauqua county. New York,
August 27, 1843, and is a son of Lieut. John
A. and Polly (Rubblee) Stafford. Among the
early settlers of the town of Ellington, this
county, was John Stafford, the paternal grand-
father of Austin H. Stafford. He was a car-
penter and contractor and married Sophia Ran-
dall, who bore him nine children : Abel, Sophia,
Electa, Isaac, Sally, Oriuda, Russell, Martin and
John A. On the maternal side, Austin H.
Stafford's grandfather was Rolli Rubblee, a na-
tive of Lanesboro', Massachusetts, who settled
in the town of Ellington in an early day — 1823.
When he first came he traded his horse on his
land and then walked ba(;k to Lanesboro' and
brought out his family. His wife was Betsy Green.
He was a farmer and one of the founders of the
old Christian church of Ellington. Lieut. John
A. Stafford (father) was born in 1817 and died
in his native town of Ellington in 1844. He
was a carpenter by trade, a well-respected citi-
zen of the community in which he resided and
was a lieutenant in the New York militia. His
wife was Polly Rubblee, and they had three
children : Martin J., who enlisted in Company
A, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols.,' in July, 1862,
fought at Fort Sumter, in the Wilderness cam-
paign and at Fort Fisher, and died at home in
1872 from the effects of exposure ; Joseph, who
was the first man in April, 1861, to enlist in
Company H, 37th regt., N. Y. Vols., served
two years, re-enlisted, became a member of Com-
pany K, 9th N. Y. Cavalry, served till the close
of the war and now resides at Midland City,
Micliigan, where he is an oil producer; and
Austin H. Mrs. Stafford, after her husband's
death, married Joseph Nestle, and is now sev-
entv three vears of age.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Austin H. Stafford received his edueation in
the coniiiion schools. When a boy he worked
in a woolen factory until he was thirteen years
of age. He then learned the carpenter and
cooper trades, and in 18(j7 became proprietor of
a butter-tub and cheese-case manufacturing es-
tablishment at Ellington. In 18(>'J he was un-
fortunate enough to have his left hand so badly
crushed in the factoiy as to be unable to work
any longer at that business. He then engaged
in the produce business, which he followed until
1885, when he was elected county clerk by the
Republican party of Chautauqua county, and
ran 700 votes ahead of his ticket. He served
very satisfactorily in that office, and at the end
of his term in 1888 he took one year's vacation
from business, which he spent in traveling. In
January, 1890, he and Joseph i\I. Walter formed
a partnership under the firm-name of Walter &
Stafford, and became United States pension at-
torneys and notaries public in Jamestown. In
a kw months they have handled a large number
of cases and have been very successful.

On February (J, 18G9, he married Louise M.,
daughter of Warren Arnold, of Ellington. They
have two children: De Leo and James P.

The military career of Mr. Stafford com-
menced on August -1, 1862, when he eulisteil in
Company B, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols. He
served in the Army of the James, Army of the
Potomac and under Sherman in i^orth Carolina.
He participated in many battles and numerous
skirmishes with his regiment. He was iu the
very front of the storming of Fort Fisher, and
Mas honorably discharged June 13, 18G5. When
the Grand Army of the Republic was organized
iu the county he became prominent in the move-
ment and has served as commander of three
different posts. He is a member of the A. ().
U. W., Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows and
Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church. Mr.
Stafford has always been a republican, is proud
of the fact of casting his first vote for Abraham
Lincoln in 18G4 and has been chosen rejieatedly

by his party as a delegate to State and county
conventions. In addition to his Jamestown
agency Mr. Stafford has a controlling interest in
a very profitable real estate business in the city
of Buffalo, jS'. Y. Active, energetic and reli-
able in whatever he undertakes, he is now iu the
midst of a verv successful business career.

nrHKODOKE F. VAX DUSEX, an active
-'■ business man of Jamestown and one of the
coroners of Chautauqua count}', is a son of Ben-
jamin F. and Mehitable (Lovell) Van I)nsen,
and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county.
New York, June 8, 1846. His remote ances-
tors on the paternal side were natives of Hol-
land. Several members of this Van Dusen
family came from their home in that country
and settled at an early day at Claverick, in what
is now Columbia county, Xew York. In 1720
Abraham Van Dusen, a descendant of one of
these Van Dusens, went to Connecticut, where
he settled at Salisbuiy. He was the father of
John Van Dusen, who was the grandfather of
Theodore F. Van Dusen. John Van Dusen
had a son, John Van Du.sen, Jr., who married
Mary Forbes and reared a family of six chil-
dren : Alonzo, INIarshall, Harry, Elizabeth,
Benjamin F. and Edwin, who enlisted as a sol-
dier in the Federal army during the late war
and was killed in one of the battles of that
great struggle. Benjamin F. Van Dusen, the
fourth sou and fifth child of the family, was
born in Perry, Wyoming county, New York,
January 3, 1815. He learned the trade of cab-
inet-maker and came in 1842 to Jamestown,
where he was engaged for many j'ears in the
cabinet-making business and where he has re-
sided ever since. He is a republican in politics
and a member of the Baptist church. He mar-
ried Mehitable Lovell, who is a daughter of
William Lovell, a native of Maosachusetts.
Their children are: Judge Almon A., whose
liiography ap[)ears in this volume in connection
with the Mayville sketches; Theodore F. and

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

George C, ao attoriiey-at-la\v (see his sketch).
Theodore F. Van Diisen was reared at James-
town, wlicre lie received his education, in tiie
public schools of that city. Leaving sciiool, he
learned the trade of cabinet-maker with his
father, and in 1870 removed to Sugar Grove,
Warren county, Pa., where he embarked in the
undertaking business. Four years later he re-
turned to Jamestown, where he formed a part-
nership with his brother, George C.Van Dusen,
in their present undertaking business, under the
firm-name of Theodore F. Van Dusen & Bro.
Mr. Van Dusen gives a considerable portion of
his time to his well-established and prosperous
business, and is amply prepared to furnish any-
thing to be found in a first-class undertaking
establishment. He is secretary of the Chautau-
qua County Undertakers' Association, and was
elected coroner of the county in 1887.

He married, February 20, 1866, Frances A.
Smith, a daughter of Ezra Smith, a farmer of
the town of Poland. To their union have been
born four children: Vesta M., Nellie G., Theo-
dore E. and Alice L., who died young.

Theodore F. Van Dusen is a member of the
First Baptist church and a member and Past
Grand of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, I. O. O. F.
In political matters he is a republican. For
the last ten years he has been a member and the
secretary of the board of health of Jamestown.
He is also serving his city, at the present time,
as register of vital statistics.

T iERNON E. PECKHA3r, a member of tiie

''- Chautauqua county bar in successful prac-
tice in Jamestown, is a descendant, through
one of bis ancestors, of Capt. John Smith, the
real founder of the Virginia Colony, and tiie
first thorough explorer of the New England
coast, and whose meteor-like career in America
for the benefit of English civilization made a
lasting impression on the world's history.

Vernon E. Peckham was l)orn in Allegany
county, New York, October 1, 1849, and is a

sou of Lauriston and Mary J. (Bacon) Peck-
ham. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Peck-
ham, '.vas born iu 1786, in Rhode Island, and
removed iu early life to near Boston, Massachu-
setts, which he soon left to settle in New York.
He first located temporarily in Cortland, but
soon settled permanently iu Allegany county,
where he died in 1873, at the rij)e old age of
eiglity-sevcn years. He was a farmer by occu-
pation, a carpenter by trade, a Baptist in church
membership, and a republican in political senti-
ment. He married Julia Smith, who traced
her ancestry back to Capt. John Smith, the hero
of Virginia's early history. Their family num-
bered four sons and four daughters. One of
these sous, Lauriston Peckham (father), was
born February 5, 1823, at Homer, N. Y., and
now resides at Angelica, this State. At twenty-
one years of age he learned the carpenter's
trade, but soon afterwards purchased a large
farm, which he tilled up to 1871, when he sold
it and retired from active life. He is a re-
markably industrious and very even-tempered
man, and supports the Republican party. He
married Mary J. Bacon, and they have but one
child, the suliject of this sketch. Mrs. Peck-
ham is a woman of unusual good judgment and
business ability, and her husband and sou
ascribe much of their success in life as due to
her wise counsels, judicious suggestions and in-
spiriting words. She was born February 10,
1824, aud is a daughter of Thomas Bacon, who
was the sou of a Mr. Bacon, a merchant who,
in the early histoiy of Boston, had a store on
Bacon street, now called Becon, although spelled
Bacon. Thomas was left an orphan at the age
of nine years and went to sea, which he followed
for many years, until shipwrecked off the coast
of Nova Scotia ; he was one of only three of
the whole crew that succeeded in reaching shore.
Among the sailors he was known as honest
Scotch Bacon, and was an houorably discharged
soldier of the war of 1812. He married Betsy
Woodcock, of Vermont, and came to Allegany

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

county, this State, where they reared a family
of six children, one son and five daughters.
Thomas Bacon was a man of great will power,
scrupulous honesty and untiring energy.

Vernon E. Peckham received his education
in district schools, and the Belfast academy,
Allegany county, New York. After finishing
his course in the Belfast Academy, he followed
teaching for three or four years, and, in 1873,
commenced the study of law with Hon. D. P.
Richardson at Angelica, New York, and was
admitted to the bar on April 7, 1878, at Roches-
ter, N. Y. In the following August he went
to Attica, Wyoming county, where he purchased
the office and books of ex-Judge M. Thrall,
and commenced the practice of his profession.
He remained five years, and then was compelled
to leave a very flattering practice on account of
failing health. After one year spent at Omaha,
he returned to his father's, where he continued j
to gain in health. In Februarv, 1885, he
deemed himself sufficiently recuperated to re-
sume his profession, and came to Jamestown,
where he has been in active practice ever since.
He is a republican politically, and while in
Attica, in 1880, he was elected justice of the
peace, and served for one year, resigning when
he went to Omaha. He is a Royal Arch Mason,
and a member of the Presbyterian church, of
which his wife is also a member.

January 28, 1880, he united in marriage with
Helen Cogswell, of Attica, who is a graduate of
Attica Collegiate Institute, and the Musical
Conservatory of Cleveland, Ohio. She is a
daughter of ]Moses Cogswell, who was a station
agent on the Lake Erie railroad for many years,
but resigned that position to acce])t the office of
general freight agent of the T. K. M., having
his headquarters at the city of Chicago, 111.
Returning from a visit to his family at Attica,
he lost his life on the ill-fated passenger train
that went down on the Ashtabula bridge in 187G.
Mr. and Mrs. Peckham have two children, Mary
and John.

A list of Jamestown's able and successful
lawyers is almost a catalogue of its entire num-
ber of attorneys, and among this uncommonly
able array of legal talent Mr. Peckham has
found no trouble in securing and holding a high
rank. He was associate counsel in the noted
George W. Foster murder trial, and has taken
part in many other important ca.ses ; he has won
and retained the good- will and respect of all
w'ho know him.

T^^KWARIi K. BOOTEY, who, in addition
-*"*• to the reputation of being a successful ad-
vocate, enjoys popular distinction as one of the
ablest criminal lawyers of western New York, is
a son of Simon and Ann (Couvoyne) Bootey, and
was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county,
N. Y., April 16, 1839. The Bootey name has
been well and favorably known for several gen-
erations in Cambridgeshire, England, while the
Couvoyne family traces its remote American
ancestor back to honorable parentage under the
rule of the " Grand Monarque " of France.
John Bootey (grandfather) was born and reared
near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, where
he lived a quiet and honest life, and where he
died the serene and peaceful death of a Chris-
tian. His excellent character and consistent
walk in life so recommended him as being a
man safe to trust that he was appointed as su-
perintendent of a large landed estate, which
position he held until well advanced in years,
when by an accident he was disabled for the
remainder of his life. He was a member of
one of the churches which were in opposition to
the established Church of England. His c'hil-
dren were : John, Edward, William, Elizabeth,
Fannie, Alary, Philis, and Simon. Of these
Edward and Simon (father) came to the United
States. Simon Bootey was born in 1801, and
came in 1834 to Jamestown, where he resided
until his death in 1875. The farm which he
owned and tilled is now within the borough
limits, and most of the laud is covered with

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

buildings. He was an okl-iiue whig until the
Republican party was organized, when he joined
its ranks and supported its principles as long as
he lived. He was a life-long opponent of Jiu-
niau servitude, denounced negro slavery, and
was one of the early abolitionists of Chautauqua
county. He married Ann Convoyue, a daugh-
ter of Robert Convoyue, and they had seven
children. The three oldest were named Rebec-
ca, Nathan and Edward, and, dying in infimcy,
the next three children were given respectively
the names of the deceased ones. The seventh
child was called Mary Ann.

Edward R. Bootey was reared at Jamestown,
where he received his education in the academy
at that place. Leaving school in the spring of
1860, he entered the office of Cook and Lock-
wood, and commenced the study of law, whicli
he had prosecuted but one year, when the late
civil war burst in all its fury and desolation
upon the land. When President Lincoln's call
for troops was issued, Mr. Bootey left the, law
office, and on September 10, 18C1, enlisted in
Company C, Ninth New York Cavalry. He
served in the Peninsular campaign, under Gen-
eral McClellan, and was honorably discharged
on December 8, 1862. He then returned home,
resumed his interrupted law studies, and was
admitted to the Chautauqua county bar in 1865.
Immediately after admission he commenced the
practice of his profession at Jamestown, which
he has followed ever since. His political career
commenced with his election, in 1865, as justice
of the peace, which office his increasing law
practice soon compelled him to resign. In 1871
he was elecited by his party as district attorney,
and at the clo.se of his term of office he was
placed on what was known as the people's tick-
et. His personal popularity proved a very im-
portant factor in the campaign, and he was
triumphantly re-elected by the largest majority
of any of the successful candidates in the field.
When his second term as district attorney ex-
pired, in 1878, he declined all offers of a renom-

ination, and resumed his law practice, which
had then become so extensive as to require
nearly all of his time. While devoted to his
profession, and giving his undivided attention
and be.st thonglit to tiie interests of his many
clienLs, yet no man lakes a deeper interest in the
political affairs or the material prosperity of the
Empire State than Edward R. Bootey.

In 187G he united in marriage v.ith Emma
Young, of Busti, this county, and they have
one ciiild, Edward R. Bootey, Jr., born No-
vember 25, 1878.

In politics Mr. Bootey has always been an
unswerving republican. Not oidy does he com-
mand the full support of his own party, but he
also has a strong following independent of po-
litical consideration, which has been drawn to
him by his integrity of character, his hone.sty of
purpose, and his efficient services when em-
ployed in a public capacity. He is a member
of James M. Brown Post, No. 285, Grand
Army of the Republic. As a criminal lawver
Mr. Bootey has been very successful, and ranks
with the ablest of that class in the southwestern
part of the State. For the last score of years
there has not been an important criminal case
in the courts of the county but what he has ap-
peared in for either the prosecution or the de-
fence. He was district attorney in 1872, at the
time of the celebrated Charles Marlow trial.
He thoroughly studies his cases, clearly grasps
every important point, and closely scans every
fact however apparently trifling. By these
means he often constructs a plea of seeming ir-
resistible force, and with swiftness or ease, as
the ca.se demands, frequently detects falsehood
and confounds villainy. His success as a plead-
er has been remarkable, his standing as a citi-
zen is very high, and his popularity with the
people is founded upon the integrity, energy,
honesty and fearlessness in the cause of right,
for which he has always been distinguished.
His hou.se is a pleasant one and ho enjoys life
abtindantlv.

BIOGRAPUY AST) HISTORY

T4^ILLIAM aiARVrV BEMUS, M. D.—

•** One who has kept pace with the march
of i^rogress whicli has characterized medical sci-
ence for tlie last quarter of a century, is William
Marvin Bemus, M.D., a young and rising phy-
sician and surgeon of Jamestown, and Chautau-
qua county. He was born at Meadville, Craw-
ford county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1855,
and is the eldest son of Colonel George H. and
Julia (Prendergast) Bemus. The Bemus and
Prendergast families were of New England an-
cestry, and located in the valley of the Hudson
river at an early day in the history of its settle-
ment. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather, William
Bemus, was born probably iu jNIassachusetts,
and served in the Revolutionary war. His
son, Charles Bemus, was boru on the historic
battle-ground of Bemus Heights, which Mere
named in honor of the Benins fiimily. He
served as captain iu tiie war of 1812. Dr.
Daniel Bemus (paternal grandfather) was a
graduate of Pennsylvania Uni\'ersitv, and
served as a surgeon in the war of 1812. In
one of the battles along the Canadian frontier
he was shot through -both knees. He lived to
be eighty-six years of age. Colonel George H.
Bemus was born at Russellburg, Warren Co.,
Pa. He read law, was admitted to the ba7", and
in 1855 located at Meadville, Crawford Co.,
Pennsylvania, for the practice of his profession.
When the late war broke out lie enlisted in the
Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves, and wa.s com-
missioned as first-lieutenant of Company F, of
that regiment. He was successively promoted
until he attained the rank of colonel, and was
placed in command of the Fifty-eighth Regi-
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which made an
enviable record for bravery aud efficient service.
After the close of the war he returned to Mead-
ville, where he has been engaged in the prac-
tice of law ever since. During his residence iu
Crawford county he has been seut twice by his
fellow-citizens to represent them hi the Penn-
.sylvania House of Representatives.

William M. Bemus passed his boyhood years
at Meadville, and received his elementary edu-
cation in the public schools of that place. At
si.xteen years of age he entered Allegheny col-
lege, where he remained two years, and had
passed into the sophomore class, when he left
to study medicine with the late Dr. William
Church, an eminent and highly successful jihv-
.sician of Meadville. After completing a full
course of reading under Dr. Church, he entered
the University of Pennsylvania, in 187(), and
was graduated from that well-known institution
in the class of 1878. He then came to James-
town, where he has practiced his profession ever
since. In 1887, he was appointed United
States Pension Examiner for the district in
which he resides, and at the jjresent time is a
surgeon and staff-officer of the Fourth Brigade,
of New York. For the last eleven years he
has served as health officer of Jamestown, but
increasing practice has caused him lately to re-
signjiis insurance positions. He is a member
of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Jamestown.

On April 30th, 1881, he united in marriage
with Minnie M. Barrows, daughter of R. J.
Barrows, a leading lumber dealer of Jamestown.
Their union has been blest with one child :
Selden Bemus, born May 9, 1884.

Strongly attached to liis profession, and de-
voting his whole energies to its exacting re-
quirements, Dr. Bemus has deserved the success
which he has won by his knowledge aud skill
as a physician. He has been, during his pro-
fessional career, an earnest and constant student,
and has kept well abreast of the rapid advances
of medical science. Of quick perception and
sound judgment, he entertains a coutem])t for
all shams and pretences in his profession. He
is well read, progressive and successful as a
physician and surgeon, and the field of his fu-
ture distinction and usefulness in the medical
profession will by no means be limited to the
boundaries of his town or countv.

CARL W, SCOFIELD.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY.

ry-XRL, W. SCOFIELD, oue of the most siic-
^^ cessf'iil business men that the " Empire
State " has evei* produced and the second
largest oil producer in the world, is a promi-
nent and resjjected citizen of Jamestown and
Chautauqua county. He was born at tiie
village of Peterboro, ■ Madison county, New
York, November 21, 1838, and is a son of Rev.
Abisha and Elizabeth (Marvin) Scofield. Tlie
Scotield family of New York is a branch of
the Connecticut Scofield family. David Scofield
(paternal grandfather) was born and reai'od in
the vicinity of Stamford in the " Land of
Steady habits." He was a soldier of the war
of 1812 and afterwards settled in Greene
■county, New York, where he died. He was a
farmer and married and reared a large family
of children. His son. Rev. Abisha Scofield
(father), was born about 1805 in Greene county.
He completed a full academic course and then
entered one of the foremost eastern colleges
from which he was graduated with honors. He
then entered the theological school of Auburn
and was graduated from that institution with
high standing in his class. He was ordained to
the ministry of the Congregational church and
given a charge. During the early years of his
ministerial life he met and became acquainted
with Gerritt Smith, who was then entering
upon his life-work of proclaiming chattel
slavery as a sin against God and man and de-
manding immediate and unconditional enjauci-
pation of the negroes of the south. Rev. Sco-
field warmly supported Smith's advanced posi-
tion on the slavery question. He accompanied
Smith through the different counties of the
State where they spoke in denunciation of
human servitude and formed anti-slavery so-
cieties. As an abolitionist speaker and lecturer
Abisha Scofield aided largely in educating the
public mind in New York and preparing the
Empire State fjr the important part wiiich it
was to take in the disruption of tlie Whig
party on account of its anti-abjiition tendencies

and tlie establishment of the Republican party
pleilged to immediate limitation and ultimate
extinction of slavery. For his radical course
in agitating the slavery question Rev. Scofield
was called before the Onondaga conference of
his church and silenced as a minister of the
Congregational church. He then began the
work of organizing independent churches in
which he was very successful. His learning,
earnestness and eloquence made him very jiower-
ful in any cause which he advocated. He now
resides at Spencerport, west of Rochester, in
jNIonroe county, on the New York Central
Railroad, and although eighty-five years of
age, retains much of his old time vigor and
energy. He married Elizabeth Marvin, daugh-
ter of a Mr. Marvin, who was a native of
Colchester, Connecticut, and served in the war
of 1812. He was a ship owner and had oue
of his vessels destroyed by the English while
he was in the service of the United States.
Mrs. Scofield died in 1842 and left three child-
ren : Henry, Carl W., and William. Rev.
Scofield for his second wife married Jeannette
Marvin, sister to his former wife. By his
second marriage he has six children.

Carl W. Scofield obtained a common school
education and at fifteen years of age became a
clerk in a bookstore at a very low salary. At
eighteen years of age, by careful economy, he
had saved fifty dollars and with that small sum
embarked in the book business for him.self.
His venture was successful and in a few years
by his business ability, honesty and judicious
management he had laid the foundations of his
future financial prosperity. In 1872 he ac-
cepted a position on the New York Iiulependent
but soon sought a wider sphere of operations
than was afforded by his position and organ-
ized an advertising agency which he rapidly
developed until it furnished business for over
8000 newspapers. After six years of unceas-
ing and toilsome labor in the advertising busi-
ness his health became inii)aired and he paid

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

a visit to liis i':itlier-iii-!a\v, Elijali Bishop, of
Jamestown. He then saw the great future
possibilities of business and wealth that existed
in the oil fields of western New York and
northwestern Pennsylvania. Having' success-
fully demonstrated his capability to organize,
control and direct a great enterprise of intricate
combinations, he resolved upon embarking in
the production of oil upon a large scale. With
him to think was to act, and he immediately
removed to Jamestown and engaged in oil pro-
duction and dealing in oil wells. As he became
better acfpiainted with the great industry which
he was developing, he enlarged the field of his
operations and perfected tlie organization of his
vast business until to-day in size and import-
ance his oil interests are second only to those of
the Standard Oil Company. All his operations
in oil have been of a strictly legitimate charac-
ter and will bear the most rigid scrutiny. His
career has been so far an illustration of the
wonderful achievements of American ability
and energy. From the lowest rung of the
ladder he has pa.ssed, by his own exertions, to
an honorable and lofty position.

In 1870 he married Anna Bishop, a daugh-
ter of Elijah Bishop, of Jamestown. They
have one child, Carl Wilbour Scofield, mIio was
born June 11 th, 1873.

Although not a church member, Mr. Scofield
aids all the churches and is i)resident of the
Congregational .society in Jamestown. Being
a self-made man his sympathies are always en-
listed in favor of the laboring classes with
whose true wants he is well acquainted from
personal experience.

Mr. Scofield's name has been mentioned as a
candidate for Congress, and if he could be in-
duced to Ijirow aside business cares for a time
and turn his attention to public life, this dis-
trict might secure a representative in Congress
of sagacity and enterj)rise. Mr. Scofield, at
his handsome and elegant country residence,
" the Bungalow," greets his friends cordially

and entertains them royally. Decision of char-
acter, honesty of purpose, tact and sagacity are
indic^ated in every line of his strong, earnest
and intelligent face, and he seems to have beea
a man born to achieve success and to command
the respect and confidence of his fellow-men.

^EOIJOK C. VAX DUSEN, a member of the
^^ Clunitauqua county bar and a resident of
Jamestown, is a sou of Benjamin F. and
Mehitable (Lovell) Van Dusen, and was born
in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York,
December 8, 1851. The Van Dusen family,
of Chautauqua county, is descended from Abra-
ham A^an Dusen, who is a descendant of the
Van Dusen family of Columbia county, New
York, who came from Holland. Abraham
Van Dusen removed, in 1720, from New York
to Salisbury, Connecticut, where he resided
until his death. His son, John Van Dusen,
was the father of John Van Du.sen, Jr.,
whose son, Benjamin F. A^an Dusen, now resi-
dent of Jamestown, is the father of the subject
of this sketch. For a more detailed history of
the A-^an Du.sen family, which is one of the old
families of New York, see the biography of
Judge Almon A. A^an Dusen, of Mayville, in
connection with that of Theodore F. A^an Dusen,
of Jamestown. The Lovells (maternal side)
are descendants of the Lovell family of New
England.

George C. A^an Dusen received his education
in the High school of Jamestown. He read
law with his brother, Judge Almon A., was
admitted to the Chautauqua county bar in 1877
and commenced the practice of law at Sherman,
where he remained for ten years. He then
came to Jamestown (1887) and has continued
there ever since in the active practice of his
pi'ofession. He is a member of the First Bap-
tist church and Olive Lodge, No. 575, F. & A.
M., at Sherman. On October 27, 1888, he
united in marriage with Luciuda M. Shelilon,
daughter of M. B. Sheldon, of Sherman.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

In politics George C. Van Dusen has always
been a strong democrat. While residing at
Sherman he was nominated by his party for
justice of the peace and although the tosvn was
republican by two hundred majority, yet he
came within twelve votes of being elected.
Under President Cleveland's administration he
served as postmaster of Sherman until 1887
■when he i-esigued and removed to Jamestown.
He was elected, in 1882,. as a delegate to the
Democratic State Convention at Syracuse, and
has the honor of being one of the sixty-six
delegates who cast their votes on the first ballot
for Grover Cleveland for governor of New-
York. In the ensuing gubernatorial contest
he took an active part as well as four years
later when he spoke in the interests of Cleve-
land for the presidency. In 1888 his time and
services were freely given in the presidential
campaign of that year, during which he took
the stump and made many speeches throughout
western New York in favor of the claims of
Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman, for
the presidency and vice-presidency of the
United States. In addition to his law practice
he takes considerable interest in business affairs
and is a partner with his brother, Theodore F.,
in the undertaking business at Jamestown.

QNDREW JOHN LANNTES, editor of the
-"■ Swedish paper, " Our New Home," is a son
of Andrew and Louise Lannes, and was born
in the county of Ydre, Sweden, November 8,
1860. His grandfather, Andrew Lannes, Sr.,
was a native of Sweden, a soldier in the stand-
ing army of that country, dying on the battle-
field in the wars against Napoleon I. He be-
longed like his progeny to the Evangelical
Lutheran church. He married Margerlta Hak-
anson, with whom he had six children, all of
whom, except one son, came to America, where
the Lannes family is quite numerous in differ-
ent states. Andrew Lannes (ftither) was born
in Sweden in 1805, and served during a long

life in the army <if that country. In 1859 he
abandoned bachelorship and married Louise
Larson, by whom he had one child, a son, the
subject of this sketch. Andrew Lannes (fath-
er) died in Sweden in 1871, when he was six-
ty-eight years old ; his widow is in her sixty-
fourth year and still lives in Sweden.

Audrew John Lannes receiv^ed his education
in the colleges of Eksjo and Linkoping, Swed-
en, and in a three years' course at the Univer-
sity of Upsala, Sweden. The curriculum fol-
lowed in these seats of learning, copes suc-
cessfully with any college in that country,
both in depth and variety of subject. In
October, 1885, he emigrated from Sweden to
the United States, stopping first at Kane,
McKean county. Pa., where he obtained a po-
sition as clerk with a dry goods firm, but in six
or seven months afterward, he moved to Buf-
fiilo, N. Y., where he followed the trade of
machinist for three years. In 1889, he re-
moved to Jamestown, since which time he has
filled the position of editor of " VaH Nya
Hem," (ormerly "FolketsEosi" a well-known
oi-gan of national repute among the Swedish-
Americans. The " Folhets Rost," or the " Peo-
ple's Voice" was established in 1874 by a stock
company composed of prominent Swedes in that
section of New York. Being a paper of great
influence, it now follows the principle of inde-
pendency to any political influence. The paper
j was published under the title of Folkds Bost
I for nine years. In 1883 the name was changed
to Vart Nya Hem, which title it still bears.
When first issued, it was a folio, seven columns
to a page, but when the title was changed to
Our New Home, it was enlarged to a quarto in
size. It is a large weekly paper and has a
great circulatioa all over the United States.
, Andrew J. Lannes is well fitted by educa-
tion and experience for the position which he
now occupies as editor of a paper published in
tiie interests of the Swedish-American citizens
, in their adopted country. Especially in west-

BIOGRAPHY AST) HISTORY

eni New York and western Pennsylvania is its
influence felt.

j^i:V. CHARLES K. Tr( Ki:i{. 'From

> grave to gay, from lively to severe," iias
been aptly illnstrated in the career of this gentle-
man, and each phase has been a successful one.
He is a son of George W. and Mary (Reed) Tuck-
er, and was born in Bath, Maine, December 26,
1848. His paternal grandfather, John Tucker,
was a native of Bath, of Scotch-English par-
entage, and spent his whole life in the citv
where he was born. He was a large real estate
owner there, and in politics was an old-line
democrat, and in religion a member of the
Methodist church. He mari-ied a Miss Pavson
and they had three sons and five daughters.
Mr. Reed (maternal grandtather) was a na-
tive and life-long resident of ]\Iaine. He was
of Scotch descent, was formerly a contractor
and builder, and in politics a democrat. He
married and had four sons and two daughters.
He served in the war of 1812, and his widow
is still living, at the advanced age of ninety-
four years. George W. Tucker (father) was
born in Bath, and spent his life there, where he
was a large real estate owner. He was a dem-
ocrat and a member of the Universalist church.
In 1826, he married Mary A. Reed, and to
them were born three sons and two daughters.
One sou, George W., was for many years a sea
captain in the merchant marine, but has re-
tired, and resides in Brooklyn, N. Y. Another
son, Henry S., is a stock broker in Rochester,
N. Y.

Charles E. Tucker was educated in the pub-
lic schools of Bath, and at St. Lawrence uni-
versity, at Canton, this State. He entered the
Universalist ministry and occupied pulpits for
thirteen years, in Maine, Massachusetts, New
Haven, Conn., and Titusville, Pa. In 1880
he exchanged theology for business, and en-
gaged in the production of oil in Bradford, Pa.,
where he remained ten years. In the spring of

1890 he came to Jamestown, and entered into
partnership with F. N. Marvin, in the manu-
t'acture of shoes, the firm name being Tucker &
Marvin. They manufacture the finest grades
of ladies and misses' shoes. Mr. Tucker still
retains his interest in the oil business iu Brad-
ford, Pa., and also owns a plantation of eight
hundred and sixty-two acres on the James river
in Virginia, where he breeds and raises blooded
stock.

On December 16, 1874, Rev. C. E. Tucker
was united iu marriage with Mary DruUard, a
daughter of Solomon Drullard, of Buffalo, this
State, who was the first general freight agent of
the N. Y. C. & H. R. R., occupying that posi-
tion twenty years, being, also, a member of the
board of directors, and also engaged in the iron
business, at which he accumulated a large for-
tune. This union has been blessed with three
sons and one daughter : Charles IM., Eddie D.,
Alice and Solomon.

In politics Mr. Tucker is a prohibitionist,
and is still a member of the Universalist
church. He is an accomplished gentleman, of
easy and pleasing address, suave in manner,
very approachable, and a genial, interesting,
entertaining companion, and his life's record
gives evidence of his great versatility.

jo EN.TAMIX NICHOLS is a son of Andrew
■'"^ and Cordelia (Holcomb) Nichols, and was
born January 1, 1835, in Jefferson county, N. Y.
His paternal grandfather, David Nichols, was
also a native of Jefferson county, where he died
in 1830. He married Jerusha Spinning, who
bore him these children : Elijah, Andrew (father),
Lucretia, George, Dimick and Juliann. His
maternal grandfather, Sullivan Holcomb, was
born in Guilford, Connecticut, and emigrated to
Jefferson county. New York, where he resided
until his death. He was born in 1776. He
was a farmer by occupation, but served as a sol-
dier during the war of 1812-15. He was in
the battles of Lundy'.s Lane and Chippewa,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

being captured by the ciieray in the latter en-
gagement. He married Abigail Lee, who bore
him a son and four daughters. The sou, Seth,
located in Jefferson county. The father of Ben-
jamin was born in Oneida county, New York,
in 1806, and removed to Chautauqua county
about 1870, locating in Poland, where lie is now
living. He is a farmer by occupation, in poli-
tics a stanch republican and in religion a Meth-
odist, being a consistent member of the Method-
ist Episcopal church. He married Cordelia
Holcomb, who still lives, aged eighty. They
had five sons and three daughters, all living
except the eldest daugliter. Of the others, Ira
C. is a mill-man, residing in Kennedy ; Seth L.
is a stock-dealer, who makes a specialty of fine
horses, in Minnesota ; Andrew, stock-dealer in
Minnesota, and Isaac C, who lives in Ashland,
Wisconsin, aud is a miner, owning and operating
extensive iron-mines.

Benjamin Nichols was educated iu the com-
mon schools and in Jamestown acatlemy. Ho
learned the trade of millwright and labored in
that vocation from 1852 until 188;{, in the latter
year engaging in the machinery and foundry
business in Jamestown, and has been interested
in that business to the present time. When he
entered the business he liad as partner a Mr.
Babcock, whose interest he purchased in 1887,
his son, C. M., being admitted as partner. Mr.
Nichols iu politics is a republican and has served
the city of Jamestown as alderman. He and his
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. jNIr. Nichols located in Jamestown in
June, 1852, and has been a resident of that city
ever since, esteemed and respected by all who
know him.

On Novemijer 10, 1856, Mr. Nichols married
Jane A. Taylor, a daughter of Eli Taylor, by
whom he has had these children : Delia, married
to Celestus Wilcox, of Kennedy, Chautauqua
county, by occupation a painter, still residing in
that town ; Melvin C. (deceased); Charles M.,
in business with his father in Jamestown ; Myr-

tle ; Maud C. (deceased), who married Selam
Parker ; and Pearl L., married to F. H. Oaks.
Grandchild — Maude Allene, daugliter of Selam
and Maud Parker.

jA OKM.\N K. T1103IPS0N, a veteran sol-

4 dier of the Army of the I'dtomac, who

served his country well and honorably in the
trying times of v/ar ;ind equally as well iu the
piping times of peace, is a son of Milliard C.
and Samantlia (Bailey) Thompson, and was
Ijorn in Stockton, Chautauqua county. New
York, Se])tember 10, ISoT. His paternal
grandfather, Abel Thompson, emigrated from
the eastern part of New York to Stock-
ton and erected the first house in that town,
where he resided until his death. By occupa-
tion he was a farmer. The maternal grand-
fatiier of Norman K. Thompson, was a native
of the central part of New York State, but re-
moved to aud settled in Stockton where he
resided until his death. The father of Norman
R. Thompson was born in 1811, in the central
part of the State of New York, and was about
eight years of age when his parents removed to
Stockton. After receiving such education as
the common .schools of that day afforded, he
learned the tailor's trade, continuing in that
business during his active life. In politics he
was a stanch republican, and was honored with
the several offices within the gift of his towns-
men, conscientiously discharging the duties of
each. Iu his early youth and manhood, he was
a Presbyterian, but later became a believer in
the tenets of the Methodist church. He mar-
ried Samantha Bailey, and she bore him the
following children: Harriet C, who married
W. W. Seele)', a carpenter and joiner, residing
iu Delanti, N. Y. ; Byron W., who married
Louisa Bisell, and resides in Spartansburg, Pa.
He .served three years in the army during the
Rebellion, enlisting in 1862, in Co. I, 112th
New York Volunteers, and took part in the
battles of Cold Harbor, siege of Suffolk and

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

through the campaign in Florida. He was
wounded in battle, but recovered ; Frederick, a
clerk in a drygoods store in Cleveland, Ohio ;
Altnedia R. (dead); Sarah J. (died young);
Ella M., married to Samuel Riddle, who lives
in Bradford, Pa., where he is superintendent of
an oil lease ; Mary F., married to Hiram Hart,
a painter in Delanti, N. Y. ; George M., mar-
ried to Hattie Miller, and living in Jamestown,
where he is a night-watchman; Eva (dead); and
Norman R.

Norman R. Thompson acquired his educa-
tion, mainly at Westfield aeadem}', this county.
After graduating therefrom, he worked by the
month on a farm, for a season, and then engaged
in the more congenial vocation of teaching
school, in which he continued for forty consecu-
tive terms. He was appointed superintendent
of schools of Warren county. Pa., by State
superintendent J. P. AVickersham, in March,
1876, to till a vacancy for two years, at the end
of Avhich time the people were sufficiently
appreciative of his indefatigable efforts in pro-
moting the interests of the hundreds of school
districts, to elect him for the succeeding full
term. After serving successfully the entire
term, he removed to Jamestown in 1883, and
engaged in book-keeping until the spring of
1890, when he was appointed city treasurer of
Jamestown. He never aspired to political
office, believing the office should seek the man,
not the man the office, and his belief has been
strengthened by the popular vote in each case
where he has been an office holder at the re-
quest of his constituents. In religion he is an
Independent Congregationalist. His record as
a soldier is commensurate to that of his life as a
citizen. He obe^'ed the summons of his coun-
try when she was in peril, and enlisted in Co.
G, 49th regt. New York Volunteers, in August,
1861, Col. D. D. Bidwell commanding, and
served three years. He entered as a private
soldier and was soon promoted to sergeant and
when honorably discharged, was regimental and |

commissar}' sergeant. He participated in every
battle from the time of his enlistment, in which
the Army of the Potomac was engaged, until
his discharge. Three times he was wounded,
but he declined to leave his post of duty. He
several times narrowly escaped being captured
by the euemy. He is an enthusiastic secret
society man, being an active member of Mount
]\Ioriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., James
^I. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R., Jamestown
Lodge, No. 34, A. O. U. W., Chaut. Lake Lodge,
No. 46, Knights of Honor, Eureka Lodge, No.
20, Royal Templars of Temperance ; all in
Jamestown. Thus the record of his life offers
the best evidence of his usefulness as a citizen,
of his worth as a man, and of the esteem which
is justly his.

He married, August 18, 1868, Kate Swift, a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Swift, natives
of New England, but residents of Carroll and
Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., at the
time of their death.

^VHARLES LYOX is a son of Alexander and
^^ Olive (VauBerger) Lyon, and was born
February 12, 1819, at Oxford, Chenango
county, New York. His paternal grandfatiier,
was a native of Washington county, this
State, but emigrated to Chenango county
where he died. Charles Lyon's maternal
grandfather, who was a native of Holland,
emigrated to America and settled in Can-
andaigua, this State, where he resided until his
death. Pie was a patriotic man and served his
country well and nobly, doing his full duty as
a soldier during the War of the Revolution.
He mai-ried Hannah Knapp. Alexander Lyon
(father) was born in Chenango county, N. Y.,
in 1776, and removed to Tompkins county,
this State, in 1825, where he died. He was a
farmer by occupation, and during the exciting
times following the disappearance of William
Moi'gan, he was an intense anti-Mason and
afterward affiliated with the Whig and Repub-

< <''^. J.^Jl^

'i/~z-'~~kXj

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

lican parties, never taking an active part, how-
ever. In religion he was a consistent member
of the Baptist chnrch and liekl the office of
deacon for a score of years. He was married
but once, and had born to him thirteen children,
ten sons and three daughters.

Charles Lyon was educated in the common
schools, and afterwards tilled his father's farm
in Tompkins county until the autumn of 1844,
when he emigrated to Peimsylvania and en-
gaged in the lumber business. In 1848 he re-
turned to New York, locating in Jamestown.
In politics Charles Lyon was a Whig until the
formation of the Republican party, in 185(),
when he became a member of that party and
still continues firmly grounded in. the faith.
His first vote was cast for Gen. William Henry
Harrison, of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too'' fame,
the grandfather of the present president, and he
has steadily voted the straight Whig or Repub-
lican ticket ever since. His standard of charac-
ter is above the average and he has the reputa-
tion ot fully living up to that standard, exam- ,
plifying in his private and business life all that
a good citizen of tlie best republic in the world
should be.

On September 11, 1839, Mr. Lyon united in
marriage with Hester A. Chapin, a daughter of
Roderick and Sarah (Clough) Chapin. She
was born in 1817. Her paternal grandfather,
Roderick Chapin, was a native of Washington
county, this State, and was of English ancestry.
He removed to Chautauqua county and lived
with the father of Mrs. Lyon, who came to this
county and settled in the town of Kiantone
(then Carroll), in 1828, when there were not
more than four houses south of the creek that
runs through Jamestown. He was a farmer
and extended his usefulness to mankind by
officiating as a preacher in the Methodist Epis-
copal church. In the year preceding the War
of the Rebellion, he was a stanch and uncom-
promising abolitionist. Mrs. Lyon was one of
a family of seven children. To their union
3

have been born three children, two sons and
one daughter : thapin J., who died at the age
of forty-four ; Septimus, who married Charlotte
Howard, and is now a painter and paper-hanger
in St. Charles, Iowa; and Sarah, who resides
with her parents.

CLARK RAWSOX LOCKWOOD, of sturdy
and honorable New England ancestry,
has been for about forty years before the public
as a prominent lawyer of Chautauqua county,
New York, where he now resides. He was
born in tlie town of Schroon, Essex county,
New York, June 6, 1827, and is a son of Jere-
miah and Amanda (Rawson) Lockwood. Jer-
emiah Lockwood, Jr., (for that was his father's
name) was born at Lanesborough, Berkshire
county, Mass., May 17, 1797. His mother was
born at the head of Schroou Lake, Essex coun-
ty, N. Y., February 4, 1800, and is said to have
been the first white female child bora in the
town of Schroon. Jeremiah Lockwood, Sr.
(paternal grandfather of C. R. L.), came from
Massachusetts to Schroon in the year 1810.
His birth-place was Norwalk, Conn., but when
quite young he moved to Massachusetts, where
on January 19, 1776, he was united in mar-
riage with Mehitable Clark. At the time of
their removal to Schroon they had three sons
living, of whom Jeremiah, Jr., was one. Jere-
miah, Jr. and Amanda Rawson were married
at Schroon Lake about the year 1819, and con-
tinued to reside in the town of Schroon down
to the death of Amanda, which occurred June
22, 1850. The permanent home of Jeremiah,
Jr., and family was about two miles north of
Schroou Lake, where for many years they kept
what was known as " Lockwood's Tavern."
November 20, 185G, Jeremiah, Jr., married
Mrs. Margaret McCaftre Allen, a widow lady,
' with whom he continued to live down to lier
deatli, which occurred May 15, 1868, and about
I June 1, 1868, he removed to Chestertown,
! Warren county, N. Y., where he continued to

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

reside with his daughter Harriet (wlio was the
wife of Charles Fowler,) dowu to his death,
which occurred April 19, 1869. Of the nine
children born to Jeremiah, Jr., and Amanda
(Rawson) Loclvwood, there are now living :
Harriet R., Henry F., Pamelia J. and C'larlv
R. Amanda (Rawsou) Lockwood was the
daughter of Simeon and Anna (Holden) Raw-
son, who moved from Shrewsbury, Vt., to
Schroon, iu the year 1798, and where both re-
mained dowu to their deaths which occurred
many years since. There w'ere born to them
eleven children, the last of whom, Safford Raw-
son, of Leroy, Genesee county, N. Y., died in
May, 1891, being ninety-six years of age De-
cember 9, 1890. If there be credit in adding
multitudes to the Imman family, then, indeed,
both the Lockwoods and Rawsons are entitled to
very much, for from their households have
sprung numerous children who, to greater or
less extent, have made their mark in the world.
Clark R. Lockwood received his early edu-
cation in the common schools of his native
town. At the age of about sixteen years he
entered the wagon-shop of Jonathan Stevens,
of Castleton, Vt., for the purpose of learning
the trade. His health was not good, and after
remaining in the shop about eighteen months,
he w;is obliged to leave the business, which he
did and returned to his home. After recruiting
in health, and as soon as able, he commenced
attending school with the view of fitting him-
self for other duties. For several winters he
taught school in his native district and adjoin-
ing towns, and summers attended school at Ti-
conderoga, N. Y. and Poultney, Vt. Consid-
erable of his time was devoted to the learning
of the French language ; and hoping to make
greater proficiency therein, he went to Canada
where he remained in a French family for quite
a time, learning to speak the language, which
he did so well as to enable him to instruct oth-
ers. During these several years his physical
health was very much improved, and he re-

solved to engage iu something for permanent
business, and through the assistance of Mr. A.
R. Catliu, then of Jamestown, he secured an
opportunity for reading law in the office of Or-
sell Cook, at that time an active and popular
lawyer also residing in Jamestown. Almost
penniless and with but little eucouragement, ex-
cept through his own resolution, in August,
1849, he left home for Jamestown where he
arrived August 2-4, and on the next day com-
menced as a law student with Mr. Cook. This
proved to be a very favorable opportunity for
learning law, as Mr. Cook had an extensive cli-
entage and the field for practice in tiie lower
courts was such that theoretical and practical
knowledge were constant aids to each other.
Mr. Cook, too, was an industrious worker and
gave to his students the fullest opportunities for
improvement, so that the main things needed
ibr professional success, were willingness of and
actual application, all of which C. R. Lock-
wood possessed. Poverty of circumstances com-
pelled constant labor and, after reading and
office work for less than a year, he commenced
trying cases in Justice's court, from which he
derived a sufficiency to nearly support him, iu
that great economy in dress was exercised, and
he boarded himself in the office where he kept
" bachelor's hall" for several years. During
this time he taught a term of school in what
was known as the Pine street school-house, then
located on the corner of Fourth and Pine
streets in Jamestown. During the winter of
1852 and 1853, Mr. Lockwood attended the
Fowler law school at Ballston Spa, X. Y., and
in the spring of 1853, at a general term of the
Supreme Court, he was admitted to practice iu
all the courts of the State, aud subsecjuently in
the United States Courts. After his first ad-
mission, in 1853, he returned to the office of
Mr. Cook where he remained but a short time,
aud then entered into a law partnership with
William M. Newton, under the name of " Lock-
wood & Xewtou." Tills firm lasted to about

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

August 25, 1855, when the former principal and
student formed a partnership known as " Cook
& Lockwood." Under this name they prac-
ticed their profession, down to August, 1880,
when Mr. Jerome B. Fisher was admitted into
the firm, which then assumed and continued
practice, under the name of " Cook, Locicwood
& Fisher." About tiiis time Mr. Lockwood's
health l>egan to fail and became so poor that in
1881, under the advice of iiis physician, he re-
tired from the firm, and for many months re-
frained almost entirely from the practice of his
profession.

On July 6, 1853, Clark R. Lockwood and
Miss Eunice E. Wheeler, of the town of
Schroon, were united in marriage^ and soon
thereafter they commenced housekeeping in
Jamestown, where they have ever since resided.
Nehemiah and Olive (Fentou) Wheeler were
the parents of Eunice E. Their residence was
at the head of Parado.x Lake, town of Schroon,
where Mr. W^heeler had for many years been a
prosperous, and for that country an extensive
lumber dealer. Their family consisted of three
daughters and one son, Eunice E. being the
oldest. All the children are now living : Car-
oline F. and Laura W. residing in Jamestown ;
and Eliza A. and Edward A. residing in Col-
orado. Their parents died several years since.
Nehemiah was quite a prominent man in his
town, for many years holding important offices.
His wife, Olive Fenton, was a native of Con-
necticut, and born in the year 1805, March 5.
To Clark and Eunice E. have been born three
children : Olive Amanda, wife of A. E. Allen,
now residing in Jamestown ; Lizzie W., who
died in her childhood ; and Clark W., who con-
tinues to live with his parents.

It was during the year 1881 that Clark R.
built the " Opera-house block" wliich is located
on East Second street, Jamestown. This block
is 87 J feet on East Second street, and extends
back in depth 150 feet to East First street. On
East First street it is si.x stories in height, and

on East Second street four stories. Building is
of brick and stone, and was constructed under
the general superintendence of his son-in-law,
Mr. A. E. Allen. In the block is " Allen's
Opera-house," which has become quite noted in
the theatrical world. Indeed the building is a
bee-hive of industry, and to say that it is an
ornament to the now " city of Jamestown," is
no more than its merits deserve.

After about eighteen months Mr. Lockwood's
health had so much improved that he re-engaged
in professional work and, establishing his office
in his block, he continued in practice under the
name of different partnerships down to the year
1888, when he formed a partnership with Fred.
R. Peterson, under the name of " Lockwood &
Peterson," which yet exists. Believing in the
integrity of creation and liberal in opinion, C.
R. Lockwood has ever repudiated the monstros-
ities and absurdities of " ]ioj)ular religion," and
to-day rejoices that advancing years verify his
belief and justify his course. Unyielding in the
belief that freedom is the nattn-al and should be
the governmental right of every American citi-
zen, regardless of color or sex, he was active in
republican ranks, and no one more gloried at
the emancipation of the slave than did he ; but
when the party repudiated the well-earned and
equal rights of citizen women, he regarded it as
having violated plighted faith and no longer
entitled to the fidelity of one whose principles
of Liberty knew no distinction of right thereto
between man and woman. I^atterly he has de-
voted his energies to " political equality," be-
lieving it the sublimity of American citizen-
ship, as it will be the ultimate result from in-
tellectual growth, personal need and State and
National demand.

Though nearly sixty-four years of age, Mr.
Lockwood has much of mental and physical
vigor remaining, and with the exercise of ordi-
nary energy, there is considerable yet in store
for him to perform ; and judging the future
from the past, we may rest assured that it will

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

bear the impress of wouted perseverance and
industry.

PETER H. HOYT, a prominent and re-
spected citizen of Jamestown, and who is
a successful, self-made man, having begun the
battle of life with comparatively nothing and
accumulated a comfortable fortune, is a son of
John and Phoebe (Stiles) Hoyt, and was born
July 22, 1838, at Mt. Salem, Sussex county,
New Jersey. His paternal great-grandfather,
Ebenezer Hoyt, was born iu Stamford county,
Connecticut, in 1712, and married Mary Green,
of the same State. He served iu the war of
1812 and assisted in drawing a chain across the
Hudson river at Newburg, to prevent the Brit-
ish vessels further ascending that river. Peter
Hoyt (paternal grandfather) was born iu Stam-
ford county, October 24, 1764, and removed to
Orange county, N. Y., where he died. He was
a farmer, and married Obedience Haines, a
daughter of Johu Haines, of Dutchess county,
this State. Lewis Stiles (maternal great-grand-
father) was a native of Connecticut and removed
to Orange county, N. Y., where he died. Johu
Hoyt (father) was born in Stamford county, May
7, 1786, removed to Orange county, then in
1810 to Sussex county, N. J., where he pur-
chased a tract of three hundred acres of land,
and two years later enlisted and served iu the
war of 1812. He was a very active democrat,
a member of the Baptist church and died in
1847, at the age of sixty-one years. His brother
Peter also served in the war of 1812. He mar-
ried Phoebe Stiles, by whom he had ten chil-
dren — six sons and four daughters. Of the
sons, Archibald is a farmer in Orange county,
N. Y. ; Joel is a merchant in Newj^ort, R, I.,
but resides iu Jamestown ; John T. is a sjjecu-
lator in live-stock in Orange county ; Peter H. ;
Jerard R. is also a speculator iu live-stock at
Clinton, Pa. ; and Louis S. is a coal dealer, iron
manufacturer and railroad man in Xew Castle,
Pennsylvania.

Peter H. Hoyt was educated in the common
schools of Mt. Salem, N. J., and at the early
age of fourteen years was left to do for himself.
After leaving school he began business, at twenty
years of age, on his own account, and opened a
grocery in Jersey City, where he remained seven
years. In 1865 he went to New Castle, Pa.,
and engaged in the dry -goods, carpet and grocery
business w-ith his brother, L. S. Hoyt, under
the firm-name of P. H. Hoyt ct Bro., where he
remained three years. In January, 1869, he
came to Jamestown and opeued a dry-goods,
carpet and clothing store at No. 32 Main street,
which building he now owns. He continued in
this business until the autumn of 1882, when
he sold his stock and leased the building, in-
tending to go to Texas, but abandoned the idea
and, purchasing some real estate on West Third
street, built a fine brick block of tenement-
houses known as the Hoyt block, extending one
hundred and twenty feet front and forty-five
feet deep, comprising five four-story houses, each
containing twelve rooms finished throughout iu
cherry, maple and oak and supplied with the
modern conveniences. He has a fine baru in
the rear and keeps a half-dozen good horses.
He is somewhat interested iu i"eal estate iu
Jamestown. In April, 1861, he enlisted in
Co. C, 2d regt., New Jersey Vols., going out as
corporal, but was afterwards promoted to first
lieutenant of Co. K. He participated in tlie
first battle of Bull Run. Politically Mr. Hoyt
is a democrat, is at present a memjber of the city
council of Jamestown and is a member of Blue
Lodge, No. 243, F. and A. M., at New Castle, Pa.

In December, 1865, Mr. Hoyt united in mar-
riage with Jennie E. Hogen, a daughter of John
D. Hogen, a real estate broker of Patcrson, N. J.

HA3ILTX BLACIOIARR was a sou of
Ransom L. and Eliza (Bo we) Blackmarr,
and was born in Busti, Chautauqua county. New
York, September 3, 1843, and died February
25, 1886.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Hamlin Black iiiarr was a man of good edu-
cation, which he acrjuired at the Allegheny col-
lege, in Meadville, Pa., and then engaged in
the mercantile business in Perrysburg, N. Y.,
with liis father, afterwards going to Ohio,
where he continued in the same business. Suc-
ceeding this he returned to Pennsylvania, and
began drilling for oil, some of his ventures be-
ing the wonder and admiration of his less astute
contemporaries. While a member of the Brad-
ford Oil Exchange, it is recorded that he made
the heaviest deals on record at that time. His
ability ranked with the highest, and he was en-
abled to secure a fortune in a few years. The
fine residence at No. 417 East Second street,
where Mrs. Blackmarr now lives, was purchased
by him.

lu May, 1870, Mr. Blackmarr united in
marriage with Mary Gray, a daughter of Dr.
Henry and Mary (Park man) Gray. This fam-
ily were natives of New York city, but came to
Perrysburg, Cattaraugus county, where Dr.
Gray practiced medicine. He was the father
of five sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs.
Blackmarr had but one child, Frank Hamlin
Blackmarr, who was born February 16, 1871,
and at present is attending the Allegheny col-
lege, where he is preparing for a professional
life.

In political matters Mr. Blackmarr was a
republican, and a member of the Ancient
Order of United Workmen. He stood high in
his community, and was recognized as a man of
good business ability. His loss was deeply
felt by his many friends, and his remains are
interred in Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown.

FKjINK B. FIEIjO, of Jamestown, now
actively engaged in the undertaking and
picture-frame business, is a son of Chauncey T.
and Emeline (Rice) Field, and was born in the
city of Jamestown, Chautauqua county. New
York, April 4, 1852. His grandfather, Tyler
Field, was a native of Brattleboro, Vermont,

from which place he came to Jamestown in
1829. He was a tanner by trade, but after fol-
lowing the tanning business in Jamestown for
some years, he opened a boot and shoe store,
which he continued until his death. He was a
democrat, and married a Miss Dean, who died
and left one child, the flither of the subject of
this sketch. He married for his second wife a
Miss Cunningham,, who bore him nine children.
Chauncey T. Field (father) was born in Ver-
mont, in 1828. He was reared at Jamestown,
where he engaged, at an early age, in the mer-
cantile business. He was successively a mem-
ber of the dry goods firms of Sawdrey & Field,
and Field & Ingersoll, on Main street. On
January 18, 1875, he associated his son, the
subject of this sketch, with him in the boot and
shoe business, which he conducted until July
18, 1885, when he disposed of his stock of
goods, and retired from active business life.
He is a democrat in polities, and a prominent
member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free
and Accepted Masons, of which he was treasu-
rer for many years. November 25, 1850, he
married Emeline Rice, and they have two chil-
dren : Frank B. and M. Genevieve. The lat-
ter died March 30,189], and Mrs. Emeline
Field died May 25, 1891. Both mother and
daugliter were favorably known in the social
circles of Jamestown, and their death was uni-
versally mourned.

Frank B. Field grew to manliood in his
native city, where he received his education at
the Jamestown academy. Leaving school he
became a clerk in a dry goods store, and at
twenty-one years of age went to Coloi'ado, where
he spent some time in gold and silver mining.
He then became a salesman in the wdiolesule dry
goods house of Field & Lyter (now Marsiiall,
Field & Co.), of Chicago. In 1875, he returned
to Jamestown, where he became a partner with his
father in the boot and shoe business until 1885,
when they sold their .store, and he engaged as a
traveling salesman with tiie Jamestown Cune-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

seat Chair Company. In 1890, he left their
employ, and on IMay 15, of that year, became
a member of the present nndertaicing and pic-
ture-frame firm of Reed & Field. In this line
of business, Mr. Field has been attended with
his usual good success, and is rapidly building
up a fine trade.

On December 21, 1875, Mr. Field united in
marriage with Kate A. Parsons, daughter of
Dr. A. B. Parsons. To their union has been
born one child, a danghter, named Lilla K.,
born December 29, 1876.

He is a democrat in political opinion, and a
member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free
and Accepted Masons, of which he was Worship-
ful Master, in 1885. He is a charter member,
and was tiie first treasurer of Jamestown Com-
mandery, Xo. 61, Kniglits Templar, whicii was
organized in 1887.

-^E WITT CLINTON BREED came from
^^ a good old Puritan family. The first and
only man by the name of Breed (or Bred, as it
was then spelled) known to have come to America
was Allen Breed, who emigrated from England
in 1630 with John Winthrop, the first governor
of Massachusetts, who, with eleven vessels,
landed in Salem, Mass., only a decade later than
the landing of the Pilgrims. Mr. Breed settled
in Lynn, Mass., a few miles from Boston, which
is now one of the largest shoe manufacturing
cities in the world. In Salem he had married
Elizabeth Knight, and four sons resulted from
this union : Allen, Timothy, Joseph and John.
Allen, Sr., received a grant of land comprising
two hundred acres, which is situated in what is
now the north side of the city, and is known as
" Breed's End." His family multiplied greatly
upon the face of the earth, and a little over two
centuries from the time he landed in Salem
(1839), there were two hundred and forty-three
persons named Breed residing in Lynn, and it
is a fact that one of the family arose in his seat
in Representative Hall, in the State House in

Boston, a few years ago, and, with a twinkle in
his eye, gravely moved that the city be re-chris-
tened Breedville. The name was formerly
spelled Bread, occasionally Breade, sometimes
Bred, and, back in the sixteenth century, Le
Bred. During the reign of Canute, of the
Saxon heptarchy, in 1100, a Breed family left
Germany and settled in Su.ssex county, England,
and the place of settlement is still known as the
town of Breed. Allen Breed's son, Allen, had
a son named John, who is the ancestor of nearly
all the Breeds who settled in New York, Penn-
svlvania, and other Western States. He died
March 17, 1791, aged ninety. John Breed
married for his first wife Mary Kirtland. They
had one daughter. John's second wife was
Mary Palmer, and she bore him si.x daughters
and four sons. One of the sons, John, married
Mary Prentice, and to them were born six
daughters and three sons. One of the .sous,
Nathan (great-grandfather of De Witt C), was
born December 13, 1731, in Stonington, Conn.
He married Lucy Babcock, of Stonington, and
by her had four daughters and five .sons. One
of the sons, Thomas, w^as the grandfather of
De Witt C. He was born January 3, 1764, in
Stoniugton, and married Elizabeth Clements,
settling in Saratoga, N. Y., on the farm famous
as the place of the surrender of Gen. John Bur-
goyne during the war of the Revolution. He
died in 1826, leaving a family of seven sons
and five daughters. One of the sons was Wil-
liam, father of De Witt C, and he was born
December 24, 1795, on the farm in Saratoga.
The maternal grandfather of De Witt C,
Solomon Jones, was born in Wadsbnrg, Ver-
mont, and emigrated to Chautauqua county
alwut 1810, locating near Stillwater, where he
purchased a large farm, now known as " the
ohl Jones Farm." He afterwards moved to
Jamestown, and engaged in hotel-keeping for
several years, and served as justice of the peace,
in those days a much more important and
honorable office than in the.so latter times.

^ _(o /hiM^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Politically he was an i)kl-liue whig, and in ivli-
giou a member of the Congregational church.
He married Clarissa Howard, and had fourteen
ciiildren, all living to maturity except one, who
died in infancy. The father of De Witt C.
emigrated to Pittsburg, Pa., and from thence
removed to Jamestown, where he married Clara
Jones, and engaged in the furniture and car-
pentering business. At this time (182:'>) James-
town was a very small village. Politically he
was a whig, and later was the only abolitionist
in Jamestown. When the Kepublican party
was organized, in Fremont and Dayton's time,
he affiliated with it, and voted that ticket' the
rest of his life. For .several years he was cap-
tain of the Lightfoot Infantry of Jamestown.
He was an active and prominent member of the
Baptist church. By his marriage he had one
son and three daughters.

De Witt Clinton Breed was born in James- i
town, September 20, 1826. De Witt Clinton.
Breed was educated iu the common schools of
Jamestown, and afterward made himself prac-
tically and thoroughly acquainted with every
detail of furniture manufacturinsi;, and took the
business of his father, which he has most suc-
cessfully managed to the present time (1891). '
He makes specialties of chamber suits, side-
boards and book-cas,es, and employs seventy
men, besides a half dozen traveling salesmen. [
In politics he is a republican, having come from
the Whig party. He is a member of the Bap-
tist church, of which he is one of the deacons.
An honorable, successful business man and a
respected citizen, he occupies an enviable posi-
tion in the community in which he resides.

De Witt C. Breed married for his first wife
Lucy A. Aldrich, of Kiantone, by whom he
had four children : Clara I., who married John
Aldrich, a retail furniture dealer of Jamestown;
George W., married and resides in Denver,
Colorado ; Anna L., married to Albert A. Moore,
a merchant at Rockwell, Iowa; Ida May, mar-
ried William A. Young, an insurance agent in

Jamestown, and buok-koeper. For his second
wife he married Mrs. Mary L. Haughwout, of
New York cit}^ widow of Rev. B. P. Haugh-
wout, a noted Baptist minister of Fall River,
Mass., where he occupied a pulpit for iiftcen years.

/>'HARLE.S E. WEEKS, an active business
^^ man and a poj)ular democrat of .James-
town, was l)orn at Blossburg, Tioga county, Pa.,
December u, 1834, and is a son of James and
Betsy (Jennings) Weeks. His paternal grand-
father, Samuel Weeks, who was of English
extraction, was a resident for many years of
Vermont and New York. His son, James
Weeks, the father of Charles E. Weeks, followed
wool-carding for several years in the " Keystone
State," at the end of which time he removed to
New York, where he settled in Orleans county,
and lived a retired life until his death in 1847,
at fifty-six years of age. He was a democrat in
politics, married Betsy Jennings, and reared a
family of four sons and three daughters: Mary,
Walter J., engaged in the grocery business on
the corner of Pine and Second Streets, James-
town ; Andrew J., a real estate agent of the
same city ; Charles E., Eliza, Laura and Henry,
who is in the grocery business in Jamestown
with his brother, Walter J.

Charles E. Weeks, although born in Penn-
sylvania, yet was reared principally in New
York, where he was educated at Albion academy.
At the end of his schooldays he determined upon
a business career, and in 1856 became a merchant
at Ellington, this county, where he remained
two years. He then came to Jamestown, which
he has made his permanent residence and place
of business until the present time. The principal
lines of business to which he has devoted his
attention since becoming a resident of Jamestown
have been real estate, groceries and manufactur-
ing. His many real estate transactions and his
large grocery trade are evidences of his business
ability and adaptability to commercial pur-
suits.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

On December 8, 1856, he married Eunice
Woodworth, daughter of Erast us C. Woodworth,
a native of Orleans county and resident of Ell-
ington, now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Weeks
have been born four children, three sons and
one daughter: Francis (died in infancy), James
L., Bertha E. and Ciiarles E., Jr. James L.
completed a high school course^ read law, w'as
graduated from Albany law school, and married
Clara C. Kingsbury, of Westfield. He then
formed a partnership with his former legal pre-
ceptors, Bootey and Fowler, under the firm name
of Bootey, Fowler & Weeks, and did the demo-
cratic party good service as a public speaker in
the presidential campaigns of 1884 and 1888 by
stumping the counties of Chautauqua and Catta-
raugus. Bertha E. is a student at Wells college,
New York; and Charles E., Jr., is engaged in
the real estate business with his father.

As a democrat Mr. Weeks has always held
firm to the time-honored and cardinal principles
of his party, whose standard-bearers have never
failed to receive his earnest support. In July,
1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland
as postmaster of Jamestown, and served with
satisfaction to the citizens of the city during
his terra of four years and eight months. He
also served his city as a member of the school
board and board of trustees. He was nomi-
nated by his party in 1881 as one of their candi-
dates for assembly, and notwithstanding tlie
county was republican that year by a majority
of twenty-five hundred, yet he lacked but four
hundred votes of being elected, and carried his
own city by four hundred and twenty-five
majority. Owing to his popularity he was made
the democratic nominee, in 1882, for State
Senator in the Twenty-second district, composed
of the counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua,
and although unsuccessful, yet ran far ahead of
his ticket in the former as well as in the latter
county, where he not only received his large
vote of 1881, but almost succeeded in carrying
Jamestown, which is one of the republican

strongholds of western New York. Charles E.
Weeks is ? prominent representative of the real
estate business of Jamestown, which has been
commensurable in its increase with the other
industries of the citv.

|H ATHAN D. LEWIS, a member of the Cliau-

\ ^ tanqua county bar and an active prohibi-
tionist of Jamestown, was born at West Win-
field, Herkimer county, New York, February
15, 1842, and is a son of Nathan and Mary
(Benjamin) Lewis. His paternal grandfather,
Nathan Lewis, was of New England ancestry,
and died in Connecticut, where he married a
Miss Richmond, who lived to the remarkable
age of one hundred and one years. His mater-
nal grandfather, Jesse Benjamin, served in wars
of the Revolution and of 1812. Reserved as a
musician at Valley Forge and Monmouth, aud
after the close of the Revolutionary struggle,
married a Miss Bunn, by whom he had thirteen
children. He was a native of New York and
died in Jefferson county, that State, when nine-
ty-three years of age. Nathan Lewis, the father
of Nathan D. Lewis, was born in Connecticut,
where his father died when he was quite small,
and the young man was reared by his uncle.
In early life he owned and operated a foundry
at Clayville, N. Y. In 1859 he came to the
northern part of the town of Harmony, where
he purchased a farm which he cultivated until
his death, in 1881, at seventy-nine 3'ears of age.
He was a member of the Baptist church and
voted the democratic ticket until 1844, after
which year, he supported the Abolition and
Republican parties. He married Mary Benja-
min, aud reared a family of four sons and two
daughters. Two of these sons, Charles C, aud
Fernando C, served in the Uuion Army during
the late war, in which the former was a corporal
in tiie 112th New York, and the latter was for
two years a member of the 21st New York
regiment.

Nathan D. Lewis received his education at

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Arcade academy, in ^yyomi^g county, N. Y.
He commenced tlie study of law at Arcade in
1862, but having to make his own way in lite
he learned dentistry the next year and by fol-
lowing that profession acquired means enough
to complete his academic course, and to prose-
cute his legal studies. He read law with J. L.
White, of Jamestown, was admitted to practice
in the United States District and Circuit courts
of western New York, in July, 1882, and has
made a specialty of bankruptcy cases.

On December 28, 1873, he united in marriage
with Emily Pelton, who is now the matron of
the W. C. A. Hospital, Jamestown, N. Y.

N. D. Lewis is a member of the Baptist
church and a prohibitionist in politics. He has
been active in the work of his party, whose vote
materially increased in Chautauqua county
while he served as secretary of the County Pro-
hibition Committee (1884-88), and in 1885
when he was the nominee of his party he re-
ceived a large vote and carried the town of
Villeuova. In 1885 he commenced the publi-
cation of a monthly prohibition paper called
The Agitator, which he changed during the next
year to a weekly sheet. In 1 889 he retired from its
publication, and assumed charge of the temper-
ance department of the Chautauqua Democrat.
He is a member of Brooklyn Lodge, No. 416,
Independent Order of Good Templars, in which
organization he is a lodge deputy and county
deputy for Chautauqua county.

VICTOR HOL,3rES. In the great cause of
temperance each locality has its advocate
who stands out prominently as the champion glad-
iator of the forces arrayed against the Bacchanalian
devotees. Prominently identified with the tem-
perance cause through the third party move-
ment is Victor Holmes, a son of Jens and
Elizabeth M. (Ailing) Holmes, who was born
in Denmark, February 18, 1850. His grand-
father, Jens Holmes, was a native of Denmark,
where he was born, reared and died, his life

profession being school teaching. He was con-
nected with the State church in the latter ca-
pacity, and was a man of extraordinary educa-
tion. He married a daughter of Bishop Chris-
tian Trause, a renowned ecclesiastical scholar
and a divine of great power. Mr. Holmes was
well read upon law points, and was in demand
by the people of his locality as a drawer of
legal documents. He married and had eight
children, one of the daughters, Angnethe, being
the mother of Lucianus Kofod, who became re-
nowned in Danish politics and the army. He
served as a member of the Reichstag and is now
an officer in the Danish Army. The matei-nal
grandfather, Mongesp Ailing, also lived and
died in Denmark. He was a farmer and ship-
per, and reared a family of eight children.
Jens Holmes was born in Denmark, March 31,
1819, where he still resides. For many years
he conducted a mercantile business, but some
time since retired and is now living at Ronne,
Denmark. He is a member of the Lutheran
church, and has been twice married : first to
Elizabeth M. Ailing, who died in 1878, aged
sixty-two years. She was the mother of six
children, three of whom are in Jamestown : a
son, M. C, is an awning manufacturer in
this city ; and a daughter, Betty, was married
to Christian Gronberg, who is deceased ; and
Victor. Two sons, Peter and 'Valdemar, are
living in Denmark, engaged in the mercantile
business.

Victor Holmes was educated in the schools
of the Fatherland and came to America in 1873,
locating at Jamestown, where he has since lived,
engaged in the sign painting and lettering busi-
ness. He carries a stock of paints and a fine
line of artists' materials, which is conducted
in connection with his manual profession.

He married Fannie A. Crumb, of Union
City, Pa., April 22, 1875, and they have had
three children : Victoria F., V. Frank and V.
Elucy, who died in infancy.

Victor Holmes is a member of the Presby-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

terian church, in wliich he is a deacon. He is a
member of Samaritan Lodge, No. 376, I. Q. of
G. T., of New York, and is an active supported'
of the Prohibition party. His connection with
the Temperance society is one of respousibib'ty,
and it is largely due to his energetic work that
the can.se has met with its success in this .sec-
tion. He attended the State convention held
at Syracuse, and the Supreme Lodge on three
different occasions at Saratoga and in 1889 at
Chicago. Through Mr. Holmes' efforts, a
German Grand Lodge, in Germany, was organ-
ized. The society numbers over 700,000 in the
world. In addition to these societies, Mr.
Holmes belongs to Ellicott Lodge, I. O. O. F.,
in which he is secretary, and is a member of,
director and vice-president in the Scandinavian
Loan & Building As.sociation, which was formed
in Jamestown in 1890. The society is a strong
one, numbering a large percentage of the 6000
Scandinavian population of Jamestown in its
membership.

O-YLVESTER S. CA1>Y is one of Janies-
^^ town's old residents, having begun mer-
chandising here in 1844. He was born in
Chatham, Columbia county. New York, near
the Massachusetts line, June 8, 1817, and is a
son of Sylvester and Abigail (Adams) Cady.
His grandfathei", Aaron Cady, came of English
stock and was related to Judge Daniel Cady,
an eminent jurist of Albany, this State. In
politics he was identified with the old-line
whigs. Sylvester Cady was a native of Chat-
ham, this State, where he was born March 2"),
1777. He spent his early life on a farm, and
in 1845 removed to Kiantone, this county, still
pursuing farming as a means of procuring a
livelihood. In 1805 he married Abigail Adams
and reared a family of eight children, all of
whom are dead excejjting Sylvester S., and one
daughter, Mariah, who married Ebenezer Cha-
pin, a farmer, (now dead) and .'ihe lives in Cali-
fornia. The names of the others were: Sappro-

nia, who died in Iowa; Louisa, Ichabod, Ann
Adelia and Clarissa. In life Mr. Cady was a
whig and died on his farm at Kiantone, in
1850.

Sylvester S. Cady, as will be seen, comes of
good stock; originally from the English, he is
thoroughly American. He attended the " Dees-
trict" schools, two miles from home, and secured
such knowledge as was usually taught there.
He was brought up under the old regime of
farming, by main strength, no foolish machin-
ery about it, conse<juently, by over-work his
health failed, and he was sent to Georgia with
the prospect of dying with consumption ; but
the climate and favorable treatment restored
him to good health, and after two years returned.
Just after his brother's death in Canaan, N. Y.
In 1844 we find him in tiie grocery business at
Jamestown, in which he was engaged without
intermission until 187-3, when he began to de-
vote his attention to buying and shipping but-
ter, continuing in this work for about twelve
years, when he retired from active business and
has since been enjoying a quiet life, the reward
of work well done. It must also be mentioned
that Mr. Cady was the first resident insurance
agent located at Jamestown.

On the 1st day of October, 1847, he united
in marriage with xlnu Eliza Vanderburg, a
daughter of Mai-tin Vanderburg, and had one
daughter, Mary E , now dead, who married
Willis Tew, for some time a banker and now
vice-president of the City National Bunk, of
Jamestown ; and a son Jay, who is living in
New York City.

Having lived here uninterruptedly fin- more
than forty-five years, Mr. Cady has had oppor-
tunities of observing Jamestown's growth, as
have had few others of her citizens. From a
country village, he has seen her advance to a
magnificent city ; from comparative insignifi-
cance, to her present proud eminence among the
sisterhood of cities. A republican in ])olitics,
he is also an active and honored member of

yZZZ^i

'l^^L^^^'U

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M.,
with which he has been connected for many
years, and is now enjoying the evening of life
with his companion of so many years, at the
beautiful home of their son-in-law, INIr. Tew,
No. 204 West Fifth street.

HENllY K. BAKROWS, a representative
of one of the old and most respected
families of Chautauqua county, is a son of Levi
and Abigail Putnam (Ransom) Barrows, and
was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county.
New York, January 20, 1836. His grandflither
was Abner Barrows, who was a native of the
Green Mountain State, from which he came to
this State and located near Saratoga Springs,
where he farmed until his death. One of his
sons was Levi Barrows, who became the father
of our subject. He was born at Luzerne, N. Y.,
on March 26, 1804, and came to Stockton, this
county, in 1832. He remained at the latter
place only about one year, and then removed to
Jamestown, where he resided until his death,
which occurred March 10, 1863. At the latter
place he entered into partnership with a Mr.
Scott, the firm being engaged in the manufacture
of sash, blinds, doors, etc. They also owned
and conducted several farms in adjoining towns
at the same time. Politically he was originally
a democrat, but when the slavery question arose
he transferred his sympathies to the abolitionists,
and was one of the most energetic stockholders
in the uuderground railroad which ran through
this county. Later he belonged to the republican
party. He was popular in his town, and for
several years held the office of justice of the
peace. Up to 1861 he was active in the man-
agement of his business, but advancing years
coming upon him, he transferred his business
to his sons, Henry R. and Ransom J., who con-
tinued it. Mr. Barrows was a deacon in the
Presbyterian church to which he was attached
for many years. In 1828 he married for his
first wife Mrs. Abigail Putnam (Ransom), who

became the mother of si.\ cliildren : Mary J.
(deceased) ; Maria (decea.sed), wife of Alexander
Hawlev, who comes from one of the oldest
families in Chautauqua county; Ransom J.;
Sallie (dead) ; Henry R., and Orton, who died
young. His first wife died in 1846, and he
then married Sallie Canfield, in 1847, by whom
he had three children : Halbert A., resides in
Jamestown ; Herbert L., lives in California, and
Antoinette (dead). He was on the charter of
the original Masonic; Lodge instituted in James-
town, and took an active part in its history.

Henry R. Barrows was reared in the city of
Jamestown, and acquired an education fitting
him to succeed his lather in business, which he
did when twenty-five years of age, in connection
with his brother, Ransom J., their association
lasting twelve years.

In 1857 Henry R. Barrows married Lucy A.
Ross, an estimable woman of Jamestown, and
their union has been blest with three children :
Abbie, died young; Kittie, wife of Henry C.
Hitchcock, a prominent manager of a wholesale
furniture house in Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and Maude
(dead).

When the great strife caused our martyred
president to call on the States for troops, Henry
R. Barrows enlisted July 29, 1862, in Co. A,
112th regiment, N. Y. infantry, as a private.
He soon received promotion to second lieutenant,
and before being mustered out, on November
26, 1863, was advanced to first lieutenant. Most
of his term of service was spent at or near
Suffolk, Va., and he was three times sun-struck,
which forced him to resign. Since the war,
]\Ir. Barrows has been engaged as a carpenter
and joiner. He is a republican, and a member
of James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R.

HON. GEORGE WASHINGTON PAT-
TERSON, speaker of the House, lieu-
tenant-governor and congressman, was born at
Londonderry, New Hampshire, November 11,
1799, and died at his home in Westfield, Octo-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

ber 15, 1879. He was a son of Thomas and
Elizabeth (Wallace) Patterson, and the grand-
son of Peter and Grisel (Wilson) Patterson, of
Londonderry, N. H. Peter Patterson, in 1737,
emigrated from Bush Mills, county Antrim,
Ireland, to Londonderry, N. H., and was the
great-grandson of John Patterson, who came
from Argyleshire, Scotland, in about 1612,
with a colony of Scotch emigrants. He| and
his family were at the siege of Derry where
one of his sons died from starvation. Tlie
homestead, at Bush Mills, of John Patterson,
passed from father to son for six generations.
Many of his descendants of the third and
fourth generations came to America with the
Scotch-Irish emigrations. Gov. Patterson's
paternal ancestors were farmers, linen-weavers
and dealers, holding prominent local positions.
They were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, strong
in body and mind and able to defend them-
selves in their opinions. Gov. Patterson was a
ready speaker and writer, with a wonderful
memory of facts and dates, full of anecdotes,
ever cheerful, hoping and lookiug for the right
to succeed. He was of commanding presence,
a fine parliamentarian, a particularly good pre-
siding officer, which position he held two years
as speaker of the Assembly and two years
as president of the Senate of New York.
As a speaker at political camj)aign meet-
ings, his services were always in demand.
Among the legislative measures originated
by him was the free banking law of New
York, the original bill of which he drew, and
which afterward became a law. The main
provisions of the free banking laws of the
United States, giving the people a secured cur-
rency under governmental supervision, were
taken from the New Y'ork law. He closed his
congre.ssional term in his eightieth year, the
year of his death. In politics he was a whig
and a republican. In business he was successful.
Thurlow Weed, his political and personal friend
for over half a century, the eminent journalist

and politician of New York, in an article in the
New York Tribune, writes: "All the elements
and qualities, which elevate and adorn human
life were harmoniously blended in the character
of George W. Patterson. His life was not only
entirely blameless, but eminently useful. To
those who knew him as I did no form of enlo-
gium will be deemed inappropriate. As a citi-
zen, as tlie head of a family, and as a j)ublic
servant, he was a model man. In the discharge
of legislative duties, he was conscientious and
patriotic. He was ahvays in his seat, and no
bad, defective, equivocal, or suspicions bill ever
evaded or escaped his vigilant and watchful eye.
He had troops of friends, and, so far as I know
or believe, was without an enemy. In private
life he was exceptionally faultless. Without
making a proclamation of temperance, he was
always a cold water drinker."

He married Hannah W., a daughter of John
Dickey, merchant of West Parish, Londonderry.
The last of his school education was received at
the Pinkerton academy, Derry, N. H., and the
first printed catalogue of this iustitutiou, shows
his own and (then) future wife's name. He was
a school teacher at Pelham, New Hampshire,
in 1817, but in the following year, he engaged
in the manufacture of fanning mills. In this
business he was largely interested for twenty-
six years, in the town of Leicester, Livingston
count}', N. Y. Here he resided until 1841,
when he removed to Westfield, to accept the
agency of the Chautauqua Land Office, as suc-
cessor of Gov. Seward. When the lands be-
came reduced by sales, Mr. Patterson bought
the residue of lands and securities of the Hol-
land Company, and continued the sales at the
Westfield office until his death, when the title
to the unsold lands passed to his only son,
George W. Patterson. Gov. Patterson com-
menced holding public office soon after his resi-
dence began at Leicester, in 1824, and from
that time until his death, it was the exception
that he was not in public service. At no time

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

did he ever ask for an appointiueut, or nomina-
tion, but they came unsolicited. When justices
of tlie peace became elective, he was chosen to
that office, which he retained by successive elec-
tions until he removed to Westfield. He was
commissioner of highways, school commissioner,
justice of the peace, brigade paymaster and su-
pervisor of Leicester ; a member of the Assembly
of New York for eight years, the last 1839 and
1840, he was twice speaker of the House. After
his removal, in 1841, to Westfield, he was ap-
pointed basin commissioner at Albany, by Gov.
Seward, harbor commissioner at New York, by
Gov. Clark, and quarantine commissioner for
the port of New York by Gov. Morgan ; was
a delegate to the National convention that nomi-
nated John C. Fremont for president, and to
the National llepublican convention that nomi-
nated Abraham Lincoln; was supervisor of
"Westfield for three years, president of Westfield
academy and president of the board of education
of Westfield for many yeai's ; represented the
county of Chautauqua in the State Constitu-
tional convention of 1846 ; was elected lieuten-
ant-governor of the State of New York in 1848,
and in 1876 was elected to the Forty-fifth Con-
gress as a Republican. He was a director in
the Buffalo and State Line Railroad from its
organization, in June, 1849, till its consolida-
tion in May, 1867, and was from that date un-
til June, 1868, a director in the Buffalo and
Erie Railroad, now a part of the Lake Shore
and ^Michigan Southern.

WILLIAM HAXL was born in Wardsboro',
Vt., August 17, 1793. He was the sev-
enth of twelve children born to Wm. Hall and
Abigail Pease.

Both his parents were natives of Massachu-
setts, and were characterized by great energy,
industry and enterprise. His father was a sol-
dier in the Revolutionary war, holding the rank
of captain.

Soon after he attained his majority he started

for western New York, where several from his
native town had already gone.

He passed his first winter in C'hautauqua
county, with his older brotlier James, who had
already located in that part of the town of Car-
roll which is now Kiantone.

He at once began to make shingles, working
far into the night with the frow and shave
which were the tools then used, instead of the
modern shingle-machine.

In the spring he took the products of his
labor down the river to a southern market, and
thus began his career as a lumber dealer, a busi-
ness in which he was quite extensively engaged
in later years.

In 1816 he came to Jamestown, which then
contained less than a dozen families, and was
for a time connected with the store and hotel of
Elisha Allen.

In the year 1822 he bought of Nathan Kid-
der, for $300, the lot on the corner of Main and
Third streets, where the Preudergast block now
stands, on which was an unfinished frame build-
ing; this he completed and opened as a hotel,
having entered into partnership with Solomon
Jones, Esq.

In the year 1828 he removed to the south
side of the outlet, where he had purchased a
farm, but continued the business of a lumber
merchant, buying large quantities of boards and
timber, which he sold in southern markets.

In the year 1857 he bought of A. F. Hawlcy
the building and lot on the southwest corner of
Main and Third streets.

The building, which was of wood, having
burned in 1860, he replaced it with a substantial
brick structure now known as the Hall block.

He was identified with most of the various
enterprises for improving the business facilities
of the town in which he lived.

He was prominent in all efforts to secure rail-
way communication with the outer world.

As director and vice-president of the Erie &
New York City Railroad company, which is

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

now merged in the X. Y., P. & O. Railroad, lie
S])ent nuicli time and money in the prosecution
of that enterprise.

He was a stockholder in the Dunkirk and
Jamestown Plank-Road compau}-.

He was also for a number of years a director
in the Chautauqua County National Eauk, and
a stockholder in the Cane-Seat Chair company.

Wlien already far advanced in years he en-
tered into the project of building an alpaca-mill,
au enterprise comparatively new in this country.
This, from a business standpoint, was the great-
est undertaking of his life. Although not the
originator of the enterprise, it is safe to say no
one contributed more to its success than he.

His knowledge, acquired by long experience
in building, his sound judgment and energy, to-
gether with his capital, were all devoted to the
success of the undertaking.

^^'hi!e yet a young man he attained the rank
of colonel in the New York State militia, but
being M'ithout military ambition, he soon re-
signed the office.

Although deeply interested in the politics of
his country, as every good citizen should be, he
had no sympathy with the methods of the poli-
tician, and having acceptably filled the office of
town supervisor, his political ambition was .sat-
isfied.

Personally he was characterized by great
physical .strength, temperate habits (using neither
liquor nor tobacco in any form), untiring indus-
try, indomitable energy and perseverance and
unswerving integrity ; these, combined with pru-
dence, economy and sound judgment, achieved
for him a large measure of success as a business
man.

He was a friend of education, of temperance,
of human rights and religion.

He contributed libei'ally for the erection of
houses of worship, and for the support of the
gospel, and was always, when able, in his seat
on the Sabbath, in the Congregational church.

He was greatlv attached to his home and his

friends, though not wont to make great demon-
stration of his feelings.

He was married, July 4, 1824, to Julia, daugh-
ter of Solomon Jones, Esq., by whom he had five
children, three of whom, — William C. J., Clara
M. and Elliot C, — together with his wife, sur-
vived him., He died July 6, 1880, having been
a resident of Jamestown sixty-four years. His
wife followed him to the grave January 18, 1888.

William C. J. Hall was born in Jamestown,
N. Y., August 8, 1828; graduated from Yale
college in 1851 ; was successively a civil engi-
neer on the Atlantic and Great Western Rail-
way, principal of the Ellington academy, and a
druggist and chemist in Jamestown. In 1861
he entered the army as first lieutenant of a com-
pany of sharp.shooters. He was appointed major
of the 23d U. S. Colored Troops, and brevetted
colonel. After nearly four years' service he re-
signed on account of his health. He was for a
time superintendent of the public schools of
Meadville, Pa., and afterwards returned to James-
town to engage with his father in the manufac-
ture of worsted goods. He was a man of ex-
ten.sive knowledge, and his advice was sought on
many different matters. He was a member of
the faculty of Chautauqua university and pro-
fessor of microscopy. He died October 30,
1887, leaving a wife and two children.

Clara M., wife of Rev. William A. Hallock,
a Congregational minister not in active service
in the ministry, now resides in Jamestown. They
have two children.

Elliot C. Hall was born in Jamestown, N. Y.,.
Ai>ril 29, 1838 ; graduated from Yale college in
18G2, and from Union theological seminary, New
York, in 18C5. After fourteen years' service in
the ministry he was called home on account of
his father's feeble heafth, and since his father's
death has remained in charge of his business
affairs. Mr. Hall was married, July 24, 1867,
to Tirzah S., daughter of Prof. E. S. Snell, of
Amherst College, Massachusetts. They have
three children, and occupy the family homestead.

Apo.Qt.^o

(xZZ^^^^o

ifX^

J3 o.]

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

nANSOM J. IiAl{IU)WS, tlie son of Levi
C. and Abigail (Putnam) Ransom Bar-
rows, was born in Luzerne, Warren county, New
York, August 24, 183L His grandfather, Abner
Barrows, was a native of Vermont, but removed
to this State, located near Saratoga Springs and
pursued farmiug until his death, in 1849. He
married a Miss Call and had four sons and two
daughters. Levi C Barrows was born at Lu-
zerne, this State, in 1804, and came to this
county in 1832, locating at Stockton for abt)ut
one year and then removed to Jamestown, wiiere
he engaged in the lumber business and, in part-
nership with a Mr. John Scott, under the firm-
name of Scott & Barrows, manufactured doors,
sash, blinds and lumber. In {polities he was a
democrat, but became a whig and later a repub-
lican, being a strong sympathizer of the aboli-
tionists. When the underground railway was
carrying the blacks through to Canada, Mr.
Barrows took pride in being known as one of
its conductors and did much in advancing aboli-
tion principles. For some years he was a jus-
tice of the peace, serving in that capacity at the
time of his death, March 10, 1863. In 1861
he transferred his business to his sons, Ransom
J. and Henry R., who continued it about two
years. He was a member of the Presbyterian,
church — for many years a deacon. In 1828 he
married for his first wife Abigail (Putnam) Ran-
som, who bore him six children : Mary J., mar-
ried to M. W. Hutton, of Jamestown, and is ,
now dead ; Maria, wife of Alexander Hawley
who is the representative of one of the oldest
fiimilies of this county; Ransom J., Sallie
(dead), Henry R., who served as lieutenant of
Co. A, 112th regt., N. Y. Inflmtry ; and Orton, ■
who died young. After Mrs. Barrows' death, i
in 1846, he married Sallie Canfield and had
three children : Halbert A., a resident of James-
town ; Herbert L., who lives in California ; and
Antoinette (deceased). He was a prominent
and respected Mason, being one of the organizers
of the first lodge of that fraternity established

in Jamestown, and to the time of his death was
active and entiiusiastic in its woi'k.

Ransom J. Barrows received a common-
school education, and married for his first wife
Mary J. Putnam, daughter of rnioii Putnam,
of Stockton, in 1854, and she died in 1859,
leaving two children : Jennie M., wife of M. P.
Hatch, of Buffalo, and Minnie M., wife of Dr.
W. M. Bern us, of Jamestown. His second wife
was Ellen A. Breed, a daughter of Deacon J.
C. Breed, who died in 1869. In 1873 he mar-
ried iSIinerva C. Williams, and this last marriage
has been blest with three children : Ellen A.,
Elma M. and R. Jay.

He is a Mason, and has held continuous mem-
bership for thirty-eight years in Mount Moriah
Lodge, No. 145, of Jamestown. Mr. Barrows
has held many offices of honor and trust in
Jamestown, where he has resided for nearly
sixty years.

/-VEOKGK W. PATTERSON, one of the

^^ l)rominent and public-spii-ited citizens of
Westfield, is a son of Hon. George W. antl
Hannah W. (Dickey) Patterson, and was bora
on his father's farm in Livingston county, New
York, February 25, 1826. His paternal and
maternal ancestry is given in the sketch of his
father which is published in this volume. At
fourteen years of age, he came with his father
to Westfield where he has remained principally
ever since. He entered Dartmouth College,
New Hampshire, from which he was graduated
in 1848, afterwards read law for two years in
Buffalo, but with no intention of practicing and
only as an accomplishment. From 1850 to
1853, he was engaged in the manufacture of
.steel tools, and in 1854, in company with J. N.
Hungerfbrd, organized the Geo. Washington
bank at Corning, which had a successful career
until 1873, when it went down with hundreds
of other banks in the great panic of that year.
Since 1875 he has resided at Westfield, where
he has a pleasant home and has given his time

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

to the uianageinent of his lands, fifteen hundred
acres originally owned by the Holland Land
Company in Chautauqua county. He is one of
tiie board of water commissioners of Westfield,
president of the board and the chief engineer of
the waterworks. He served as president of the
board of education.

On September 17, 1861, he united in mar-
riage with Frances D. Todd, a native of Todd-
ville, Otsego county, New York, which was
founded by her grandfather, Lemuel Todd.
Their union has been blessed with four
children: Catherine, a graduate of Vassar col-
lege, the wife of Frank W. Crandall ; George
W., born February 1, 1864, who graduated at
Yale college, and at the Institute of Technol-
ogy, Boston, and since 1889 has been instructor
of electrical engineering at the University of
Michigan ; Hannah W., a graduate of the art
department of Vassar college; and Frances
Todd, who was graduated from Vassar in the
class of 1888.

Mr. Patterson has beeu for several years a
vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal
church at Westfield.

TOHN H. TOUSLEY, a descendant of ante-
^ Revolution fathers, is living in retirement,
having disposed of his baking and confectionery
business about three years ago. His parents
■were William and Charlotte (Haughton) Tous-
ley, who reared ten children. John H., the
subject of our sketch, who was born in Madisou
county, New York, December 28, 1827, is the
youngest. John Haughton (maternal grand-
father) came from England to Madisou county,
but we have not the date of his arrival, except
that it was some years before the Revolution—
probably between 1760 and 1765. At the be-
ginning of the war for independence he was im-
pressed in Burgoyne's army, but escaj^ed as soon
as possible and joiued the colonial troops, serv-
ing with them, sharing the privations and dan-
gers of the isolated camp-life and a skulking

Indian enemy until the close of the war, wheu
lie returned to his plow and followed it. In
politics a democrat, he was a warm support(;r of
Jeffersonian principles. William Tousley was
born in Connecticut and came of old New Eng-
land stock, but early in life came to Madisou
county, this State, where he conducted a black-
smith-shop and followed farming. He married
and had a family consisting of three sons and
three daughters : Sarah (now Mrs. Coman) lives
in Madison county; Hiram, died in JNIadisou
county in 1890 ; Lucinda (Mrs. Ames Belknap)
moved to Michigan, where she died ; Edmund
O., lived eighteen years in Jamestown, but re-
moved to Madison county, wiiere he now resides;
Deborah, married Leonard Leland (now dead),
of Madison county; and John H.

John H. Tousley received the usual early
education of a country boy and afterwards took
an academic course, and upon leaving school
learned to be a carpenter, which trade he fol-
lowed until 1855, when be opened a bakery and
confectionery store. In 1864 he came to James-
town and continued his business, following it
uninterruptedly until 1889, when he was suc-
ceeded in the business by his sous.

In January, 1855, he married Mary E. Par-
ker, of Allegany county, New York. Three
children have blest this union : Charles P., mar-
ried to Addie Turlow, is conducting the baking
and confectionery business in Jamestown ; John
H., Jr., is also engaged in business with his
brother and lives at home with his father ; and
Ruth C, a teacher in the Jamestown public
schools.

Of a retiring and modest disposition, Mr.
Tousley, while being a supporter of the Demo-
cratic party, has never sought ofBce or permitted
his name to be used as a candidate, and has now
arrived at an age where he can take a retrospec-
tive view of life and feel satisfied with his life's
work. He is a member of Mount Moriah Lodge,
No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons, and is held
in high esteem by the fraternity.

V^,t4^dAXjSU<A^jL^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

TSRAEL JAMES, an asjed geutleman and
-*- respected citizen of Jamestown, was born in
Cnmington, Berkshire county, Massacliusetts,
Marcli 13, 1814, and is the son of Moses and
Polly (Vining) James. The stock were natives
of that State for at least two generations prior
to these mentioned, and may have been among
the first arrivals. Moses James, Sr. (grand-
father), was a native of Massachusetts, but
emigrated to Ohio 1812, and inu'chased one
thousand acres of land, a part of which he
cleared and began farming. He was married,
before leaving Massachusetts, to Rebecca Ketts,
and reared a family of twelve children, one
dying while an infant. Mr. James was a whig,
and took an active interest in the political affairs
of the early republic. Moses James (fiither)
was a native of Massachusetts, but went to Ohio
about 1813, where he followed his trade (tan-
ning) until he died. He was a whig, and a
member of the Presbyterian church. He was
twice married : first in 1813, to Polly Vining,
by whom he had three children (the name of
but one is remembered, Israel) ; and after her
death, in 1822, he married for his second wife
Catherine Williams, who bore him one child,
Lucretia, who married Henry Wales.

Israel James has been an energetic and very
active business man. After receiving the edu-
cation commonly given in the schools in the
early half of this century, he was apprenticed
to and learned blacksmithing, which he followed
for a number of years, and then began the
development of the iron industry, which since
has grown to such magnitude in Ohio. His
work in this line was done at Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio, it being the manufacture of wrought iron.
"With the acquisition of experience car axles
were attempted, and the first that were used by
the New York, Pa. and Ohio R. R., now a divis-
ion of the Erie railway, was turned out by Mr.
James, and used in the manufacture of cars by
a car-building firm doing business at Cleveland,
Ohio. Mr. James was engaged in the rolling-
4

mill business about thirty-five years, and came
to Jamestown in 1885, and purchased six acres
of land, wliich at that time was covered with
woods, and which he cleared and built upon.

On September 5th, 1835, Mr. James married
Hannah T. Steele, who bore him two children:
the eldest died in infancy; and Henry, a travel-
ing salesman, who resides in Jamestown, and
married Kate Bush. Mrs. James died in 1847,
at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Mr. James mar-
ried Mary E. Randall, daughter of Elias Ran-
dall, of Jefferson county, this State, by whom
he has two children : Laurel E., married to
Minnie ]']. Piyor, and resides in Ohio ; and
Minnie L., wife of E. J. Squire, who is em-
ployed in a shoe factory in Jamestown where
they reside.

Politically Mr. .Tames is a republican, and
has been since eighteen years of age a member
of the Methodist church, in which he was a
steward fqr thirty-eight years at Cuyahoga
Falls, and has also been a trustee. Many years
ago he joined the Masonic fraternity at the
above-named place, which membership he still
retains.

HOX. ALMON A. VAX DUSEX, judge of
the courts of Chautauciua county, New
York, is the eldest .son of Benjamin F. and
Mehitable (Tjovell) Van Dusen, and was born
in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York,
Jan. 3rd, 1843. The family of Van Dusen in
New York, is descended from ancestoi'S w^lio
were anciently established in Holland, and came
to New York, then New Netherlands, some time
during the eaidy part of the seventeenth century.
They settled at Claverick, in what is now Colum-
bia county, and in 1720 Abraham Van Dusen, a
descendant of one of these Van Du.sens, removed
to Connecticut where he settled at Salisbury. In
lineal descent from him was John Van Dusen,
the father of John Van Du.sen, Jr., whose son,
Benjamin F. Van Dusen, is the father of Judge
Almon A. Van Du.sen. John A^an Dusen, Jr.

BIOORAPIIY AND HISTORY

(grandfather) resided during the latter part of
his life-time iu ^Michigan where he died about
1875. He married Mary Forbes, by whom he
had thirteen children ; Alonzo, Marshall, Harry,
Elizabeth, BenjaminF.,Mary, Rachel, Charlotte,
Emily, Theodore, Eliza, Charles, and Edwin,
who was killed while serving as a soldier in the
late civil war. The secoud son, Benjamin F.
Van Dusen (father), was born iu Locke, Cayuga
county. New York, June 4th, 1817, and learnetl
the trade of cabinet-maker. In 1841 he
removed to Jamestown whore he now resides
and where he was successfully engaged for many
years in the cabinet-making business. He is a
member of the Baptist church and a republican
in politics. He married Mehitable Lovcll.
Thev are the parents of three children; Judge
Almon A., Theodore F., a successful business
man of Jamestown and George C, a w'ell
known lawyer of the same city. Mrs. Van
Dusen is a daughter of Jonathan Lovell
(maternal grandfather), who was born iu Wor-
cester, Massachusetts and died in Jamestown,
N. Y. in 1854, at eighty-five years of age. He
was a democrat in politics and married Mehita-
ble Knight, who bore liim seven children : Mary,
Moses, Jonathan, Cyrus, David, Eliza and
Mehitable.

Almon A. Van Dusen was reared at James-
town and received his education in the James-
town, academy and Chamberlain institute at
Randolph, Cattaraugus county, this State.
Having made choice of the legal profession as
his life vocation he commenced the study of
law in 1863 with Alexander Sheldon, of James-
town and completed his course with the firm of
Alexander and Porter Sheldon, the latter of
whom afterwards served as a member of Con-
gress. He was admitted to the bar on Novem-
ber 19, 1866. Shortly after this he was
admitted and licensed to practice in the IJjiited
States District court for the Northern District of
New York. After admission to the bar he
opened an office at Mayville and soon obtained

a respectable clientage which increa.sed in num-
bers as long as he was in practice at tlie
Chautauqua county bar and in the United
States District court. The Democratic party
made him their nominee several times for
county Judge but iu the face of an adverse
majority of from four to five thousand votes,
his election u|)on each occasion that he ran, was
an impossibility although he always reduced
the republican vote. In 1890, Judge Lambert,
county judge of Chautauqua county, was
elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of
New York and for his position as county judge
many of the ablest lawyers of the bar were
applicants. Judge Van Dusen was nominated
by the democratic party of this county as
their candidate for county judge iu October,
1890, to succeed him, and although the coun-
ty has a republican majority of from 4,000
to 6,000, he was elected over Jerome B. Fisher,
republican, by a plurality of 899, for the
term of six years.

In February, 1871, he united in marriage
with Juliet E. Merchant, daughter of William
G. Merchant, of Boone, Iowa. They have one
child living, a son : Vernon, who is eighteen
years of age.

During the short time Judge Van Dusen has
been on the bench, he has discharged the many
important duties of his responsible position in a
manner that has been acceptable to the members
of the bar and the general public. He has pre-
sided over the few courts which lie has held with
ability, impartiality and faithfulness. As a
lawyer he has met with good success in both
the county and the supreme court of the State,
and at the present time is a retained attorney
for the W^esteru New York and Pennsylvania
Railroad company. He takes an active interest
in educational matters and has served for .several
years as president of the Sherman and Mayville
Boards of Education. Socially Judge Van
Dusen is affable and approachable alike to high
or low, yet reserved and dignified when the

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY.

occasion requires. He has been a democrat in
politics since 1876. In addition to his profes-
sion and work in educational matters, he has
taken a deep interest in the history of the State
and is a member of the ancient and well known
Holland Historical Society of New York.

SIDXKY M. HOSIER, treasurer of Chau-
tauqua county and a wounded veteran of
the late civil war, is a son of Isaac and Arvilla
(Rogers) Hosier, and was born near Blocksville,
ill the town of Harmony, Chautauqua county,
New York, October 21, 1843. His maternal
grandfather, Elisha Rogers, moved to near
Garrett, De Kalb county, Ind., where lie fol-
lowed farming until his death. He mar-
ried and had four children, one son and three
daughters: Harris, who is engaged in farm-
ing near Garrett; Arvilla, Sophia and Orrilla.
Isaac Hosier (father) was born October 13, 1810,
and died at Boomertowu, this county, April, 1 884,
aged seventy-four years and six months. He
was a carpenter and joiner by trade, a repub-
lican in politics and a member of tiie Methodist
Episcopal church. His wife was Arvilla Rogers,
daughter of Elisha Rogers, and to their union
were born three sons and two daughters : Effie,
who died in infancy ; Elisha, who was one of
the first of New York's sons to respond to
President Liucoln's call for troops in 1801, en-
listed in Co. B, 72nd regiment New York Vols.,
and was killed in the early part of the Penin-
sular campaign, at the battle of Williamsburg ;
Sidney M. ; AValter E., engaged in farming in
the town of Portland ; and Ada A., wife of M.
D. Carpenter, of Boomertown.

Sidney M. Hosier passed his boyhood days
in his native village and received a good com-
mon school education. He then, in order to
more fully fit himself for some business pursuit
in life, went to Buffalo and entered Bryant and
Stratton's Commercial and Business college, of
that city. He learned telegraphy and book-
keeping and devoted some time to penmanship.

In the second year of the late war he enlisted
(August 2nd, 18G2) in Co. D, 112tli regiment,
N. Y. Infantry, and served iu the many severe
marches and numerous hard battles of the Army
of the Potomac until the siege of Petersburg,
where on the 29th of September, 1864, he lost
his right arm by a gun-shot wound. He was
sent to Hampton Roads hos2)ital, where he re-
mained for sonie time, and then transferred to
New York Central Park hospital and from
there to Buffalo High Street hospital, and was
honorably discharged from the United States
service at Buffalo, N. Y., on the eighth day of
July, 1863. He then returned home and be-
came a telegraph operator at Randolph, on the
Atlantic and Great Western railroad, where he
remained for about six months, and then re-
signed to have an operation performed on his
shoulder to remove loose bones. After leaving
the service of that railway company he was em-
ployed on several other railroads until about
1872, when he was appointed agent and tele-
graph operator at Clymer station, on the West-
ern New York & Pennsylvania railroad, which
position he held until the spring of 1886, when
he resigned on account of health. In the fall
of 1887 he was elected treasurer of Chautau-
qua county for a term of three years, which
expired December 31st, 1890. The only office
previous to this which he ever held was that of
collector of the town of Harmony, for the year
1868.

June 20, 1871, he married Anise E. Gilmore,
daughter of James Gilmore, of Portage county,
Ohio.

Sidney M. Hosier is a member of Mayville
Lodge, No. 284, Independeut Order of Odd
Fellows, of Mayville; Chautauqua Lodge, No.
3, Aucient Order of United Workmen, at West-
field, and William Sackett Post, No. 324, Grand
Army of the Republic, of Westfield. He is a
republican from principle and has always given
a full and cordial support to his party. As a
business man he has financial ability and many

BIOGEAI'IIY AXD HISTORY

years of commercial experience. As treasurer
of this county he has discharged the duties of
his office with fidelity and intelligence, and as
a Foldier his military record is one of faitiifid
and willintr service.

TllTAJOK KDGAK P. PLTX-V3I, clerk of
4 the courts and county clerk of Chautau-

qua county and who was an efficient cavalry
officer under General Sheridan during the war
of the " Great Rebellion," is a son of James R.
and Maria L. (Flagg) Putnam, and was born
in the town of Stockton, Chautauqua county.
New York, May 4, 1844. James R. Putnam
was a member of one of the several Putnam
fomilies who were early settlers of Chautauqua
county, and who all seem, without exception, to
have come from Massachusetts, where, in 1740,
eighty males were registered as bearing the
name of Putnam, and of whom two, Israel and
Rufu.s, were conspicuous American generals in
the Revolutionary war. James R. Putnam was
a .son of Gilbert Putnam and was born in the
town of Stockton in 1821. He \vas a farmer
by occupation and died in Busti when only
twenty-six years of age. He was a whig in
politics and married Maria L. Flagg, by whom
he had one child, the suljjoct of this sketch.
Mrs. Maria L. (Flagg) Putnam is a daughter of
Eleazer Flagg (maternal grandfather), M'ho was
a native of Rutland, Vermont, where he was a
prominent politician for many years and served
as sheriff of his county. He removed with his
family to Chautauqua county, where he settled
in the town of Stockton.

Edgar P. Putnam attended the common
schools until lie was seventeen years of age,
when he entered the Union army. He enlisted
on September 11, 18G1, as a private in Co. D,
9th New York cavalry, and served as such un-
til 1862, when he was promoted corporal. In
the same year he became sergeant, and in 1864
was commissioned first lieutenant of his com-
pany. In April, 1865, he was promoted to a

captaincy and commissioned as captain of Co. I
of his regiment. He was breveted major when
mustered out on July 17, 1865, as his commis-
sion states, " for gallant and meritorious ser-
vices." He participated in the battles of York-
town, Second Bull Run, Autietam, Fredericks-
burg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was
with McClellan on the Peninsula. He was on
detached service and carried important dispatches
at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg for Generals
Geary, Slocum and Meade, also in the battles
of Mine Run and Brandy Station. He partici-
pated in the terrible battles of the Wilderne.ss,
Spottsylvania Court-house and Cold Harbor.
After the last named battle his regiment was
ordered back to Washington for the protection of
that city, but was soon after transferred to the
Shenandoah Vallej' and rendered Slieridan valu-
able service in the great battles of Winchester,
Fi.sher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Capt. Putnam
led his company in Siieridan's raids round Rich-
mond and in the closing .scene of the war at
Appomattox Court-house. During his entire
term of service Major Putnam's regiment was
in one hundred and fifty -six skirmishes and battles
in which he was alwa\'s present for duty. He
was twice wounded in battle, first at Travillion
Station and second at Five Forks, Va. After
the close of the war he was appointed as a deputy
United States surveyor, and had charge until
1875 of government surveys in Minnesota,
where his headquarters were at Minneapolis.
From 1875 to 1888 he was engaged in the book
and drug business in Jamestown as a member of
the firm of Henderson & Putnam. In 1884 he
was appointed postmaster of Jamestown by
President Arthur. In 1888 he was cho.sen
clerk of the courts and county clerk of Chautau-
qua county, New York, for a period of three
j-ears, by a majority of six thousand votes, and
entered upon the duties of Ids office January 1,
! 1889, and has ably and honorably fulfilled the
same until the present time.

In 1875 he united in marriage with Eppa

'^ r/)f^^am^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Mace, daughter of William Mace, a merchant of
Jauie^^towii. They have tme child, a daiigliter,
named Edua P.

Major Edgar P. Putnam i.s a membei of the
Jamestown Club, Knights of Honor, Order of
Maccabees and James M. Brown Post, No. 285,
Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member
of Mount ]Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A.
Masons, and Jamestown Commaudery, No. 61,
Knights Templar. He is genial and pleasant
and hospitable, and has always been public-
spirited and progressive. In politics he is a
strong republican, but not an extremist, and has
some of his warmest personal friends in tiie
Democratic party. He is an attendant of the
Protestant Episcopal church, of whicii l;is wife
and daughter are members and communicants.
Major Putnam is well informed in regard to
military matters, and especially upon the history
of the late war, in which lie was an active par-
ticipant for over four years. His military record
is one of remarkable interest for the unusually
large number of (156) skirmishes and battles in
which he honorably participated with his regi-
ment, and for the immunity which he seemed to
possess against bullets on the battle-field aud
disease in unhealthy camps. Both as a soldier
and officer he was faithful in the discharge of
his regular duties and the performance of any
special work that was assigned to him.

HON. AVILT^IAM G. MARTIN, special sur-
rogate of Chautauqua county and a mem-
ber of the well known law firm of Van Dusen
& Martin, of Mayville, was born at Witham,
county Essex, England, September 15, 1848
and is a son of Rev. Robert and Hester (Beard)
Martin. The original name of the family was
Erskinc, tiiey tracing their descent from a
branch of the ancient Scottish family of that
name, which descended in an unbroken line
from a Henry De Erskine who lived in the
twelfth century. Tiie change of name was the
result of circumstances connected with the Ja-

cobite Rebellion of 1715 in Scotland. The
paternal great-great-grandfather of William G.
Martin was an Erskine, who was born in 1G88
aud died in 1730. He joined in the Heljelliou
of 1715, tlu' ol)ject of wiiicii was to ix'store tlie
Stuart family to the throne of Great Britain.
When the army of the Earl of Mar was defeated
in November of that year, Erskine, with many
others, fled to France, where he remained in
exile until 1718, when he returned to >Seotland
under the assumed name of Myreton, that being
his mother's family name. He had two sons,
W^illiani aud George, the latter of whom came
to New York about 1750 and settled near the
Hudson river. The former, William Myreton,
was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1720, and
married Jane jNIorris, a cousin of Robert Morris,
of revolutionary fame.

About this time the family changed the spell-
ing of the name to its present form. William
Myreton (great-grandfather), commanded the
coast guard station on the Isle of May, .seven
miles from the mainland of Scotland. He was
a .schoolmate of Paul Jones, and once carried
important despatches to Franklin at Paris,
which Jones had brought from America. He
was drowned at sea in 17!((), and left an only
son, William Martin (grandfather), born in
1760 and died in 1822. He succeeded his
lather in command of the Isle of May Station
and married his cousin, Jane Morris, by whom
he had seven sons and four daughters. His
youngest son, Robert Martin (father), was born
in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1820. He was edu-
cated at Edinburgii, went to England where he
resided for several years, and was an active par-
ticipant in the Chartist Movement from 1842
to 1847. He married Hester Beard, born
LSI 8, who is a daughter of George Beard, Esq.,
late of Coggeshall, Essex, and came to the
United States in 1854, entered the Baptist min-
istry and located in western New York.

He became deeply interested in tlie great anti-
slavery movement of that day aud [ireached

HIOGRAPIIY AND HISTORY

and lectured extensively against the institution
of African slavery and the curse of human
bondage. He resided in western New York
until 1880 when he removed to Michigan, where
he now resides He has six children — William
G., Jemima J,, Hester il., Duncan McLaren,
Jean E. and Mary E.; the last three of whom
were born in the United States. AV'illiam G.
Martin received his education in the common
schools of New York and commenced reading-
law in the office of Hon. Walter L. Sessions, of
Panama (now of Jamestown), this State. In
1882 he came to Mayville when he entered the
office of A. A. Van Dusen, completed his course
of reading and was admitted to pi-actice in the
courts of this State in JNIarch, 1884. January
1, 1886, he formed his present law partnership
with A. A. Van Duseu, under the firm-name of
Van Dusen & Martin. In 1887 he was elected
special surrogate of Chantauqua county for a
terra of three years and is serving in that capac-
ity at the present time. On January 1, 1873,
he married Frances I.sabel Graves, daughter of
Henrv M. Graves, of Friendship, New York.
Mr. Martin is a republican in politics, is a mem-
ber of Peacock Lodge, No. 696, F. and A. M.,
and Westfield chapter, No. 239, Royal Arch
Masons. He has been successful in the practice
of his profession and is discharging very credit-
ably the duties of his present office.

TAflLLIAM CHACE, M.T)., a well-known

-*•''• physician of Mayville, of thirty-two
years' continuous practice, was born at St. Cath-
erines, in Lincoln couuty, jiroviuce of Ontario,
Canada, January 4, 1833, and is a son of Dr.
William C. and Celinda (Holden) Chace. The
Chace family was one of the early settled fami-
lies of New York and in every generation from
its first settlement in the Empire State to the
present time it has numbered among its mem-
bers one or more physicians. Dr. William
Chace (grandfather) was born in Coventry,
October, 1754, and became a resident of Wash-

ington county, this State, where he practiced
medicine for many years. He served as a phy-
sician and surgeon in the Continental armies
during the Revolutionary war and after its
termination resumed his practice in Washington
county, where he afterwards died. One of his
sons was John Chace, who was a lawyer, prac-
ticed at Mayville for some time and then went
South. Another son. Dr. William C. Chace
(father), was born in Easton, Washington
county, N. Y., August 19, 1795, and came
about 1814 to this county where he studied
medicine under Dr. Jedediah Prendergast, of
Mayville, and attended Geneva Medical college
from which he was graduated. After gradua-
tion he went to southern Indiana where he
remained two years and then went to St. Cath-
erines, Canada, upon the urgent .solicitation of
Hon. W. H. Merritt, who married a daughter
of Dr. Jedediah Prendergast, and who was at
that time largely interested in various business
enterprises and quite prominent in Canadian
political affairs. Mr. Merritt desired Dr.
Chace's assistance as a partner in the manufac-
ture of salt on a large scale, but about this time
salt-brine was found in abundance at Syracuse,
New York, and its subsequent manufacture into
salt, with which the market was filled rendered
the Canadian salt wells unprofitable property.
Dr. Chace soon withdrew from the company in
which he was intere.sted and engaged in the gen-
eral mercantile business which he followed for
several years. W'hile engaged in salt manufac-
turing he made the discovery of the medicinal
properties posses.sed by the water which is left
after extracting the salt from the salt-brine. Dr.
Chace was engaged in the mercantile business
and practice of medicine at St. Catherines until
1855, when he returned to Mayville, where he
practiced for some years and where he died in
1876, at eighty years of age. He was a re]iub-
lican and a vestryman of the Protestant Epis-
copal church. He was married three times. His
first wife was Marv Brundiije, who died and left

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

him one child : James B., now deceased. He
married for liis second wife Celinda Holden
and after her death wedded Susan Evans. By
his second marriage he iiad five children : Wil-
liam and Mary, Mho died in infancy; Eliza
(deceased) ; Dr. "William, and John (dead).
Mrs. Celinda (Holden) ('hace was born August
30, 1802, and passed away in the spring of
1834. She was a daughter of William Holden
(maternal grandfather), who was a native far-
mer and life-long resident of Tompkins county.
William Chace received his literary education
in St. Catherines academy and read medicine
with his father. He entered the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, of New York city,
and was graduated from that institution in the
class of 1858. Immediately after graduation
he came to Mayville where he remained eser
since and has been engaged successfully in the
practice of his jirofession. August 7, 1801, he
married Mary L. Green, daughter of William
Green, of Mayville. They are the parents of
four children : three of whom are of age and
graduates of Hobart college, Geneva, IS. Y. ;
Dr. William H., a resident physician of Buffalo,
who read medicine with his fother, was gradu-
ated from Buffalo Medical college in the class
of 1887, and is the physician in the fourth gen-
eration of the Chace family of New York ;
Clarence H., read law with Williams & Potter,
was admitted to the bar in 1888, married Alice,
daughter of William P. Taylor, of Buffalo, and
is a member of the bar of that city ; John O.,
book-keeper for the Buffalo Storage company,
and George.

Dr. William Chace is a vestryman in the
Protestant Episcopal church — the church of his
forefathers. He is a democrat and a Fellow of
the New York State Medical Association. He
has a large and remunerative practice at May-
ville and the surrounding country. He is in-
terested, to some extent, in agricultural pursuits
and owns farms iu the immediate vicinity of the
county seat. He belongs to an old and worthy

family, and his Christian name, William, ap-
pears in each one of its generations since it was
founded in the Empire State, and in every in-
stance has been borne by a physician of ability
and reputable standing. Dr. William Chace is
a Past Master of Peacock Lodge, No. 696, F.
and A. M., a Past Muster and High Priest of
Westfield Chapter, No. 239, H. R. A. M., and
a member of Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40,
Knights Templar.

j^HIT.lP PHILIPS. The fir.st Philip
Phillijw to live in Chautauqua county
was born iu MassaclnLsetts, July 29, 1764. In
1816 he moved to Cassadaga. Five children
made up his family, and the fourth, an uncle of
the subject of this sketch, was the second Philip
Phillips to live in the county. To his eldest
brother. Sawyer, born in 1791, was given a fam-
ily of fourteen children, ten of whom lived to
attain maturity. One of these, the subject of
this sketch, was born August 13, 1834, and
has lived to be more famed at home and abroad
than any man Chautauqua county has given to
the world. He was the seventh of the family of
fourteen which bles.sed the humble farm-house
near Cassadaga, at that time doing duty as the
Phillips homestead. Whether his infant lungs
were exercised to any greater degree than those
of his brothers and sisters is not recorded ; cer-
tain it is, that at a very tender age his musical
proclivities asserted themselves. Once the village
choir — by no means an accomplished body of
singers — tried a new tune to the words " When
I can read my title clear." A moment the mel-
ody went along smoothly enough, then somebody
struck a false note and somebody else followed,
and the rout became general. The minister — a
Rev. Mr. Peckham — had chanced to hear young
Master Phillips sing the same tune a few days
before, so he called on him to help the choir out,
and up stood the future "Singing Pilgrim,"
scarce ten years of age then, and rendered the
new tune all alone, from beginning to end. In

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

a short time he was a member of tlie choir to
whose rescue he liad so chivalrously come a few
years before. When nine years of age he lost
his mother, but the memory of lier blessed teach-
ings and tender tiioughtfulness toward her child-
ren in the midst of manifold household cai-es, has
remained with him as a benediction in after life.
As can thousands of others, to whom the memo-
ries of sainted motherhood have proved peren-
nial springs of comfort, he can say,

" Happy he
With such a mother; faith in womankind
Beats with his blood, and hope in all things high
Comes easy to him."

At about the age of fourteen young Phillips
was apprenticed to a farmer of the vicinity, a
Mr. B. W. Grant. The terms of his appren-
ticeship stipulated that he was to assist in ordi-
nary farm work as required, in return therefor
receiving his board, being allowed to attend
school during the winter months, and when he
became of age to be " set off" with one hundred
dollars cash and two suits of clothes. It was
while serving this apprenticeship to Mr. Grant,
that Philip Phillips had his first opportunity of
attending singing school. Here, during the
winter of 1850, he mastered the rudiments of
music. The winter of 1851 proved one of the
most important of his life, for with it came an
old-fashioned revival of religion in the region,
and with the revival young Phillips' conversion.
The light that came into his heart those winter
months has grown brighter ever since, and more
than once tiie Singing Pilgrim has proved its
power when darkness sought to reign over his
pathway. Too poor to purchase a musical in-
strument himself, the young apprentice found a
sympathizing friend in his employer, Mr. Grant,
who purchased for his use one of the old-fash-
ioned melodeous then just coming into vogue.
It proved the fruitful friend of his leisure hours,
for they were all spent in its companionship, and
here the "Singing Pilgrim," largely self-taught,
acquired, or rather developed, that originality

which is the handmaiden of genius. Noting
this restlessness under farm duties when his
heart was really in musical work, Mr., Grant re-
leased young Phillips from the remainder of his
apprenticeship, and at the age of nineteen the
young singer opened his first singing school in
Allegany, X. Y. This work set the pattern for
his career, although it was not until some years
later that all his talents were directed in the
channel of Gospel singing. Fame soon came to
him, and in 1858 he responded to an invitation
to visit Marion, Ohio. It was while here that
he found one of his music pupils peculiarly in-
teresting, and on the 27th of September, 18G0,
he was united in marriage to Olive M. Clark.
To her loving help and companionship, Mr.
Phillips owes much of his success; and no sketch
of his life would be complete which failed to
mention that other star that through the long
years

" has shone so close beside him
That they make one light together."

From 18G1 to 186(3 Mr. Phillips was in busi-
ness in Cincinnati, O., having associated with
him Messrs. William Summer and John R.
Wright, t\vo of the most able and respected
financiers of the west. Here they built up an
extensive trade in music books and instruments,
but the large and well-arranged store burned
down in 18G5. Then the "Singing Pilgrim" gave
his attention solely to the writing and singing
of his songs and the sale of his books. Of
these latter, while the " Musical Leaves,"
" Hallowed Song.s," and " Singing Pilgrim,"
have been most popular, the aggregate of all
sales, largely in foreign countries, has reached
over six million copies.

In January, 18(55, at the great anniversary of
the United States Christian Commission, held
in the Congressional chamber at Washington,
just a few days after its completion, Philip
Phillips sang " Your Mission." Pre.'^ident
Lincoln was there; all the cabinet advisers who
had held up his liands so faithfully during the

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT!'.

war ; tlif Chief Justice and Justices of the Su-
preme Court, senators and representatives, sol-
diers, sailors, commoners ; these all united to
make up that vast and brilliant assemblage.
Never was the power of a single song, rich with
music-set gems of truth, so demonstrated before ;
and when at quarter before twelve President
Lincoln sent to the Hon. William H. Seward,
chairmau of the meeting, the written request,
still in Mr. Phillips' possession, " Near the close
let us have 'Your Mission' repeated by Mr.
Phillips. Don't say I called for it. Lincoln,"
the great President had only voiced the desire
of every other auditor, and again the soul-
stirring words left the singer's lips to seal tlieir
mission of renewed inspirations and determina-
tions to more helpful living. When the sad
shock of the President's assassination followed
in April of that year, calls came from every
hand for Mr. Phillips to sing the song which
had so pleased the martyred President wdiile yet
he was in the active fulfillment of his mission.
Since that time, with slight variation, the Sing-
ing Pilgrim's life has been spent in answering
these calls to sing the story of Jesus and His
love over every part of the world, lie lias
trav^eled more than any other man. Ira D.
Sankey caught his first inspiration from him,
and through his direct influence became associ-
ated with Mr. Moody ; he has given over forty-
five hundred evenings of song, leaving behind
him a net profit to different churches and chari-
ties of well-nigh one hundred and fifty thou.sand
dollars ; he has belted the world, and many
times traveled throughout Europe; he has
enjoyed the friendship of such men as Spurgeon,
Lord Siiaftsbury, Dc Bonar, Beecher, and many
others of the most noted ecclesiastics and piiil-
anthropists both sides of the water; and at ti)e
time of this writing, the fifty-sixth year of his
age, seems to have lost none of that power antl
originality iu sacred song which l:as made him
a master iu his work. The intricacies of clas-
sical music would never reveal their hidden

beauties if no hand more skilled or voice of
larger compass or finer training than Philip
Phillips' attempted them. Of the two great
teachers, earlier surroundings limited him to but
one — that one, fortunately, the greater — and art
can claim but little honor for the developed gifts
with which nature was here so lavish. As a
farm-boy, he heard the brooks, tlie birds, the
sigiiing winds; and the low purling of the one,
the lighter strains of the otiier, the sad mono-
tones of the third — all tiie myriad voices of
nature w'hieli to many a lower heart than David's
have only chanted the praises of their Creator,
were not more spontaneous outpourings than the
simple, stirring melodies that have come from
the pen of this " Singing Pilgrim."

Philip Phillips' residence at " Ft. Hill Villa,"
Fredonia, is a most beautiful one, and it is evi-
dent from its comfort and cosin&ss that years of
traveled life have not made its owner in the
lea.st oblivious to the joys and allurements of
home life. It was while resident here, in Feb-
ruary, 1884, that he lost his eldest .son, James
Clark Phillips, a young man whose musical gifts
were of the highest, and whose genial character
made him the favorite of all who knew him.
He lies buried in Forest Hill cemetery, and on
the plain headstone are his last w'ords: "Tell
everybody I die a Ciiristian." His loss was a
peculiarly severe one to his father, for he had
been, and would have been, his associate and
co-worker for many years. His youngest son,
Philip Phillips, Jr., the fourth of the name to
live in Chautauqua county, is to enter the min-
istry of the Methodist Episcopal church. In
1890 he graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan
University, the largest western institution under
the control of that denomination ; and iu the
spring of 1891 he was married to Mary Semans,
only daughter of Prof. W. O. Semans, of the
facultv of his aliii't mater.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

■JOENJAMLN S. DEAK. — As journalism for
^^ the last quarter of a century has broad-
ened its scope and elevated its aims, the editors
of New York have never been found laggards
in the march of progress, and the press of
Jamestown has kept fully abreast of the papers
of any other city in the western part of the
State. One of tlieir number that is worthy of
particular mention is The Morning News, Qd\ie.(\
by Benjamin S. Dean. He is tlie eldest son
and second child of Philo N. and Rosella S.
(Fisher) Dean, and was born at Randolph, Cat-
taraugus county. New York, May 10, 1860.
His paternal grandfather, Norman Dean, was a
resident of Allegany county. New York, where
he mari'ied and reared a familj' of three sons
and two daughters. His maternal grandfather,
Simeon Fisher, w-as a native of Vermont, where
for many years lie was a very prominent and
influential citizen and a trusted whig leader.
At one time he was a candidate for governor of
the "Green Mountain State," and his delicate
sense of houoi- was such that he would not vote
for himself, and thereby lost the governorship,
as the election i-esulted in a tie between him and
his opponent, and was thrown into the legisla-
ture, which decided against him. About 1836
he moved to Waterborough, this county, but
afterwards removed to Randolph, in Cattarau-
gus county, where he died in 1864, aged sixty-
three years. He was a cabinet-maker by trade,
a congregationalist in religion, and an old-line
whig in politics until the agitation of the slavery
question, when he became a strong and leading
abolitionist. He was one of the founders of the
Republican party in the State, and was actively
advocating its principles at the time of his
death. He was of English descent, and mar-
ried a Miss Brookins, who bore him three sons
and five daughters. Philo N. Dean (father)
was born at Ceutreville, Allegany county,
N. Y., in 18.32, and in 1858 removed to Ran-
dolph, in Cattaraugus county, where he has
resided ever since. He is a shoemaker by trade,

and a republican in politics. He married
Rosella S. Fisher, who was born in 1830.
Their children are : Emma L., wife of Edward
May, a banker of Artesian City, South Dakota;
Benjamin S. ; Odel H., married Martha Turner,
of Addison, and is a clerk in a dry goods house;
Daniel W., who is city editor of the Mornimj
News of Jamestown ; and Louella A., w^ife of
James Tanner, a lumber dealer of Artesian
City, S. D.

Benjamin S. Dean received a common school
education, which he lias su[)plemented by read-
ing, observation and self-study. At thirteen
years of age he began life for himself in Michi-
gan as a wood .sawyer, which he followed for
one year. He then (1874) entered the office of
the Randolph Register, of Randolph, N. Y.,
to learn the jjrintiug business. After three
years of faithful ^vork on that paper, he went
to Pennsylvania, where he worked for two
years on the Emlenton Register. Later he pur-
chased the Register, and enjoyed a large patron-
age until one of his correspondents furnished
an article whose publication incensed the busi-
ness men of the town. Some si.xty of them in
a body visited Mr. Dean and demanded the
correspondent's name, but actuated by that
sense of honor which lost his grandfather Fisher
the governorship of Vermont, he declined to
accede to their request, although he knew his
denial would result in the downfall of his paper.
They withdrew their advertisements and used
their influence so effectively against him that he
was compelled to suspend publication two weeks
afterwards. In a short lime he became foreman
of a New York city Sunday paper, and then
served as city editor of the Olean Horning
Herald, and associate editor of the Sunday
Mirror of the same place. Late in 1882 he
purchased an interest in the Randolph Register,
which he edited until 1885. In the latter year
he came to Jamestown, where he became a part-
ner in the publication of tlie Morning Nevjs,
and immediately assumed editorial charge of

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

its columns, which he has retained ever
since.

On t!ie 27tli of June, 1883, lie united in
marriage witli Emil C. Blaisdeli, daughter of
the late Richard Jsiaisdell, of Gawanda, Catta-
raugus county, New York. To their union has
been born one child, a daughter named Blanche B.

In political aftiiirs Mr. Dean takes an active
part, and his pen is always wielded vigorously
in behalf of the principles, the jTosperity and
the progress of the Ilepul)liean party. His
paper, the 3Iorning News, is a power in tiie
cause of Republicanism in Chautauqua countv.

TEROMK LA DUE, who has been identified

^ with the business interests of Westfield
since 1870, is a son of Joshua and Julia Ann
(Cowles) La Due, and was born in the town of
Chautauqua, Chautauqua county, New York,
December 12, 1839. The La Dues of New
York are of French Huguenot origin, and are
descended from a La Due family that settled in
Lower Canada during the last century. Josluia
La Due was born in Dutchess county in 17I>4,
and died in the town of Portland in 1865. He
came to Chautauqua county in 1819, where he
settled in what is now the town of Sherman, but
afterwards became a resident of Miua. He was
a farmer by occupation, served as keeper of a
government light-house for four years under
President James K. Polk, and was a supervisor
and afterwards a justice of the peace in the town
of Mina. He married Julia Ann Cowles, who
was a native of Farinington, Connecticut, and
of New England ancestry.

Jerome La Due was reared from four years
of age at Westfield, where he attended the acad-
emy of that place and tiien (1858) entered the
law-ofBce of H. C. Kingsbury. After readuig
for two years he went west, and completed his
legal studies in the office of his brother, Joshua
La Due, who was pro.secuting attorney of the
city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 18(37 he was
admitted to the bar of Milwaukee, at which he

practiced for three years, at the end of which
time he went to Winona, Minnesota, where he
practiced for nearly a year and attended to a
part of the legal business of the M. & St. P.
Railroad company, of which his brother had
charge. In 1870 he returned to Chautauqua
county, where he established himself at West-
field in the real estate and insurance business, in
whieii he has continued successl'ully ever since.
Under President Cleveland's administration, in
1885, he was appointed postmaster of Westfield,
which position he held until 1890.

In 1867 he united in marriage with Ada
Wells, daughter of S. V. R. Wells, a resident
of Westfield.

He represents two important branches of busi-
ness which are necessary to the growth and pros-
perity of any place. Beside handling desirable
residence and valuable business properties, he
also has good farm lands for sale and is the rep-
resentative of the most solid and reliable insur-
ance companies.

FREDERICK I.. CRAXSOJf, one of the
enterprising and bound-to-be successful
business men of Silver Creek, is a member of
the firm of Huntley, Cranson & Hammond,
manufacturers of grain and corn cleaning, and
buckwheat machinery, at the large establishment
known as the Monitor Works, which was organ-
ized by Giles S. Cranson (father) and his son, F.
L. Cranson, in 1885. He was born in Rome,
Oneida county. New York, March 16, 1855,
and is a son of Giles S. and Mary E. (Bligh)
Cranson. The fact that their guarantee, which
states that their machinery is unequalled in fin-
ish, that nothing but the very best material is
employed in its construction, that none are per-
mitted to leave their works unless absolutely
perfect in every detail, is endorsed by commen-
dation of the best millers from the Hudson
river to the Rocky mountains and from Lake
Erie to the Rio Grande, is sufficient proof that
the firm knows its business and deserves their

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

reputation. Among the useful and indispen-
sable machinery made at the Monitor Works
are: The Cransou Scouring, Polishing and Sep-
arating machine, single and double, with mag-
netic attachment; the Oat Clipper, the Monitor
Dustless Receiving Separator, tlie INIonitor
Dustless Milling Separator, the Monitor Aspi-
rator, the Monitor Dustless Warehouse and Ele-
vator Se[)ai-at(»r, the Cranson Coru Scouring,
Polishing and Separating machine, the Diamond
Dustless Corn Sheller and Separator, the Cranson
Buckwheat Scouring, Polishing and Separating
machine, the Cransou Roller BuckwheatShucker,
the Monitor Scalping and Receiving Shoe, and
the Buckwheat Bolt. Giles S. Cranson (father)
was born in 1821, in Venice, Cayuga county,
this State, and after residing in several towns,
came to Silver Creek, a thriving incorporated
manufacturing village in the town of Hanover.
In 184G he man-ied Mary E. Bligh, a daughter
of E. Bligh and a native of Clockville, by
whom he had five children. On his removal to
Silver Creek in 1879 he engaged in the mauu-
facture of buckwheat hullers. In 1885 he and
his son organized the Monitor Works, and in
1886 they associated with them W. W. Hunt-
ley and C. L. Hammond. G. S. Cranson re-
tired from the firm in 1888.

Frederick L. Cranson received his education
in the common schools and afterwards acquired
the art of telegraphy, and was employed as a
telegraph operator for seven years. He has full
charge of the correspondence and advertising
department, and also directs the movements of
the octette of indefatigable traveling salesmen.
It goes without saying, that the productions of
the firm find a ready market. He is an active
and influential member of Dunkirk Comman-
dery, No. 40, Knights Templar, has received the
thirty-second degree, A. and A. Scottish Rite, and
is a member of the Order of the Mystic Shrine,
Ismalia Temple, Buffalo, N. Y.

Mr. Cranson united in luaii-iage with Eliza-
beth A. Parkhurst, who was a daughter of

Wm. ParkhurSt, of Clockville, this State.
Their union has been blest with one child, a
daughter, named Ethel D.

/>EORGE B. DOrOLA.S was born in the
^^ city of New York, DecendJer 25, 1846,
and is a son of George and Mary (Barton)
Douglas. He received his education in the
])ublic schools of his native city, and now lives
iu Bnffldo, this state.

nALPH B. DAY. A man whose life has not
only been one of usefulness and business
activity, but of genial, quiet manner and kindly
deeds, is Ralph B. Day, a prominent and highly-
respected citizen of the town of Dunkirk. He
was born on the farm where he now resides,
one mile from Dunkirk city, in the town of
Dunkirk (then Pomfret), Chautauqua county,
New York, March 10, 1831, and is a sou of
Edmund and Maria (Drake) Day. The Days
are of Scotch descent, and the founder of the
American branch of the family came in the
second ship load of Pilgrims that landed on
Plymouth Rock to face the unbroken forest
depths and the many warlike Indian tribes of
New England. One of his numerous descen-
dants in western Massachusetts was Edmund
Day, .Sr., grandfather of Ralph B. Day. He
was a native and life-long resident of .Spring-
field, Massachusetts, where his son, Edmund
Day (father), was born October 29, 1802, and
remained until he was twenty-four years of age.
Edmund Day, iu 1826, joined in the steady
tide of New England emigration that then iiad
for several years been pushing westward towards
the Genesee Valle}- and southwestern New York.
He settled upon the fine farm where the subject
of this sketch now resides, and devoted all his
energies for a time to the clearing and improv-
ing of his land. He erected good farm build-
ings, and built a saw-mill which was greatly
needed in his eomniimity in that early day of its
settlement. He was successful in his fin'ming;

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

operations and lumbering lousiness, wliicli he
followed many years. He was a prominent
member of tiie Presbyterian cliurch, was an
active democrat in local politics, and held sev-
eral of the most important offices in his town.
His life was well worthy of imitation. It was
straightforward, unfaltering and unstained. He
died April 18, 1873, and rested from his many
earthly labors when one year past the allotted
threescore and ten years of man's life. His wife
was Maria Drake, daughter of Eli Drake, of
Connecticut. Siie was born February 18, 1800,
and passed away March 4, 1847. INIr. and Mrs.
Day were the jjarents of three children : Ralph
B. ; Mrs. George Gerrans, of Lincoln, Nebraska ;
and Mrs. B, B. Hill, of Leadville, Colorado.

Ralph B. Day was reared on the Day home-
stead, and received his education at Fredonia
academy. Leaving school, his first employ-
ment in active life for himself was in the lum-
bering and farming business, in which he
engaged with his father. He was successful in
both those lines of business, and in 1861 pur-
chased an interest in a wine house at Brocton,
where he was engaged for eighteen years in the
manufacture of wine. He then engaged in the
cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of
wine on a large scale upon his home farm. He
also invested in a chemical works at Warren,
Pennsylvania, besides purchasing a considerable
body of choice farming lands in Wisconsin.
Each and every one of these different lines of
business has received his personal attention and
careful su2)ervisiou for several years, and to-day,
as the result of his able management, are in a
very prosperous condition. The products of
the chemical works at Warren, Pa., are of first
class character, and the average annual jn'oduc-
tion amounts to $25,000 in value. His vine-
yards are extensive, and are amply provided
with all modern machinery used in the manu-
facture of wine. His extensive packing house
is two stories in height, with a large, dry wine-
cellar extending under it. His wine is popular

in the market, and is known as an absolutely
pure and wholesome article.

April 17, 1855, he married Prudence J.
Gates, of Dunkirk, wiio was a daughter of
Phineas and Eliza A. (iatcs, and died April 25,
1890, when in the forty-ninth year of her age.
To Mr. and Mrs. Day were Ixirn two sons:
Edmund L. and Ralph D., now aged respec-
tively twenty-one and fourteen years.

In agricultural matters IMr. Day takes a great
interest, and his fertile and highly improved
home tiirm of two hundred and twenty-five
acres bears witness to his extensive knowledge
and good taste as a farmer. In politics he is
pronounced in his democracy, and always active
in supporting the principles and advocating the
interests of the party of Jeiferson, Jackson and
Cleveland. During his long business career,
and in all his extensive business dealings, Ralph
B. Day has never failed to meet every financial
engagement promptly, and has never been
known to deny an honest and deserving appeal
in favor of any worthy enterprise calculated to
benefit his fellow-men or advance the interests of
his town. He has been for many years a useful
member of Dunkirk Lodge, No. 767, Free and
Accepted Masons.

■j^ETEK K. BKOWNELL, of Jamestown, is
^^ a sou of Joshua and Elizabetii (Reasoner)
Brownel], and was born in DutcJiess county.
New York, April 20, 1806. His father, Joshua
Brownell, was a native of Long Island, N. Y.,
and was a man of much more than ordinary
prominence. About 1812 he left Long Island
and settled at a point near Elmira, this State,
and engaged in the purchase and sale of cattle
for the New York and Philadelphia markets.
He was a large dealer, and bought and sold a
great many. An active whig, he was an ardent
supporter of De Witt Clinton when he was a
candidate, and was probably one of his strongest
workers. He married Elizabeth Reasoner and
had nine children. He died near Elmira in 1822

BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY

Peter K. Browuell received his education in
the public schools of Jamestown, and when he
left his paternal home he began life as a laborer,
Morking by the month until twenty-eight years
of age, when he bought a farm in the town of
EUery, upon which he lived until 1870, a total
of thirty-six years. After this he bought a
property consisting of three houses aud lots in
the city of Jamestown, and moving in one of
them has lived there ever since. Some years
ago he retired from business and is now enjoy-
ing the fruits of the labor of his early life.

On August 31, 1834, P. R. Brownell married
Rhoda Putnam, who bore him three ciiildren :
Smith H., whose first wife was Mary Strong,
and after her death he married Minerva Dunn ;
Mary Ann, married to John B. Rush, a promi-
nent farmer living at Jamestown ; and Bessie
M., w'ife of the well-known Jamestown livery-
man, John Peregrin. After Mrs. Brownell's
death Mr. Brownell married for his second wife
Mrs. Mary Van Dusen.

In politics he adheres to the tenets of the
Republican party, and with a kindly disposition
he has many friends, and is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church.

JOHN J. AIjI>KICH, the leading fm-niture
dealer of Jamestown and ChaTitauqua
county, IS a son of George and Maria (Plunger)
Aldrieh, and was born in the town of Stockton,
Chautauqua county. New York, November 23,
1841. His grandfather, Tillotson Aldrieh,
was a native of Rhode Island, where he was a
prominent manufacturer of cotton goods for
many vears. He then removed to Tompkins
county, this State, and afterwards settled in the
town of EUery, where he resided, and was a
farmer until his death. Among his possessions
was a fine farm on the East side of Lake Chau-
tauqua. He was a Quaker or Friend in relig-
ious belief, reared a family of five sons and one
daughter, and sold his farm to his son William,
who afterwards became prominent in the poli-

tics of his town. Another of his sons was
George Aldrieh, the father of the subject of this
sketch, and who was born April 1, 1806, in the
City of Providence, R. I. He removed from
Rhode Island with his father to Tompkins
county, and thence to Ellery, this county. He
is a farmer by occupation, and in politics sup-
])orts the Republican part}', but was formerly
an old-line whig. He married Maria Mnnger,
who died in 1873, aged sixty-nine years, and
since that time has lived in Jamestown with his
son, John J. They were the parents of two
children, who lived to maturity: John J. and
Orin T., now a resident and commercial travel-
er of St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Aldrieh was a
daughter of James Muuger (maternal grand-
father), a farmer and I'esident of Tompkins
county.

John J. Aldrieh was reared in the town of
Ellery where he received his education. When
fifteen years of age he became a clerk in a gen-
eral mercantile store in which he served five
years and then bought out his employer. He
conducted this store for over four years, and
during his connection with it for nine years as
clerk and proprietor he acquired a thorough
knowledge of merchandising, and laid the foun-
dations for his future success in business life.
In connection with his mercantile business he
purchased butter and eggs for a produce firm
in New York city, and when he disposed of this
store in 1866, he came to Jamestown, w^here he
was engaged for ten years in the dry goods bus-
iness. At the end of that time, in 1876, he
was elected county clerk and at the expiration
of his term was re-elected, being the only clerk
during the last forty years who was elected for
a second term. During the last three years of
the time which he served as county clerk at
Mayville, he was a member of the Breed Fur-
niture Manufacturing Company, of Jamestown.
When his second term of office expired, he soon
after retired from his association with the Breed
Furniture Company, returned to Jamestown^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTr.

and, in January, 1887, he established his pres-
ent furniture estaljiislinient on Main street.
He is carrying on this business under the firm
name of John J. Aldrieli, and Iceeps constant-
ly on hand a full stock comprising all lines of
furniture from the best down to the cheapest.
His trade extends to nearly every section of the
United States east of the Mississippi river.
His business establishment is conveniently locat-
ed and well fitted up and arranged for tlie dis-
play of his different styles of useful and elegant
furniture.

In 1860 Mr. Aldrieh married Ijizzie Foster,
of the town of Linden, Cattaraugus county,
who died and left one child : Clara M., now the
wife of Dr. D. R. Redgers, of New York City.
He married for his second wife Hattie S. Coe,
of the town of Ellery, who bore him two chil-
dren : Minnie C, and John D. She died Au-
gust 2, 1871, and on October 2,3, 1872, he
united in marriage with Clara I. Breed, daugh-
ter of Dewitt C. Breed (see his sketch), and of
the two children born to them, one died in
infancy ami the other is named Lucy Gene-
vieve.

Mr. Aldrieh has always been a repul)liean in
politics and is now serving his fourth consecu-
tive term as supervisor of the city of James-
town, and is chairman of the Board of Super-
visors of Chautauqua county. He is a member
of the Jamestown First Baptist Church, James-
town Lodge, No. 34, Ancient Order of United
Workmen ; Chautauqua Lodge, No. 46, Knights
of Honor ; and Chautauqua Council, No. 73,
Royal Arcanum. He was chairman of the fi-
nance committee of the Supreme Lodge of the
Knights of Honor of the United States for
four years, has been a member of the Supreme
Council of the Royal Arcanum for one term
and served as a presiding officer of the Grand
Council of the Royal Arcanum of the State of
New York for two terms, as well as being a
member of tiie New York Grand Lodge of the
Knights of Honor for several years. He is at

present President of the Board of Trade of
the city oC Jamestown, and is prominently
identified with the growth and prosperity of the
city.

OLOF A. OLSOX, a member of the Chatau-
qua county bar, is a son of Olof H. Svens-
son and Joiianna (Anderson) Sven-sson, and was
born in Skarbolstorp, Kil Parish, Vermland,
Sweden, December 17, 1851. He attended the
common schools in Sweden, and, in 1868, emi-
grated from that country to the United States,
and located at Jamestown, New York, where
he read law with Barlow & Green, and, in 1874,
he entered the All)any (New Y'ork) law school,
from which he was graduated the next year,
having studied nearly seven years. He returned
to Jamestown, intending to practice his profes-
sion, but clientage coming slowly, he joined the
ranks of the pedagogues, in order that he might
add to his income while he established a prac-
tice. In 1883 he was appointed a notary public
at Jamestown, and the performance of the duties
thereby incumbent upon him, together with his
legal practice, leave him but little time to con-
duct his private classes in his evening school.
In 1874 he took the first .step, and a prominent
part, in the organization of a company whose
object was to publish a Swedish weekly paper
in the interests of the Swedish citizens of James-
town. He was manager of the paper, called
the People's Voice, from July 1 to December
31, 1875. The name was afterward changed to
Our New Home, and the journal is now ranked
among the prominent Swedish papers published
in the country, and has a circulation of about
five thousand. He was, in 1873, one of the
originators of the scheme to establish a circu-
lating library among his fellow-countrymen.
This library, which was established in 1873,
was much used for a time in Jamestown, and
has been productive of much good among the
class whom it was intended to benefit. By
these philanthropic efforts to advance their edu-

BIOGRAPHY AXIJ HISTORY

cational interests, Olof A. Olson has endeared
himself to the hearts of his countrymen, and
so thoroughly have they api)reciated his en-
deavors, that when, in 1878, his health became
so much impaired that Ids medical advisors
insisted on a sea voyage as the only means of
its restoration, the expenses of his trip to Paris,
which he himself would have been unal)le at
that time to meet, were defrayed by his Swedish
friends and admirers, who were well pleased to
have an opportunity to show how highly they
valued his labors in their behalf He returned
much benefited in health, and threw himself
with zealous interest into the practice of law and
teaching, and the fickle goddess of fortune has
opened wide her arms to receive him. His
abilities are recognized as of a high order, and
his time is now fully engaged. Mr. Olson
also ranks high as a violin player. His prac-
tice in the law consists chiefly of office work.
An only brother, Johan, is a teacher in Sweden.
Mr. Olson is a gentleman, and is a recognized
leader among his countrymen, and is also re-
spected and honored by the entire population of
Jamestown, who recognize in him one worthy
of it.

THOMAS DAVIS STRONG, M. D., a
prominent and well-known physician of
Westfield, was born in the town of Pawlet,
Eutland county, Vermont, November 22, 1822,
and is a son of Return and Laura (Davis)
StronsT. Many New England families have
taken a justifiable pride in the preservation of
their genealogies, and among that number is the
Strong family, which was founded at Northamp-
ton, Massachusetts, by Elder John Strong, from
whom Dr. Thomas D. Strong is lineally de-
scended. Elder John Strong was a member of
the Plymouth colony, and afterwards removed
to Northampton, where he reared a respectable
family. "Within two centuries and a half thirty
thousand of his descendants have lived in
various parts of New England and the Union,

and their names are recorded in a large, two-
volume history of the " Strong tamily, founded
by Eider John Strong," which was published
some ten years ago. It is said to be one of the
most accurate and carefully kept family records
that is to be found in the United States. Return
Strong (father) came in 1851 to Westfield, where
he was engaged in the mercantile business for
several years, and died.

Thomas Davis Strong prepared for college at
Burr seminary in Manchester, Vermont, then
under the charge of the celebrated Rev. Joseph
Wickham, D.D., who is now in the ninety-sixth
year of his age. He then entered the University
of Vermont, from which he was graduated in
1848. Leaving college he read medicine with
his cousin, Dr. P. H. Strong, of BuffaJo, this
State, and attended his first course of lectures at
Castleton medical college, of Vermont, while
his second and third courses he took at the
medical department of the University of Buffalo,
which was then under charge of Prof. Hamilton
Flint, afterwards of Bellevue, and from which
he was graduated in 1851 with the degree of
jNLD. In the same year he came to "Westfield,
where he has enjoyed a remunerative practice
ever since. Dr. Strong served as surgeon of the
Sixty-eighth regiment of New York State troops,
and made a trip in 1871 to the Rocky Mountains
and the Pacific slope, in whose development he
takes a deep interest.

On Mas- 25, 1852, Dr. Strong married Lucy
^I. Ainsworth, of Williamstown, Vermont.

Dr. T. D. Strong has been for twenty-five
years a member of the boards of trustees of
Westfield academy and Westfield Union schools.
He was one of the commissioners for locating
the western New York asylum for the insane at
Buffalo. He is a menaber and has served as
president of the Chautauqua and the Lake Erie
medical societies. He is an honorary member
of the California State medical society, was vice-
president of the New York medical association
in 1889, and has been for the last twenty-five

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY.

years curator of tlie iiKdical dopartmeiit of tlie
Uiiivei>itv of Butiiilo.

TTUGUSTUS HOLSTEIjS", justice of tlie

-**■ j)eace of Dunkirk, was boru iii tin; uiaiiu-
facturiug city of Cassel, the cajjital of (lie pro-
vince of Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, March 4, 1828,
and was a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Burger)
Ilolstein. His father, Peter Holstein, was an
educated military man, who had accumulated a
snng fortune, married Elizabeth Burger, in
1800, by whom he had six children, and spent
seventeen years in the military service of Ger-
many, being colonel of the Fifth Pru^.siall regi-
ment under Gen. Blncher at the battle of Wat-
erloo which practically ended the career of the
Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, of France. The
battle of Leipsic and the burning of Moscow
had also seen him an active particii)ant and for
his gallant conduct he had bestowed upon him
the gold medal and iron cross, the most honor-
able and distinguished decorations won by army
othcers in Germany. In religious matters he
was a protestant as was also his wife. He died
at his home in Cassel, in his native country, in
1858, aged seventy-nine years ; his wife, a na-
tive of the same place, passing away three years
previously, at the age of sixty-five years.

Augustus Holstein was reared in Cassel and
graduated from the Polytechnic institute there.
He spent a year in traveling over Europe, and
in 1847 came to America, landing in Quebec but
left that city in a week on account of the epi-
demic of cholera and smallpox, which was car-
rying off hundreds of victims, and by steam
and rail journeyed until he reached Carbondale,
Pa., where he remained five years during which
time he learned the carpentering business. In
1852 he came to Dunkirk and entered into
partnership with Joseph P. Rider under the
firm name of Rider & Holstein, and engaged in
carpentering and contracting, in which business
they continued until 18G7 when lie lost his right
hand in au accident. In the latter year he was
5

elected a member of thelioard of education and
in 187G justice of the peace antl has held the
last named ollice ever since. In his political
|irinci])lcs he was a republican and takes an ac-
tive part in politics. ^Ir. Holstein was a mem-
ber of the Methodist church and a member of
Lake Erie lodge. No, 85, A. O. U. W.

On July 9, 1851, Mr. Holstein united in mar-
riage with Mary J. Earl, a daughter of Beecher
Earl, of Carbondale, Pa. To this marriage
were born six children, four of whom died
young: James A., who married Julia J. Dra-
per, has one .son and resides in Dnidvirk; James,
Auguta, Charles E., George, Charles B., and
JosejJ) E., wiio died July 15, 1887, at the age
of twenty-eight years, leaving a widow and
three children, who now reside in Dunkirk.
Mrs. Holstein died January 12, 18G5, aged
thirty-seven years, and her husband, the subject
of this sketch, followed her to his eternal rest
February IG, 1891, aged sixty-three years.

TAflLLlAM A. CRANI>AL,L, a veteran of
-*'* the rebellion, who has converted his
sword into a plowshare and resumed the peace-
ful vocation of his forefathers, is a son of Paul
and Betsey E. (Scrivens) Crandall, and was
born, in 1840, at Beach Hill, Chautauqua
county. New York. His paternal grandparents
were of Puritan descent, and born in Rhode
Island, where, except a few years residence in
Berlin, Ren.s.selaor county, this State, they spent
their lives. Grandfather Crandall was by occu-
pation a farmer. Paul Crandall (father) was
born in Berlin, November 2,1802, and in 1831
went to Troy, engaged passage for himself and
family on a canal-boat, and came to Buffalo,
the journey occupying nine days, it being then
the only mode of public travel. Now the trip
is made between the two cities in five hours by
rail. Fn^m Buffalo they came down to Fre-
donia, this county, a section which was then
considered as the far distant west by the people
of the eastern end of the State, three hundred

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

miles away. Paul Crandall finally settled in
Stockton, but died at Beach Hill, in Cliautauijua.
By occupation he was a farmer and in religion
he was a member of the Baptist church. In
1823, he married Betsey E. Scrivens, a daugli-
ter of William Tracy Scrivens, by whom he
had eight cliiklreii, five sons and three daugh-
ters.

William A. Crandall was educated iu the
common schools, and Jjegan his active life as a
farmer at Beach Hill. On September 12, 1862,
he enlisted in Co. H, One Hundred and Twelfth
Regiment, New York Volunteers ; participated
in the siege of Suffolk, and several other battles
and skirmishes, and finally was taken sick and
sent to the hospital. He was mustered out of
service at the close of the war, and resumed
farming. In 1877 he came to Sherman, where
he has resided ever since, owuing a farm of
seven acres within the corporation. Politically
he is independent, in religion he, as well as iiis
wife, is a member of the Methodist church, and
is also a member of Sheldon Post, No. 295>
G. A. R. at Sherman.

William A. Crandall was married February
2.3, 18C5, to Mary J. Hunt, a daughter of
Aaron and Electa (Maxim) Hunt, natives of
Vermont, who emigrated to Hartfield, this
county, where the father died. To this union
have been born six children, four sons and two
dauiihters.

YY^- FKANKLIX BUKRITT, who was

-*^ for many years a prominent business man
of Fredonia, is a sou of Charles and Orpha
(Tucker) Burritt, and was born at Fredonia,
Chautauqua county. New York, February 24,
1827. Charles Burritt was born iu Connecti-
cut and came in 1808 to Fredonia, where he
owned for some years a log shoe shop on a part
of the site of the Putnam block. Ill health
caused him to abandon shoemaking and engage
in the drug business, of which he was the pio-
neer at Fredonia, where he had a drug store for

nearly fifty years. He served as a lieuteuant
in the war of 1812, and was a whig until Fill-
more's election, after which he became succes-
sively a "silver gray" and democrat. He was
an industrious and estimable man and died
March 9, 1866, when he was approaching the
close of his eightieth year. He married Orpha
Tucker, daughter of Major Samuel Tucker, and
reared a family of two sons and two daughters.
Captain Samuel Tucker (maternal grandfather)
was born and reared in Vermont, where he was
a neighbor of Ethan Allen, and served under
the latter at the capture of Ticonderoga. He
was one of the company of Continental soldiers
which was drawn up into line at the execution
of Major Andre.

Franklin Burritt grew to manhood at Fre-
donia, where he received his education in the
schools and academy of that place. Leaving
school he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, where
he remained three years. He then returned to
Fredonia and engaged iu the drug business,
which he followed until 1870, when he retired
fi-um active business. He read medicine and
practiced considerably in connection with his
drug business during his early life. He served
for several years with Gov. Patterson, of AVest-
fielil, on the State board of charities and was a
manager of the Buffalo State hospital for the
insane, which position he resigned after serving
four years.

On May 15th, 1849, he married Ann Norton,
of the town of Pomfret. They have two daugh-
ters living : Mrs. F. N. Conn and Mrs. P. B.
Cary. Mrs. Burritt is a daughter of Elisha and
Harriet (Lowell) Norton, who came from Ver-
non, Oneida county, about 1815, and settled two
miles southwest of Fredonia, where they reared
a family of two sons and two daughters. Elisha
Norton was a son of Isa.ie Norton, a native of
Berkshire, Massachusetts, who was an early .set-
tler of the town of Pomfret.

During his active life and es pecially in his
younger days, Dr. Burritt was an active Demo-

OF CIIAU2AUQUA COUNTY.

crat. He was elected sujiervisor of the town ut
Pomfret in 1870, when the Republican party
had a majority of two hundred votes in the town.
He served very creditably in that position for
four years and continued in the Democratic
party up to 1884, and then connected himself
with tlie prohibitionists, whose principles he has
supported ever since.

FKANCIS D. ELLIS is the oldest merciiant
in Forestville, having more than a third
of a century ago succeeded his father, who had
been a prominent cabinet-maker and furniture
dealer in this village for nearly a quarter of a
century before him. He is a son of Thomas G.
and Sophia (Dickinson) Ellis, and was born in
Augusta, Oneida county, iS'ew York, October
17, 1826. His paternal grandfather, Moses
Ellis, was from Scotch and English ancestry,
and several of the family have scored high
marks on the roll of fame as literary and eccle-
siastical celebrities. He was a native of Barn-
stable, in the county of the same name, Mass.,
and settled in Brookfield, Madison county, this
State, in 1812, where he engaged in cabinet-
making, an occupation which has been followed
in his family for over eighty years. He died
in Wayland, Steuben county, this State, aged
eighty-two years. Thomas G. Ellis (father)
was born on Nantucket Island, Nantucket
county, Mass., in 1803, but his parents moved
to the mainland during the war of 1812. Nine-
teen years later (1831) he came to this county,
located in Forestville, and established himself
in the cabinet-making business, in wiiich he
continued until 1855. In religion he was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of
which for forty years he was either a steward
or trustee, and during many years held both
oiBces. In politics he was a straight democrat,
and for sixteen years was justice of the peace,
also serving four terms as associate judge of
Chautauqua county. He was a member of
Hanover Lodge, No. 152, F. and A. M., and

died January 22, 1882, aged seventy-nine years.
He married Sopiiia Dickinson in 1826, by whom
he had two sons and one daughter : Francis D.,
Irvine A. and Mary. Irvine A. went to Cali-
fornia in 1851, where he was inspcctttr in the
custom-house of San Francisco, assisted iu sur-
veying southern California, was clerk of the
California Senate, quartermaster in the army
during four years of the civil war and then re-
turned to the San Francisco custom-house, where
he was employed until his death in 1866, at the
age of thirty-three years. Mrs. Ellis was born
in Fitchburg, Worcester county, Mass., in 1804,
is the oldest member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church at Forestville, where she now re-
sides, and is a cousin of Hon. Daniel S. Dick-
inson, ex-governor of New York.

Francis D. Ellis was reared in Forestville,
acquired his education in the common and select
schools of that place and learned the trade of a
cabinet-maker, iu which vocation he has since
continued, succeeding his father in that and the
furniture and undertaking business in 1855, and
supplemental thereto does all kinds of embalm-
ing, having in all branches of his business a
well-established and good-paying patronage.
Politically he is a democrat and in religion is a
member of the iNIethodist Episcopal church, of
which he has been a trustee for twenty years.
He has been treasurer of tlie Equitable Aid
Union since 1881.

Francis D. Ellis was married .March 9, 184!»,
to Abi Phillips, of Forestville, by whom he
had three daughters: Mary N. Harriet P. and
Jennie L., all living. Mrs. Ellis died in 1865,
and on Sei>tember 3d, 1867, Mr. Ellis married
Jennie Hall, of r>roctou, Chautaucpia county,
N. Y'.

Q-HEK^IAN U. NEWTOX, one of the earn-
^^ est young business men of this section,
who is bound to make an indelible mark as a
successful and honorable man, is a son of Har-
rison and Janette (Marsh) Newton, and was

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

born in Irving, Cliautanqua county, New York,
July 17, 1867. Miio Newton (grandfatlier)
was also a native of Irving, was by occupation
a farmer and died in 188G, in the village where
he was born, aged seventy-two years. In re-
ligion he was a member of the Methodist church,
and in politics was a republican. Harrison
Newton (father) was also born in Irving, in
1841, and has been a resident of Buffalo, Erie
county, since 1 870. He is a passenger conductor
on the L. S. M. S. R. R., which position he |
lias held for thirty-three years, running between ;
Buffalo, and Cleveland, Ohio. In politics he is
a stanch republican, is a member of Silver lodge.
No. 757, F. and A. M., of Silver Creek, lodge
No. 9, A. O. U. W., of Buffalo, and of the
Conductor's Life Insurance Company. In 1863
he married Janette Marsh, who was born in
Irving in 184.3, and by her had two children.

Sherman U. Newton was reared in Buffalo,
this State, and was graduated from the high school
at that place at the age of fourteen, after which
he took a thorough business course in Bryant &
Stratton college of that city. In June, 1883,
he came to Silver Creek to assume the position
of assistant cashier in the Excelsior bank, where
he discharged the duties of that office so satis-
factorily that on November 18, 1890, he was
appointed cashier to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of his cousin, Dana C. Swift, who had
held that position several years. In politics he
is independent, is a charter member and Sr. Kt.
Fin Kr., of Chau. Tent, No. 95 Knights of
the Maccabees, and also a charter member of
Huntley Hose and Fire Co., No. 1.

Sherman U. Newton was married October 21,
1890, to Minnie C. Barnes, a daughter of
Charles Barnes, of Silver Creek, N. Y.

COIiONEL, KUFUS HAYWOOI>. A man
well-known for his active and upright
life, and also by reason of his services rendered
to the Union cause during the late civil war,
was Col. Rufus Haywood, of Fredouia, who

has been identified during the last half century
with useful and important business interests in
New Hampshire, jNIassacliusetts, Illinois and
western New York. He was a son of Benjamin
and Polly (Sawyer) Haywood, and was born at
Jaffrey, Cheshire county. New Hampshire,
March 6, 1820. The territory of the " Granite
State" as a royal province, was largely settled
by thrifty and energetic families from the eastern
part of Massachusetts colony, and among these
pioneer families was the Haywood family. One
of its members, who was born in Massachusetts,
was Benjamin Haywood, Sr., grandfatlier of
Col. Rufus Haywood. He was a blacksmith by
trade and served in the Revolutionary war,
during which he was severely wounded in the
breast by a musket-ball in one of the jirincipnl
battles of that great struggle. After the decla-
ration of peace, he returned to his New Hamp-
shire home, where he lived a respected citizen
until his death. His son, Benjamin Haywood
(the father), was born in 1786, and died in
February, 1853. He inherited the industry and
perseverance of his father, and judiciously and
successfully improved his business opportunities.
His life was devoted to agricultural pursuits,
and while confining his field of labor to his own
county, yet ranked as one of the foremost and
most substantial farmers of the State. He
married Polly Sawyer, who was a native of
New Hampshire and a member of the well-
known Sawyer family of that State. She passed
away in 1842, at forty-six years of age.

Rufus Haywood grew to manhood on the

farm, received his education at Jaffrey academy,

and then was engaged for five years in teaching

in the district schools of New Hampshire. At

the end of that time lie went to Winchendon,

Mass., where for over one year he conducted a

; butcfier shop and livery stable. He thea

j returned to Jaffrey, purchased property on

which he built, and embarked in farming and

I merchandising. After three years he removed

I to Cambridge, Mass., where, in company with

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTV.

H. 0. Houghton, lie engaged in publishing law-
books for one yetir, and then sjjcnt several years
in the west. ^Vhile in Illinois he kept a liotel
for one year at Belvidere, and acted as teller for
two years in a bank of that plaee, during which
time he lost over seven thotisand dollars by
speculating in corn. Leaving Belvidcre, he
purchased a farm near Chicago, and embarked
in the cattle business. AVith remarkable fore-
sight he looked forward io a bright future for
Chicago, saw in its commanding position the
certainty of its future commercial supremacy as
one of the great cities of the American continent,
and invested in that city largely in real estate,
whicli yielded him handsome returns in his sales
of the same. In 1855 he settled in Brocton,
this county, and engaged for several years in the
stock business. In 18(31 he and his brother,
Albert Hay wood, and a Mr. Hubbell, formed a
partnership and purchased several thousand
horses for the government. In February, 1 8G.3,
he retired from this partnership to enter the
Union army as a paymaster, with the rank of
major. He was stationed at Washington city,
and afterwards sent to Rochester, this State.
He paid off the first regiment that was discharged,
was brevetted colonel by President Joiinson for
meritorious services, and served until December
31, 1865. He then returned to Chautauqua
county, and became a resident of Fredonia,
where he has resided ever since. From 18G6
to 187G he was largely engaged in mail contract-
ing in a dozen different States, and since the
last-named year has been more or less interested
in various lines of business.

In 1866 he was the prime mover in starting
tiie Fredonia savings bank, of which he was
chosen president. In 1877 he embarked in the
oil business at Oil City, Pa., where he did a large
brokerage business for several years. In the
oil field his good judgment and clear insight
into every possible combination rendered him
successful in many ventures where old and
experienced operators went down. While his

star was still in the ascendant, and before age
could ini]iair his mental powers, he left the
hazardous ventures of oil and tnrnetl his atten-
tion to dealing in real estate. He was a Knight
Templar in Masonry, and always took a deep
interest in agricultural and educational matters,
as well as having been active and prominent in
business affairs.

On May 6, 1841, Col. Haywood united in
marriage with Elizabeth Prescott, who was born
within one-half mile of his New Hampshire
birthplace. They had three sons, two of whom
died in infancy, and Edward A., born January
26, 1861, died February 10, 1881.

He was hospitable and generous, and no man
greeted or entertained his friends with warmer
cordiality. He was intelligent, honest, genial
and straightforward, of strong force of character,
of sound judgment, true to every interest in-
trusted to his care, and a good citizen in the
true meaning of that term.

He died in 1S!I1, of valvular heart disease.

TIITICHAEL, K. McDONOUOH, a wholesale
4 and retail dealer in coal, wood and stone,

of Dunkirk, was born in County Clare, Ireland,
September 25, 1842, and is a son of Michael
and Mary (Kelley) McDonough. The McDon-
oughs and Kelleys were old families of County
Clare, where they had resided for several gene-
rations. Michael McDouough was born and
reared in his native county, where he |)asscd his
life, and died in March, 1849, when but forty-
two years of age. He was a farmer, a consistent
member of the Catholic church, and a careful
and hard-working man. He married Mary
Kelley, and reared a family of seven sons and
two daughters. Mrs. McDouough was a Cath-
olic in religious belief, and in 1853 came to
Dunkirk, where she passed away in 1869, at
si.\ty-five years of age.

Michael K. McDonough. at twelve years of
age, came from Ireland tn the Uniled States,
and became a resident of Dunkirk city, in whose

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

public schools he received his education. Leav-
ing school he was employed for some time as a
hand ou a farm, and diirini>- the late civil war
was an cmjjloye in the freight department of
the Erie railroad, at Dunkirk-, where his daily
business was to call off all freigiit for shipment
before it was placed on the cars. In May,
1865, he established his present wholesale and
retail coal and wood business, to which he has
since added sewer pipe, stone, sand, gravel and
loam. His office and yards are at 130 Railroad
aveiuie. He is also engaged in contracting on
public works, and makes a specialty of excava-
ting and teaming. Mr. McDonough commands
a good trade at his yards, has been very suc-
cessful in all of his business enterprises, and
owns some valuable real estate in Dunkirk, be-
sides a good farm in Sinclairville. He is a
member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church,
of Dunkirk. He is a democrat in political
opinion, and has served for nine years as a
member of the city council, besides holding
other municipal offices. Since thirteen years of
age he has made his own way in life, and
achieved business success by his own efforts.

On June 3, 1871, he united in marriage with
Bridget Breen, daughter of Michael Breen, of
Dunkirk. Tiiey have three children, two sons
and one daugiiter : Joseph M., George W. and
Kate A.

n KTHUK B. OTTAWAY, a resident of

-**■ Westfield, and ex-district attorney of
Chautauqua county, is a son of John E. and
Sarah (Boorman) Ottaway, and was born in the
town of Mina, Chautauqua county, New York,
May 8, 1854. His paternal and maternal
grandfathers, James Ottaway and Benjamin
Boorman, were among the early settlers in the
town of Mina. James Ottaway was a native
of Kent county, England, and in company with
his brother Horatio, came, iu 1823, to that part
of tlie town of Clymer, which, in the following
year, was erected into the town of Mina. He

was a miller by trade, and ran a mill in Eng-
land, but after coming to Chautauqua county
was engaged in farming until his death, which
occurred in 1870. He came into what is Mina,
when it had but few settlers, and only seven
years after its first settlement had been made
bv Alex. Findley. James Ottaway settled on
lot fourteen, in the eastern part of the town,
and reareil a family of nine sons and two
daughters: James, William, Charles, Edmund,
Joseph, Henry, Horace, John E., Susan, Ann
and Horatio. The seventh son, John E. Otta-
way (father), was born in 1827, and now owns
the home farm of two hundred and thirty acres,
which his father purchased in 1823, and lived
upon until his death. John E. Ottaway has
always been engaged in farming, and married
Sarah Boorman, daughter of Benjamin Boor-
man, who came about 1823 to Chautauqua
county, and was a farmer by occupation.

Arthur B. Ottaway spent his boyhood days
on the farm. I^eaving the public schools, he
spent one year at Sherman academy, and then
entered Westfield academy, where he remained
two years, and from which, at the end of that
time, he was graduated in 1875. After gradua-
ting, he entered the office of William Russell as
a law student, and upon the completion of his
legal studies was admitted to the bar of the Su-
preme Court in 1879.

After his admission to the bar he entered
upon the active practice of his j)rofession, and
three years later, in 1882, was elected district
attorney of Chautauqua county. At the end of
his term of office, in 1885, he resumed the prac-
tice of his profession at Westfield, where he has
remained ever since. He is a republican in
politics, stands well in his profession, and en-
joys a good practice.

JAME8 H. MFNTOX, ex-deputy-sheritf and
coroner of Chautauqua county, and the
proprietor of the well-known " Minton House,"
of Westfield, is a son of James and Tlieodosia

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

(Reeves) Minton, and vas born in Auburn,
Cayuga county, New York, January 3, 181(3.
He traces his paternal ancestry back to liis
grandfather, Stephen ]\Iinton, who was, in all
probability, a native of New Jersey, and whose
son^ James Clinton (father), was born in 1783.
James Minton was a stone-mason by trade, and
assisted in building the old State penitentiary at
Auburn. He was an excellent mechanic and
died in 1826, aged forty-three years. He mar-
ried Theodosia Reeves, wiio was a native of
Connecticut, and whose father, Israel Reeves,
the first jailer of the prison at Auburn, served
in the Revohitionary war, and experienced ail
the hardshii)s of being a British prisoner of
war for several months. Their eldest daughter,
Emily C. (now eighty-two years of age), married
Lewis Pullman, and three of her sons are :
George M. Pullman, inventor of the " Pullman
Palace Car," and Revs. James Minton and Royal
Henry Pullman, distinguished ministers of the
Universalist church. Another daughter, Han-
nah M. Da Lee, resides in Illinois. Mrs. Thcf)-
dosia Minton survived her husband until 185*),
when she passed away, in tiie sixty-sixth year of
her age.

James H. Minton, at fourteen years of age
came with his mother to Brocton, this county,
where he attended school for some time, cut
cord-wood and assisted his mother in maintain-
ing her family. At eighteen years of age he
commenced to work with Lewis Pullman at the
trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed
for ten years. He theu erected a hotel building
and store-room at Brocton, where he kept hotel
for twenty years, and was engaged for fourteen
years of the time in the mercantile business with
his brother, William L., who was postmaster of
that village for seven years. During the late
civil war he served as a revenue assessor, and
was also dejjuty marshal of VVestfield. He was
coroner of Cliautauqua county for fifteen years,
and in 1875 held the inquest on the twenty-two
dead bodies which were recovered from the rail-

road disaster at " Prospect," and officiated in the
same capacity at the inquisition held on the
I)(idies of the seven ])eople killed by tiie explo-
sion on Chautauqua lake of the old steamboat
Cliautavqua. In 1884 he served as deputy-
sheriff under Sheriff L. T. Harrington.

In 1836 he married Sarah W. Lake, daughter
of Nicholas and Eunice (Houghton) Lake, of
I'^rie county. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Minton are the
parents of five children : Maria A., William ]j.,
who is in the real estate and hotel business ;
•lohn C, of Burlington, Iowa; James V., drug-
gist, of AVestfield, and Waldo L.

In political affairs he supports the Republican
party, and in every position of trust and respon-
sibility which he has ever occupied, he has
always faithfully ])erformed his duty. He is
one of the old and well-respected citizens of
southwestern New York, and his hotel is well
arranged and specially fitted up for the accom-
modation, convenieuceand comfort of his numer-
ous guests.

TA>rLl.lA:>I FKIES KXmjESS, the origi-
-*"'- nator and president of the Endress Fuel
and Building Supply Company, of Jamestown,
New York, was born at Dansville, Livingston
county. New York, August 2, 1855, and is the
only child of Judge Isaac Lewis and Helen
Elizabeth (Edwards) Eudress. William Fries
Endress is descended from the German family
of Endress Im Hof, which was the name given
in the latter part of the fifteenth century to a
branch of the Franeonian family of Im Hof, a
noble family of Swabia, now Bavaria. His
great-grandfather, John Zacharia Endre.ss, was
educated at the university of Tubingen (now
Wiirtemberg), and at Geneva under Voltaire.
He came to America in 1766, settled in Phila-
delphia and was an officer in the Continental
army during the war for Independence, in the
cour.se of which much of his property was burned
by the British. His .son, Chri.stiiin Frederi
Lewis Endress, was educated at the University

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

of Pennsylvania, and became a Lutheran min-
ister. He had charge, for many years, of the
Liuherao Church at Lancaster, Pa., then one of
the largest and wealthiest parishes in the country.
His son, tlie late Judge Isaac Lewis Endress,
the father of the subject of the present sketch,
was born in 1810, educated at Dickinson college,
Carlisle, Pa., and practiced law, first at Rochester
and after 1832 at Dansville, New York. He
was appointed judge of Livingston county by
Gov. William H. Seward in 1840 ; was a promi-
nent member of the State Constitutional Con-
vention of 1868; was .several times a presiden-
tial elector, and delegate to the national nomi-
nating conventions, and at the time of his death
in 1869 was a member of the Republican State
committee. He was married in 1849 to Helen
Elizabeth Edwards, whose father was a direct
descendant of Pierpont Edwards, a brother of
Jonathan Edwards, the distinguished Puritan
divine, and whose mother was a Fitzhugh, of
thewell-known family of Virginia. Theonlvson
of this marriage was the subject of this sketch.
William Fries Endress received his earlv
education at the Dansville seminary, and in
1872 entered the Pennsylvania military academy
at Chester, Pa., in preparation for the United
States naval service. The following year he
secured his commission as cadet midshipman
and entered the United States naval academy at
Annapolis, Md., where he remained until Decem-
ber, 1876, when continued ill health oblio'cd him
to resign. For the next year he gave his atten-
tion almo.st entirel_v to th.e recovery of his health,
merely occupying a part of his time as instructor
and commandant of the military battalion at
Dansville Seminary. In the fall of 1877 he
entered the sophomore clas;i of Rensselaer Poly-
technic Institute at Troy, and was graduated in
June, 1879, with the degree of civil engineer,
being the foiu-th in the direct line of his family
ancestry who have been college-bred men. Soon
after graduating he became a resident of James-
town and entered the coal business, which he

rapidly developed into a whole.sale business of
some magnitude and of which, under the name
of the Endress Fuel and Building Supply Co)n-
pany, he is still at the head at the date of this
writing, 1891. During 1883 he owned and
managed a b'tuminoiis coal mine at Hilliards,
Butler county, Pa., and shipped coal to James-
town, Buffalo and the east. As chairman of
the railway committee in 1886, he was instru-
mental in bringing tlie Chautaucpia Lake rail-
road to Jamestown. In 1887 he organized the
Jamestown Electric Light and Power Company,
installed its jilant and managed its affairs for the
first year of its operations. During 1889 and
1890 he was located at Havana, Cuba, and was
engaged in organizing companies and putting
into operation electric light plants in the prin-
cipal cities of the " Queeu of the Antilles."
Returning to Jamestown on January 1, 1891,
he again took the active management of his
present extensive and important coal and build-
ing interests.

On August 27, 1879, Mr. Endress united in
marriage with Dora Elizabeth ^Villey, of Ger-
man and Puritan descent, and a resident of
Dansville, N. Y., and on July 7, 1880, was
blessed with a son, named after his father and
great- grand mother, William FitzHugh Endress.
By priority of birth this boy became the child
of the "Class of 1879" of" the R. P. I. In
recognition of this fact he was presented with
the class cup, a beautifully chased silver cup,
lined with gold and emblazoned with devices
emblematical of the various branchesof eugineei'-
insr science.

/^LOF LUXDQUIST, the proprietor of a fine
^^ clothing and gents' furnishing store at No.
112 Main street, Jamestown, is a son of Samuel
and Brita (BL'Hing) Lundquist, and was born in
Sweden, Ojtobcr 21, 1811. His ])arents wei-e
also natives of Sweden, and reared a family of
six sons and three daughters, but none of them
excepting Olof ever came to America.

OF CITAVTAUqUA COUNTY.

Olof Luiulquist received his eduoatioii in tiie
schools of his native land. While still in the
mother couutr}- he had learned the hatter's trade
and upon arriving in the United States settled
atBoston where he followed this calling, remain-
ing only one year. After this he went to Illi-
nois, which at that time was considered pretty
fur west, and visited various parts, finally com-
ing back and locating at Jamestown, which he
considered the most advantageous business open-
ing he had seen, and commenced the mamifao-
ture of silk hats. This occupation he continues
in a lesser degree at present, but is principally
engaged with his fine store where he now has a
large patronage from first-class customers. Mr.
Lundijuist is the owner of valuable real estate
in the city, No. 211 Preudergast avenue belong-
ing to him.

On the 16th of October, ISGS, before emi-
grating to America, he married Anna C.
Anderson, and with her made the long journey
in 1869. Their marriage has been blest with
eight children, of whom five are living : Ellen
B., O. Samuel, "A. C'celia, Arvid N. and Rob-
ert, while those dead arc : John, Joseph and
Robert.

In politics Mr. Lundquist adheres to the
principles of the Republican party, and while
not a politician, is sufficiently interested in the
elections to desire the best men obtainable. He
is a member of the Swedish Mission church
besides being connected with the Swedish Tem-
perance and Benevolent Society of Jamestown,
which have for their purpose the relief of all
unfortunates of that nationality.

j^AXIKL, GKISWOLD, president of the

-*^ Chautauqua County National Bank, and
a member of the lumbering firm of Griswold &
Town.send, is a son of Daniel, Sr., and Mary
(Hills) Griswold, and was born in what was
then Genesee (now Wyoming) county. New
York, February 18, 1830. His paternal grand-
father, Daniel Griswold, was a descendant of

the Connecticut Griswold family, but lived in
Washington county, this State, where he dietl
of small-pox in 1795, while his maternal grand-
father, Moses Hills, was a native and life-long
resident of Massachusetts. His father, Daniel
Griswold, Sr., was born in Washington county,
September 28, 1788, and went in early life to
Bennington, Vt., where he was engaged for a
time in mamifacturing. He then removed to
Genesee county, this State, and about 1831 or
1832 came to the town of Poland and settled on
lot 24, on the Ellington town line. He fol-
lowed farming and lumbering until his death in
1854. He was an (_)ld-line whig and held sev-
eral town offices. In Burlington, Vt., on May
25, 1815, he married Mary Hills, who was born
at Upton, Mass., November 25, 1795, and died
in the town of Poland, September 24, 1844.
After her death he married a ]\Irs. Bentley.
By his first wife he had two sons and four
daughters : ^lary L., Hiram H., Sarah, Fanny,
Alvira and Daniel.

Daniel Griswold was fourteen years of age
when his mother died, and soon after her death
commenced life for himself. He had obtained
a good common school education, and working
for .some time on a farm he engaged in the bus-
iness of buying up at Jamestown, scythe snaths,
window-sashes, doors and other manufactured
articles. He loaded his purchases during the
winter on " Yankee notion boats," which in the
spring he ran down the Allegheny and Ohio
rivers, and by the time of his arrival at Mem-
phis, Tennessee, had generally dispo-sed of his
cargoes at the different towns along the rivers.
He was very successfully engaged in this line of
business until the late war broke out, when he
disposed of his last cargo to the Union army.
He then turned his attention to lumbering,
which he has followed with his usual good suc-
cess until the j)resent time. He is now a mem-
ber of the well-known lumbering firm of Gris-
wold & Townsend, of Kiantone. He is a re-
publican in politics, was a supervisor of the

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

town of Poland from 1865 to 1869, was super-
visor of the town of EUicott for two years
(1884-1885), and supervisor one year (1886) of
tiie south side of tlie city of Jamestown, N. Y.,
and is now a member of tiie board of public
works of Jamestown. In 1881 Mr. Griswold
became a director of the Chautauqua County
National Bank, of which he was elected pres-
ident, May 8, 1890. He succeeded Robert
Newland, who had served in that capacity for
many years. He removed from the town of
Poland in 1871, to Salamanca, Cattaraugus
county, and two years later came to Jamestown
where he has resided ever since.

On November 18, 1868, he married Martha
Townsend, daughter of the late John Town-
send, of the town of Carroll. They have two
children living : Martha Townsend and Harry.
They had three children who died : Grace,
Hugh and Daniel T. Mrs. Griswold is a lineal
descendant of the old Townsend famil}^ of Eng-
land. Throe mendjers of this family, who were
brothers, came from Rumney Marsh to New
England. A descendant of one of the.se broth-
ers was Rev. Jonathan Townsend (the great-
great-grandfather of Mrs. Griswold), who was
pastor of the Congregational ist church at Need-
ham, Mass., from March 23, 1719, until his
death September .30, 1762. He was a graduate
of Harvard college and married Mary, daughter
of Capt. Gregory Sugars, of Boston, by whom
he had seven children, one of whom, Samuel,
was born in Need ham May 15, 1729, and d-ed
in Tyringham, Mass., September 11,1822. Ho
was married to Ruth Tolman in 1757. One of
their eight children was William Townsend
(grandfather), who was born December II,
1765, and married Rhoda Hall, by whom he
had four sons and one daughter. One of their
sons was John Townsend ('he father of Mrs.
Griswold), who was born January 28, 179(),
came to near Kennedy in 1817, and afterwards
purchased a tiirm in Carroll on which he died
in 1860. He was a whig and republican, fol-

lowed farming and lumbering and married
Adelia Hitchcock, who was born May 4, 1810,
a member of the old Hitchcock family whieh
came into tiie county about 1817, by whom he
had four sons and six daughters. Two of the
sons died early in life and one of the daughters
is Mrs. Martha T. Griswold.

WILLIAM PREKDKKGAST BEMUS,
M. !>., a descendant of one of the early
pioneer families of southern Chautauqua county,
was a successful physician of Jamestown for
nearly forty years. He was the fifth son and
seventh child of Lieutenant Charles and Rolopha
(Boyd) Bemus, and was born at Bemus Point,
t^hautauqna county, New York, October 4, 1827.
The Bemus fliraily settled at an early day in
Saratoga county, at Bemus Heights, which were
named after the family, and on which Arnold
and Morgan defeated Burgoyne, and prevented
the British conquest of New England and New
York. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather. Major
Jotham Bemus, was reared at Bemus Heights
and served as an officer in the Revolutionary
war, and died at Pittstowu, Rensselaer county.
His son, William Bemus, was born at Bemus
Heights, February 25, 1762, and removed in
early life to Pittstowu, where, on January 29,
1782, he married Polly, daughter of William
Prendergast, Sr. In 1805 he accompanied his
f;ither-in-law and the families of the latter's
sons and daughters, twenty-nine persons in all,
in their removal to Tennessee, and came back
with them to Chautauqua county, where he
settled in 1806 at Bemus Point (which was
named for him), on Lake Chautauqua, in the
town of Ellery. He died January 2, 1830,
aged si.xty-eight years, and his wife, who was
born March 13, 1760, passed away July 11,
1845, at eighty-five years of age. Their chil-
dren were: Dr. Daniel, Elizabeth Silsby, Try-
phena Griffith, William Thomas, Lieutenant
Charles, Mehitabel Hazeltine and James. Lieu-
tenant Charies Bemus (father) was born at Pitts-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

town, August 31, 1791, ami died at Beiiuis
Point, October 10, 18(jl. lie served as a first
lioutouant in the war of 1812, and was a spec-
tator at tlie burning of Buffalo. On February
28, 1811, he married Relepha Boyd, who was
born July 20, 1790, and died January 2, 1843.
They were the parents of ten children : James,
Ellon Smiley, Matthew, Daniel, Jane Copp,
John, Dr. William P., Mchitabel P. Strong,
Dr. E. M. and George H., a lawyer.

William P. Bemus obtained a good high
school education at Fredonia, and also received
instruction under private tutors of ability and
qualification. He then read medicine with Dr.
Shanahan, of Warren, Pa., attended lectures at
Oberlin college, and was graduated from the
Berkshire medical institute, of Springfield,
Mass. After graduation he opened an office at
Ashville, New York, but' soon removed to
Jamestown, where he practiced his profession
successfully and continuously for forty-two years.
He held a prominent position in the ranks of
his profession, was a liberal and sympathetic
physician and his " free practice " was large, as
he rendered his services to all who asked them
of him. He stood high with the people, whose
confidence he enjoyed to the fullest extent. He
never went to law during his lifetime to collect
any account f(jr medical services rendered by
him. He was an ardent democrat in politics,
served as president of the Cleveland democratic
club, and although always active in the interests
of his party, yet never aspired to, nor would
accept of, any political office. He was secretary
of the board of pensions at Jamestown, and a
member of the Protestant Episcopal church of
that city, which was organized in 1853.

In 1855 he married Helen O. Norton, daugh-
ter of S(jnire Morris Norton, of Ashville, New
York. They had two children, a son and a
daughter. The daughter, Helen, is the wife of
Frederick E. Hatch, who is engaged in the drug
and book business; and Dr. Morris K, the son,
was graduated from Rutgers college. New Jersey,

in 1885, read medicine with his father, and
entered the <\)llege of Physicians and Surgeons
of New York city, from which leading medical
institution he was graduated in 1888. He then
took a full post-graduate course, after which he
became a jiartncr with his father, and since the
death of the latter, in 1890, has continued suc-
cessfully in the practice of his jH-ofession in
Janjestown until the present time. Mrs. Bemus
<lied March 7, 1874. On June 3, 1875, the
doctor married Sarah E., daughter of Abram C.
and Sarah M. Prather. Sarah E. Prather was
born in Venango count}', Pa.

Dr. William Prendergast Bemus was active
in his professional labors until his summons
came to lay down the cares of earthly life. He
sank to sleep on September 19, 1890, and his
remains were interred in Lake View cemetery.

JOHN 13. BENSON, a son of Bernhard and
Anna C. (Anderson) Benson, was born in
Gothenbnyg, Sweden, March 4, 1866. His
paternal grandfather, John Benson, was a native
of Gottenburg, Sweden, where he was a re-
spected and prosperous farmer and owner of
about three hundred and seventy acres of land.
He also served for a time in the Swedish army.
His wife was Louise Oman, of Sweden ; they
had six children, three boys and three girls.
The maternal grandfather of John B. Benson
also lived and died in Sweden. Bernhard Ben-
son (father) was born in Gothenburg, Sweden,
September 8, 1832 ; he came to America about
1868, and lived about six months in Fredonia,
this county, after which he came to Jamestown.
He v/asa carver and furniture maker in Swed-
en and also followed that trade here. He is a
republican in politics, and an active member of
the Methodist church. His wife was Anna C.
Anderson, and they are the parents of four chil-
dren : John B., Anna C, Frederic C. and Jen-
nie F. Anna married William Peterson, a
mechanic of Jamestown ; Frederic lives in
Jamestown ; Jennie is still a child at home.

BlOGRAniY AND HISTORY

John B. Benson received liis education in the
common schools of Jamestown, this county, but
was oMii^ed to leave school at an early age.
However, he has since devoted much of his
time to study and has thus gained a great deal
of ireneral information. He learned the trade
of piano tiiiisliing, but when seventeen years of
age, ho placed himself under the instructions of
a tutor, preparatory to becoming an actor. At
the age of nineteen he went on the stage and
played for four years — first with F. C. Bangs,
then with Thomas W. Keene, both of whom
presented plays of the highest order, such as
"Hamlet," ''Othello," "Richard III," etc.,
in all of which ]\Ir. Benson took heavy parts,
giving entire satisfaction. When about to re-
tire from the stage, he appeared at Jamestown
in the play of " Damon and Pythias," in the
performance of which he was sustained by Mr.
Keene's entire company. The play was given
on three nights before highly appreciative aud-
iences ; the third performance was by special
request. Since leaving the profession, Mr. Ben-
son has devoted very little time to theatrical
pursuits, but frequently recites on special occa-
sions or at social gatherings in Jamestown,
where his ability and merit are fully appreci-
ated. He left the stage to engage in the manu-
facture of desks in Jamestown, and still con-
tinues in that business. He manufactures all
kinds of otHce desks in the factories on Steel
street and West First street. Mr. Benson is a
Republican in j)olitics, also a member of the
" Knights of Pythias." On June 27, 1889, he
was married to Ida L. Maplestone, a daughter
of Page Maplestone, of Shippenville, Pa.

Q'AjVIUEL KIDDER, of Kiantone, lives
*^ upon the farm originally bought and
cleared by his father in 1816, and which has
never been out of tl:e family. He was born
where he now lives on October 12, 1825, in
what was then Carroll, Ciiautauqua county.
New York, and is a son of Ezbai and Louisa

(Sherman) Kidder. The Kidders were orig-
inally from Dudley, Mass., Samuel Kidder
(grandfather) being born and reared there, and
afterwards moving into Vermont, where hculied
in January, 1805. By occupation a farmer, he
married Zilpha Bacon and became the father of
four sons and three daughters. Noah Sherman
(maternal grandfather) was a native of Wards-
boro, A^eru>ont, and married Laura Hubbard,
of Brimfield, Massachusetts. Both himself
and wife died many years ago. Their children
all came to the " Holland Purchase" " when the
country was new," as local custom termed it.
Ezbai Kidder (father) was born in Dudley,
Ma.ss., in 1787, and was carried to Wardsboro
in infancy where he spent several busy years
helping his widowed mother rear a large family.
He came to this county in 1813, but soon after
went to Vermont, and again returned to this
county and settled in Carroll, now Kiantone, in
1816. He married Louisa Sherman in 1824,
and had four children, one son and three
daughters, one daughter (Mrs. Mitchell) now
residing at Bust! ; two are dead. A carpenter
by trade, he conducted building in connection
with his farming, and many of the old frame
houses and barns of the towns of Carroll and
Kiantone are .specimens of his skill. The farm
mentioced at the opening of our sketch was one
hundred acres of a plot known as the Blowers'
Lot, having been located by and bought from a
Mr. Blowers, one of the first settlers of James-
town. Originally a whig, he afterwards be-
came a repulilican, and at the first town meet-
ing held March 6, 1826, was elected commis-
sioner of highways. In 1838 he was supervis-
or of Carroll town, and at the formation of
Kiantone, the election being held February 21,
1854, he was made the first supervisor of the
new town. IMr. Kidder was a member of the
Congregational church at Jamestown, and died
in 1879, aged ninety-two years and three
months, Mrs. Kidder passing away November
14, 1867.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Samuel Kidder was reared on his father's
farm, and received his education in the schools
of his neighborhood and Jamestown academy.
Tlie ring of tlie axe in ihe forest was familiar
to liis ears and the hooting of the owls at night
was not unfamiliar. Farming was conducted
without the help of improved machinery, hay
being cut with a scythe. Scliools were not con-
venient, and the boy who got an education
worked for it. Life on his father's flirm in
summer was changed for labor and school at-
tendance in winter, later the Jamestown acad-
emy opened her fount and he drank knowledge
from it. Although always a farmer, the time
spent in securing an education was not lost, for
the intelligent man is needed in agricultural
pursuits as well as in the counting-room. ]\Ir.
Kidder has added to the farm his father owned,
and to-day is the possessor of three hundred
acres of as good land as may be found in the
county, and has at least twelve acres of lots in
the city of Jamestown.

On October 17, 1854, he was married to
Eleanor A. Partridge, a daughter of Joel Part-
ridge, cf Jamestown, N. Y. To this union
have been born ten children : Ida, wife of W.
C. Parker, a hardware merchant residing at
Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, this State ;
Wiliard, a farmer of Kiantone, and married to
Anna Miller ; J. Edward ; died when eigliteen
years of age ; Henry E., married to Grace
Sherrod, and resides in Kno.xville, Teun., where
he follows c:irpentering, building and dealing in
real estate ; George C, who married Lilian Van
Duzee, and is a farmer of Kiantone; Dora,
Samuel P., Mary L. and Fannie E. at home ;
Jay H. is dead. ^ .

Samuel Kidder affiliates with tiie democrats,
but was a whig before the advent of the Repub-
lican party. He has served the people of Ki-
antone tiiree terms eacii as supervisor and as-
sessor, and belongs to the Congregational church
at Jamestown.

HAKVEY SIBIMONS, who has been a resi-
dent of Jamestown for over forty years,
is a son of Philander and Mary Ann (Waid)
Simmons, and was born in tiie town of Port-
land, Chautauqua county. New York, July 11,
1827. Tiie Simmons, for three generations
back, are to be traced as residents of Wasliiug-
tou county, of which Zuriel Simmons, the
paternal grandfather of Harvey Simmons, was
a native and life-long resident. He owned a
large farm, and being of good education and
well versed in legal matters, was constantly
employed in conducting civil cases before the
magistrates. He was a whig in politics and
married Sallie Hunt, by whom he had five sons
and four daughters, who grew to manliood and
womanhood. One of the sons, Philander Sim-
mons (father), was born in 1797, and died in
Jamestown in 1862. At an early age he came
to the town of Portland, in which he purchased
and cleared out a large farm in a section tliat
then was in the woods. In 1855 he removed
to Jamestown where he lived a retired life. He
was a whig and republican in politics, and a
member and deacon of the Free Will Baptist
church. Mr. Simmons died December 13, 1882.
He married Mary Ann Waid, and tiiey reared a
family of ten cliiidrcn : Eliza, wife of Frank
Colt, of Jamestown ; Leauder, who died at
Ashville, N. Y., in 1888, aged sixty-five years;
Franklin, a lumber dealer ; Harvey; Clarissa,
widow of Hugh Mosier, of Brocton ; Martha,
widow of J. W. Clements, and wife of William
Cobb, of Jamestown ; Ira, who married Sarah
E. Wilson, and served in Co. F, 112th N. Y.
Vols., from August 25, 1862, to June 13, 1865;
William H., a Union soldier in the late war
and now a farmer ; Adelbert P. , who also served
in the Union army, and Adaline, wife of Stephen
Whitcher, of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Mrs.
Simmons was a daughter of Pember Waid who
was born at Lyuie, in Litchfield county, Con-
necticut, January 21, 1774, married Anna,
daughter of Samuel Lord, and died February

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

15, 1852, in Crawford county, Pennsylvania,
where he had owned and cultivated a farm for
many years.

Harvey Sininions received the meagre educa-
tion of his boyhood days in western New York,
and commenced life for himself in the business
of manufacturing scythe snaths and other tool
handles. In five years he sold out and worked
for some time with the manufacturing firm of
Chase & Son. He then purchased seven acres
of land in Jamestown, which he has continued
to cultivate and improve until the present time.
Mr. Simmons is a republican in politics, but has
never aspired for any office within the gift of
his fellow-citizens.

On March 15, 1851, he married Mary Ann
Southwick, who was born in 1829, and is a
daughter of Herman Southwick, a native of
Cayuga county (who married Achesa Wellman),
reared a family of ten children, came to Busti
in 1856, and afterwards died at Oil Creek, Pa.
To Mr. and Mrs. Simmons have been born five
children : Mary, wife of Allen R. Maubert, a
shoemaker and dealer in boots and shoes on
Brooklyn avenue; H. Adelbert ; and Cora, who
married G. D. Andruss, a photographer, of
Jamestown, and has one child, Pearl I. Two
others die<l in childhood.

COL. THO]>L\S T. CLUNKY, the present
efficient chief of the Jamestown fire de-
partment, who rose from a private in the ranks
of the Federal army to the grade of colonel,
and who, when the war closed, was in the line
of promotion to a generalship and the command
of a brigade, was born in ^lontreal, Canada,
October 30, 1838, and is a son of Sergeant John
and Mary (McNickel) Cluney. His grand-
fathers, Cluncy and McNickel, were natives and
life-long residents of Great Britain, the former
of England and the latter of Ireland. His
father, Sergeant John Cluney, was born in
England, entered the British army, rose to the
rank of sergeant, and was stationed with his

company at Montreal, Canada, during the War
of 1812. He was afterwards honorably dis-
charged from the English service, drew a pen-
sion for over a quarter of a century, and died
in Toronto, Canada, in 1840. He married
Mary McNickel and had six children: Col.
Thomas T., Charles, who is superintendent of a
coal-wharf at Perth Amboy, N. J. ; three who
died young, and John, who enlisted in a New
York regiment, was wounded in the shoulder
at the battle of Chickahominy and taken prisoner
by the Confederates, who held him for three
months. After being exchanged he died in a
hospital in Piiiladelphia from the effects of his
wound, which had never been dressed during
the time that he was a prisoner.

Thomas T. Cluney was, about 1849, brought
by George Flint to Jamestown, where he received
a good practical business education in the schools
of that place. In 1859 he went to Pennsylvania,
where he was a successful operator in the oil-
producing business until the spring of 1861,
when the life of the nation was menaced by the
most gigantic rebellion of modern history. He
immediately raised and equipped, at his own
expense, a company of one hundred and five
men at Tidioute, Pa., for the Fifth Excelsior
regiment of New York volunteers, and for-
warded them to Staten Island, N. Y. His
colonel then ordered him to Jamestown to recruit
more men. He enlisted and forwarded sixty
men from that place, and had sixty more secured,
when he received notice that his services were
not needed any longer and that the command of
his company had been given to another. This
base treatment had been brought about by a
couple of lieutenants in his company. He then
enlisted as a private on July 5, 1861, in Co. A,
49th N. Y. vols., took part in all the battles of
the Army of the Potomac from Yorktown to
Appomattox Court-house, was wounded slightly
in five battles V)ut never disabled from duty, and
was honorably discharged on July 10, 1865.
He was promoted to second lieutenant on August

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

8, 1861, made first lieutenant November 6, 1861,
commissioned captain April 14, 1862, and pro-
moted to major May 16, 1863, for gallant and
meritorious conduct on the battle-field of Fred-
ericksburg. In 1864 he received his commission
as lieutenant-colonel, and on July 10, 1865, he
was mustered out witii tiie raulv of colonel.
After the war he took charge of the Johnson
House at Fredouia, and then went to Mayville,
where he had ciiarge successively of the Van
Vaulkenburg, Mayville and Chautauqua liotels.
From there he came to Jamestown, where he
opened and run the GifTord house for six years,
then was a liotel clerk for some time. Ho ne.xt
opened the Milwaukee bottling works, which he
sold in 1888, to become proprietor of tiie Wiiitc
Elephant hotel and restaurant, which hasattained
wonderful popularity and immense patronage
under his management. In 1867 Col. Cluney
connected himself with the fire department of
Jamestown. He was foreman of Deluge com-
pany. No. 1, for sixteen years, tiien (1883) was
elected assistant chief, and in 1884 he was
appointed chief, and has served as such ever
since. Under his management the Jamestown
fire department, comprising seven companies and
two hundred and twenty-five men, is now
regarded as one of the best regulated and most
efficient volunteer services in the State of New
York. Three years' drilling in the New York
militia under Captain James M. Brown well
fitted Qo\. Cluney for his active service iu the
late war. His company furnished twenty-two
officers, all of whom, except two or three, were
killed, or died from effect of wounds or exposiu-e-

On August 28, 1867, he married Hannah P.
Benson, daughter of Eev. Henry Benson, a
Presbyterian minister of Jamestown, who served
as chaplain of the 49th regiment. New York
Vols. He was killed near Wilson's Mills,
August 7, 1883.

In politics Col. Cluney has always been a
republican, and is a stanch and liberal supporter
of his jjarty. He is a member of James M.

Brown Post, No. 285, Grand Army of the
Republic, and captain-general of Jamestown
Coumiandery, No. 1, Knights Templar.

V^A:nIEL li. OOKSETT, a capitalist and
^^ real estate owner, who is helping to build
up this city, (having just completed " De Orsay ,"
a handsome compartment building on west
Third .street,) is a <ou of Joseph and Abigail
(Hanks) Dorsett, and was born June 12, 1816,
in the town of Union, Tolland county, Connec-
ticut. The name, originally De Orsay, coming
from the French, shows the grandfather's ex-
traction, although he was born iu Connecticut,
where he died. He was a farmer by occupa-
tion. Joseph Dorsett (father) was born iu
Connecticut, where he followed farming and
died. Politically he was independent. He was
twice married; first, to Abigail Haid<s, who
bore him two sons and six daughters, and after
her death he married Mary Hitchcock, who had
two sons and one daughter.

Daniel B. Dorsett was educated in the com-
mon country schools of Connecticut. He began
life humbly— his first work being peddling.
In 1838 he was proprietor of a store at East-
ford, Conn., and in 1849 came to Chautauqua
count}', locating in Sinclairville, where he man-
ufactured shoes and cultivated a farm of sixteen
acres during the ensuing ten years and for nearly
twenty years thereafter bought butter and
cheese through the country. In October, 1890,
Mr. Dorsett came to Jame.stown to reside and
look after his real estate interests.

On November 16, 1841, Mr. Dorsett married
Harriet F. Preston, a daughter of Earl Clapp
Preston, a native of Windham county. Conn.,
where he resided until 1874, since which time
and until his death, that occurred at the advanced
age of 94, he made his home with Mr. Dor.sett
at Sinclairville. Mr. Preston, in early life, had
been a farmer and later a school teaciier in
Connecticut and v/as an active worker in educa-
tional matters until nearly eighty years old.

104

BIOGRAPHY AND IIISTOllY

having served as superintemlent of scliools in
liis native State. He was a republican and a
j)artieiiiariy strong abolitionist. Religiously
he had strong affinities with the Congregational
chureh, taking a leading part for nearly eighty
years, and was familiarly known to his friends
as Deacon Preston. He married Harriet Fox
and had four children. Mr. and Mrs. Dorsett
have four children : Calista, now the wife of
Edwin Williams, a merchant living in Sinclair-
ville; Daniel H., who wedded Ellen R. Shep-
herd, of Iowa, is now living in Chicago. He
is the inventor of Dorsett's system of electrical
conduits in use in our principal cities, and is
vice-])resident and manager of the National
Subwa}' Co., of Chicago, 111., manufacturers of
conduits — he has two children — Eae and Leon-
ard ; Charles W., married Martha Angle,
of Randolph, N. Y., and now resides at Minne-
a])olis, Minn., where he is a caterer and con-
fectioner. The}" have two children : Gretchen
and Hattie, and three adopted : Karl, Ralph and
Lucy ; and Minnie F., wife of G. F. Smith,
INI.D., lives at Sinclairvilleand has two children,
Charles, and Daniel.

D. B. Dorsett was originally a whig, but with
the advent of the Republican party he trans- :
ferred his allegiance to it and was a strong anti-
slavery member. While in Connecticut he
served as deputy -sheriff and was a notary public
for over twenty years. Both he and his estima-
ble wife are members of the Congregational
church.

TSKAEL, RECORD. The democracy of
-*- Chautauqua county lost one of its strongest
adherents when, on the 16th of July, 1887.
Israel Recoi-d, of Silver Creek, closed his eyes
in their last sleep and passed over into the un-
known world. Israel Record descended from a
line of ancestors who were thoroughly Ameri-
can in their character and democratic in their
habits. A hundred years spent in the valleys
of the Hudson were but the sequel of their earlier

residence in the colonial settlements, and the
si.Kty years of life passed in Chautauqua county
completed to the present generation an unbroken
citizenship in the new world of almost two cen-
, turies, during which the brain and muscle of
this family were devoted to the develojjment
of the vast and unlimited resources of our
country.

Israel Record was a son of Reverend John
Record, who was a prominent citizen, proprie-
tor of the village grist-mill and |)astor of the
Baptist church at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In the
old family Bible, the title page of which bears
the date of 1766, is the quaint and curious,
though laconic and succinct, eutry : " Between
the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, Friday,
October 12, one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-eight, then was Israel Record l)orn in
Poughkeepsie." Israel Record passed twenty-
five years of his early life in eastern New York
and then married Mary Gardner, in Dutchess
county. Eight years afterward (1830), with his
wife and two childreu he followed the course of
the setting sun until he reached Chautauqua
county, and soon found a home in the town of
Sherman. A few years later he moved to Han-
over town and lived there until he died. His
marriage resulted in nine childreu, four of
whom are still living: Mrs. Emily Wood, and
William Record, of Versailles, Cattaraugus
county; John G., a lawyer of Forestville; and
Mrs. N. Babcock, of Silver Creek, at whose
home he died.

Israel Record was less than two years of age
wheu the present century began, and kind nature
.seeming to realize that a man of that day must
be possessed of great bodily and mental .strength,
endowed him with a massive physique and a
mind and will commensurate. His memory was
a wonderful store-house of knowledge, and it is
said that within a few days after Piesident
Cleveland's inaugural address was published he
rej)eated it verbatim and remcmberi'd it per-
fectly until he died. Dates and places, laws

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

107

and State constitutions, amendnieuts and the
men who advocated them were as familiar to
his memory when past eighty years of age as to
the eve of an ordinary man when looking at the
printed page of an open book, and when he onoe >
asserted the correctness of a statement it was
useless to refer to a book for (•orr(jboi-ative proof
— he was always found to be correct. i

His faith in democracy was as strong as the
most devout Christian's in religion. An ex-
pression once made, referring to him, said :
"Counter arguments, however good or impres-
sive, fall as powerless as raindrops on a granite
boulder." He endured the twenty-eiglit years
of republican rule with outspoken condemnation
and contempt, and probably no man iu the
countr)' more sinc.erely welcomed, or was made
so supremely happy by the democratic victory
of 1884 and the change of administration in
1885. He was tender towards his family and
the affection he felt for his wife bordered on
adoration. Of her he would say : " She knew .
something," in a tone that indicated that to him i
all other women were as common clay. He
died as he had lived, unflinching and unterrified,
and he went into eternity " like one who wraps i
the drapery of his couch about him and lies
down to pleasaut dreams," when he had reached
the unusual age of eighty-eight years, ten months

and four days.

JOI-IK G. RECORD, a strong democrat of
Forestville, and a member of the Chau-
tauqua county bar, was born at Smith's Mills,
in the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county,
New York, October 2, 1836, and is a son of
Israel and Mary (Gardner) Record. During
the last century his ancestors were settled in the
rich and fertile valley of the Hudson river,
which has been made famous for all time to
come by the pen of Washington Irving, the
prince of American writers. Rev. John
Record, the paternal grandfather of John G.
Record, was an active minister pf the Baptist
6

church. He I'an
prominence as we

grist-mill, and was a man of
as of useful ui'ss in the com-
munity in wliifh he resided. His son, Israel
Record (see his sketcli), the iiithcr of the sub-
ject of this sketch, was born and reared at
Pouehkeepsie, and came to the town of Sher-
man about 1830. He afterwards rt-nioved to
the town of Hanover, of which he was a resi-
dent until his death in 1S.S7, at eighty-nine
years of age. He was a cattle dealer during
the active })art of his life. His wife was Mary
Gardner, who was born in Dutchess county, in
the Hudson river valley, and passed away in
l.SSO, when in the eighty-fourth year of her
age.

John G. Record spent his boyhood days in
his native county, and received an academical
education at Middlebury and Wyoming acad-
emies. Leaving school he read law in 1858
with Sherman Scott, of Forestville, was ad-
mitted to the Chautauqua county bar in Decem-
ber, 1859, and has practiced successfully at
Forestville ever since, excepting two years when
he had an office at Silver Creek.

He was married in 1802, to Mary Farnham,
of Forestville, who died in March, 1886, and
left four children. On October 2d, 1887,
Mr. Record united in marriage with Flora M.
Haywood, of Versaille.s, New York. To this
second union have been born two children.

In addition to his law practice Mr. Record
gives some little time to the management of his
farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land,
which is situated one and one-half miles from
Forestville. Thirty acres of this land is devot-
ed to the culture of grapes, and shows this sec-
tion of the county to be well adapted to the
cultivation of the vine. In politics Mr. Record
is a zealous democrat of Jeft'ersonian views, has
always stood upon the platform of the old-time
genuine principles of his party, and advocated
\ honesty and economy in State as well as Na-
tional affairs. John G. Record has served his
I town as supervisor, and has several times ac-

BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY

cepted a nomiuation from liis party in its
plucl^y, but luipeless fights against the over-
whehuing republican majority in Chautauqua
county.

JOHN W. O'BRIEX had an unexpecte<lly
hard battle to fight in life, but he fought
it nobly and won a victory of which any one
might be justly proud. He was born in county
Carlow, province of Leinster, Ireland, July 20,
1842, and is a son of William and Ann (Kelley)
O'Brien. Plis father, William O'Brien, was a
*Dative of the same place, a farmer by occupation,
a member of the Catholic church and died in
1852, at forty years of age. He married Ann
Kelley, of county Wicklow, a mining and pas-
toral district in the province of Leinster, l>y
whom he had eight children, three sons and
five daughters : John W. ; James, who died in
Ireland ; Thos. B., is foreman in a large raanu-
fiicturing establishment in Erie, Pa.; Ellen,
wife of James Carroll ; Jane, married Bartholo-
mew Cavauaugh ; Annie, married to P. C.
Mulligan; Bridget and ]\Iary, who resides with
John W. All the daughters reside in Dunkirk.
Mrs. O'Brien came to America in 1858 and
located in Dunkirk, where she is now residing
with her son, John W., in the seventy-fifth
year of her age. She is also a member of the
Catholic church.

John W. O'Brien received a portion of his
education by a brief attendance in the common
schools, but it came mainly by studying at home
in the evenings. Ilis father was in reduced
circumstances at the time of his death, and John
W., at the age of thirteen, with his sister Ellen,
aged eleven, came alone to America in 1855,
and from New York City to Dunkirk, where
they expected to meet an uncle, Thomas O'Brien,
but found he had died. He then went to work
on a farm, remained there two years and then
secured a position in the flour and feed house of
William O'Neil, who was an old friend of the
O'Briens in Ireland. He continued to clerk for

Mr. O'Neil until 1879, when he entered into
partnership with Thomas O'Neil, under the
firm name of O'Neil & Co., and bought out
William O'Neil. This firm continued two years,
when his partner died and he bought his inter-
est of the heirs, and since then has continued
the business alone. He carries a large stock of
all kinds of flour, feed and seeds and enjoys a
fine paying trade. He has reared and educated
his brothers and sisters and has also accumu-
lated a moderate competency. In politics he is
a democrat and in religion is a member of the
Catholic church. He enjoys the respect of all
who know him and is satisfied with his experi-
ence in his adopted country.

A^ILBEKT 31. KYKEKT was born in Atti-

^^ ca, Wyoming county, New York, October
6, 1840, and is a son of Rev. Gilbert and Sarah
A. (Nichols) Rykert. His ftither, Rev. Gilbert
Rykert, was a native of Washington county,
this State, a minister of the Free-Will Baptist
church, and in politics a republican. He mar-
ried Sarah A. Nichols, a native of the towu
where her son was born, who is a member of
the Methodist P]piscopal cliurch, and now re-
sides with her son in Westfield, in the seventy-
sixth year of her age. They were the parents
of three children. Rev. Gilbert Rykert died
in Evans, Erie county, this State, where he had
lived for .several years, on June 12, 18(34, at the
age of fifty-three years.

Gilbert M. Rykert was reared principally in
Erie and Chautauqua counties, and received a
common-school education. In July, 1862, he
enlisted in Co. C, 154th regiment, New York
Vol.- Infantry, and was honorably discharged in
February, 1864, on account of a wound re-
ceived at the battle of Gettysburg, on July 1,
1863, while he was color-bearer. His comrade,
also a color-bearer, had been previously shot, and
]\[r. Rykert had taken his colors in addition to
his own. He was struck in his right arm by a
minie-ball, permanently disabling the arm.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

After leaving the army, lie entered the employ
of tiie L. S. & M. S. R. R. company, where he
has remained ever since. From 187() to 1887
he was telegraph operator at AVestfield, and in
the latter year he was appointed station-agent,
which position he still retains. He also devot-
ed some attention to the cultivation of the grape.
Politically he is a prohibitionist, in his religious
convictions a Baptist, of which church he is a
raemher and a trustee, and is a member of Sum-
mit Lodge, No. 219, F. and A. M.; Chautau-
qua Lodge, No. 3, A. O. U. W.; Westfield
Council, No. 81, Royal Arcanum, and William
Sackett Post, No. 324, G. A. R. He has
served three years as a trustee of the town of
AVestfiold.

November 10, 1868, Gilbert M. Rykert unit-
ed in marriage with Arietta H., daughter of
Leonard Smith, of Brocton, this county, and
their union has been blest with three children :
Homer S., Charles E. and William C.

G. M. Rykert is a gallant soldier, an hon-
est, faithful, conscientious employe, and an up-
right, iionorabloand respected citizen, ever doing-
all in his power for the prosperity of the town
in which he resides.

TlirVItON AV. PARDEE, a son of James and

4 Phccbe (Chandler) Pardee, was born

April 15, 1856 and died at Jamestown, Nov.
22, 1889. Myron W. Pardee was a grandson
of Woodley W. Chandler, a native of the Old
Dominion State where he was l)orn February
14, 1800, and was one of the earlier of James-
towui's settlers, arriving here in 1826. Prior
to this date he lived for a while in Dexterville,
Chautauqua county, where he married Pluicbe
Winsor, daughter of Abraham Winsor, by
whom he had five children. Upon his advent
here, in partnership with his brother-in law, he
bought a piece of land near the outlet formerly
owned by Judge Foote, and built upon it a
cloth-dressing and carding mill. Its site is now
covered by a much larger similar establishment.

At about this season he was also interested in
lumbering. He afterwards removed to Levant,
Chautauqua couiity, where he died April 22,
1854. Chandler street, Jamestown, derives its
name from this famil)'. Grandfatlier Pardee
was a native of Connecticut.

Myron W. Pardee was educated in the James-
town schools, graduating from the normal de-
partment in 1876, and from the high school in
1879. Previous to his graduation, however,
he had left school several times for the purpose
of teaching. The first time when only seven-
teen years of age he was principal of the school*
at Kennedy, N. Y., for a year and at later
periods had charge of schools at Falconer, N.
Y., and at Farraington, Fayette county. Pa.
Immediately after graduation, in 1879, he reg-
istered with Hon. Orsell Cook and began the
study of law. He also, at the same time kept
books for two Jamestown firms in order to pro-
cure means with which to go through with his
studies. He afterwards entered the Albany
law school, from which he graduated in 1881,
and settled in Jamestown for the practice of his
profession. Being bright, active and energetic
he soon gained a lucrative practice, and at the
time of his death was one of the leading young
attorneys of Jamestown.

On September 19, 1883, he was united in
marriage to Eudora E. Klock, the accomplished
daughter of Hiram and Margaret (Quiun)
Klock. Mrs. Pardee is a musician of recog-
nized merit. An expert instrumentalist, she
has also rare natural endowments of voice which
she has cultivated by thorough courses at Mead-
ville. Pa., and in New York city under instruc-
tions from the best artists in the profession.
She has sung in nearly all the city church
choirs.

Politically Mr. Pardee was a republican and
with his wife was a member of the ilethodist
church.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Hex. FRANCIS BEATTLB BREWER,
M.D., a resident of Westfield for over
thirty years, and au ex-raeniber of Congress,
who conceived, j^lanned and developed the
present methods of producing and utilizing pe-
troleum, one of the great sources of national
Mealth and i-eveuue, was born at Keeue, New
Hampshire, October 8, 1820, and is a son of
Capt. Ebenezer and Julia (Emerson) Brewer.
Francis Beattie "Brewer is a descendant of Rev-
olutionary stock, his grandfather, Ebenezer
Brewer, having held the rank of colonel and
participated in the struggle of the old Thir-
teen Colonies, or " sea-shore republics," for in-
dependence. His father, Ebenezer Brewer,
was familiar with the trying scenes of Kevolu-
tionary days and afterwards held a captain's
commission during the War of 1812, in which
he served with credit and distinction. He and
his father were both natives and lifelong resi-
dents of New Hampshire.

Francis B. Brewer spent his earlier years at
Barnet, Vermont, where his father was engaged
in lumbering and the mercantile business. His
preparation for college was made at Newbury
seminary, Vt., and Meriden academy, N. H.
After graduating from Dartmouth college he
was engaged in teaching for .several months at
Barnet and in Peacham academy, Vt., and
then (1843) commenced the study of medicine
with Dr. W. G. Nelson. In 1844 he attended
lectures at Dartmouth Medical college where he
also studied nine months with the faculty, and
then completed his medical course with Dr. ^y.
W. Gerhart, of Philadelphia, Pa. He received
his degree of M.D. from Dartmouth Medical
college in 1846, practiced at Barnet until
December, 1849, and then removed to Plym-
outh, Mass., where lie remained for two years.
In 1851 he went to Titusvllle, Pa., where he
was actively and extensively engaged for ten
years in lumbering and the general mercantile
business. He was a member of the firm of
Brewer, Watson & Co., who owned several

thousand acres of timbered land along Oil
creek and its tributaries. On their land, and
near one of their lumber mills was an old
Indian well, remarkable for producing oil.
This oil was extensively u.sed as a medicine,
and was collected by absorbing the oil from the
surface of the water with woolen blankets. In
1852 the idea occurred to Dr. Brewer, of using
this oil in the lumber mills, both as an illumi-
nator and a lubricator. The well was then en-
larged and deepened ; a pump was worked in it
by wires attached to the machinery of the mill,
and in this way a large quantity of oil was ob-
tained. Thus commenced the oil business.
From this date Dr. Brewer gave his time,
means and efforts to di.scover the best manner
of producing and utilizing this valuable pro-
duct. Although discouraged, but never dis-
heartened, success finally crowned the enter-
prise which he ju.stly claims to have conceived,
planned and developed, and which has proved
to be one of the great discoveries of the age.
The oil business which he inaugurated as a
branch of commerce, has attained gigantic pro-
portions and has added immensely to the
wealth of the world. The first oil lease on
record was made July 4, 1853, between Brew-
er, Watson & Co., and J. D. Angler, and the
first oil company, " The Penna. Rock Oil Co.,"
w^as organized in New York City, in 1854, of
which Dr. Brewer was one of the incorporators
and directors, and this territory formed the
basis of the company's oj^erations.

On July 20, 1848, he married Susan II.
Rood, daughter of Rev. Prof. Heman Rood, of
Haverhill, N. H., but formerly of Gihuanton
Theological .seminary. Dr. and Mrs. Brewer
have four children: Eben, born May 14, 1849;
Francis Beattie and Frances Moody (wife of
W. C. Fitch of BuflPalo,) born October 16,
1852; and George Emerson, born July 28,
1861.

In 1861 Dr. Brewer came to Westfield to re-
side. He owns a beautiful farm on the shore

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BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

his otlior business enterprises. In 1856 he and
Stephen M. Clements, with otiiers, were mainly
instrumental in organizing the Fredonia bank
which, in 18G5, became the Fredonia National
bunk, of which Mr. Ablx'y has been president
since 1882. He was a heavy stockholder and a
prominent director in the old as well as the mw
bank, and in their management his good judguieut
and safe business methods added much to their
uniform successand general prosperity. The Fre-
donia National bank has a capital of one hun-
dred thousand dollars, with average deposits
of five luuidrcd thousand dollars and a surplus
of forty thousand dollars. This bank is recog-
nized as one of the best managed and most reli-
able banks in the State, and has the reputation
of having never extended or skipped the time
of any jjuyment of its dividends. The bank
has been constantly increasing its volume of
business under the conservative, safe and reli-
able management of ^Ir. Abbey, whose business
relations have brought iiim in contact with and
.secured for him the good will of the leading
business men of western New York. The
directors of this bank stand high as business
men and financiers, and most of them, like Mr.
Abbey, are identified with other important in-
terests of the county.

He married Elizabeth Chase, who died, and
then he united in marriage with Mrs. Esther A.,
the daughter of Judge Allen, of Tiowanda, this
State. To his first union were born three child-
ren, one of whom, Ella E., is the wife of Hon.
W. B. Hooker, member of Congress from the
Thirty-fourth Congressional district of New
York, whose sketch appears- elsewhere in this
volume.

In addition to his farm in the town of Ark-
wright he owns several valuable tracts of land
in other parts of the county, and has a well-
improved farm in Ohio, for which he paid ten
thousand dollars. At an early age Mr. Abbey
developed those business habits which became
the foiuidati(jn of his after success in life. He

was slow and careful in the beginning of his
business career, but daily widened out the sphere
of his operations and eventually became a potent
factor in the many business enterprises with
which he is identified to-day.

nOWLAXO W. GARDNER is a most
worthy disciple of Ceres, Pomona and
Flora, and «'as warmly welcomed as a member
of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, where
he found the representatives of these three
mythological goddesses occupying chairs at the
head of the hall. Rowland W. Gardner is a
son of William J. and Sarah (Durfee) Gardner,
and was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island,
October 12, 1819. His paternal grandfather,
Rowland Gardner, was also born in South
Kingston, Rhode Island, where he owned a
farm of one hundred acres on which he spent
his entire life. He was married in 1770 to
Deborali James, by whom he had five children:
James, a farmer; John, who moved to New York
State, settled in Wyoming county, and married
Wealthy Bentley ; Nicholas, a foreman in a
factory in Norwich, Conn., who married Betsey
Hazard : William J., father of Rowland W. ;
and Rowland, who died at twenty-one years of
age. Their father died in 1805, while the
mother jiassed away fifteen years before. Both
are interred in South Kingston, R. I. The
maternal grandfather, Joseph Durfee, was born
in Connecticut in 1775, but after reaching his
majority he removed to Rhode Island, where he
bought a farm and i-emained there until 1821,
when he removed to Wyoming county, N. Y.,
and purchased a farm, having sold his large
property in Rhode Island. The farm in Wyo-
ming county he occupied and cultivated until
his death in 1845. He married twice. His
first wife was Esther Wood, by whom he had
six .children, four sons and two daughters:
William was a laborer; Newell was a farmer in
Rhode Island, and married Sarah Moore;
Thomas was a cripple; Sarah was the mother

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

of Rowland W.; Eunice married Francis Hamil-
ton, of Ireland, who was a Methodist minister;
Joseph was a farmer in Wyoming county, N. Y.,
and married ]\Iartiia Pollard. The mother of
these cliildrcn died in 1805, and Joseph Durfee
married for his second wife Elsie Wilcox, and
by this union had seven children, four sons and
three daughters : Benjamin, a flirmer in Wyo-
ming county, N. Y., married Eliza Sparr ;
Esther, unmarried ; Eliza, married Noble Fair-
child, a farmer in Michigan ; Whipple, bachelor
and farmer; Anthony, also a bachelor and
farmer ; Mariamne, married Abrani Pickard ;
and Charles, who died when a young man.
William J. Gardner, (father) was born in South
Kingston, R. L, in 1794. He worked on the
farm with his father until he was twenty-one
years old, when he leased a farm and cultivated
it until 1821 ; then he moved to Genesee county
(now Wyoming), N. Y., and bought a farm of
fifty acres, partially improved. He remained
here until 1829, when he removed to Monroe
county, N. Y., and leased a farm on which he
lived two years, and then bought a farm of
twenty-five acres in the corporation of Frcdonia,
on which he lived until his death in 1863. He
married Sarah Durfee, a daughter of Joseph
Durfee, of South Kingston, R. I., by whom he
had five children, two sons and three daughters :
Rowland W., Joseph, a hardware merchant and
seedsman at Fredouia, who married Abigail
Hewitt, by whom he has had three children ;
Deborah, unmarried ; Mary and Martha, both
dead. The mother, Sarah (Durfee) Gardner^
died in 1870.

Rowland W. Gardner acquired his education
in the common schools of Chautauqua county
and in the Fi-edonia academy. After leaving
school he began his life's vocation of raising and
selling garden > seeds, to which he afterward
added fruit trees. For two years he raised the
seeds on leased land, and then with his brother
Joseph bought a farm of fifty acres in the village
of Fredouia and continued the business for eight

years. In 1852 they divided the business and
each continued to raise on his own farm. He
raised and papered the seeds until 18()4, when
he discontinued pa|)ering theiu and lias since
raised them for the wholesale trade. He is
widely known as a most reliable seedsman,
nurseryman and florist. He imports large quan-
tities of trees and bulbs for his local trade, and
in the last thirty years has sold over one million
trees, plants and bulbs of his own importation.
He has been very successful and accumulated a
handsome competency. He is a charter mem-
ber of Fredouia Grange, No. 1 ; a member of
Chautauqua Lodge, No. 283, I. O. O. F. ; of
Forest Lodge, No. 1(3(3, F. and A. M. ; of Fre-
douia Chapter, No. 76, R. A. M. ; and of Dun-
kirk Council and Dunkirk Commandery, No.
40, K. T. He was a member of the board of
trustees and board of assessors of Fredouia sev-
eral times and is highly respected as a u.seful,
honorable and upright citizen.

Rowland W. Gardner was married July 19,
1863, to Jane Carpenter, daughter of Ezra and
Minerva (Nichols) Carpenter, her father being
a farmer in Sheridan, this county, and has one
daughter, Surah ]M., who resides with her

parents.

JO.SKPH T. IJOUCiHTOX is a sou of Noah
E. and Polly (Todd) Boughton, and was
born in Delaware county, New York, July 4,
1837. His grandfather, Avery Boughton, was
a native of New York and resided in Greeix,e
county, wiiere his son, Noah E. Boughton
(father), was born in 1799. Noah E. Boughton
was a farmer by occupation, residing in Greene
and Delaware counties, N. Y., until 1870, when
he removed to Kansas and jjurchased a large
farm, on which he lived until his death, which
occurred January 17, 1890. He was a member
of the INIetliodist Episcopal church and voted
the republican ticket. His w-ife, Polly Todd
Boughton, a daughter of Dudley and Irene
Todd, was born in Greene county, N. Y., in

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

1821 and died August 1, 1851, at the age of
tliirty years. She was a consistent member of
the Methodist Episcopal churcii.

Joseph "'r. Boughton was reared on his
fatlier's farm in Delaware county and attended
the subscription schools of that period. He
began life as a fireman in the employ of a rail-
road, and was afterward promoted to the posi-
tion of engineer running on the Xew York &
Lake Erie and the Alton it St. Louis railroads,
until 1863, when he enlisted in Co. F.,39th reg-
iment, New York Vols. He served until the
close of the war. After he was mustered out of
service, he engaged in farming in Chautauqua
county, but in 1867, he removed to Butler,
Missouri, and run a saw-mill for two years, at
the end of which time he returned to New
York, locating in Dunkirk township, v^liere he
has since made his home. In 1869, he entered
the employ of the Brooks' Locomotive company,
one of the important industrial companies in
Dunkirk, and remained with them for fourteen
years. On account of failing health he was
compelled to retire from their service in 1883,
and has since that time lived a retired life. He
lias a pleasant home in the suburbs of Dunkirk,
just outside the borough limits. Mr. Bough-
ton is a member of the ^Methodist Episcopal
church, and an active democrat. He is a mem-
ber of the Royal Templars of Temperance and
is regarded as one of the straightforward, relia-
ble citizens of the town of Dunkirk.

QLBERT .S. COBB, a wholesale and retail
-^*- liquor dealer of Dunkirk, was born in
.the town of Gorham, Cumberland couuty,
Maine, June 21, 1815, and is a son of David
and Sallio (Watson) Cobb. In the latter part
of the last century three brothers, David,
Ebenczer and Jonathan Cobb came from Scot-
laud to this country, where David located in
Ohio, Ebenezer in New York, and Jonathan in
Massachusetts. Jonathan Cobb, who was the
ffrandfatiier of Albert S. Cobl), resided in Mas-

sachusetts until liis death. His son, David
Cobb, was born in Barnstable, that State, and
removed to Gorham, Maine, when that State
was a part of Massachusetts. He was a tanner
and currier which trade he left to engage in the
mercantile business in Gorham and died in
1837, at the age of sixty-three years. He was
an old-line whig, served as town collector for
seven years besides filling other offices, and
while energetic yet was a modest and unassuming
man whose generosity and kindness to the poor
were distinguishing traits of his character. He
married Sallie Watson, who was a native of
Gorham, where she died in 1813, when in the
sixty-fifth year of her age.

Albert S. Cobb was reared in Gorham where
he received a common school and academic
education and where he was engaged in the
general mercantile business for two years. In
1840 he went to Great Falls, New Hampshire,
and was employed for nine years and six months
in doing all of the painting of the Great Fails
Cotton Manufacturing company. At the end of
this time, in 1850, became to Hornellsville, this
State, and run for one year as a brakesman on
the Erie railroad from Hornellsville to Cuba.
In 1851 he was a brakesman on the first train
that ran into Dunkirk and was afterwards em-
ployed by the New York & Erie railroad, as a
brakesman and freight and passenger conductor
for twenty-one years and ten montiis. As a
passenger conductor he run for seven years
from Hornellsville to Dunkirk and for five
years from Dunkirk to Oswego. From 1864
to 1868 he was a member of the wholesale and
retail liquor firm of Cobb & Smith, of Dun-
kirk, then for two years w-as in that business by
himself and in 1870 became a member of the
liquor firm of Cobb & Gifford which lasted two
years, when Mr. Cobb established his present
wholesale and retail liquor house. He removed
to Dunkirk in 1861 and resigned as passenger
conductor in 1871. He is a democrat, cast his
first vote for Martin Van Buren and has been a

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

trustee of his city for «ix years. He served as
a store-keeper in the State Arsenal at Dunkirk
when John T. Hoffman was governor and in
18G0 was interested in tiie oil ]n-oducti(>n of
New York and Pennsylvania.

In the year 1840, he married Abby G.
Libby, of the town of Gorhani, Maine, and they
liave had with them for thirty-five years as a
domestic Barbara Hiller, a native of Germany.

A. S. Cobb has in his possession three silver
dollars which he prizes very highly. " The first
one is a Spanish milled dollar of 1797, received
for driving a widow's cow and was the first
dollar which he ever earned. The next one is a
Mexican dollar of 1829 and was the first money
he ever earned after becoming of age, while the
third one is of the United States issue of
1844, and was the first dollar which he received
as a railroad emj)loye.

SAIIUKL OSBOKXK CODIXGTON, a
manufacturer and contractor of Fredouia,
was born at Geneva, Ontario county. New York,
December 20, 1847, and is the eldest sou of
John S. and Bertha (Monroe) Codington. He
was educated at Edinboro State Normal school,
and is now a member of the firm of Sly ct
Codington. He is a master mason of Forest
lodge. No. 166, F. and A. M., and on September
17, 1878, united in marriage with Mary Stauley,
of Fredouia.

His father, John S. Codington, was born at
Geneva, N. Y., September 12, 1824, is an archi-
tect and contractor, and has been superiutendeut
of two divisions of the A. & G. W. R. R.,
married Bertha Monroe April 16, 1846, by
whom he had six children : Clara (Irviii),
Samuel O., Acie B., Ada, Theodore and Jolui:
and removed to Ohio in 1874. John S. Coding-
ton is a son of Samuel O. Codington (grand-
father), who was boru at Newbui-g, March 17,
1791, married Martha White, January 11, 1818,
and died May 23, 1844. He was the contractor
who built the first frame building at Geneva ;

was a Free Mason and his father, William
Codington (great-grandfather), was a sea-captain
who died many years ago. Captain William
Codington was a descendant of Sir William
Codington, the first governor of Rhode Island,
who was born in Lincolnshire, England, in
1601, came in Ki.'iO to Rhode Island, where he
became the founder of the Codington family of
tins country, and where he died November 1,
1678. The name of Codington is found on the
records of England as far back as the thirteenth
century.

Samuel O. Codington's mother, liortha (^Nlon-
roo) Codington, was born in Auburn, N. Y.,
April .3, 1827, and her father, Ansel ^lonroe
(maternal grandfather), wjs an officer in the
State prison at that place, and was last at Green
Bay in the "Patriot War" of 18-37. Her
graudf^ither, jNlajor John G. Perry, was killed
at Queenstown in 1812, and one of lier great-
grandfathers, a General Busch, of the German
army, was killed in a battle during the reign of
Napoleon Bonaparte, and his widow and children
came to America.

Samuel O. Codington's wife, Mary (Stanley)
Codington, only child of Caleb and Cordelia
(Crane) Stanley, was born at Fredouia, where
she received her education at the academy of
that place. Her father, Caleb Stanley, was born
at Herkimer, N. Y., December 25, 1813, came
in 1835 to Fredouia, where he married Cordelia
E. Crane on September 19, 1844, and where he
died, June 22, 1884. He was a son of Isaac
Stauley, a merchant, who was born in Coventry,
Conn., May, 1775, married Tiney, daughter of
Jeremiah Smith, a merchant of Albany, on
October 3, 1802, and died in Ohio, October 22,
1849. Isaac Stanley was a son of Hon. Caleb
Stanley, boru July 31, 1741, married Martha
Robinson, July 9, 1772, and represented Coven-
try in 1784. His father, Caleb Stanley, was
boru at Hartford, Conn., May 25, 1707, came
as a clothier to Coventry, where he married
Hannah, daughter of Deacon Joseph Olmstead,

BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY

aud died June 28, 1789. He was a son of
Caleb Stanley, wiio was born September 6, 1674,
married Hannah Spencer, ]\Iay 16, 1696, was
secretary of Connecticut in 1709, and died
January 4, 1712. His father, Captain Caleb
Stanley, was born in March, 1G42, and married
Hannah, daughter of John Cowlc's. His father,
Timothy Stanley, was born in England in 1602,
settled at Hartford, Connecticut,- in 1636, was a
selectman in 1644, and died in 1648. The
Stanley family, whose armorial bearings are
three stags' heads, gold on field argent, bend
azure, with motto '• Sans Changer," had its
origin as follows : Two Norman knights who
came with William the Conqueror in 1066 were
Adam and William De Alditheley, who married
Arabella and Joaime, daughters of the Saxons,
Sir Henry and Thomas de Stoneley. William
received as his wife dower the manor of Thalk,
which lie exchanged with Adam for the manor
of Stoneley, in Staifbi-dshire, and in honor of
his lady and the great antiquity of her family,
assumed the surname of Stanley, and became
the recognized founder of the Stanley family.

Mrs. Codington's mother, Cordelia E. (Crane)
Stanley, was the eldest child of Henry and Eliza
(Cassety) Crane, was born at Eaton, N. Y., July
4, 1823, was educated at Fredonia and Eaton
academies, married, September 19, 1844, to
Caleb Stanley, of Fredonia, and died February
9, 1878. Her father, Henry Crane, was born
at Weathersfield, Conn., November 23, 1785,
made several voyages as supercargo to the \Vest
Indies, married in 1817 Eliza, daughter of Col.
Thomas Cassety, one of the prominent and most
highly' educated men in the State, aud in 1835
came to Fredonia, where hs died March 9, 1857.
He was a Royal Arch Mason, and his parents
were Captain Curtis aud Elizabeth (Palmer)
Crane. Captain Crane in the early part of his
life was a sea captain during the llevolutionary
war, and was for seven years connected with the
commissary department. He afterward removed
to Eaton, N. Y., where he died.

OTEPHEX N. BOLTON. One who has

'*^ seen Jamestown grow from a country vil-
lage to a live wide-awake city, is the gentleman
whose name heads this sketch. He came to
Jamestown in 1851, where he has lived ever
since. Stephen N. Bolton is a son of Hollis
and Betsy (Sawin) Bolton, and was born at
Westminster, Worcester county, Massachusetts,
August 20, 1829. The Boltous were among
the earliest white people who came to the cold
and dreary winter climate of New England, but
when the verdure of spring and summer burst
forth, found the home pleasant and nature hos-
pitable. Our indisj)utable record is when
William Bolton married Elizabeth White, at
Middlesex, Mass., in 1720. It is supposed that
he came up from the settlement made on the
James river in Virginia. ^ He died at Reading,
Massachusetts, September 10, 1725, leaving a
young widow with two little sons. The mother
was of New England origin and these sons
laid the foundation of the Bolton family of
the present. One of the sons mentioned, Wil-
liam Bolton, was the direct ancestor of Stephen
N. He married Mary Roberts, who was born
November 30, 1725, and they had ten children :
one of them, Ebeuezer Bolton, born June 12,
1749, was the great-grandfather of our subject.
He was married at Reading, on February 20,
1771, to Elizabeth Damon, a daughter of
David Damon, and who was born May 3, 1749.
Ebenezcr Bolton enlisted in the Colonial army
during the Revolution and served as a corporal.
He was present at the battle of Bunker Hill,
and was one of the minute-men, ready for im-
mediate service all through that struggle. He
had four children, of whom Ebeuezer Bolton,
Jr., was the grandfather of Stephen N. He
was born February 14, 1778, married Linda,
daughter of Simeon Leland, and served as a
clerk in the War of 1812. His family consist-
ed of four sons and two daughters. Hollis
Bolton was born December 1, 1799, and is still
living (May 1, 1891). He is a farmer, living

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY.

near Mount Wachusett, Mass., and is enjoying
excellent health for one of his years. He mar-
ried Betsy Sawin, June 4, 1821, and had ten chil-
dren : Charles H., born June 24, 1822, lived
in Massachusetts and Maryland until 1852, and
then went to California, and has lived there and
in Oregon and Washington ever since, and was
the first treasurer of Douglas county, Washing-
ton ; Simeon, born November 27, 182.3, lives at
home with his father; Franklin, born May 24,
1825, has been a selectman of his town ; Al-
mond A., born December 28, 182(3, lives in
Akron, Ohio; Aaron S., born April 3, 1828,
served in the late war under Gen. Banks ;
Stephen Nelson ; Eveline E., born May 6, 1831,
died October 14, 1853 ; Andrew J., born Janu-
ary 17, 1833, now living in Massachusetts, a
carpenter; Henry Clay, born May 20, 1834,
married Anise Phillips, entered the Union
army with Co. B, 100th regiment, N. Y. In-
fantry, and was present at Drury's Blutf, in
18G4, captured and taken to Andersouville
where he was held from May until December.
He took ]iart in the Seven Days fight, White
Oaks and other battles, and was promoted to
corporal ; and Alonzo D., the youngest, enlisted
from Massachusetts, but was discharged on
account of poor health.

Stephen N. Bolton lived in Massachusetts
until twenty-two years of age, when he came
to Jamestown and worked as a wood-turner and
chair-maker for nearly a score of years, and the
subsequent five or six years was spent in the
grocery business. Since that time he has been
living a comparatively retired life. He was
a sergt. in Co. B., 68th N. Y. S. M., which
was called out by Gov. Seymour during the
invasion of Penna., by Gen. Lee's army ; enlist-
ed in the U. S. service for thirty days and
served their term of enlistment. Mr. Bolton has
always voted with the Republican party, and
served the city as assessor for nine years. He
is a member of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows.

H1RA3I C. CLARK, a literateur of note,
has been living in Jamestown since 1872.
He was burn at Norwich, Chenango county.
New York, on July 9, ISIG, his parents being
Lot and Lavina (Crosby) Clark, both of whom
came from old and distinguished families. His
grandfather, Watrous Clark, was born in tiie
State of Massachusetts in 1759, and with his
two brothers served in the naval department of
the colonial forces during the struggle for Amei'-
ica's independence. His two brothers were
lost at sea. At the close of the war, Watrous
migrated into Otsego county, in this State, and
followed farming, and being of a mechanical
turn also, used farm tools of his own manufac-
ture, until his death which occurred in 1831.
Politically Mr. Clark was a ([iiiet voter and of
unassuming demeanor, and was a member of
the Baptist church. He was not a politician.
His wife M-as Sarah Saxton, of Columbia
county, this State, and they had three sons and
five daughters. David Crosby was the mater-
nal grandfather of our subject, who came from
English stock but was born in Connecticut and
removed to Broome county. New York, where
he owned large tracts of land which he tilled.
He died in Chenango county, in 1820, aged
eighty years. Lot Clark, iiither of Hiram C,
and second son of Watrous Clark, was born in
Columbia county, near Kinderhook, this State,
in the year 1788. Securing as thorough an ed-
ucation as the times afforded, he studied law,
and after being admitted to the bar, practiced
for twelve years in the town of Norwich, Che-
nango county, and was some years district
attorney of that county. Succeeding his law
practice he became a projector of large enter-
prizes, and among others of note, was the first
original railroad wire suspension bridge which
crosses the Niagara river below the falls and
was completed about 1848. He became and
was president of that bridge company until his
death in 1802. At one time he was perhaps
the huvest iudixiilual land-holder in the Em-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

pire State, being- a proprietor of one-third in-
terest in a ninety thousand acre tract, and as
many other acres iu other states in the west.
Politically Mr. Clark was an old-time democrat
and was elected by his party to a seat in tiic
eighteenth Congress of the United States, serv-
ing there in 1823-24; l)iit upon the sub-treas-
ury issue, he was not in accord with his party
and in 1840, voted for William Henry Harri-
son for president. While in Congress Mr.
Clark became very popular and was the leader
of the New York delegation, at least at tiie
time so styled. In 1840 he became an inti-
mate and a permanent friend, socially and poli-
tically of Henry Clay and other whigs of
prominence, whose reputation have survived
them. He was elected in 1846 to the leg-
islature of New York, to compel the demo-
crats to complete the enlargement of the Erie
canal. When Gen. Jackson was president he
invited Mr. Clark into his cabinet, by offering
to him tlie appointment of attorney-general, but
this was declined. His first wife was Lavina
Crosby, who bore him four children, all sous,
who became prominent in localities where they
lived : Hiram C. ; Lot C, who held the office
of district attorney on Staten Island for eleven
years and was private counsel on the island to
Commodore Vanderbilt for a number of years;
Joseph B. Clark became an alderman in the
city of Detroit, IMichigan ; and William C,
moved to Illinois, and was owner of a fine
land estate.

Hiram C. Clark was educated in private
schools and advanced to higher education
through the aid of professors and private tu-
tors. He was appointed cadet at West Point
but resigned, considering that his nervous dis-
position unfitted him for the .strain incumbent
on the routine of a successful martinet or col-
lege life. From 1833 to 1837 he lived in
Augu.sta, Ga., as assi.stant to his brother-in-law
iu a grocery store. Returning to New York
he was, in 1840, admitted to the bar, and also

edited in 1849, a history of his native, Chenan-
go county, and in the .same year went to San
Francisco California, where he remained and
practiced law until 1865, when, returning to New
York in 1866 he decided upon a European
tour and went to London, where six out of the
ten ensuing years were spent. During this so-
journ abroad the columns of the San Francisco
(California) Daili/ BuUetln, were enlivened by
regular correspondence from his facile pen.
Returning from Englaud in 1872, he .selected
Jamestown for his future home and has since
resided here devoting his attention to literary
recreation, travel and newsjtaper correspon-
dence.

On November 23, 1857, Mr. Clark was uni-
ted in marriage to Mrs. Sarah Thompson, a
native of Nottingham, England, and after her
death, in 1869, in 1871 he wedded Jane, the
daughter of Samuel Dixion, a resident of New
York but who came of Scotch parentage. It
should not be overlooked that while stopping
in Augusta, Ga., when the Seminole war of
1835 broke out and men were .scarce, Mr. Clark,
then a very young man, joined the Richmond
Blues, a famous organization, and served si.x
months as a United States soldier and received
160 acres of government land. It was not, how-
ever, with the sword but with his pen, that he
achieved prominence, -.uul many articles of
great merit have originated in his brain. In
journalism and its circles he has been recog-
nized as a ])rolific newspaper correspondent of
his day, and among his interesting collection
of jiapers, are letters showing corresjiondence
and intercourse with the prominent public men
of days agone. JNIr. Clark is an intere.sting,
intelligent and able man who has seen the
American Republic develop from childhood in-
to its present stature. He is possessed of a
store of information sufficient to fill a valuable
book of reminiscences. Mr. Clark, though jx>s-
sessed of personal convictions in regard to poli-
tics, is iu no sense a politician. That is to say,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

he lias never yet sat as a member of a political
eonveutioii ; has never assisted a f)oliti'-'''iiJ or
himself, to obtain a nomination for public office.
He regards knowledge of the law a full occu-
pation for the common mind without any ad-
mixture of politics. Law, divinity, statecraft,
j3ure and separate are praiseworthy and useful ;
but when amalgamated are too often otherwise,
not to say, .sometimes mischievous to the public
welfare. His creed has been, that great char-
acters may over multiply their abilities to the
injury of their reputation.

QNDKEW DOTTKRWEIOH, a pllblic-

■^*- .spirited citizen, an energetic and succes.s-
ful business man, and the popular proprietor of
the well-known " City Brewery" of Dunkirk,
was born near the city of Bamberg, in Bavaria,
Germany, September 7, 1834, and is a son of
Joseph and Catherine (Scheitz) Dotterweich.
Joseph Dotterweich and his wife were natives of
Bavaria, and consistent members of the Cath-
olic church. He was a brick manufacturer and
farmer, and made a specialty of raising hops in
which he was very successful. He was ener-
getic and jjersevering, served as mayor of a vil-
lage near the city of Bamberg for several year.s
and died in 1879, aged seventy-eight year.s,
while his widow survived him until 1887, when
she passed away at the age of eighty-five years.
Andrew Dotterweich received his education
in the public .schools of Germany, and at twelve
years of age left his father's farm to learn the
brewery business. He worked in the brewer-
ies of all the larger cities of Germany, where
he became practically conversant and familiar
with all the details of successful brewing, and
received a diploma as being a scientific and prac-
tical brewer. While working at the brewing
busine.ss he added to the education which he
had received in the public schools, by attending
night schools. In 1857 he came to Dunkirk,
and became foreman in the brewery of his
brother, George Dotterweich, who had located

in that city aljout 184!). He helped his broth-
er to build up a large trade, while the sui)crior
quality and general jropularity of their beer
necessitated the frequent enlargement of their
brewejy plant. In 1884, at the death of his
brother, George Dotterweich, who was a liberal
and public-.spirited citizen, he succeeded to the
entire business, which he has so conducted as to
constantly increase the number of his patrons
and give his beer a wide reputation.

On October 13, 1860, in Dunkirk, he married
Mary Teresa Boettinger, a daughter of Albert
Boettinger, who was tiie King's foreman of
woods in Bavaria. For the purpose of bring-
ing his bride to Dunkirk, he re-visited his na-
tive land in the early part of the year of his
marriage. To their union have been boru
eight children, five .sous and thi'ce daughters :
George A. J., Andrew Charle.s, Mary S., Ellen,
Edward, Frank, Emma, who died at eleven
years of age ; and Robert.

Andrew Dotterweich is an active democrat in
politics, and an earnest member of the Catholic
church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who.se
corner-stone was laid June 11, 187G. He is
also a member of the Catholic Mutual Beuefit
A.ssociation, which was organized in 1876 at
Niagara Falls, and holds membership in Dun-
kirk Branch, No. 21, of that organization at
Dunkirk. Mr. Dotterweich owns a very hand-
some brick residence opposite his brewery, be-
sides some valuable real estate in the city, and
two good farms between Dunkirk and Fre-
donia.

The City Brewery is located on the corner of
Sixth and Dove streets, and the entire jjlant
covers a large area of ground. The main
building is a substantial three-story brick
36x110 feet with cellar and sub-cellar. A
wing extending from it is 35x120 feet. At-
tached to this wing and running parallel with
the main building are the brick brewery barns
and a brick ice-house connected with a double
walled wooden reserve ice-house, which is caj)-

lUOGnAPHY ASD HISTORY

able of preserving ice for five years. The area
inclosed on tliree sides by these extensive build-
ings is occupied by a drive-way, fountain and
lawn. Adjacent to the brewery Mr. Dotter-
weieh has constructed two ice-iiouses 40x70
feet, and an artificial lake, of one acre in area,
at a cost of over one thousand dollars, which
furnishes a never-failing supply of ice. In
1890 he added two ice plants of forty tons
each, and put in two boilers of fifty horse-
power to his tliirty horse-power engine. He
also uses two smaller pumping engines, and em-
plovs from twelve to tsventy hands. His brew-
ing and malting buildings, ice-hou.ses, vaults,
cellars and storage rooms have all been care-
fully planned and built. He uses yearly
twenty thousand bushels of barley and eighteen
thousand pounds of native and Bavarian hops.
His annual output is over seven thousand
barrels of beer, which is largely used in Dun-
kirk and western New York. A gentleman
well acquainted with the different business
enterprises of the cities of New York, says of
Ml". Dotterweich and his establish meut, that
brewers from all other parts of the State have
been unable to compete with Mr. Dotterweich, and
that his beer is to-day the most popular bever-
age in his section of the country. Andrew
Dotterweich is popular as a citizen and a busi-
ness man on account of his generosity, affability
and integrity. His life has been one of activ-
ity and usefulness, during whicli he has been
remarkable for his eirergj', perseverance, pru-
dence and business sagacity. He has been em-
phatically the architect of his own fortune, and
^yith the characteristic energy of the grand old
German race, has won his way from compara-
tive obscurity to a prominent position in busi-
ness circles.

QDDISON A. and AVILSON A. PRICE

**■ ai-e sons of Charles and Mary (Neff)
Price, the former born June 26, 1814, and the
latter September 24, 1816, in the town of

Homer, Cortland county, New York. Their
grandfather was Stephen Price, a native of New
.Terse)', where he was born December 28, 1758.
His occupation was school teaching, and in that
capacity he went to the town of Homer where
he died June 1, 1831. He bought a farm at
that place which remained in the family for many
years. Mr. Price gave seven years of service
during the Revolutionary war. He married
Elizabeth Hall and had eight sons and five
daughters. Several of the former were engaged
during the war ot 1812. The maternal grand-
father, Abram Neff, was born in Holland,
October 18, 1772. Emigrating to America he
settled in Cortland county, this State and mar-
ried Eunice Beckwith, who bore him five sons
and the same number of daughters. Charles
Price (father) was born April 20, 1786, in the
town of Clarendon, Morris county, N. J., and
came to Cortland county, this State, in 1808.
In 1826 he removed to Chautauqua county and
settled in Portland town. Two years later he
went to Chautauqua town and in 1851 he
moved into the city of Jamestown where he re-
sided until his death, November 20, 1868. His
early years were spent farming but later he
began to do carpenter work, a trade he had
mastered years before. ^Yhen a young man
Mr. Price was a Jacksonian democrat but after-
wards turned whig and then republican. For
twenty years he \vas a member of the Baptist
church. Mary Neff was born October 18,
1792, and lived to be over ninety-one years of
age. The date of her death \vas November 4,
1883. She married Charles Price in 1809, and
became the mother of twelve children, seven
sons and five daughters : Two died in infancy ;
Eunice married Abel Kimberly, who lives on
Lake View avenue, and is a carpenter and
joiner ; Addison A., Wilson A., Anna M.,
married Reuben S. Green (deceased) ; Charles
H., lives in Stockton town, this county; Cla-
rissa B., wife of Jonathan Pennock, a prominent
Jamestown groceryman ; Caroline and Eveline

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT W

were twius, the former inan'ioil Pliineas Cross-
man, who is a real estate man of Jamestown ;
the latter married Ciiarles H. Lewis, who is a
tailor in Philadelphia; Orlando L. died when
fourteen years old ; Silas C, married first time
to Charlotte Evans and then to Sai'ah Sampson,
and he now lives on Lincoln street, Jamestown ;
Cheston B., is dead ; he married Mrs. Catherine
Gaggin ; and Adam N. (dead), was twice mar-
ried, first to Helen Lowe and then to Harriet
Wright.

Addison A. Price received a good education
at the common schools and learned the trade of
a carpenter and joiner. He is a republican and
has filled various city offices. He came to
Jamestown in 1839, and has been actively em-
ployed there ever since. In 18GG he built the
residence where he now resides. He has been
twice married. His first wife was Charlotte D.
Green, a daughter of David Green, who lived
near ]\Iayville. They had six children : Oscar
F.,at present mayor of Jamestown ; Caroline A.,
married Van Buren Weeks, a son of Liscom
Weeks, of Ellery town ; Henry C, married
Florence Cook, a daughter of Judge Cook, of
Jamestown ; Henry C, is a carpenter and lives
in New York city ; Cora is the wife of Walter
J. Wayt, and lives in Vancouver, B. C, where
her husband is employed as a draughtsman ;
Fred A., is a joiner and lives with his father ;
and Clayton E., is a merchant on Main street,
Jamestown, and is married to Mary Rush. Ad-
dison A. Price married the second time to
Cynthia A. Hiller, who is still living.

Wilson A. Price came to Jamestown with his
brother in 1839, and has been employed with
him at the same trade, carpentering. In 18G5 he
erected the home where he now lives. Politi-
cally a republican ; he married Amy E. But-
ler, a daughter of Caleb Butler, in 1840, and
they have one child : Charles H., who married
Mary B. Kimberly. He lives at home with
his father and follows the trade of a printer.

Addison A. and Wilson A. Price, are honor-

able and respectable gentlemen wiiose iabo
minds have gone far toward developint
city of Jamestown.

j^AVIl> K. MERRILL, a member of the

-*^ widely known firm. Empire Washer Co.,
manufacturers of washing machines, also of the
W. T. Falconer Manufacturing company, is a
.son of Joshua S. and Olive E. (Griggs) Merrill,
and was born in the town of Sheridan, Chautau-
fpia county, New York, September 6, 1859.
Lyman B. Merrill was born in eastern New
York. He was our subject's grandfather, and
follows his lineage to 1G32, when Jonathan and
Nathaniel Merrill settled at New London, Con-
necticut, as the original locators. The family
drifted into Vermont, thence to Cherry Valley,
N. Y., and finally to Chautauqua county.
Lyman B. Merrill was a blacksmith by trade
and pursued this occupation for many years in
this county. Politically he was a democrat and
when eighty-nine years of age died at Laona,
this county. David Griggs was the maternal
grandfather. He was a native of Connecticut
but came to this county in 1810, and followed
farming until about 1878, when he moved to
Mishawaka, Ind., and died in 1889. Mr.
Griggs "was a whig and republican, and served
as a private in the war of 1812, participating in
the engagements at Stony Point, Lundy's Lane
and the burning of Buffalo. The renowned and
wily warrior. Red Jacket, was a familiar ac-
quaintance of Mr. Griggs, with wliou" he spent
many days in the forest. He was a relative of
Governor Clinton, and had other eminent con-
nections. After reaching the advanced age of
ninety-nine years he died at Mishawaka, Ind.,
in 1890. Joshua S. Merrill was born in the
town of Sheridan, April 12, 1835, and spent his
boyhood about the village. Heattended school and
acquiredsufficienteducation to carry him thi'ough
life, and then learned the trade of blacksmith
and carriage-maker, and worked at it in Fre-
donia, Titusville, Pa., and other places, in his

BWGRAPIIY AM) HISTORY

younger days. Latci" in life ha became an ex-
tensive manufacturer of fine carriages and owned
extensive works at Titusvilie, and Erie, Pa.,
where he employed about one hundred and
twenty -five men. In 1854 he married Olive E.
Griggs and had a family of three children :
David E., Effie M., who married Frank A.
Stilson, and lives in Jamestown ; and George
J., a clerk in this city. Politically he was a re-
publican and was a member of the Methodist
church, and the Odd Fellows; F. and A. M.,
and Knights of Pythias fraternities. In busi-
ness Mr. Merrill was conservative but astute,
energetic and active, but careful, and was liberal-
minded and juiblic-spirited in his notions as to
the administration of the government. He
died August 2-3, 1877, and is buried in Erie
(Pa.) cemetery, while Mrs. ^Merrill resides at
present (1891) in Jamestown.

David E. Merrill changed his residence in
youth as his father moved his busine.ss and
spent his days and attended school at Fredonia,
Titusvilie and Erie. He graduated from the
high school of the latter place and attended the
Normal school at Fredonia. He began his
business life as a bill clerk for a wholesale
. grocery firm in Erie, Pa., and was then ap-
pointed paymaster's clerk in the navy. Suc-
ceeding this he was attached to the signal ser-
vice and was afterwards for a number of years
book-keeper in various large institutions. In 1882
he came to Jamestown and soon after with
a company began the manufacture of the
Empire ^Yashiug machines. His company em-
ploys above one hundred men and their annual
product equals one hundred thou.saud dollars,
shipments being made to all parts of the world.

In 1882, he married Anna H. Merrill, of
Willoughby, Ohio, and they have one .son : John
Claybornc, born August 20, 1888.

Politically Mr. Merrill identifies himself with
the Republican party; he is very puijlic-spirited
and is connected with several prominent organ-
izations.

HENRY C. KINGSBURY, a successful law-
yer of W&stfield who has been in active
practice in tlie courts of the county for nearly
tiiirty-three years, was born at Homer, Cortland
county, New York, November 6, 1830, and is a
son of William and Hiljiah (Winchell) Kings-
bury. His grandfathers, William Kingsbury
and Rensalear Winchell, were natives of Con-
necticut. His father, William King.sbury, was
born in " the land of steady habits " during
the latter pai-t of the eighteenth century, served
as a soldier in the war of 1812, and removed
from his native State to Cortland county, New
York, in the year 1817.

Henry C. King.sbury grew to manhood at
Homer where he attended the public schools for
several years. He then entered Hamilton col-
lege from which he was graduated in 1849. Im-
mediately after graduation he commenced the
study of law with William Northup of Homer,
read two years and was admitted to pi-actice in
the Supreme Court of New York in 1851, at
twenty-one years of age. Two years later he
removed to Sherman where he practiced his
profession successfully until 1859, when he
came to Westfield and soon built up a good
practice in the courts of Chautauqua county,
which he has gradually increased from year to
year. He is a democrat in politics. Though
for that reason debarred from political office,
his fellow-citizens have honored him — with
many non-partisan positions, and for twenty
years he has been president of the Board of
Education. He owns nearly four hundred
acres of good farming and grazing land, a part
of which is well adapted to grapes and small
fruits.

On September 3, 1855, he united in marriage
with Mary A. La Due, daughter of Joshua La
Due, a native of Auburn, New York, who held
several important offices in the town of Sher-
man, Westfield and Portland, and died in 18G5,
aged seventy-one years. To Mr. and ]\Irs.
Kingsbury have been born five children, three

OF CHAUTAUQUA COVyTV.

sons and two daughters : Carlton, who read law,
was admitted to the bar and is practicing with
his fiitiier ; Edward P., a lawyer of Ogdens-
burg, New York ; Clara K., wife of James L.
Weeks, an attorney-at-law of Jamestown ; Julia
H., and Henry C, Jr.

JOXATH.AJS' P. PEXXOCK, who, with
his son, is conducting a first-class grocery
store in Jamestown, was born in Lj-me, Graf-
ton county. New Hampshire, October 12, 1824,
his parents being Alvin and Zilpha (Kidder)
Pennock. Adonijah Pennock (paternal grand-
father) was a native of the Green Mountain
State and passed most of his days within its
borders but a few years before his death he re-
moved to this county. He was a carpenter by
trade and followed it until advanced age for-
bad. His wife was Elizabeth Bacon and they
had seven children. Alvin Pennock was born
in Vermont in 1800 and came from there to
Jamestown in 1827 where he was employed as
a laborer at the woolen mills, which were es-
tablished in 1817. He married Zilpha Kidder,
who came from the family of Kidders who
were among Jamestown's first settlers, in 1823,
and had eight children, two of whom died
young. Mr. Pennock was a whig and a mem-
ber of the Methodist church, in which faith he
departed from life in 1842.

Jonathan P. Pennock, upon arriving at
school age, began his education and when suffi-
ciently advanced attended the Jamestown acad-
emy where he completed the course of instruc-
tion taught, and leaving school secured employ-
ment in the Jamestown woolen mills, where he
worked until twenty years of age and then
employed himself at chair manufacturing.

On August 31, 1848, he married Clarissa
B. Price, who, like his mother, came from one
of the oldest families of the county. They
have been the parents of four children : one
who died in infancy ; Charles P., died when
fifteen years old; Frank A., in business with
7

his father, married May Martin, daughter of
Dr. W. B. ^lartin, a prominent physician of
Busti, and they iiave two children: William J.,
and Marjorie ; and Lee .J. who is a machinist
and draughtsman is tiie youngest son of J. P.
Pennock.

J. P. Pennock is an active ri'piiblican and
served as constable and de[)nty shei'iff for a
number of years. He also filled the ofiice of
tax collector for a period of twelve years. For
about one year during the war he conducted a
grocery, and since 1877 has been in that busi-
ness with his sou, their store being located on
the corner of Main and Si.Kth streets. They
have a large trade and are doing an excellent
business. J\lr. Pennock is a Baptist and for
the past twenty-seven or twenty-eight years has
been an active member of JMt. Moriah Lodge,
No. 145, F. and A. M.

/^UST. BUKLAUND, a member of thecon-
^^ traeting and building firm of Mahoney
Bros. & Burlaund, and a native of Sweden, is
the son of Abraham and Anna (Swanson) Bur-
laund, and was born on the 21st day of Sep-
tember, 1854, near (iinsiping. .John Burlaund
(grandfather) was a well-to-do farmer and
mason and never came to America, being em-
ployed until his death in the work mentioned
and as a contractor. Andrew Swanson (mater-
nal grandfather) was a farmer and during Swe-
den's last war, in her struggle with Russia and
Finland, he served the king as a soldier.
Abraham Burlaund was born in Sweden,
December 10, 1821, and followed farming in
his native country until 1868, when seeing
greater inducements in the new world than the
fatherland offered, he left his home and came
to America. On his arrival he at once came to
Jamestown and engaged in farming and stock-
dealing, but died very shortly after his arrival,
on September 10, 1868. He left his wife with
eight children, five of whom are still living.
Clai'ence H. is engaged in the livery business.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

After the death of Mr. Burlauud, Mrs. Bur-
launil again married, this time to Peter Swan-
son.

Gust. Burlaund received his early education
in the public schools of Sweden and after ins
father's death he was apprenticed to and learned
the mason's trade which he followed from 1872
to 1883.

In 1879 he married Matilda Stonfaldt, a
daughter of Andrew Stonfaldt, of Morlunda.
To this union have been born three children,
one sou and two daughters : Archie F. (dead) ;
Anna R. (dead) ; and Ellen Matilda.

From 1883 until 1885 he was a contractor
and builder, but during the latter year he asso-
ciated himself with the well-known firm of
Mahoney Bros., and the company is now known
as Mahoney Bros. & Burlaund, contractors and
builders. Their reputation stands equal with
the best in Jamestown and as specimens ot
their handiwork, they point with pride to the
Gilford block, Gokey house and the Swedisli
Orphanage, which are among the largest and
finest buildings in the city. The company em-
ploys during the busy season as many as eighty
workmen. Politically Mr. Burlaund is a re-
publican, but is known as one that is indepen-
dent, feeling that country is before party, and
patriotism should be before partisanship. He
is a communicant of the Lutheran church and
takes an interest in his church work.

0-11^48 S. DERBY, an old and highly re-
*^ spected citizen of Jamestown, is a sou of
Joseph and Elizabeth (Kenyon) Derby, and was
born April 29, 1820, in Monroe county, Xew
York. His grandfather, Phineas Derby, was
born in Vermont, where he quietly pursued
farming and died. The Kenyon branch of the
family came from Rhode Island and settled near
Batavia, in Genesee county, this State. Joseph
Derby was born in the Green Mountain State
but while yet a young man, went to Monroe
county, this State, and later to Warren county,

Pa., locating near Sugar Grove, where he died
March 14, 1837. While nominally a farmer he
was essentially a mechanic, conducting his farm,
as did many artisans of that day, to keep em-
ployed. He was a democrat and a member of
the Free Baptist church. He married Elizabeth
Kenyon, in 1811, and had five children, all
sous : Phineas, who removed to Michigan,
where he died in 1889, at the age of eighty
years ; Sylvanus was a resident of Saginaw,
^Michigan, where he died in 1883, at sixty-nine
years of age ; John K., is a painter, residing at
Jamestown (see his sketch) ; William R., who
for many years followed farming, and is now
buying and dealing in stock at North Warren,
Pa. ; and Silas S. Derby.

Silas S. Derby was educiited in the schools
near his early home and at the age of eighteen
came to Jamesto\\'n, from Warren, Pa., and has
resided here ever since. Soon after his arrival
he established himself as a painter and in 1839
opened a paint store in partnership with his
brother, Jno. K. Derby, which they conducted
for at least twenty years, but for the last si.xteen
years he has laid aside the cares of active busi-
ness and only attends to his investments made
from the accumulations of earlier toil. He is
now the owner of considerable real estate.

On December 17, 1840, Mr. Derby married
Huldah E. Frask, a daughter of Elijah Frask,
who resides adjacent to Busti, this county,
although they came originally from Penfield,
near Rochester, this State. They have been
the parents of but two children : Agnes D. ;
and Sylvia A., who wedded Darwin E. Hay-
ward, a railroad conductor living at Buflalo,
this State.

S. S. Derby was a rejiublican and as such
held the office of street commissioner in this
city, but of late years his sympathies have been
with the prohibitionists. He belongs to the
Royal Tem[)lars of Temperance and is a member
of the Wesleyan Metho list church

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

/^-If.VWFOKD STKAKNS is one of the most
^^ successful farmers and cattle dealers in
this county. He was Ijoru in Arkwright,
Chautauqua county, New York, ^lay 9, 1830,
and is a son of Benjamin and Electa (Halstead)
Stearns. Benjamin Stearns was of English de-
scent and was born in Vermont, in 1803, and
came to this county in 1820, where he became
an extensive farmer and stock-dealer and was
successful in gathering together a goodly siiare
of riches. In politics he was a democrat and
held the office of county commissioner for sev-
eral years. His religious convictions prompted
him to become a member of the Baptist church,
of which his wife was also a member. He died
in Villanova, this county, in 1866, aged sixty-
three years. In 1825, he married Electa Hal-
stead, a native of Canada, who is now in her
eighty-fifth year and resides at Villanova.
They had sis children.

Crawford Stearns was reared on the farm
and received his education in the public schools.
He has always been occupied in agricultural
jjursuits, and now owns a fine farm of four
hundred and fifteen acres in Villanova, besides
being largely interested in cattle-dealing. In
1883, he came to Forestville and built a fine
residence which he still occupies. Full of push
and energy, he has as a natural consequence
been very successful and now in the autumn of
life is enjoying the fruits of his efforts. Politi-
cally he is a republican and has held several
village offices. In religion he is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church of which he is
also a steward and trustee. He is a member
of Hanover Grange, No. 594, Patrons of Hus-
bandry, and Hanover Lodge, No. 10, A, O. U.
W. Strong in his convictions, fileasant and
kindly in temperament and disposition, he is
respected and esteemed by all who come in con-
tact with him.

In 1854, Mr. Stearns was united in marriage
with Louisa White, a daughter of Joel White,
of Arkwright this county, and they have been

the parents of two children : Lester F., district
attorney at Dunkirk, this count}' ; and Allie M.,
married to Irving Powers, who is engaged in
the railroad business and resides at Buifalo.
Mrs. Stearns is also a member of the ^lethodist
Episcopal church.

O-^IUEL SHEPAKl) CKISSKY is a well
'*^ educated man of advanced ideas, and in
addition to his labors in his nurseries, frequent-
ly contributes to the newspapers valuable, in-
teresting and instructive papers on the subject
of farm work. He is a son of Harlow and
Anna (Shepard) Crissey and was born in Stock-
ton, Chautau(pia county, New York, August
13, 1833. His paternal great-grandfather,
John Crissey, was born in Massachu.setts in
1700 and married Martha Davenj^ort in July,
1731, at Boston, Ma.sisachusetts. By this mar-
riage there were six sous, and three of them
came to Stockton, this county, in 1816. The
names of these six sons were : John Jr., James
Gould, Nathaniel, Samuel and Sylvanus. Sam-
uel Crissey (grandfather) was the fifth son of
John (great-grandfather), and was born in Fair-
fax, Franklin county. In 1816 he settled in
the north part of the town of Stockton, on lot
thii-ty-nine, where he resided until his death
I\Iarch 1, 1848, having just passed his seventy-
seventh birthday. This lot comjjrised one hun-
dred acres of wilderness, which he cleared and
cultivated. He was one of the founders of the
Baptist church in Delanti, and served it occa-
sionally as a preacher. Samuel Crissey was
married in 1799 to Lucy Grosvenor of Fairfax,
Vermont, by whom he had seven children,
three sons and four daughters : Almira, born in
1800, married Ethan Covley, both dead, (she
died in 1868) whose daughter, Generva, is the
wife of Mortimer Ely ; Harlow (father) born
in December, 1802; Jason, born in 1805, mar-
ried Roxanna Winsor and died in 1875, leav-
ing four children : a son, Jirah ; a son, Edward
J., living in Fredonia N. Y. ; a daughter.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Mary, wife of Lucieu C. Warren, of Stockton ;
and Sardis, who served in the army, and is in
the department of the Interior at Washington,
District of Columbia; Lucy, born in 1808,
married Chauueey Winsor of Delanti, whose
children are Wealthy Ann, widow of B. W.
Fields, of Sinclairville, N. Y. ; Cynthia, born
in 1812, married Zaimon Jennings, removed to
Pennsylvania where she died in 1836; Patty,
born in 180!) and died in 1821; Samuel, born
in 1816, married Julia Grant of Fredonia and
resides in Stockton, and has a daughter Lucy,
the wife of Cassius Perrin, for several years a
justice of the peace; a daughter Myra, wife of
Georo-e Putnam ; and a sou Forest. Of the
seven children of Samuel Crissey, Sr., none are
living, except Harlow. Natiianiel and Sylva-
nus Crissey, of Vermont, were brothers of
Samuel Crissey, Sr. Nathaniel had two sons,
Alson, who died at the age of thirty-one years ;
and ISIerrill, who married Eunice Tracy, has
been supervisor of Stockton, and had five chil-
dren : Thomas, and two pair of twin broth-
ers of whom one is dead. Sylvanus Crissey
removed with his family to the west. Samuel
Shepard (maternal grandfatlier) was born in
Ashfield, Franklin county, Massachusetts, Feb-
ruary 13, 1778, and came to Stockton, this
county, July 9, 1819, and was the first justice
in Stockton. He married Rachel Cobb in
June, 1798, by whom he had five children, two
sons and three daughters: Ezra, Pamelia,
Anna, Polly and Madison, all born in Massa-
chusetts. Samuel Shepard died June 5, 1862,
in the eighty-fifth year of his age ; Mrs. Shep-
ard preceded him to the better land November
8, 1860. Harlow Crissey (father) came to
this country with his father and settled in
Stockton, taught school a few years and then
purchased two hundred acres of land which he
cultivated, and also started one of the first dairy
farms in this section, owning forty cows. He
was supervisor a few terras and was elected jus-
tice of the peace in 1850 on the Whig ticket for

one term of three years. In religion he was a
member of the Baptist church. Harlow Cris-
sey was married November 2, 1862, to Anna
Shepard, a daughter of Samuel Shepard of
Stockton, this county, by whom he had four
children, all sons: Newton, born April 6, 1828,
married Cynthia R. Miller and is a farmer in
Stockton ; Samuel S. ; Seward M., born April
9, 1839, married Lucy Wood and is also a far-
mer in Stockton ; and Elverton B., born June
23, 1843, married Mary Langworthy and is a
banker in Jamestown, this county.

Samuel Shepard Crissey was educated in the
district school of Stockton until he was eighteen
years of age, after which he attended the Fre-
donia academy for three years, and then taught
school three terms. He then engaged in the
nursery business and fruit growing, having
now eleven acres of most excellent laud, four
acres of which are devoted to grapes, and last
year those four acres produced seventeen tons
of the iiest quality of that esculent fruit. Grow-
ing grape roots for market is another specialty
in which he indulges. For seven years he has
been secretary of the Chautauqua Horticultural
society. In religion he is a Baptist, being a
member of the church of that denomination in
Fredonia. He has been a member of the board
of trustees of Fredonia for several terms.
Samuel Shepard Crissey was married in Decem-
ber, 1859, to Mary A. Leonard, a daughter of
George V. and Anna Leonard of Fredonia, by
whom he has had three children, all sous : Jay,
born January 15, 1861, who is principal of the
academy at Belmont, Allegany county. New
York, and who married Alice Kennedy; George
H., born December 24, 1862, and now a resi-

! dent of California ; and Howard B., born Feb-

• ruary 22, 1864 and died October 11, 1889,
while a junior at Cornell University, Ithaca,

; New York. Mrs. Crissey died May 31, 1868,
and S. S. Crissey married January 15, 1871,
Mrs. Ella K. Wright, widow of A. J. Wright,

i D.D.S., of Fredonia and by her has had two

% • ^-

MAJOR E, A, CURTIS,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

cliildren, sons: Newtou K., born July 12, 1873;
aud Lester, born in 1877 but died in infancy.

llir A JOIf ENOCH A. CURTIS, a successful

4 architect of Fi-edonia and a prominent

post and encampment commander in the Grand
Army of the Republic, is a son of Isaac C. and
Susan H. (Hunter] Curtis, aud was born in the
town of Busti, Chautauqua county, New York,
July 19, 1836. Enoch A. Curtis is of Scotch-
Irish descent ou his paternal side aud his grand-
father, Rev. Enoch Curtis, was born in New
Hampshire. He was an itinerant minister of
the Methodist Episcopal church, removed to
Pennsylvania and afterwards died in Cattarau-
gus county, this State. His son, Isaac C. Cur-
tis, the father of Enoch A. Curtis, was born in
Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he luarrii'd
Susan Hunter, a native of the same county. In
1834 he settled ou a fiirm in the town of Busti,
and died in 1881, aged seventy -two years.

Enoch A. Curtis was reared on his father's
farm. He received his education at Jamestown
academy from whicli he graduated in 1848. He
then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner^
which he followed until the breaking out of the
late civil war, excepting a part of the winter
seasons during which he taught in the public
schools. On July 13, 1862, he enlisted in the
112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry, under Presi-
dent Lincoln's call of that year for three
hundred thousand volunteers, for three years
service. On August 12, 1862, he was commis-
sioned captain of Co. D, which he commanded
in the various skirmishes and battles in which
his regiment was engaged until the fearful strug-
gle at Cold Harbor where he received such
severe wounds as to unfit him for further mili-
tary service. He was honorably discharged ou
September 12, 1864, on account of his wounds,
and on June 27, 1867, was brevetted major by
Governor Fenton for " gallantry at the battle
of Cold Harbor." After the war he settled at
Fredonia, where he resumed his studies in archi-

tecture, which had been interrupted by the war,
and in a sliort time had erected several fine and
tasteful buildings which recommended him to
the public favor as being a competent and
skilled architect. He has prosecuted the study
of his profession for over thirty years aud his
experience as an architeqt has specially fitted
him for tlie responsibilities of this most exacting
of all the art sciences. The structtu'es which
he has designed, stand as evidence of his skill,
and prominent among them we may mention :
the fine residence of A. O.Putnam, of Fredonia,
R. G. Wright, of Westfield, and M. L. Hiu-
man, of Diuikirk ; National Transit company
building. Oil City and the Fredonia, and Oil
City Town Halls.

On Sept. 12, 1859, he married Jennie Nor-
ton, of the town of Harmony. Tiiey have two
children : Isabella and Edith.

Major Curtis is kept very busy in his pro-
fession, and does a large and lucrative business.
He is a republican in politics, and has been
president of the village corporation. He is a
member and has been president of the Chautau-
qua County Veteran union. He is past comman-
der of Northern Chautauqua Encampment and
commander of E. D. Holt Post, No. 403,
Grand Army of the Republic.

TAI-ILLIA3I K. DOUtiLAS, who owns and

-*"'■ conducts the largest grocery, crockery and
queenswai'e house of Westfield, was born in
county Down, Ireland, January 30, 1847, and
is a son of Thompson aud Anna J. (Shaw)
Douglas. His parents were both born in county
Down aud became members of the Presbyterian
church. His father was engaged in the grocery
business and in farming, and died in 1889, at
eighty years of age. His mother is a daughter
of James Shaw, who was a prominent linen
manufacturer of Ireland (see sketch of Robert
Shaw). She is now in the seventy-fifth year of
her age and resides on the Ikiuic farm in county
Down.

BIOGRAPHY AXI) HISTORY

William R. Douglas passed his boyhood
days on the fiirm aud attended the national
schools at Ireland. At sixteen years of age he
left his native land and came (December, 1<S()3)
to Westfield, wiiere he learned the trade of
stone aud marble-cntter, whicli he had to
abandon at the end of his apin-enticeship, on ac-
count of ill health, occasioned by the stone
dust. He then learned the trade of moulder,
which he followed in the Lock factory until it
shut down in 1870. Duringthissameyear hese-
cured a clerkship in a grocery store, where he
remained until 1874, wheu he became a partner
with Robert Shaw aud J. R. S. Cosgrove in the
grocery business, under the firm name of R.
Shaw & Co. The firm was changed .several
times during the next eight years, but he re-
mained a member of it during all of that time.
In 1882 he purchased the interests of all his
pai-tners, and since that year has conducted a
verv extensive and lucrative business. His es-
tablishment is at No. 3 and 4, on Main street,
and is divided into two large departments. His
trade is now of such proportions as to require
the service of five clerks. He deals largely in
groceries, pi'ovisious, glassware, ciiina, crockery,
standard proprietary medicines and notions.
^Ir. Douglas has been a republican since coming
to this country, and is now serving as a member
of the school board of Westfield. He is a mem-
ber and deacon of the Presbyterian church. In
addition to his mercantile interests, he owns
some valuable real estate, is a .stockholder of
the "Pulley Works" and has a promising
young vineyard. Nov. 19, 1874, he united in
marriage with Mary Wiusor, daughter of David
AVinsor, of Westfield. To their union have
been born seven children : John R., Harry W.,
William M., Elizabeth A., James R., Alice R.,
and Grace.

r\ RTHUR L. BKOWX, one of the enter-
■**■ prising young men of Silver Creek, is a

.<on of Carlton S. and Caroline S. (Bancroft)

Brown, aud was born July 10, 1854, in Dun-
kirk, Chautauqua county. New York. His
grandfather, Eleazer Brown, was of English
ancestry, and horn in Massachusetts in 1798 in
which State he was a life-long resident, dying
in 1853 at the age of fifty-five yeai's. He was
a hotel-keeper and manufacturer of oyster and
powder kegs. Carlton S. Brown (father) is a
native of ]\Ias.sachusetts, born in 1827, and re-
moved to Dunkirk, this comity, in 1850, where
he resided ten year.s and then removed to
Westfield, remaining there until 1867, and
again changed lii.s local habitation by removing
to Silver Creek, where he has since lived. At
Dunkirk and Westfield he operated a bakery
and for twenty years thereafter was in the em-
])Ioy of the L. S. & M. S. R. R. He is now in
his sixty-third year aud has retired from active
business. In religion he is a member of the
Presbyterian church, and in politics is a demo-
crat. Carlton S. Brown married Caroline S.
Bancroft, by v.'hom he had five children. Mrs.
Brown is a native of Massachusetts, born in
1829, is a member of the Presbyterian church
and is still living, being in her sixty-first year.
Arthur L. Brown was reared in Dunkirk,
AVestfield and Silver Creek and attended tlie
public schools of each place. After leaving
school, which he did at the early age of four-
teen, he was employed as a clerk in a store in
Silver Creek until 1873, when he went west,
remaining a year or more, where he was em-
ployed as a clerk aud also travelling salesman
for the Iowa Paper Co., of Davenport, lon-a.
After returning to Silver Creek he was em-
ployed as clerk and bookkeeper for O. L.
Swift & Co., until 1876, and in the following
year was engaged in the grocery business on
his own account in Buffalo, in which he contin-
ued a year and then sold out to return to Silver
Creek and enter the office of roadmaster of the
L. S. & M. S. R. R., as a clerk, where he re-
mained three and one-half years. In the
.■spring of 1882 he entered the office of Howes,

fe^

^J ^^^y^t^^'C'<f'^^ i^::;^xz:i,^:;:'-i^«^^^

>^-e^

OF CHArTAl-QVA COlWrV.

137

Babcock & Co., manufacturers of the widely
celebrated Eureka Smut and Separating Ma-
chine, where he held a clerkship for six years,
and then (March 1, 1888) bought a third inter-
est in the parlor furniture frames factory of
Kofoed & Brc, in Silver Creek, the firm name
being changed to Kofoed, Bros. & Brown, in
whicii firm he still continues. They employ
thirty operatives, their average sales being
three hundred suits per month. In politics he
is a democrat, and was a member of the board
of trustees of Silver Creek for two years and in
March, 1891, was elected president of the Vil-
lage. He is a past-master of Silver Lodge,
No. 757, F. and A. M. of Silver Creek.

Arthur L. Brown was married November
17, 1880, to M. Cora Norton a daughter of
Henry S. Norton, of Belmont, Allegany
county, this State, by whom he has one son and
two daughters: Ralph A., Florence N., and
Alice M.

^I3IK()X HOAVES. Probably the one man

^^ who has done more to advance the mate-
rial welfare of the village of Silver Creek than
any other is the venerable and aged gentleman
w-hose name appears at the head of this sketch.
He became identified with this place in 1856,
and since New Year's Day, 1866, has been at
the head of our leading manufacturing estab-
lisiiment.

Simeon Howes is a sou of Sylvauus and
Persis (Crittenden) Howes, and was born in
Franklin county, Massachusetts, March 28,
1815, and is now seventy-six years old. He is
a direct descendant of rugged and long-lived
ancestry and traces his family back to a very
early day, when three brothers emigrated to
North America, settling at Cape Cod. When
he was about one year of age his parents re-
moved to jNIiddlebury, Wyoming county, this
State, where they tilled the soil for subsistence
for themselves and family. While he was still
a boy his parents died and left him to battle

with the world alone. Fortunately for him,
his grandparents were still living, and he re-
turned to Massachusetts and sj)ent three years
with them near the scene of his birth. His life
during this period was probably not materially
different from that of other boys of tiiat time.
He went to school and worked hard on the
farm in his spare hours, and considered it the
climax of earthly bliss to go to " general train-
ing " with a couple of shillings in his pocket to
spend. When he was sixteen years old, Mr.
Howes returned to AYyoming county, and from
that time on he has had to " paddle his own
canoe." Three months at the academy at
jNIiddlebury, then quite a noted educational in-
stitution, finished his schooling and placed him
in a position to impart to others the education
he had himself received. For eight years he
earned his living teaching school in winter, and
working on a farm during the summer months.
Then in 1838, he married Angeliue Ewell and
settled down to farming. The issue of this
union was eight children, five of whom are still
living. These are : Mrs. Geo. P. Brand, Miss
Charlotte L. Howes, Mrs. R. J. Quale, and
Mrs. W. H. INIerritt, of Silver Creek, and Mrs.
L. F. W. Arend, of Buffalo. At this occupa-
tion he continued for fourteen years, and appar-
ently had found his life work. But, fortunate-
ly, as it afterwards proved, his health began to
fail and he decided that he would give up farm-
ing and turn his hand to something else. A
fortunate determination indeed. On the farm
he had only made his living and a trifle more.
In his new business he was to make a reputa-
tion and a fortune.

In the spring of 1853 Mr. Howes went to
Miami county, Ohio, and joined with Benja-
min Rutter and Henry Rouzer in placing upon
the market a combined smut and .separating
machine. This embodied in a crude form the
principles of the Euieka machine, which has
proved so successful, but, as is generally the
case with new inventions, the first machines

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

made were of comparatively little value for the
use inteuded. Still it was the jjioneer, and as
.sucli is worthy of respect. Some fifty machines
were made and sold during the continuance of
his partnership. The work of introducing them
to millers was done entirely by I\Ir. Howes.

In October of that year a patent was granted
to Rutter & Rouzer, and then it was decided to
stop making machines and to sell the patent in-
stead. Accordingly, in the spring of 1854,
jNIr. Howes and Gardner E. Throop, acting as
agents for Messrs. Rutter & Rouzer, sold the
patent under which the machines were made to
Ezekiel ^lontgomery and his two sons, of Sil-
ver Creek, and the right of selling in fourteen
counties in western New York ; while Alpheus
Babcock purchased the right of selling in nine
counties of western Pennsylvania. Mr. Howes
then went to Watertown, Xew York, where he
devoted considerable time to improving the
machine ; at the same time the other parties
who had purchased the right to manufacture
were striving in the same direction, and the re-
sult naturally was much improvement. Not
many machines were built, however, until in
1856 Mr. Howes moved to Silver Creek and
joined hands with the Montgomerys in building
the machines. In that year and the next about
120 machines were built, and they were I'e-
ceived with favor by millers.

In 1858, after a considerable delay in the
patent office, a patent was granted Messrs.
Howes and Throop for improvements in com-
bined smut and separating machines. The
principal points of novelty claimed in this pat-
ent were, first; the placing of the separators
side by side, and second ; the enclosing of the
perforated case within an outside casing and
connecting the space thus formed by means of
tubes with an exhaust fan for the purpose of re-
moving the dust. This patent was subsequent-
ly held to be the foundation patent on combined
smut and separating machines, and Howes and
Throop claim to be its original inventors.

At its expiration, in 1872, it was re-issued
and its term extended for seven years. In 1879
it finally expired.

In 1859 Sir. Howes sold out his interest —
one-third — to his partners, and retired from the
grain-cleaning machine business for a time, and
during the interim between that date and 1864,
the business was carried on by the Montgom-
erys and also by the Babcocks, who each manu-
factured a machine diiFering in some respects
from that of the other. In 1864 Mr. Howes
joined the Babcocks, and they carried on their
business und»r the style of Howes, Babcock &
Company. The Messrs. Babcock had already
made some improvements in the machine, and
Mr. Howes now suggested certain others.

On January 1, 1866, Howes, Babcock & Co.,
bought for .$20,000, the business of the jNIessrs.
Montgomery, and the firm changes since that
date have consi-sted in the addition of Mr.
Albert Hortou, in 1866, who, the same year
sold his interest to Mr. Carlos Ewell ; the re-
moval by death of jNIessrs. Babcock and
Ewell, and the purchase of the interests of the
estates of those gentlemen by Mr. Howes,
who now for nearly three years has been the
sole proprietor of this immense business.
How steadily the business has grown may
be judged by the constant enlargement of
the buildings, and the great increase of the
working force. In 1865 employment was
given to only fifteen men ; subsequently this
number was increased to fifty. In 1873, large,
new brick shops were erected and another addi-
tion to the workmen was made, so that now
about 130 men are kept steadily employed in
the factory which is 220x50 feet on the ground
and is four stories high.

In 1865 about 200 machines were made.
All the work was done by hand, and the cast-
ings were made outside. The next year the
output was increased to 700 machines, and after
that the number averaged about 1000 annually.
At first only the combined smut and sei)arator

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

was built, but beginning in 1874 other luaeiiiues
were added, until now a full line of grain clean-
ing machinery is made and the total sales
amount to upwards of 2000 machines per year.
We have not, nor can we obtain, the figures
relative to the number of men employed and
the amount paid out in wages, prior to 1865,
but we have figures beginning \vith that year,
when ^Ir. Howes re-acquired an interest in the
business, and a brief study of them will prove
not only interesting, but highly instructive as
well:

YEAR. .\-(

). MEN.

VEAKIV W.1GES.

YEAR.

NO. JIE.V.

, YEAKLY WAGES.

1865

818,979.27

1878

$47,424.33

1SC)(5

33,694.80

1879

47,456.11

lS(i7

37,209.30

1880

53,777.15

1SG8

35,161.42

1881

57,819.99

18(511

48,337.55

1882

105

68,250.62

1870

44,946.88

1883

131

74,650.34

1871

48,093.78

1884

121

70,718.69

1872

50,198.63

1885

112

71,601.37

1873

53,356.21

1886

113

74,757.76

1874

55,005.42

1887

113

71,227.56

1875

53,277.22

1888

106

68,124.77

1876

48,668.43

1889

128

79,813.98

1877

till wa

48,756.43
ges in twenty

Tol

-five years

$1,356,208.01

Making an average annual pay-roll of $54,248.
32 ; an average monthly roll of §4,520.69 ; and
an average amount of §151.71, paid out for
every day.

In all these years Mr. Howes has had sole
control of the financial and business manage-
ment of this company and the manner in which
he has discharged his duties needs no com-
ments.

No man's word .stands higher than his ; a
promise is never forgotten nor in the least de-
gree abated from. Financially, none in Silver
Creek ranks higher than Simeon Howes;
socially he is esteemed by a large circle of
friends and acquaintances, and in genera! popu-
larity it is doulitful if a man could be found in
Chautauqua county who possesses a larger de-
gree of the people's confidence.

He is a liberal supporter of the Presbvterian
and Methodi-st Episcopal churches of Silver
Creek, and, although allied with neither, is
now, and for fifteen years ])ast, has been a trus-
tee of the latter.

In political adherence he is a stanch republi-
can, and, although four times a delegate to
the State conventions of his party, lias steadily
refused other political distinction.

Q X.SOX A. BUULIX is one of the natiou's

■^^ brave defenders, who responded when
the second call was sounded, and remained until
Union, one and inseparable, was acknowledged
by our southern brothers. He is a sou of Brad-
ford and Amelia R. (Standish) Burlin, and was
born in Jamestown, Chautautpia county, New
York, December IS, 1842. His ancestors were
long to the manor born, the paternal side com-
ing from the Green Mountain State, while his
mother's early fathers were Puritans, and .'ihe a
direct lineal descendant of the renowned Cap-
tain Miles Standish. His grandfixther, John
Burlin, lived and died a citizen of Vermont,
and the maternal grandfather, Samuel Standish,
was reared and resided in Washington county,
this State. His father was a soldier in the war
of 1812, and served with credit and distinction.
Bradford Burlin came to Chautauqua county in
1832, and built a hou.se in the vicinity of Broc-
ton, afterwards, in 1838, coming into James-
town where he died, November 10, 1864.
While living at Brocton he kept a hotel, but
his business in this city was the manufacture of
wagons until the year 1859, when he sold out
and engaged in milling at Dexterville, besides
owning and cultivating a farm in the town oi
Poland. Mr. Burlin was a democrat, and a
prominent member of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221,
I. O. O. F. He was married to Amelia R.
Standish in 1832, and had six children : George,
died in infancy ; Robert H., is a contractor of
Cleveland, Ohio. He served in Co. H, 6th
regiment, Indiana Infantry, entering in 1S61,

BIOGRAPHY AXl) HISTORY

and remaining three years, a portion of the time
a non-commissioned officer, and being attached
to the Army of the Cumberland, was present at
the battle of Chattanooga, where he was
wounded ; Anson A. ; Charles, who died young ;
Louisa I. and Samuel P., who left home in
1883, and has not since been heard of.

Anson A. Burlin received a college education
and, when in his twentieth year, enlisted in Co.
A, 112th regiment, New York Infantry, serv-
ing until the close of the war. The greater
portion of his active .service was rendered along
the Atlantic coast, being with his regiment until
December 20, 1863. He was then detailed for
recruiting service, and coming north, was in
New York until May 4, 1864. Eeturning to
the front and rejoining his regiment, he was
again detailed, this time for service as orderly
at brigade headquarters, remaining there until
February 20, 1865, when he again joined his
company, but four days later he was sent to
headquarters of the 20th army corps, and en-
gaged iu the printing ile])artment, where he
stayed until discharged at the close of the war.
Being mu.stered out of service, he came back to
Jamestown and soon opened an establishment
for the manufacture of wagons and carriages,
running it for one year, and theu went into the
oil business at Oil Creek, Pa., afterwards re-
turning to Jamestown, and entered mercautile
life, following it about ten years. This, in turn
was succeeded by a news and stationery store,
continued for five years, and then he went to
Virginia and lumbered, subsequently running a
steamboat for one year on Lake Chautauqua.
He then returned to manufacturing, this time
wood seat chairs, when in 1889 he quit that and
has since been living in retirement.

In political matters Mr. Burlin is a demo-
crat and a prominent secret society man, being
a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145,
F. and A. M., Western Sons Chapter ; and
Jamestown Commandtry, and is also connected
with James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R.

HONORABLE WAKKEX B. HOOKER.
They who have won prominent position
and honorable distinction in life are not all old
men. In political, as in business or military
life, those who '.vin the rank of leaders, do so
at an early age, or else give decided earnest of
future achievement. Of that class of young
men in Chautauqua county, who have won suc-
cess by their own eiforts, is Hon. Warren B.
Hooker, the present member of Congress from
the Thirty-fourth congressional district of New
York, composed of the counties of Allegany,
Chautauqua and Cattaraugus. He is a son of
John and Philena (Waterman) Hooker, and
was born at Perrysburg, Cattaraugus county,
New York, November 24, 1850. John Hooker
was a native of Vermont, and .settled iu Cattar-
augus county, where he was a leading farmer at
the time of his death, June 24, 1888, when in
the eighty-second year of his age. He married
Philena Waterman, of Massachusetts, who
passed away iu 1883, aged seventy years.

Warren B. Hooker was reared on the farm
and received his education at Forestville acad-
emy, from which he was graduated in the class
of 1872. At the close of his academic course,
he determined upon law as a life vocation, and
pursued his legal studies with J. G. Record, of
Forestville, this county. He was admitted to
the bar in 1879, and practiced in Chautau(]ua
county until 1882, when he went west. At the
end of two years he returned to Chautauqua
county, and established himself in active prac-
tice at Fredonia, where he has remained ever
since. His political career commenced in 1878,
when he was elected special surrogate of Chau-
tauqua county, which position he held for three
years. In 1890 he recei%'ed the nomination of
his party for Congress over several popular and
able republican leaders, and at the ensuing elec-
tion had a majority of 5,726 votes over his
democratic opponent.

On September 11, 1884, he united in mar-
riage with Etta E. Abbev, dau<j,liter of Chaun-

OF CHAVTAVqVA COl'NTY.

cey Abbey (see his sketch in tiiis vohime).
They have two ehiklren : Sherman A. and
Florence E.

In addition to the duties of his profession
and the calls iii)on hiin in the political field, he
has always found time to serve his fellow-
towusnieu, or to labor in any movement for the
benefit of Fredonia or the county. When Mr.
Hooker was elected to Congress from his dis-
trict, he was a member of the Board of Super-
visors of Chautauqua, which position he held
two years, the second time being the nominee of
both the Eepublican and Democratic parties.
In politics Warren B. Hooker has steadily sup-
ported the Republican party and its cardinal
principles, while the part he has taken and the
measures which he has advocated in political
affairs has always met with the popular ap-
proval of his own party, and never failed to
command the respect of his opponents.

"T^HO:>IAS J. XEWET.L i-^ a son of Harvey
*~ C. and Jane E. (Buck) Xewell, and was
born in Sherman, Chautauqua county, New
York, February 29th, 1848. His grandfatlier,
Jesse Newell, was a native of Connecticut and
emigrated to Genesee county, this State, when
in 1822 he came to Sherman, in this county,
where he owned and cultivated a farm of two
hundred acres, and where he died, aged ninety-
one years. In politics he was a democrat. He
took great delight in military aifairs and was a
captain in the New York State militia. Jesse
Newell married Amarias Cole, by whom he had
eleven cliildren, six sons and five daughters, all
living but Harvey C. (father). One of the
SODS, Thomas, served in the army in the late
war. The maternal grandfather of Thomas J.
Newell was Lansing L. Buck, a native of Con-
necticut, who came to Sherman, in this county,
about the time the Newells did (1822), when
this locality was a dense forest. He was a far-
mer by occupation, and an influential man
among tlie pioneers here. Lansing L. Buck

married Lydia Lewis and had four children,
one .son and three daughters ; the son and one of
the daughters are still living. Wallace, the
son, is engaged in manufacturing in Bellville,
N. J. Harvoy C. Newell (fatiier) was born in
Connecticut, January 28, 1816, and died in
Sherman, this county, in 18(57, 'aged fifty-one
years. His jirincipal occupation was that of a
farmer. In religion he was a memlier of the
Methodist church, as was also his wife, and in
politics he was a republican.

Harvey C. Newell was married to Jane E.
Buck, by whom he had four cliildren, three
sons and one daughter : James H., who is in
mercantile business at Belvidere, Nebraska ;
Thomas J. ; Mary A., who married G. W. Tas-
sell, a merchant, and lives in Iroquois, South
Dakota ; and Ziba J., who is a railroad con-
ductor and lives in Broctou, this county.

Thomas J. Newell in 1869, engaged in the
mercantile business at North Clymer, this
county, where he kept a general store for eleven
years, and in 1880 came to Sherman and opened
a grocery store, in which l>e still continues. In
politics he is a republican, and is now on his
si.Kth term as town clerk, and is also village
clerk. While he was at North Clymer he M-as
appointed postmaster there. Thomas J. Newell
was married November 24, 1870 to Sarah E.
Pitt, a daughter of N. Pitt, and has two
children, a son and daugliter: Edith E. and
Clitibrd H.

TOHX W. PITTS was the son of John and

^ Charlotte Pitts, and was born in England
Augast 29, 1829. John Pitts (father) was a
native of England, and came from there to
America, settling at Chatham, Columbia county,
N. Y., removing from thence to the State of
Iowa, where both himself and wife died.

John W. Pitts secured his education while
young and went into a store when a mere boy,
and after a clerkship of several years, established
iiiinself in a .store, first at Canaan, N. Y., where

BIOGRAPHY ASI) HISTORY

he was a general merchant and postmaster for
a number of years, and iu 1866 he came to
Jamestown and opened a grocery store ht No.
209 Main street, which he conducted for several
years, then built a brick store on Third street
and removed there, but failing health compelled
him to give up all business three years before
his death, which occurred in December, 1881.
In 1850, he married Lucy E. Bristol, a daughter
of George and Sarah (Hutchinson) Bristol.
This gentleman was a native of Columbia
county, but removed to Oswego, Tioga county,
where he died.

Mr. and Mrs. Pitts had nine children (five
living), four sons and one daughter : Henry,
married Allie Bassett, and lives in Washington,
D. C, where he is engaged iu handling dressed
beef; Sarah B., is the wife of Henry Anderson
and lives in Brooklyn, X. Y., where her hus-
band is employed as an instructor iu the gym-
nasium of the Adelphi academy ; J. Edwin is
employed in the U. S. Railway Mail service, and
married Agnes Kretch, of Corry, Pa. ; William
is employed in Jamestown, by A. D. Sharp,
who is in the dry goods business ; and George is
a book-keeper in the liardware store of Clark &
Co., of Jamestown.

Mr. Pitts was a memlier of the Congrega-
tional church in this city and belonged to the
Kniglits of Honor and Royal Templars. He
was a sterling gentleman, and his death, when
but fifty-two years of age, was mourned by his
sorrowing widow and a large circle of friends.
His remains were interred in Lake A^iew cem-
etery at Jamestown.

FKANK HUNT, D.V.S., comes from a long
line of farmers, his great-grandfather, of
whom we are first apprised, following that
occupation in New England, and he was fol-
lowed iu the same work in turn by each suc-
ceeding generation ; Dr. Hunt being so em-
ployed until 1884. But while agriculture is
among the noblest of man's pursuits, an active

mind and ambitious disposition often seeks a
broader field, and this is what our subject
decided to do iu 1884. Leaving the farm he
came to Jamestown and entered the insurance
business, which he followed for two years, when
he decided to attend the Ontario Veterinary
College of Toronto. He matriculated in 1886,
and pursuing the study with interest, he gradu-
ated in 1887, since which time he has been suc-
cessfully practicing his profession in the city of
Jamestown, but retains his interest in his farm
just inside the city. Mr. Hunt was born at
Ellicott (now within the limits of the city of
Jamestown) on the twenty-eighth day of Janu-
ary, 1857, and is a son of John L. and Orilla
Hunt. John L. Hunt is a .son of Elvin Hunt,
whose father came from New England. Orilla,
wife of John L. Hunt, was a daughter of
George R. Nelson, a native of England, but
who came to America, and located in Chautau-
qua county, New York. He left there in 1860
and went to Minnesota, where he settled and
afterwards died. Elvin Hunt was born in
Washington county, New York, but located
near Jamestown, on what is now known as the
Hunt road. He was a farmer, and in politics
affiliated with the whigs, although like his
children since, he never aspired to be an office
holder. He married Sylvia Lee, and with her
raised a family of six boys and four girls,
nearly all of wliom settled adjacent to James-
town. Of this large family all were farmers,
excepting one who was a machinist. John L.
Hunt was born in Washington county, New
York, iu 1840, and moved to Chautauqua
county with his parents when a small boy,
where he died, when forty-four years of age.
He was the father of four children, one of whom
died young. Of the others George E. married
Lizzie Loucks, and is living in the city of
Jamestown on the Hunt road. He has two
children : John L. and George E. Jr. ; and
William H., who is employed in Jamestown.
Dr. Hunt led to the altar Miss Kate

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTV.

L. Crosby, whose father, Eliakam Crosby,
one of the earliest settlers of the county,
served the people acceptably as justice of the
peace, and died in tiie town of Poland, of
which place he was one of the original settlers.
Dr. Hunt is a republican, but the office-holding
bee does not buzz in his iiat. He is satisfied
that those who desire them siiall have the trials
and cares of jwlitical life, and is glad to see
them secure all the honor and emoluments thej'
honestly can. His veterinary practice, which is
constantly growing, takes all of his time. Be-
ing a good friend, he is pojiular with all his
acquaintances.

JOHXA.

SLOTBOOX is a son of Garrett
and Scena (Huytink) Slotboon, and
was born in Holland, May 22, 1S41. His pa-
ternal grandfather was also a native of Hol-
land, where he lived and died. John Huytink
(maternal grandfather) was likewise a native and
life-long resident of Holland, and died there.
His wife, after his death, came to America and
died in Albany, this State, aged ninety years.
Garrett J. Slotboon (father) was born in Hol-
land, February 6, 1802, emigrated to America,
spending his first winter in Albany, and came
to this county in 1847, locating in Mina.
Afterwards he came to Clymer about 1850,
where he died September (j, 1885. He was a
farmer by occupation, in politics was a republi-
can, and in religion was a member of the Re-
formed church. ^Yhile in Holland he had, in
compliance with the laws of that country,
served his time in the regular army. In 1832,
he married Scena Huytink, a daughter of John
Huytink, by whom he had five children, four
of whom are living, all in this county; three
of them in the town of Clymer.

John A. Slotboon was educated in the com-
mon schools of Clymer, this county, and began
life as .a farmer. He enlisted August 11, 1862,
in Co. D, 112th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and
served until the close of the war, when he was

honorably discharged June 8, 1865. He was
promoted to corporal, aud participated in the
siege of Suffolk aud the Ijattle of Blaekwater,
siege of Charleston, capture of Ft. Wagner aud
bombardment of Ft. Sumter, went into Florida
during the campaign there, thence to Bermuda
Hundred, and Avas wounded at the battle of
Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864. In April,
1866, he entered the mercantile business at Cly-
mer Hill, continuing in the same for about
twenty-five years, and then moved to Clymer
village, where he has been in business ever
since, owning and running a first-class general
store, aud doing a large business. Politically
he is a republican, and served as a justice of
the peace of Clymer four years, declining a re-
election, and has also served as suj)ervisor of
Clymer seven years.

John A. Slotboon was married on January
13, 1866, to Magdalene Kooman, a daughter
of Peter Kooman, of Dutch extraction, but
born near Antwerp, and emigrated to Buffalo,
this State, in 1847, where he resided eleven
years, and then came to this county, settling in
Clymer, where he died January 6, 1879, aged
seventy-three years. To Mr. and ]\Irs. Slot-
boon have been born five children : Sarah W.,
wife of Abrara Beckriuk, a gardener in James-
town, near Falconer, they have one child, a
son, Marvin Edward ; William Leonard, who
lives in Clymer, and is iu business with his
father ; Ada Paulina, at home ; one who died
in infancy ; and Lvdia Louisa.

TT JOHX PETERSOX was born a subject
'^*-» of the King of Sweden, on June 18,
1844, and is a son of Andrew and Anna
(Thranck) Peterson, of the town of Kaulstarp.
His grandfather, Peter Peterson, was a life-long
resident of his native land, Sweden, but his
maternal grandfather, John P. Thranck, emi-
grated to America and settled in Jamestown,
where he resided until his death. He was a
carpenter aud farmer, in politics a republican.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

aiul in religion a Metliodist. He married
and reared cliildren. His fatlier, Andrew
Peterson a native of Sweden, was born about
1815. He came to America in 1858, located in
Jamestown, but subsequently removed to Sugar
Grove, Pa., wbere lie remained one year, and
tlien returned to Jamestown, wbere be passed
the remainder of bis life. By trade he was a
carpenter and joiner, and was also a contractor
and builder. He was a republican in politics,
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
and married Anna Thrauck, by whom he bad
nine children : Theodore, enlisted in the Union
army, July, 18(52, in Co. A, 112th regiment,
X. Y. Vols., and served until the clo.se of the
war. He was wounded in the arm at the battle
of Cold Harbor, but this did not prevent his
engaging in .several other battles, and died in
Jamestown, July 27, 1881 ; Louisa married
Peter Morgan, who was drowned in Lake Chau-
tauqua, and after his death married John
Kofod, of Jamestown; Matilda, wife of George
Howard, of Jamestown ; Christina, married to
James Holmes, of Jamestown ; Josephine, wife
of Gustavus Carlson, a tailor of Jamestown ;
William 0., married to Aleoia Tingwall for bis
first wife and after her death married Dora
Fox, and resides in Jamestown ; and Edward
A., married to Edith Kirkpatrick, and is a
salesman in bis brother's store.

A. John Peterson received a common scliool
education in Jamestown, supplemented by a prac-
tical business experience and by wide reading
and ob-servatiou. He began life on his own ac-
count as a contractor and builder with his father
and brother, and after his father's death he
formed a partnership with his brother under
the firm name of T. & A. J. Peterson, continu-
ing therein fifteen years. During the latter
part of that period they also engaged in the
grocery business at No. 110 Main street, and
finally abandoned contracting and building and
devoted their attention to the grocery business
uutil 1885, when he sold out, and the following

year purcha.sed the clothing business in which
Mr. Peterson .still continues, his brother having
died. As merchant tailor, clothier, hatter and
gentlemen's furnisher, he transacts a large and
paying business. He is a republican in politics
and has served on the board of aldermen of
Jamestown two terms. He enlisted with his
brother Theodore in the same company in July,
1862, serving until the close of the war, partici-
pating in all the battles in which the Army of
tiie Potomac was engaged and never received a
scratch, although at the battle of Chapin Farm,
he found seven bullet boles through his clothes
at the close of the engagement.

On Aug. 16, 1866, A. J. Peterson united in
marriage with Clara Lanson, of Jjottsville, Pa.,
and after her death espoused Sophia Jones, of
Jamestown. Their union has been blest with
four cbildreu, three .sons and one daughter:
James C, a clerk in his father's store ; Conrad
(dead) ; Mabel Jenevieve, and John T.

Loyal to his adopted country and his friends,
yet having an affection for his native land,
liberal in his ideas and broad in his sympathy,
be is an excellent type of an ideal naturalized
American.

TOHX M. HA1{E>ENBI KG is an honest,

^ industrious and hard-working man, who
has successfully conducted several farms, mak-
ing money out of each, and after a more than
average life-time, spent in agricultural pursuits,
has, in the sere and yellow leaf of life, turned
his attention to horticulture and enjoys it, for it
is healthful, keeps one in touch with advancing
methods, and is pecuniarily compensating for
the time and labor employed. At least four
generations of the family of Hardenburg have
been Americans by birth, so that the more
moderate Teutonic blood neutralizes the swifter
and more nervous fluid which pulsates through
the veins of an American, whose ancestors
peopled Albion or Scotia. The paternal grand-
father of John M. Hardenburg was a native of

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Ulster comity, Xew York, being born in 1775.
He became a farmer and removed to Oneida
county, N. Y., locating on a farm there, but not
being satisfied with his environments, he went
to Tonjpkins county, where he bought a farm,
which he a few years after sold and moved to
Chautauqua, this county, where he purchased a
farm, which he subsequently sold to his son
Volkert, father of John M., about 1835. It is
located nearly four miles from ^Slayville and is
now owned by Nelson Crandall. He married
Jane Vedder, by whom he had six children :
Maria, who married Jacob Mowers ; Betsy, who
married Israel Denman ; John ; Judith, who
married Adam Hoffman ; Volkert, father of
John M. ; Cornelius, whose wife was Adeline
Tucker; and James. The father of these chil-
dren died in 1840, and the mother in 1858.
The maternal grandfather of John ]M. Harden-
burg, John Miller, was a life-long resident of
Oneida county. New York. The father of John
M. was born in Oneida county. New York,
January 25, 1799, and came to this county in
1834. He purchased a fifty acre farm three
miles east of Mayville, worked it a short time
and selling it, bought the farm of his father
above alluded to and lived there two years.
Thence he removed to the south-western part
of Stockton, this county, where he bought a
farm of one hundred and sixty-seven acres and
continued investing in land until he became
possessed of three hundred acres. He uow lives
in Portland, Chautauqua county, a hale, hearty
and hajjpy nouogenarian. He married, October
4, 1818, Susan Miller, daughter of John Miller,
of Oneida county. New York, by whom he had
six children, three sons and three daughters, of
whom Jane A., the first-born, married George
Munger, a blacksmith in Portland, this county ;
Jacob is a farmer and dealer in cattle in West-
field, and married Antoinette Hassett, Dec. 30,
1851 ; Catharine, now dead, married Thomas
Ralph, a farmer in Stockton ; Cornelia, also de-
ceased, married Stephen Reinhart, January 9,

1850. He is a farmer in Stockton, this county ;
and Henry, a farmer in Westtield, married
Diana Pane. The mother of these ciiildren died
August 1st, 1868, and was buried at Westfield.

John M. Hardenburg, a son of Volkert and
Susan (Miller) Hardenburg, was born in
Oneida county. New York, October 4th, 1823,
and was educated in the common schools of
Stockton, which he continued to attend, but
only a few montiis in each year, until he was
twenty-foiu' years old, when he rented a farm iu
Stockton, where he remained two years and
then bought a farm of one hundred acres, which
he cultivated a brief time and sold it, only to
buy another comprising one hundred and
fifteen acres, on which he remained fourteen
years. He then disposed of it and removed to
Portland, where he purchased a smaller farm,
some sixty acres, and lived three years. He
bought, occupied and sold these farms success-
ively and after the disposal of the third, he re-
moved to Westfield, where he conducted a dairy
farm for one year. Returning to Portland he
purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty
acres and occupied it sixteen years, after which,
he sold it and came to Fredonia, whoe he now
owns seven acres in the village on which he raises
choice grapes. In religion he is a member of
the Baptist church.

John M. Hardenburg was married to Juliu
A. Denton, September 12, 1848. She was a
daughter of Fowler and Sophia (Colwell)
Denton (her father being a farmer in Stockton),
and by her had two .sons and two daughters, of
whom Sophia, the eldest, married Homer Burr,
a farmer in Portland, the union resulting in
eigiit children ; Medora married A. J. Walker,
a grape-grower in Portland, and they have one
child ; Warren died in infancy ; and Fowler
Denton, a grape-grower in Portland, who mar-
ried Lizzie Burrows, and they have three
children.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

^HARLES 31. DOUGLASS, a descenJant
^^ of one of tlie pioneer families of Cliaii-
tauqua county, is a son of Zattu and Elizabeth
(Frazier) Douglass, and was born in the town
of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N."Y., June
21, 1839. The Douglass family is of Scotch
descent, and one of its members, Richard Doug-
lass (grandfather), was a native of Connecticut,
but removed early iu the present century to
Chautauqua county, and bought a farm in the
town of Dunkirk, which embraced part of the
present site of Dunkirk city. He was a prom-
inent Freemason, and although his " clearing "
did not consist of over fifty acres, yet he M'as
considered one of the rich men of Chautauqua
county at that time, for his farm was one of the
few to supply provisions to the new settlers
until such time as their land would be cleared
and become productive. One of his sons, Zattu
Douglass (father), was born in the State of Ver-
mont, and was engaged iu farming during the
most of his life. He was a stanch supporter of
the Republican party until he died in October,
1862. In 1835 he married Elizabeth Frazier,
daughter of Fill Frazier, of Chautauqua county,
by whom he had seven children.

Charles INI. Douglass was reared on his father's
farm, and attended the subscription schools of
the town of Dunkirk. He owns a valuable
farm, about one-half mile southeast of the city,
on which he has resided all his life. In addition
to his own farm he cultivates the lands of sevei'al
of his neighbors.

On April 27, 18G7, he married Dinah Harri-
.son, a native of England. To their union have
been born five children : Frederick and Diana,
twins, were born January 27, 1868 ; Charles
M., Jr., born March 20, 1869; Clarence E.,
born July 27, 1872; Arthur, born April 1-5,
1878 ; and Walter, born October 7, 1886.

Charles M. Douglass is a republican in poli-
tics, and is ranked among the energetic farmers
of his town.

rj BKAH.\3I BULL, the sexton at Lake View
'•^*- cemetery, is a son of Benjamin and Ann
(Lyons) Bull, and was born in the city of
London, England, November 5, 1836. His
grandfathei-, Abraham Bull, was a native of
England, but emigrated to Amei'ica and settled
at Jamestown, remaining, however, but a short
time, when he returned to his native land and
died. He gained a livelihood by following the
sea. The maternal grandfather, John Lyons,
came from Ireland. When Xapoleou was lead-
ing his seemingly irresistible forces to victory
after victory, until he met with disa.ster, dis-
grace and a banishment to end in death at St.
Helena, Mr. Lyons joined the army that defeated
him and was never heard of after the battle.
Benjamin Bull was born in England in 1812,
and came to America, settling at .Jamestown
about 1849, where he still resides. He married
Ann Lyons, who is still living, and by whom
he had ten children, five S()ns and five daughters.
Politically, INIr. Bull affiliates with the Repub-
lican party.

Abraham Bull received such education as his
own efforts would secure him, and in early life
was a day laborer. Mr. Bull is, and since April
10, 1864, has been, the sexton at Lake View
cemetery, performing the trying and responsible
duties satisfactorily.

On November 30, 1857, he married Lucy
Cossart, daughter of Peter and Roxanna Cos-
sart, of Jamestown. They have had five chil-
dren : Jennie, mai'ried Perry Goodwin, a son of
Augustus Goodwiu, and lives in Jamestown ;
Nellie, wife of Darwin Clark, a farmer; Faunie
(dead) ; Lucy, wedded Frank Dickerson, a resi-
dent of Jamestown ; and Ciyda (dead).

Politically, Mr. Bull is a republican, belongs
to tiie ^Methodist church, and is a member of
•Jamestown lodge. No. 34, A. O. U. W., and of
Chautauqua Lake lodge. No. 46, Knights of
Honor. The Jamestown Journal, speaking of
the beautiful Lake View cemetery, says :
" Twenty years have elapsed since Abraham

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Bull was first appointed sexton of Lake View
cemetery, which is nearly ever since it was first
used. It is now one of the best kept concerns
in the country, nicely laid out in walks and
drives. He has always been reliable, and
carried out his portion of every contract to the
letter."

Y\ H. LIBBY, who served for twenty-one
"**■• years as foreman of the H. G. Rrooks
Locomotive works, of Dunkirk, was born in
the town of Gorham, Cumberland county,
Maine, December 20, 1819, and is a son of
Daniel and Martha Ann (]\Iorton) Libby. Tlie
Libby family is of English descent and some of
its members were among the earliest and fore-
most settlers of the province of Maine. In a
book compiled and published by Charles T.
Libby of Portland, Maine, the history of the
Libby family is accurately traced from 1602 to
1881. Simeon Libby, the grandfather of Al-
bert H. Libby, w-as a Maine farmer, born Sep-
tember 3, 1755, and served as a soldier in one
of the Indian wars of the frontier and in the
War of 1812. He died March 11, 18.50, when
considerably past his four-score years of age.
His son, Daniel Libby (father), was born on the
home farm, March 18, 1792, and learned tiie
trade of wheel-wright and carpenter, wliicli he
followed for some years before turning his at-
tention to farming. He was an attendant of
the Methodist Episcopal church, a strong dem-
ocrat, like his father before him, and died in
Gorham, Maine, May 11, 1826, at the early
age of thirty-four years. His wife, Martha
Ann Morton, was a Methodist and a native of
Gorham, where she died in 1821, when but
twenty-one years of age.

Albert IT. Libby grew to manhood in his
native town. As his parents died when he was
quite small he was compelled to do for himself
at an early age, and thus was able to secure but
a limited education. He learned the trade of
blacksmith and upon attaining his majority re- i

moved from Gorham to Portland, in the same
State,wliere he was foreman of the Portland
Company's locomotive and nuu-liine works for
twelve years. In l.SGO he left his native State
and came to Dunkirk where he became fore-
man of the H. G. Brooks Locomotive works,
now the largest manufacturing establishment of
the city, which position he held until 1881,
when he resigned. Since leaving the locomo-
tive works, Mr. Libby has been engaged to
j some extent in the real estate business, in which
his investments have been reasonably profitable.
He now resides with his son, Frank L. Libby.
On the 12th of August, 1845, he married
Eliza A. Woodward, a daughter of Samuel
Woodward, of Gorham, Maine, and who died
in January, 1881, leaving three children, one
son and two daughters : Josephine A., wife of
Francis Lake ; Clara I., married to Arthur J.
Scott ; and Frank L., who married Margaret
J. Morris, and resides in Dunkirk. Mr. Lib-
by has seven grandchildren : Florence I., daugh-
ter of Mrs. Lake ; Emma L., Nettie L., and"
Gertrude A., daughters of Mrs. Scott; and
Mabel S., Alice Gertrude, and Albert W. H.,
children of Frank L.

Politically Mr. Libby is a democrat like his
father and grandfather before him, and has
been a member of the common council, besides
serving several terms as assessor of Dunkirk
City. He is a Knight Templar in Masonry
and holds membership in Irondequoit Lodge,
No. 301, Free and Accepted Masons, Dunkirk,
N. Y., Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, High Royal
Arch Masons and Dunkirk Commandery, No.
40, Knights Templar, and is a i)ast master and
a past high priest.

/^EOROE B. DOUGLASS, a descendant of
^* the Scotch family of Douglass, who were
among the earliest settlers of Chautauqua coun-
ty, is a son of Arnold and Nancy (Baldwin)
Douglass, and was born on the farm on which
he now resides, in the town of Dunkirk, Chau-

BIOORAPJir AXD HISTORY

tauqiia county, New York, January 14, 1833.
His grandfather, Richard Douglass, the pioneer,
was a native of Connecticut and removed with
his family, in 1806, to Chautauqua county,
this State. He purchased a large tract of land,
to which he added from time to time, until he
owned 750 acres of the finest farming land in
the county. He was a Free Mason, a member
of the Baptist church, and died in 184.5. His
son, Arnold Douglass (father), was born in
Connecticut, December 14, 1802, and accom-
panied his parents to Chautauqua county in
1806. He was a successful farmer, a supporter
of the Democratic party, aud died .July 6, 1838, '
when in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He
married Xancy Baldwin, daughter of Samuel
Baldwin, of Pawlet, Vermont. They had three
children.: George B., Sarah, wife of Russell
Jones, of Dunkirk ; aud Betsy, who died at the
age of five years.

George B. Douglass was reared on his father's
farm, attended the subscription schools of Chau-
tauqua county, and learned the trade of carpen-
ter. In 1856, he went to Illiuois and entered
the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, in the capacity of delivery clerk.
He remained with them .some time and then
engaged ia farming and afterwards in carpen-
tering, until 18G1, when he returned to Dun-
kirk, where he bought a pi'oductive farm of
sixtv-five acres (the old homestead), on which
he has since resided, aud has erected a good
house, barn, and other necessary out-buildings.
He has also a vineyard of four acres.

In 1850 he married Aurelia E. Blakely,
daughter of David Blakely, of Springville, Erie
county. New York ; she was the twelfth child
of fifteen children. They have four children:
George M., a resident of Dunkirk, in the em-
ploy of the American Express Company ;
Frank E., who is engaged in farming near his
father; Clarence E., baggage master on the
Dunkirk & Warren R. R.; and Lilly \., who
died in 1868, at the age of eleven years.

George B. Douglass is a member of the Bap-
tist church of Dunkirk, and an active republi-
can. He has held several of the most impor-
tant of the offices of his town. He is a pros-
perous farmer and law-abiding citizen of the
town of Dunkirk.

"P3IEKY ^\. FEXTOX, the senior member
-*"^ of the well-known firm, Fenton, Robert-
son & Co., of Jamestown, is a son of William
H. and Hannah (Tracy) Fenton, and was born
in the village of Fluvanna, Chautauqua county,
New York, March 23, 1836. The family on
either side were natives of New England for
some generations. The paternal grandfather,
Jacob Fenton, came to Jamestown in 1811, and
being a potter by trade, he established a kiln
and pottery between what is now First and
Second Streets, and manufactured all kinds of
earthenware. His wife was Lois Hurd, and
she bore him nine children. Jacob Fenton died
in 1822. Elias Tracy (maternal grandfather)
was a native of Vermont, and came to this
State, locating on the Conewago flats, in 1814,
where he followed farming until he died.
William H. Fenton was born in New England
in 1796, and came to Jamestown when sixteen
years of age, and entered the earthenware
manufacturing house with his father. They
worked together until the old gentleman's death
in 1822, when William H. Fenton continued
the business alone until 1826, and then took
Samuel Whittemoro as a partner. They moved
their lousiness to Fluvanna. This partnership
remained effective until 1839, when they dis-
solved, and W. H. Fenton moved back to
Jamestown, and shortly after was elected justice
of the peace, a position that he held for fifty
years. The old gentleman is still living, hale
and hearty, and although ninety-five years of
age is as enthusiastic a republican as can be
found in the county of Chautauqua. Prior to
the inception of this party he was a whig. Mr.
Fenton is a member of the Congregational

OF CHAVTAVQUA COVyTY.

cluirch, being the oldest member in the State.
In 181G he married Hannah Tracy, who bore
him fourteen children, eight of whom are still
living: Erasmus D. is living in Minnesota;
Elias J. is a farmer in Iowa; Harriet is the
wife (if John Harvey, of Iowa ; Carlos lives in
Austin, Minn. ; Merriette is Mrs. Charles
Jeffords, and resides in Jamestown ; Dana is
engaged in the lumber business here ; and Emily
H. married James Smith, and lives in this city.
Emery W. Fenton spent his boyhood days at
Fluvanna and Jamestown, and attended the
public schools and academy at the latter place.
He began to work in a pail factory when about
eighteen years of age, and followed that line of
business for a number of years, but at present
is engaged in the furniture manufacturing, being
the senior member of the firm of Fenton,
Robertson & Co., of Jamestown. Their factory
employs from fifty to seventy-five men, and the
output of the factory is about fifty thousand
dollars per yeai'. The plant is equipped with
all modern improvements, and is one of the
business enterpri.ses to which Jamestown's citizens
may point with pride.

In 18G1 E. W. Fenton married Louise Myers,
a daughter of Peter JNIyers, of Frewsburg,
N. Y., and has two daughters living: Lulu E.,
born August 10, 18G8 ; and Grace J., born May
5, 1871. Both of these young ladies were edu-
cated at the Jamestown high-school, and are
charming entertainers.

Emery W. Fenton is a democrat, and belongs
to Jamestown lodge. No. 1.3, A. O. U. W., and
to the Equitable Aid Union. He has been
throughout his life a straightforward and
thoroughgoing man, and by his earnest will and
untiring industry has risen to opulence. He is
a good citizen and successful business man.

lllfELVIN J. KNOX, who has been a suc-
4 cessful contractor and builder for many

years, has erected man.y of the fine residences in
Silver Creek, and is one of the most enterprising

citizens of that village. He was born near
Wattsburg, Erie county, Pennsylvania, March
13, 18.5.3, and is a son of Charles and Ami
(Beart) Knox. His grandfather, James Knox,
was born in 1794, in Connecticut, and was a
.soldier in the War of 1812. He resided in
Sheridan, this county, several years, and died
in 1866, aged seventy-two years. Charles Knox
(father) was born in Cortland county, this State,
on August 24, 1 824. ' For several years he lived
in Erie county, Pa., but removed to this county
in 1854, locating in Sheridan, where he remained
until 1868, when he came to Silver Creek, where
he has since resided. He is a carpenter by trade,
but ha.s been a contractor and builder most of
his life, and politically is a republican. In
1850 he married Ann Beart, who was born in
England in 1827, and she bore him five chil-
dren.

Melvin J. Knox was reared in this county,
receiving his education in the common schools,
and after leaving school at the age of fourteen
years learned the trade of a carpenter, and has
worked at it ever since, although he has largely
added to it by taking up contracting and build-
ing. He came to Silver Creek in 1868, and
worked at his vocation until 1884, when he built
the large plant he now owns on Buffalo street,
known as the Silver Creek planing-mill, where
he manufactures doors, sash, blinds, shutters,
mouldings, lumber, lath, shingles and deals
largely in builders' hardware and general sup-
])lies. He is a large contractor and builder, and
has built all the way from three to twenty-three
hou.ses a year for several years, and generally
has a very flourishing and steadily increasing
business. Politically he is a republican, and is
assistant chief of the fire department.

Melvin J. Knox was married, September 8,
1875, to Lily Holcomb, of Silver Creek. Their
marriage has been blest with three children, one
son and two daughters : Edith, Porter and
Drusilla, aged thirteen, eleven and two years
respectively.

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

JOHN T. GREE?f, who has been a leading
citizen and merchant of Sherman, this
county, for twenty-seven years, was born Janu-
uary 31, 1829, in Lincolnshire, a pastoral
coainty on the east coast of England, and is a
son of William and Martha (Tomlinsou) Green,
both natives of the same place. His parents
came to America in 1830, locating near Utica,
this State, for a short time, thence coming to
Chautauqua town, and finally settled in Sher-
man, this county, where the father spent the
remainder of his life. He was a carpenter and
joiner by trade, was supervisor of the town of
Sherman from 1856 to 1857, and in 1858,
married Martha Tomlinson, by whom he had
five children. He died March 25, 1862, at the
age of fifty -nine years.

John T. Green was reared on a farm, and re-
ceived his education in the common schools.
After leaving school he learned the carpenter
trade, at which he worked for a short time,
when he bought out the firm of Adams & Har-
rington, and engaged in the mercantile business,
associating with him W. F. Green, now cashier
of the bank of Sherman, the firm name being
J. T. & W. F. Green, which w-as dissolved in
1886, since which time John T. Green has car-
ried on the business alone. He also owns two
hundred acres of good land near Sherman, was
supervisor of that town from 1870 to 1872, and
was again elected in 1874. In politics he is a
republican, and when the village of Sherman
was formed, he was elected its first president,
in October, 1890, and at the spring election in
1891, he was re-elected. This is a distinction
of which any man might feel proud.

John T. Green was married January 7, 1851,
to Livia P. Hall, a daughter of Ahira Hall, a
farmer of Portland, this county. Mr. and Mrs.
Green have been blest with three children, two
sons and one daughter : William A., the eldest
son, is now in Australia, having been sent there
by a manufacturing syndicate to represent them ;
Frederick R., who is the present cashier of the

Fredonia National Bank, this county ; and
Florence, is at home.

TA3IES A'ES'CENT is one of the largest

^ dealers in cattle, and is one of the prosper-
ous and enterprising farmers of this county.
He is a son of Sampson and Rhoba (Smith)
Vincent, and was born in Herkimer county,
New York, December 14, 1818. His grand-
father, Caleb Vincent, was a resident of Herk-
imer county for a number of years, but was
born in Providence, Rhode Island. By occu-
pation he was a farmer, and died in Crawfoi-d
county, Pennsylvania. He married, and had
five children, four sons and one daughter. The
maternal grandfather of James Vincent was a
Mr. Smith, who was born near Utica, Oneida
county, this State, where he died. Sampson
Vincent (father) was born in Rhode Island,
and came to this county in 1825, and located
on a farm of three hundred and fifty acres in
Sherman, which, with the help of a few hired
men, he cultivated, in connection with running
a saw-mill, the remainder of his life. In re-
ligion he was a member of the Free Will Bap-
tist church, and in politics belonged to the whig
party first, then became an abolitionist, and
later on joined the republican party. He served
a short time in the war of 1812, being sta-
tioned at Sackett's Harbor, this State, on the
east shore of Lake Ontario. Sampson Vin-
cent married Rhoba Smith, by whom he had
eleven children, eight sons and three daughters,
all the daughters and two of the sons being
dead. Of the sons living, Dressor B. lives in
Cold Water, a manufacturing city in Branch
county, Michigan, and having studied medicine,
is a practicing physician there; Jeremiah H. is
a farmer in Wyoming county, this State ;
Walker B., William B., and Stephen D., are
all farmers in Sherman ; also James.

James Vincent was educated in the common
schools, and began his business career as a farm-
er and a cattle dealer, having nearly always

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTi'.

157

dealt extensively in cattle. He owns a farm of
four hundred acres in Sherman, which he oper-
ates. Some years he has bought and sold two
thousand head of cattle. When the Sherman
bank was organized in 1883, he was one of the
first board of directors, and has been a promi-
nent member of the directorate ever since.
In politics he is a republican, and has served
two terms as road commissioner. When he
was tweuty-five years old he was elected a jus-
tice of the peace, but would not serve. James
Vincent was married in 1845 to Ann Price, a
daughter of Alexander .Price, of Owasco,
N. Y., and by her has had three children, one
son and two daughters : Jay S., who is a grad-
uate of Eastman's business college in Pough-
keepsie. New York, and a hotel-keeper at
Eureka Spring,?, Ark. He is married, and has
one sou, Claude; Mary, married to Cornelius
Myrick, formerly a hardware merchant, and
now owns two large farms in Sherman ; they
have one child, a son, Preston R. ; Adelaide, a
graduate of Syracuse University, who is mar-
ried to Almon Taylor, the principal of the
Union school at Westfield, and has one son and
one daughter : Vincent and Katheryn.

TOSEPHUS H. CLARK, M'ell known to

^^ the citizens of Jamestown, for a number
of years as president of the Board of Education,
was born in Worcester county, ]\Ias.sachu.setts,
December 1, 1819. He attended the common
.schools of the Commonwealth of Massachu.setts,
and in 18-30 removed to Chautauqua county, to
the town of Carroll. Five years later he came
to Jamestown and learned the trade of foundry-
man, at which he worked for about eight years
as a day workman. In 1851 he purchased the
foundry on Fourth street and has run it, and a
machine-shop in connection with it ever since,
employing some fifteen men. July 13, 1851,
he married Jane Marsh, a daugliter of Closes
Marsh, formerly of Sutton, Massachusetts. Jo-
sephus H. Clark is an active member of the

Eepublican party in Jamestown, and has served
as one of the Board of village trustees, of which
board he was president. For twenty-one years
he had been j^i'ominently connected with the
educational interests of Jamestown, and for fif-
teen years has been president of tlie Board of
education. He attends the Baptist church and
has been one of the trustees of that churcii for
over thirty years.

nEV. WILLIAM LYMAN HYDE, a min-
ister of the Presbyterian church and a
graduate of Bowdoin college, is a son of Capt.
Henry and Maria (Hyde) Hyde, and was born
at Bath, Maine, December 27, 1819. The first
record that we have of the Hyde family in the
United States is in 1636, when the name of
William Hyde appears in the municipal affairs
of Hartford, Connecticut. He soon thereafter
removed to Norwich, that State, where he was
frequently elected and served as a selectman.
From him was descended General Elijah Clark
Hyde, the paternal great-grandfather of Rev.
W. L. Hyde, who was born on June 14,
1735, at Lebanon, Connecticut, where he died
on the last day of the first year of the present
century. He was the confidential friend of
Gov. Trumbull and served as Washington's
cpiartermaster-general during the Revolutionary
war. His son Zabdial (grandfather) was born
June 4, 1762, at Lebanon, served at eighteen
years of age in the closing struggles of the revo-
lutionary conte.st and afterwards removed to
Bath, Maine, where he died May 15, 1842.
He married Mary Lyman and reared a family
of eleven children, one of whom was Capt.
Henry Hyde (father), who was born at Lebanon
in 1792, and died at Bath, Maine, November 4,
1873. He was a book-seller by occupation,
served as captain of an artillery company in the
Maine militia for several years, held the office of
notai'v public fiir .several terms and was a whig
in polifics. He was twice married. His first
wife was Maria Hyde, his tiiiid c(jusin, by

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

whom he hail one child — Rev. W. L. Hyde,

and after her death he married Elizabeth Lov-
ett, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who bore liiiii
three childreu — Henry, of Maine, and two who
died young.

William Lyman Hyde received his education
at Bowdoin college, from which he was gradu-
ated in the class of 1842. Leaving college he
completed his theological studies, entered the
ministry of the Presbyterian church and was
ordained May 4, 184!). He was first settled as
a minister over the church at Gardner, Maine,
in 1849, where he remained until 1856, when
he accepted the call of the Presbyterian church
of Dunkirk, this county, of which he had charge
for six years. At the end of that time (18(32)
he became chaplain of the 112th regiment. New
York Vols, and served until the close of the
war, wheu he accepted a call from the Presby-
terian church at Ripley. He left Ripley in
1871 to become pastor of Sherman Presbyterian
church, with which he labored until 1874.
For the next ten years he was principal of the
high school at Ovid, N. Y. In 1884 he came to
Jamestown, where he has been principally en-
gaged in journalism ever since. Mr. H^'de is a
republiciui in politics and a member and the
chaplain of James M. Brown Post, Xo. 285,
Grand Army of the Republic.

On May 4, 1852, Rev. W. L. Hyde married
Frances E. Rice, granddaughter of Dr. Thomas
Rice, circuit court judge of Wiscassett county,
Maine. To their union have been born three
sons — Dr. Henry Warren, a practicing physi-
cian of Omaha, Nebraska, who married Naucy
Plato, of Sherman ; Wallace E., who died iu
infancy, and Captain Frederick W., born at
Dmdiirk, N. Y., and who is in command of the
Fenton Guards of Jamestown, where he has
been editor of the Jamestown Evening Journal
for fourteen vears.

/CORNELIUS W. MYRICK is a son of

^^ Nehemiah and Abba D. (Reed) Myrick,
and was born May 31st, 184(J, in Chautauqua,
Chautauqua county, N. Y'. His grandfather
was John Myrick, who was a native of Putnam
county, N. Y'., where he was a life-long resi-
dent and a farmer by occupation. John Myrick
married Hannah Merritt, by wliom he had six
children, three sons and three daughters. The
maternal great-grandfather of C. W. ^lyrick
was John Reed, who was a native of Middlesex
county, Connecticut, where he .spent his entire
life, being by occupation a farmer and black-
smith. He married Abbie Whitney and by
her had four children, three sons and a daugh-
ter. One of the sons was Moses Whitney
Reed (maternal grandfather of C. W^. Myrick),
a native also of Middlesex county, where he
ended his days. He studied for the ministry,
but was compelled to abandon the idea of
preaching on account of ill health and turned
to teaching school for a few years. In his
religious views he was a Presbyterian, being a
member of the church of that denomination.
IMoses Whitney Reed married Polly Middle-
brook and they had one child, a daughter. His
wife dying, he married for his second choice
Hannah Haight, whose father svas a soldier iu
the Revolutionary war, and by her he had two
children, both daughters : Miriam, married to
AVilliam Dougherty, who is in business in New
Y'ork ; and Abba D. The mother of these tw-o
children died November 17th, 1886, aged
ninety-three years. Nehemiah Myrick was
born in Putnam, New Y^ork, September 3d,
1806, and for a few years was engaged in the
river business on the Hudson, coming to this
county in May, 1838, and .settling in Sherman,
where he died August 6th, 1876. He entered
the mercantile business iu Sherman, but for
several years followed farming in the town of
Chautauqua. Politically he was a republican,
and firm in his convictions. Nehemiah Myrick
was married October 24th, 1831, to Abba D.

OF CIL 1 [ 'TA I 'Q U. 1 CO I 'XT ) '.

159

Heed, a daughter of Moses Whitney Reed, and
a native of" Connecticut, where she was born
January 16th, 1814, this union being blessed
witli four children, three sons and a daugliter :
Sylvanus H., who was born June 5th, 1833,
married Mary Ij. Hawley, and lives on the old
homestead in Chautauqua, where he cultivates
the farm ; he served in the 112th regiment New
York Volunteers a few months during the late
civil war; Elmore, born March 10th, 183G,
married to Martha Button, and lives in Sharjjs-
burg, Pennsylvania, where he is a retired mer-
chant ; Marion E., born December 9th, 18-10;
and Cornelius W.

Cornelius W. My rick was educated in the
common schools of this county, and began his
business life as a hardware merchant in Sharps-
burg, Pennsylvania, where he remained five
yeai's, and then came to Sherman and continued
in the same business an equal length of time.
He is now engaged in farming, owning two
large farms. Politically he is a rei)al;lican.
Cornelius W. JSIyrick is married to Mary P.
Vincent, a daughter of James Vincent of Sher-
man, by whom he has one son, Preston R.

T 1). 31 AYXAKD is one of the leading drug-
^^ • gists and pharmacists in Fredonia, and
has, by his own exertions, accumulated a very
comfortable competency. He was born in On-
tario county, New York, June 19, 1820, and is
a son of John and Sarah (Putney) Maynard.
His i)aternal grandfather, John Maynard, had
four sons and one daughter : Elisha ; Need ham ;
John (father) ; Permelia and Joseph. The last
named son was a house joiner in Lockport,
Niagara county, this State, acquired considerable
property and was one of the influential men in his
section. John Maynard (father) was born in
Goshen, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in
1783, and was a mechanic and contractor until
1830, when he came to this county and settled
in Charlotte, where he bought a farm of one
hundred and forty acres. Prior to this trans-

action he had built a mile and a half of the
Erie canal under the administration and super-
vision of Governor DeWitt Clinton. He oc-
cupied and cultivated this farm until his death,
in 1862, aged seventy-six years. He was col-
onel of a regiment in the war of 1812, and wor-
shipful master in a lodge of F. <t A. M. in
Niagara county. In religion he was a mend)er
of the Christian church, first in Niagara county
and then in Sinclairvillc, this county, of which
he was a deacon for several years. He was
always a conscientious and able man and filled
local offices in his town. John Maynard mar-
ried Sarah Putney, in 1805, and by her had
seven children, four sons aud three daughters :
Abigail, who married Pascal Darling, a farmer
in Michigan ; Almeda, married to Daniel Bur-
gess, a merchant and extensive farmer in Wis-
consin, where he owns eight hundred acres ;
Needham, a farmer in Niagara county, this
State, where he owns one hundred and sixty-
five acres, was keejier of Ijockport poor-house
two 3'ears, married first, Polly Buzbee, second,
Elmira Culver; Addison, a' farmer in Gerry,
and merchant in Ellington, this county, and re-
moved to Michigan, married to Amanda Bron-
son ; Adeline married Evison Maynard, a far-
mer and speculator in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ;
IClisha, who died young ; and J. D. Mrs. May-
nard died in 1823, aud John Maynard, the fol-
lowing year, married Charity Andrew, a daugh-
ter of Loudon Andrew of Royalton, Niagara
county, this State, by whom he had six children,
three sous and three daughters : John, a farmer
in Iowa, married to Lydia Smith ; Harriet
married James Lacker, a farmer in Niagara
county ; Daniel, a farmer in Wisconsin, married
to Mary King of Niagara county, this State;
Eliza married Joel Fletcher, a farmer of
Greeley, Colorado ; Perry, farmer, but now a
merchant in Iowa, married to Mary Fletcher ;
Martha married to Job Reynolds, a wealthy re-
tired gentleman in Iowa. The second wife of
John Maynard, died in 1870.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

J. D. Maynard was educated at Siuclairville,
this county, attending the common schools
until he was eighteen years old and spending
two years in the select schools. Being brought
up on a farm, he worked at farming until he
left school in 1840, and then labored at the bus-
iness of carpenter and joiner in summer and
taught vocal music in winter for eighteen years,
two years in Pennsylvania and the remainder
in this State. In 1862 he euliste<l in Co. B.,
112th i-egiment, New York Volunteers, of which
he was first lieutenant, and served one year,
during which time he was besieged twenty days
by General James Longstreet's army, and par-
ticipated in the battle of Deserted House, where
the first man of the 112th regiment was killed.
Lieutenant Maynard's health failing so as to in-
capacitate him for service, he was honorably
discharged May 28th, 1863, and in the follow-
ing September he engaged in selling musical
instruments, which business he continued for
three years, then bought an apothecary store in
Fredonia, a very fine three-story brick, now
known as Maynard's drug-store, and has con-
tinued in the drug business ever since, having
one of the best selected and most complete lines
of drugs, chemicals, etc., in the county, his
average stock being worth seven thousand dol-
lars. A farm of one hundred and thirty-eight
acres in Siuclairville, is also owned by him. In
religion he favors the Presbyterian church,
(Mrs. Maynard being a member), is a constant
attendant upon its meetings, and contributes
toward its support. He is a member of Holt
post, G. A. R. in Fredonia.

J. D. Maynard was married September 30,
1845, to Amelia Bronson, a daughter of Samuel
Bronson, a farmer and mechanic of Siuclairville,
this county, and this union was blessed by the
birth of a daughter, Margaret, who was born
Feb., 1847. She married Charles P. Ingersoll. a
merchant at Jamestown, who is now in politics,
having been in the Assembly for several years.
He is also interested in the insurance business

in New York city. Margaret was drowned in
Cassadaga lake with her three-year-old son, July
3, 1876. Mr. Maynard then took an orphan
boy, three years old, who is a bright young
man and has taken the name of Mavnard.

HOX. HEXKY C. LAIvE, a successful finan-
cier of Fredonia and an ex-member of the
Assembly of New York, from the Second dis-
trict of Chautauqua county, was born in that
part of Gerry which is now included in the
town of Charlotte, Chautauqua county, New
York, May 30, 182-3, and is a son of Calvin
and Sarah (^Mathers) Lake. The numerous
Lakes throughout the United States are de-
scended from three Lake families, one of which
was of English origin, another of German lin-
eage and the third of Irish descent. The sub-
ject of this sketch traces his paternal ancestry
back to three brothers by the name of Lake,
who came from England to Massachusetts soon
after the voyage of the "Mayflower" and the
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Two of
these brothers returned to England, while the
third brother remained and was afterwards
killed by Indians. One of the descendants of
this third brother was Henry Lake, grandfather
of Hon. Henry C. Lake. Henry Lake was a
resident of New Hampshire, and served in the
Revolutionary war, and his son, Calvin Lake
(father), was born in 1792 and died in Septem-
ber, 1851. Calvin Lake was a native of New
Hampshire, and in 1819 removed to the town
of Gerry. Some years previous to his death he
lost his sight. He married Sarah iNIather,
daughter of Eu.sebius Mather, of Vermont, who
was a Revolutionary soldier and a lineal de-
scendant of the celebrated Rev. Cotton Mather,
who figured so conspicuously in the early history
of Massachusetts and New England.

Henry C. Lake was reared on the farm, at-
tended Fredonia academy, and after leaving
school taught several terms in the public schools.
While teaching he read law for the purpose of

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

fully qualifying himself for business pursuits
and not with any intention of entering the legal
profession. In 1851 he removed to Charlotte
Centre, in tlie town of Charlotte, where he
opened a general mercantile store and engaged
in the manufacture of a wood-sawing machine
for cutting railroad wood, besides giving some
attention to various other lines of business. In
1865 he came to Fredonia, where he has resided
almost uninterruptedly ever since and been en-
gaged in various business enterprises. He was
weigher for two years at the New York custom-
house, and then was appointed assistant surveyor
of that port, M'hich position he held for over
four years. Mr. Lake was interested for some
years in iinancial matters. He was one of the
proprietors of the Union bank of Fredonia. He
was also interested in the Chautauqua County
Savings bank for several years as vice-president
and director.

On August 31, 1847, he married ^Margaret
M. Ames, who is a native of New Hamjjshire.
Their children are : Clarence H., assistant cash-
ier of the Ciiautauqua County National bank
and ex-sheritf of Chautauqua county ; Nellie C.
and Mary M.

In ])olitical matters Mr. Lake is a republican
and has iield the various offices of his native
town. He was elected in 1862 as a member of
the Assembly from the Second district of Ciiau-
tauqua county, was re-elected in 1863 and served
two full terms as an assemblyman at a very try-
ing and stormy period in the history of New
York, when the duties and responsibilities of
that position were as numerous and important
as at any other time within the career of the
Empire State since its colonial days.

HONORABLE GEORGK BAKKEK, who
served as a justice of the Supreme Court
of New York, in the Eighth Judicial District,
from 1868 to 1889, is one whose career well il-
lustrates the great lesson that tiiere are few (ib-
stacles which industry, energy, integrity and in-

tellectual ability cannot overcome. He was born
at Venice, Cayuga county, New York, Novem-
ber 6, 1823, and is a sou of John A. and Phebe
(Ogden) Barker. His parents Avere botli of
English ancestry, and his paternal grandfather
served in the Revolutionary war, in Connecti-
cut, and removed to Long Island, where he was
widely known for his kindness, generosity and
hospitality. His son, John A. Barker (father),
was born in 1787 and died in Cayuga county in
1858. He learned the tanning business, which
he followed in connection with farming, after
removing, in 1810, to New York. " He was a
man of activity and energy, of great force of
character, prosperous in his business pursuits, of
good repute and of considerable local influence
in public affairs." In 1810, at Chenango Forks,
Broome county, he married Phebe Ogden, who
was born at Elizabeth, N. J., and passed away
in 1860 in Cayuga county. She was a member
of that Ogden family of New Jersey, which has
produced so many eminent and distinguished
men. One of the able jurists of this family was
David Ogden, a graduate of Yale college and a
judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey,
whose son, Hon. Abraham Ogden, one of the
great jury lawyers of his day, was the founder
of Ogdensburg, New York, and the father of
Thomas Ludlow Ogden, who was the law part-
ner of Alexander Hamilton and the legal ad-
viser of the Holland Land company. Among
the many other Ogdens of New Jersey who
were distinguished divines, inventors and states-
men, was United States Senator Aaron Ogden,
who graduated at Princeton and served under
Washington in the Revolutionary war.

George Barker grew to manhood on his
father's farm and received his education in the
common and select schools of his neighborhood
and Aurora academy. He commenced the study
of law in 1844, with David ^Yright, of Auburn,
and was admitted to the bar of that place in
November, 1847. In January, 1848, he came
to F'redonia, where he entered upon the practice

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

of his profession and wliere he has resided ever
since. He was clerk of the village in 1850, 1851
and 1852, and served as president of the village
in 1853, 1857 and 1858. In 1853 he was
elected district attorney of Ciiautanqnu county
and again in 1862, but resigned before the ex-
piration of his second term. He devoted his
time assiduously to the practice of his profession
with good success until 1867, when he served as
a member of tiie Constitutional convention of
New York, of that year, and rendered good ser-
vice on the committee of '" the judiciary " and
"the legislature and its organization." His
colleague from Chautauqua county was Augustus
F. Allen. After the close of his labors in the
Constitutional ccmvention, he returned home and
was elected during the same year as a justice of
the Supreme Court of New York in the Eighth
Judicial District, composed of the counties of
Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Nia-
gara, Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming, to suc-
ceed Hon. Martin Grover, whose .second term
was then expiring. Judge Barker served his
full term of eight years, was re-elected in 1875
for a term of fourteen years, and at its expiration,
in 1889 retired from the bench. In the fol-
lowing year, 1890, he was appointed and served
as a member of the commission, consisting of
thirty-eight members, created by an act of tiie
legislature, to propose amendments to the article
of the constitution relative to the judiciary sys-
tem of thckState, and to report their recommend-
ations to the legislature for their action.

On October 13, 1857, Judge Barker married
Achsah Elizabeth Glisan, of Frederick county,
JNIaryland. They have one child, a daughter,
Mary E., who is the wife of John Woodward,
of Jamestown.

Judge Barker has never been a politician in
the popular sense of the term, and while quiet
and unostentatious in manner, he has never been
lacking in the courage to express his convictions
on pultlie questions.

T A>^AL,TER W. HOLT, a lawyer of over forty
-"*- years active practice before all the courts
of the State of New York and senior member
of the legal firm of Holt & Holt, of Dunkirk
city, was born at Springfield, Otsego county,
New York, September 24, 1821, and is a son of
General Walter and Sarah (Van Benschoten)
Holt. Tiie Holts of New York trace their
English lineage through the Connecticut family
of that name, of which their fiimily is a branch,
and was founded by Deacon George Holt (grand-
father), who removed from Connecticut to Ot-
sego county, where he followed farming until
his death, when eighty-six years of age. He
was a democrat and an active member of the
Baptist church. His son, Gen. Walter Holt
(father), was born in 1791 and came with his
parents about 1796 to Otsego county, where he
died in 1867. Gen. Holt was an extensive
farmer and a large stock-raiser. He was a
deacon of the Baptist church, served as a major-
general in the New York Militia and was a man
of energy and unusual will-power. He was a
democrat until 1856, when he became a repub-
lican and afterwards served for seven years as a
justice of the peace. His wife, Sarah Holt, was
a member of the Van Benschoten family of Ot-
sego count}", and a Baptist in religious belief;
she died in 1857, aged fifty-six years.

Walter W. Holt spent his boyhood days on
the farm and received his early education in the
common schools. He then entered Gilbertsville
academy, but completed his academic course at
Clinton academy of Oneida county, where the
principal gave him charge of several classes
while he attended there. Leaving Clinton
academy he became principal, in 1845, of Akron
High school, Ohio, and while there that year he
aided in establishing a union school, and organ-
ized the first teachers' institute ever held in the
State of Ohio.

In 1847, while on his way to visit his fatlier,
he was taken sick at Fredonia, and after recov-
ering from his sickness he was so liivorably im-

OF CHAUTAVQUA COUNTY.

pressed with this county tiiat lie decided to settle
in it. He then read hiw with Stephen Snow, of
Fredonia, was admitted to practice in tiie Sii-
Ijreiue Court of New York in 1849, and four
years later opened an office at Fredonia, where
he practiced until 1861. In that year he came
to Dunkirk, where he soon acquired a lucrative
l)racti(;e, and where he now stands in the frt)nt
rank of the resident lawyers of the city. He is
au active democrat and was city counselor for
several years, but resigned in 1882 in favor of
his son, Walter D. Holt.

He married, in 1845, ]\Iary S., daughter of
Stephen Stewart, of Warren, N. Y., and who
died in 1853, leaving one child, a daughter,
Isabella S. Ou October 3, 1855, he united in
marriage with Sarah S. Brown, daughter of
Euos Brown, of Utica, New York. To this
second union was born one child, a son, M^dter
D., who read law, was admitted to the l)ar,
served as city counselor since 1883, and since
1879 has been a partner with his father in the
practice of law.

In early life Mr. Holt was engaged in several
extensive business enterprises, and furnished the
stone used in the construction of several set^tions
of the Erie & Lake Shore railroads, besides
building a plank walk from Dunkirk to Fre-
donia. He has been the counsel of the Chau-
tauqua Assembly for over twelve years, and is
also counsel of the Free Association of Cassa-
(iao-a Lake.

TA^II.I.I \>I H. WALKKK, postmaster of

-**■ Westfield, and a jiast commander of
Wm. Sackett Post, No. 324, Grand Army
of the Republic, was born at Warsaw, Wyo-
ming county, New York, July 18, 1838, and
is a sou of William and Abigail E. (Ensign)
Walker. His parents were natives of St.
Alfcaus, Vermont, where his father, William
AValker, learned the trade of harness-maker.
He served as a solcher from Vermont, in the
War of 1812, and afterwards came to Warsaw,

where he followed farming and harness-making
and where he died in 1885, at the advanced age
of ninety years.

William H. Walker was reared at Warsaw,
where he received au academic education. In
1861 ho enlisted in Co. K, ITtli New York as
a private and was afterwards promoted to ser-
geant major of his regiment. He was at Han-
over Court-house, Second Bull Run and Antie-
tam, and was honorably discharged iu June,
1863, having served the full term of his enlist-
ment. He returned to Warsaw where he was
in business until 1866, when he came to West-
field and became a partner of L. Parsons
in the drug business. Mr. Parsons died
eighteen months later and Mr. Walker pur-
chased the interest of Mr. Parsons' heirs iu the
business and since then has successt'ully con-
ducted his drug store. He has a large stock
of pure aud carefully selected drugs, and en-
joys a liberal patronage. Having received the
appointment by President Harrison, as post-
master of Westfield, he assumed the duties of
the office on March 3, 1890, which office he has
held with credit to himself ever since.

On September 3, 1863, he married Jeannette
A. Taber, of Warsaw, New York. They have
two children : Charles T., a graduate oi Wil-
liams college, now a teacher iu the ''Berkely
school," New York City ; and Edward T.,
book-keeper of the National Bank of Westfield.

William H. Walker is a republican in poli-
tics, but was never an office seeker, and as post-
master of Westfield has endeavored to discharge
faithfully every duty of his office. The West-
field postoffice is the successor of Chautauqua
postoffice, the first postoffice in the county, and
was established on May 6, 1806, on the west
side of the creek, with Col. James McMahan as
postmaster. It continued until June 15, 1818,
when it was discontinued, aud Westfield post-
office was established as its successor, with Fenu
Demming as postmaster. The ])ostmasters since
then have been ; Orvis Nichols, William Sex-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

toil, Hev. H. W. Beers, Dr. M. Kenyon, David
Mann, Byron Hall, F. C. Borger, W. E.
AVheeler, C. U. Drake, F. A. Hall, J. La Due,
and the present incumbent, W. H. Walker.
Mr. Walker is an active member of Wm. Sack-
ett Post, No. 324, Grand Army of the Repub-
lic, and the present secretary and past regent of
Westfield Council, Xo. 81, Royal Arcanum.

HARVI:Y 3IOXTGOMEKY is a descen-
dant of a very old family in Ireland,
which has sent several representatives to Amer-
ica, who have become distinguished in military,
naval, religious and political fields. He is a
son of Ezekiel and Fidelia (^lartin) Montgom-
ery, and was born in Hanover, Chautauqua
county, New York, October 8, 1843. His
father was a native of the eastern part of New
York, born in 1800, and came to Chautauqua
county, locating in Hanover in 1832.

By trade he was a mill-wright, and for a
number of years was engaged in the manufac-
ture of milling and grain-cleaning machinery,
in partnership with two of his sons, Henry and
Martin, under the firm name of E. Montgom-
ery & Co. They continued in this business un-
til 1866. He died in 1868, aged sixty-eight
years. Politically he was a republican. Eze-
kiel Montgomery married Fidelia Martin, by
whom he had eight children. One son, Bald-
win, lives in Silver Creek; another, Plenry,
died in Buffalo, October, 1887; and a third,
Martin, in Newark, Ohio. Mrs. Montgomery
was a native of eastern New York, born in
1806, and died in the autumn of 1886, aged
eighty years. She was a member of the Pres-
byterian church.

Harvey Montgomery was brought up in Sil-
ver Creek, this county, and received a common
school education. After leaving .school he
learned the machinist's trade, which he followed
for the last thirty years. In JIarch, 1886, he
engaged as foreman in the establishment, where
he still holds that position, and is considered

an expert, skillful and reliable workman with
excellent executive ability. He is a member of
the fire dejjartment, and also of Silver Creek
Council, Royal Arcanum, No. 139.

Harvey Montgomery was married Novem-
ber, 1871, to Helen Horton, a daughter of
Albert Horton of Silver Creek.

JOSEPH W. HUNTLEY is a son of

^^ Michael and Mercy R. (Higgins) Hunt-
Icy, and was born in Lyme, Connecticut, April
21, 1812. His grandfather, Reuben Huntley,
was also a native of Connecticut, but emigrated
to Chenango county, this State, where he passed
the remainder of his days as a farmer. In
politics he was a democrat. Sylvanus Higgins
(maternal grandfather) was a native of Lyme,
where he spent his life on a farm. Michael
Huntley (father) was born in Lyme on October
27, 1777, and for a few years followed farming
as an occupation. He then .sought the sea for a
livelihood, and became captain of a merchant
vessel running between New York city and the
West Indies, and during a passage home from
the latter port, died of yellow fever, January
23, 1818. Politically he was an old-line whig.
In 1800 he married Mercy R. Higgins and had
five children, all of whom are dead except
Joseph W.

Josejjh W. Huntley was educated in the com-
mon schools of his native town, and after leav-
ing school began the life of a sailor, which he
followed until twenty-three years of age, when,
in 1836, he exchanged the tempestuous king-
dom of Neptune for the more quiet and peace-
ful realm of Ceres b\' coming to Sherman, this
county, and buying a farm of two hundred
acres in the primeval forest, where an axe had
never been seen, which he cleared and cultivated
until April, 1881, when, feeling he was justly
entitled to enjoy the harvest of his labors in a
serene old age, he moved into the village of
Sherman, where he has since resided. In his
political opinions he is a republican, and has

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

held the offices of road commissioner and
assessor several terms.

Joseph W. Huutloy was married on October
10, 1835, to Mary E. Eeed, a daughter of Ely
Reed. To this union have been born three
children, two sons and one daughter : Sylvanus
H., who died at seven years of age ; William
It., who married Delia Frost, of Cherry Creek,
and is a farmer iu Sherman ; and Elizabeth ]\I.

rfLBERT C. WIDMAX, one of the suc-

-■^ cessful and enterprising young business
men of this city, was born in Dunkirk, Chau-
tauqua county, N. Y., September 15, 1860, and
is a son of Charles and Sabina (Hiller) Wid-
man. His father was a native of Heiningen,
Germany, and was born in 1827. He was
brought up in his native country, receiving his
education in the schools there, after which he
taught school. He then learned the trade of a
pattern-maker, and in 1853 emigrated to Can-
ada, where he resided in Quebec for one year.
He came to the United States in 1854 and
located at Dunkirk, where he spent the re-
mainder of his life. As a pattern-maker he
worked in the Brooks locomotive works for
twenty years, at the expiration of which time
he engaged in the grocery business with William
Wyman, the firm-name being W^idman & Wy-
man. At the end of two years he withdrew
from the firm and went into the same business
alone, in which he remained during the rest of
his life. He was a very successful business
man, and built a handsome two-story brick
block, using the ground floors for his business
and the second story as his private residence.
The block was erected in 1874 at the corner of
Railroad Avenue and Courtney Street. Politi-
cally he was a democrat, and died July 25,
1889. In 1847 he married Sabina Hiller, a
native of Ulm, Germany, who was born July
21, 1822, and now resides iu Dunkirk with
Albert C. They were the parents of four chil-
dren, two sons and two daughters.

Albert C. Widman was reared in Dunkirk,
received his education in the public schools, and
in 1889 bought his father's saloon and grocery
business and still continues at the old stand.
He not only has a most excellent trade, but
adds materially to his revenue by handling
flour and feed. In politics he is a democrat,
has served as inspector of election boards, and
is a promising and popular young man.

Albert C. Widman was married. May 28,
1889, to Nellie Westerberg, daughter of S. J.
Westerberg, of Hartfield, this county. This
union has been blest with one child, Barbara
L., who was born September 1(!, 1890.

TOHX HILLIAKD is one of the men to

^ whom several of the best citizens and
firms of Dunkirk owe the solidity and durabil-
ity of their residences and places of business.
He was born on Staten Island, New York,
October 26, 1842, and is a son of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Tims) Hilliard. His father, Samuel
Hilliard, was of Quaker ancestry, born in New
Jersey, in 1808, spending his early youth iu
that State and in Philadelphia, Pa. He was a
contracting mason by occupation, moved to
Staten Island in 1839, where he worked at his
trade until 1844, moved to and resided iu
Buffalo until 1849 and then came to Dunkirk
to complete the Loder House, which was opened
to the public late iu 1850, when the Erie rail-
road was completed to Dunkirk. He moved
his family here in 1850, and for twenty-three
years was foreman of the masons in the employ
of the western division of the Erie railroad.
In religion he was an attendant at the Episcopal
church and politically was a democrat. He
was a member of the Board of Education at
Dunkirk for two years and was a very energetic
man. In 1839 he married Elizabeth Tims, a
native of England, who came to America when
quite young, and they were the parents of ten
children, si.x sons and four daughters. Mr.
Hilliard died iu 1882, at the age of .seventy-four

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

years, and Mrs. Hilliard in 1884, aged sixty-
tliree years.

John Hilliard came to Dunkirk with Jiis
parents in October, 1850, and received his edu-
cation in the common schools of that place.
He then learned the trade of a mason and for
the last twenty years has been engaged in con-
tracting and building, and among the buildings
which show his haniliwork are the Avery, Book-
staver, Brooks and Hinman residences, St.
Mary's Retreat, the offices and additions of tie
Brooks Locomotive Works and scores of others.
Since the organization of the Brooks Locomo-
tive Woi'ks in 1869, he has done all their mason
work and is accounted as skilled a workman as
this section affords. He is a member of St.
John's Episcopal church, of which he is also a
vestr3'man, is a democrat in politics and has
been a member of the common council. He is
a member of Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, R.
A. M., and Dunkirk Council, No. 25.

John Hilliard, on May 1st, 1872, was mar-
ried to Alice Cruser, a daughter of Samuel
Cruser, of Dunkirk, and to their union have
been born three children, one sou and two
daughters : Maud, Ethel, and John, whose ages
are respectively, eighteen, sixteen and nine years.

FRANK KI)WAK1> (ilFFOKO, a son of
Horace H. and Rlioda (Steward) Gifford^
was born November 6, 1845, at Wrightsville,
Warren county, Pennsylvania. His paternal
grandfather was William Gifford, one of the pio-
neers of Chautauqua county, and one of its
most respected citizens.

Frank E. Gifford received his education,
after the common schools, at the Fredonia
Academy, and at Fort Edward, New York. He
developed marked business tastes early in life,
and at the age of sixteen began a career for
himself. During the war he held a respon-
sible position in the quartermaster's depart-
ment at Albany, N. Y. After business ven-
tures in New York City and elsewhere, he

returned, in 1870, to Jamestown, where his
family all reside, giving his attention to tiie
Jamestown Cane-seat Chair Works. In 1880
he, with his brothers Charles H. and William
S. GifFord, bought the entire plant, and F. E.
Gifford became president of the company,
which office he still holds.

On June 29, 1881, Mr. Gifford was married
to Miss Josephine Fenton, daughter of Gov-
ernor R. E. Fenton, of New York. To them
have been born two children. Governor Fenton
died August 5, 1885, leaving a large estate,
of which Mr. Gifford was executor. He
succeeded Governor Fenton to the presidency
of the First National Bank of Jamestown,
and still retains the office.

Mr. Gifford is a democrat politically, a man
of large ideas and wide influence.

HrOH W. TH03IPS0X, editor and pro-
prietor of the Westfield Hepublicnn, the
seventh established and now oldest newspaper
of Westfield, is a son of Hugh W., Sr., and
Eliza (IVIcDowell) Thompson and was born at
Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York,
October 2, 1858. His pareuts are natives of
County Down, Ireland, and came in 1851 to
Westfield, where his father has followed car-
pentering.

Hugh W. Thom])son was reared at \\'est-
field, where he attended the academy of that
place until he was eighteen years of age, when
he went to Mayville and learned the trade of
printer in the office of the Sentinel. In July,
1885, he returned to Westfield and worked on
the Republicun until May 13, 1889, when he
purchased the paper of A. E. Rose, then its
proprietor, and has published it ever since.
The Republican was started April 25, 1855,
by a company composed of G. W. Patterson,
W. H. Seward, Alvin Plumb and Austin
Smith. Its first editor was M. C. Rice, and
its circulation under his charge was about one
thousand copies.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY.

1G7

Hugh W. Thompson has always been inde-
pendent in politics, and is a member and for
the last three years has iiecn an elder of" tlic
Westtield Presbyterian cluireh. His paper is
a folio, 3() by 44 inches in size, has a circu-
lation of one thousand copies and is a reliable
weekly ; crisp, attractive and interesting.

The Westfield Republican, as its name im-
plies, lias always been and is republican in
jiolities. It has always been aggressively re-
publican, and has never been neglectful of the
interests of Westfield or Chautauqua county.
It has been so edited and conducted by Mr.
Thompson as to command attention and re-
spect from his political opponents, as well as
to win support and advocates within iiis own
party. He has succeeded in giving his county
a clean and newsy sheet while establishing a
fearless and successful organ in the interests of |
the party of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield.

TOHX K. 1>EKBY, an aged citizen of
^^ Jamestown, Cliautau(jua countv, New
York, lias resided here since 183'i, and for
many years was a painter, and conducted a
paint and oil store here until 18G6; he then
sold out the business to his brother Silas S.
Derby, who had been a partner for a number of
years. Mr. Derby is tiie third son of Joseph
and Elizabeth (Kenyon) Derby, and was born
near Batavia, Genesee county, New York, Feb-
ruary 9, 1816. He comes from two very old
families. Phineas Derby (paternal grandfather)
was one of two brothers who came from Eng-
land and settled in Vermont ; he followed
farming until his death. He was active, politi-
cally, and served in the Colonial army ; the
maternal grandfather, Rouse Kenyon, was a
native of Rhode Island, but removed to Gene-
see county, near Batavia. Joseph Derby was
born in the State, whose bosom holds the form
of the glorious Ethan Allen, and he remained
there until reaching manhood, when he left the
place of his nativity and saw it no more. He

first went to Genesee county. New York, and
thei'e married Elizabeth Kenyon, and a few
years after they removed to Monroe county,
this State, and still later he removed to Warren
county, Pennsylvania, and died there March
14, 1837. Mr. Derby gained a livelihood by
farming and stone mason work. His marriage
resulted in five children : Phineas, died October
6,1887; Sylvanns, died in 1886; John K.
and Silas S. Derby (see his sketch) reside in
Jamestown, New York ; William R. Derby
resides in North Warren, Pennsylvania, where
he is engaged in the butchering business.

John K. Derby was educated in the common
schools of Monroe county, pcipiired the paint-
ing trade at Rochester, New York, and was em-
ployed in that city five years. He afterward,
in 1836, came to Jamestown, and for twenty-
eight years was jiroprietor of a paint aud oil
store. He then went out of active business, but
since then has not been idle, but has been en-
gaged in building and repairing his houses
and has done considerable joiner's work and
painting, besides building two steam yachts and
a i'ayf row-boats for his own use on Chautau-
qua lake.

He has been twice married, first to Ruth
Smith, of Busti, New York, December 13, 1837,
by whom he had two children, a son. Ami, died
at the age of thirteen months ; and a daughter,
Edna, who married N. A. Arnold and died
when twenty-three years of age. His second
was L. Antoinette Dill, by whom he has one
child, I. Frederick Derby, born May 30, 1882.

J. K. Derby is in more than comfortable
circumstances, owning considerable real estate,
houses and lots. Politically he is a repub-
lican, his first vote being cast for Martin
Van Buren, when that gentleman ran for Presi-
dent. He has held no office except that of
poor-master for ten years, and a trustee of the
Jamestown schools. Mr. Derby is a member
of Ellicott lodge. No. 221, 1. O. O. F., of which
he has been a member for eighteen years.

168

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

ri T.VlfKI> A. ST.\RKING, a member of the

-**■ well-known and enterprising firm known
as the Silver Creek Step-Ladder company, is a
son of Sylvanus S. and Grace A- (Stearns) Star-
ring, and was born in Barry county, an agri-
cultural region in southwest central Michigan,
September 24, 1860. His father, Sylvanus S.
Starring, is a native of Utica, Oneida county,
this State. When a young man he followed the
avocation of a sailor on the lakes for seven years,
until he was wrecked on Lake Erie by ths burn-
ing of the boat on which he was employed. He
then started for the west, but fell in with a party
expecting to work for the Detroit & Milwaukee
railroad, then being constructed. He worked
on the road-bed until it passed through Lowell,
wdiere he quit and, going five miles south,
he cleared a farm from the wilderness in Barry
county, Michigan, which he cultivated until
1861, and then enlisted in Co. D, 3d regiment,
Michigan Infantry, serving until the close of the
war, when he was honorably discharged, on
June 3, 1865, at \Yashington, D. C. He was
with Berdan's Sharpshooters one aud one-half
years, and rose to the rank of captain, and while
with them was wounded in front of Petersburg,
Va. In 1866 he moved to Irving, this county,
with his family, where he remained until 1879,
engaged in the blacksmith's business. In that
( year he came to Silver Creek and resumed the
same trade, which he followed until 1884, and
then organized the Silver Creek Step-Ladder
company, which manufactured the Starring pat-
ent truss step-ladder, the shelf-lock and half-
truss step-ladder, the folding wash-bench and
wringer stand, aud the standard ironing-table,
in which business he is nt present engaged. In
politics he is a republican, and iu 1890 was
elected a coroner, which office he is now holding.
In religion he is a Methodist, being a member
aud steward of the church of that denomination.
He is a member of Lodge No. 757, F. & A. M.
In 1856 he married Grace A. Stearns, a native
of Bergen, Genesee county, this State, by whom

he had five childreu. Three are deceased. Mrs.
Starring is a member of the M. E. church, aud
is now in the forty-ninth year of her age.

Alfred A. Starring came to this county with
his parents, was educated in the public schools,
learned the trade of a blacksmith with his father
and in 1880 became his father's partner in that
business. In the spring of 1885 he bought out
his father's interest and continued the business
alone until 1888, when he bought a half-interest
in the Silver Creek Step-Ladder company, the
firm-name remaining the same. They have a
large aud rapidly-increasing trade, will double
their capacity, aud are now erecting new build-
ings for the purpose of manufacturing fine parlor
furniture. They expect to have this plant in
operation July 15, 1891, and will then employ
fifteen additional men. They have a branch
office in Baltimore. About fifteen men are
emploj-ed. Mr. Starring is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, politically is a
rcjiublican and takes an active part in politics.

Alfred A. Starring was married, on October
26, 1881, to Jennie M. Fuller, a daughter of
Albert C. Fuller (deceased), of Silver Creek.
To this marriage have been born four children,
one son and three daughters: Albert, Beulah,
Gertrude and Vera.

T ^EWIS ROESCH was born in Baden, Ger-
^"^ many, January 4th, 1851, and is a son of
Philip and ^lary ((JIaser) Roesch. His parents
are both natives of Baden, where his father was
born in 1825. His youth was spent in his
native home among the foot-hills of the Black
Forest, in the beautiful valley of the Wiese,
celebrated for the numerous large cotton, wool
and other mills that line its banks, as well
as by its own native poet, J. Peter Hebel, the
Robert Burns of that country.

There Mr. Roesch received a common-school
education and in 1868 came to Albany county,
N. Y., and the year following to Fredonia,
where he has resided ever since. Having no

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY.

1G9

particular trade or occupation, he fi>llo\ved his
natural bent and soon drifted into the growing
of fruit and vegetables, which business he started
Avith a capital of two hundred and eighty dol-
lars. This he soon developed beyond the re-
quirement of the home market, and he opened a
line of trade along the Erie and D. A. Y. & P.
railroads. This trade in turn was pushed be-
yond the ability of his own gardens to supply,
and he became a dealer in country produce,
which trade by the year 1880 amounted to over
$10,000 a season.

The growing of strawbei-ries, raspberries, etc.,
incidentally got him into the small fruit jilant
trade, which he also developed and added to it,
dealing in general nursery stock. In 1879 Mr.
Roescli contracted to grow grape-vines for an-
other nursery on a larger scale for four years,
at the expiration of which term he continued
the business on his own account. This trade
flourished and in a couple of years became of such
magnitude that he decided to drop that of grow-
ing and dealing in fruit and vegetables, which
by the way had grown poorer and more unsatis-
factory every year, owing to over-produetiou,
southern competition and the failure of canning
factories. Mr. Roesch continued to increase the
grape-vine and small fruit nursery, and has re-
cently extended the same to include general \
nursery stock. At present Mr. Roesch's busi-
ness consists of forty acres of grape-vines, cur-
rant and gooseberry plants, etc., ten acres of
fruit and ornamental trees, four acres in experi-
mental and sample vineyard and some two acres
of lawn and ornamental grounds, fruits and vege-
tables, etc., all in a high state of cultivation and
fertility.

lie has a fine office; a cellar 60 by 100 feet
for the storage of grape-vines and other nursery '
stock ; a large packing-house and gradiug-room
connected and under one roof. He employs !
from ten to forty men and boys, according to
the season. His market extends all over this
country and Canada, but principally in the .
9

grape-growing section east of the Rocky Moun-
tains.

In 1879 Mr. Roesch married Sophia :\r:]ler,
of Dunkirk, X. Y. To their union have Ijeen
born three cliildren, two sous and one daughter :
Flora ]\I., Sidney C. and Milton E. Witiiout
political aspirations, Mr. Roesch is a business
man ; he gives most of his attention to business
and jjersonal affixirs, is careful, patient and
methodical, and never embarks in any enter-
prise without a thorough investigation emljrac-
ing every possible detail of the same. To these
(jtiaiities as well as to his enterprise and push is
due the large degree of success attained in a
business for which he had no special education
or prejjaration.

T1>ILLIA3I I.. HI3IEBAUGH. The term
German-American is usually synonymous
with success. William L. Himebaugh began
life with nothing, and to-day, although less than
forty years of age, is at the head of a manufac-
turing business emj^loying not less than twenty-
five men. He was born in Yenango, Crawford
county, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1854, and is a
son of Joseph and Susan (Sherrard) Himebaugh.
The ancestors of W. L. Himebaugh were all of
sturdy German stock, his grandparents emigrat-
ing to this country from the fatherland. The
paternal grandfather was the parent of three
children : Polly, Jacob and Joseph. These
children were born in the northwestern part of
Pennsylvania, near Erie. Joseph, the father of
William L., died at Yenango, Pa., wliere, up to
the time of his death, he was a fiirmer and car-
penter, and also filled the office of justice of the .
peace for many years. He was a popular man
in his locality, had recognized good judgment,
and after once occupying the office the people
continued to re-elect him to it, until advanced
age compelled him to peremptorily decline to
again serve. Like most of the Germans of his
day he was an uncompromising democrat, but
was also a deeply religious man and a communi-

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

cant of the Gei'man Lutheran cluiich. Susan
Sherrard was Mr. Himebaugh's second wilie,
and she bore him seven children ; witii a
former wife, Matilda Grear, he had live chil-
dren. They were : Jacob, David, Gusta, Delila
and Sarah ; and Matilda, now Mrs. Lesher,
livino- at Venango, Pennsylvania ; Almira, liv-
ing at Edinboro', Erie county, Pennsylvania, is
the wife of Alex. A. Torrey ; Hiram, who mar-
ried Orlina Hotchkiss, lives at Venango, Pa. ;
Joseph, whose wife was Anna Beystone, lives at
Jamestown and is connected with William L.
in the manufacture of woven-wire bed-springs,
cots and spiral springs ; John, also living at
Venango, Pa, married to Lydia Hotchkiss;
Eausom, married Emma Baker and moved to a
point in Kansas near Shiloh ; and William L.

William L. Himebaugh, like many of our
best men, got his education in the public schools,
and when grown to manhood began to toil as a
dav laborer in a saw-mill, alternating with farm
work. This he continued for a while and then
moved to the oil region, where for a season he
continued to labor, but later took an interest in
two wells while working by the day. This
continued until 188(5, when he came to James-
town, and with his brother Joseph began the
manufacture of bed-springs, in which they are
still engaged. Politically Mr. Himebaugh is an
unswerving prohibitionist, theoretically and
practically, and also is a member of the INIethod-
ist church.

On the 22d of May, 1877, he married Henri-
etta Staudish, daughter of Alonson and Lora
Standish, who resided near Northeast, Pa. This
union has been blest with three children : Bertha
E., Neal and Henry.

William L. Himebaugh is still a young man,
and the goods he manufactures are of recognized
merit, so it may be expected that the business
he has already made prominent may, in the
future, become vast.

■J^EAKL C. KI3IBAI.L, a respected geutle-
-*■ man, advanced in years, living at Xo. .338
Allen street, Jamestown, is a son of Sylvester
and Lydia (Atwater) Kimball, of Montgomery
county. New York, where he was boru Dec.
16, 1818. His great-grandfather, Richard
Kimball, came from English parents ; lived in
Novia Scotia for a time and afterwards came to
the State of Connecticut, where he died. His
paternal grandfather, Lebbeus Kimball, came to
Ames, jNIontgomery county, this State, and fol-
lowed the trade of stone-cutting in early life.
Prior to his removal inland, he had been a
sailor. He married Sarah Crafts and had three
children, two sons and one daughter. Caleb
Atwater (maternal grandfather) was born in
New England, but came to this State, first to
Columbia county, and later to Ames, Montgom-
ery county, where he died, a farmer. Sylves-
ter Kimball was born in Connecticut, but came
to New York and settled at Ames, where he
was employed as millwright. He married
Lydia Atwater and had four children : Matilda,
died young ; Norman (dead) lived at Cherry
Creek at the time of his death ; Jane, married
Geo. N. Frost, and is living at Cherry Creek;
and Pearl C. ^Ir. Kimball was a democrat and
a Mason, standing high in the councils of the
lodge.

Pearl C. Kimball, after receiving his educa-
tion, apprenticed himself to a carriage-maker
and learned the trade. In 1836 he went to
Cherry Creek and worked at his trade for a
number of years and was also engaged here in
the mercantile business for a time. In 18-47 he
came to Jamestown and established a carriage
manufactory, continuing it until 1873, when he
sold out and lived quietly for two or three
vears, but he was too energetic to remain idle
longer, so he opened a grocery store, which he
conducted until 1887, when having reached
nearly threescore years and ten, he sold put and
has since lived quietly and in retirement.

On May 27, 1838, he married Lucy Shattuck,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

a daughtfT of Pliuy Shattuck, aud they have
been the parents of" live children, four of whom
are living: Matilda, now a widow, married
Willard Smith ; Corolin, wife of Fred L. Far-
lee, a traveling man for the Jamestown Plush
mills ; Maurice was twice married, iirst to
Rhoda Williams, by whom he had one child,
Ernest ; his second wife was Anna Spies, who
bore hira one child, Frances ; and Allen, who
married Julia Macy, a daughter of William
Macy, of Poland, and has one child. Pearl L.
P. C. Kimball is a republican in politics aud
has been town clerk for three years, in the town
of Cherrv Creek.

nEV. .\XDKEW FIJEY, pastor of the
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of
Dunkirk, was born in the city of Cassel, Ger-
many, February 26, 1856, aud is a son of
George and Christine (Baker) Frey. George
Frey was a member of the Catholic church,
served in a civil capacity under his governmeut
for several years, and died in his native city of
Cassel in 1886, at sixty-seven years of age.
His widow, who is a consistent member of the
Catholic church, was born in 1827, and still
resides in Cassel.

Father Andrew Frey was reared in Cassel,
where he received a collegiate education, and
then took a five years' course in theology at
Louvaiu University, Belgium. Upon complet-
ing this course in October, 1879, he wasordaiued
priest, and came to Buffalo, New York, where
he had been appointed by Bishop Ryan, as as-
sistant pastor of St. Louis church of that city.
He served in this capacity uutil June, 1884,
when he came to Dunkirk, and assumed his
present pastoral charge of the Church of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This church, which is the second in age of
the three flourishing churches of Dunkirk, is
the successor of St. George's church, which was !
built by the German catholics of Dunkirk, in :
1857, and used for church purposes until 1877. !

The Jesuit, Franciscan and Passion ist orders
had charge of St. George's church until 1874,
wheu it was made an independent parish, and
on June 11, 1876, the corner-stone was laid of
its successor, the present handsome Church of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was dedicated
on November 18, 1878. It is a fine brick
structure, admirable in architectural design, and
beautiful and rich in all of its interior furnish-
ings. It was erected at a cost of tweuty thous-
and dollars, and one who contributed liberally
towai'ds its erection was the late George Dotter-
weich (died in April, 1884), who also paid for
the town clock in the steeple, the chime of bells,
and gave the beautiful five thousand dollar
marble altar, which was consecrated .July 23,
1882.

Since 1884, the membership of the Ciiureh
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has increased rap-
idly under Father Frey's charge, and now num-
bers two hundred aud seventy-five families.
In 1885 he erected the present handsome brick
parsonage, which is gothic in design, conveni-
ently arranged, and cost over five thousand ilol-
lars. After the completion of the parsonage he
turned his attention to the educational needs of
his congregation, and carried out the long cher-
ished design of erecting a first-class school
building adjoining the church. This three-
story brick structure — St. George's Hall — was
erected in 1884 at a cost of nine thousand dol-
lars, and is fitted '.vith gas, steam and water.
The first floor is divided into thr(!e large school-
rooms, the second floor is St. George's Hall and
stage, while the third floor is occupied by the
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. Father
Frey has labored faithfully in Dunkirk for his
people and the cause of Christianity, and his
efforts have been duly appreciated by his con-
gregation and all who know him. He is a
pleasant gentleman of classical education, gen-
eral information and good address.

BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY

V\AVID H. TAYLOR is oue of the ijrouii-
-'^ ueut grape-gvowei's of Chautauqua couuty.
He was born iu Murray, Orleans county, Xew
York, Sejitember 4, 1822, and is a sou of Jona-
than H. and Polly (Heudrick) Taylor. He
comes from an old and honored family, iiis
ancestor, a Taylor, coming from England to
America in 1630 and settling in Massachusetts.
His grandfather, Theoj)hilus Taylor, was born in
Connecticut, January 28, 1760, and died No-
vember 2-4, 1831. He was a farmer by occu-
pation, and one of his sons, Jonathan H. Taylor
(father), was born at New Fairfield, Connecticut,
1792. He M'as stationed with the State militia,
of ■which he was a member, at New London,
during the blockade of that port by the British,
and in (1814) received a commission of lieuten-
ant from Gov. John Cotton Smith. He came
to Westfield in 1831 and built the first foundry
in this town. In religion he was a member and
a deacon of the Presbyterian church, and died
April 28, 1846, aged fifty-four years, at West-
field, where he had resided fourteen vears. He
married Polly Hendrick, a native of Fairfield,
Conn., by whom he had two children. She was
a member of the Presbyterian church and died
in 1860, at sixty-six years of age.

David H. Taylor was reared princi]>ally at
"Westfield and received his education in the com-
mon schools and in the Westfield academy. In
1860 he began operations as a farmer, adopting
the latest and most imjiroved methods, and has
continued to keep pace with the strides iu im-
provement. He has fifty acres in the village of
Westfield devoted to the cultivation of grapes.

On November 22, 1851, D. H. Taylor united
in marriage with Harriet P., the only daughter
of Judge Thomas B. Campbell, who had been
a prominent citizen of Westfield and Chautau-
qua couuty since 1817, when he came to this
town from Batavia, and built a saw and grist-
mill. Westfield was then known as Portland.
Judge Campbell was born in 1788 in Alexan-
dria, Grafton county, N. H., a town now some-

what famous for its extensive mica mines. He
continued the milling and flouring business for
forty-seven years. He owned hundreds of acres
of farm lands and in 1860 sold sixty acres iu
the southern part of the village for fair ground
purposes. In 1819 he was appointed clerk of
this county, a.ssociate judge in 1826, and first
judge in 1845, which office he held until the
election of judges under the constitution adopted
in 1846. He was supervisor eight years, 1819-
'27, a member of Assembly from 1822 to 1836,
and a member of the board of commissioners
for building the present county court-house.
He had two .sous and three daughters, all of
whom are dead but Mrs. Taylor. Judge Camp-
bell died at the house of Mr. Taylor, on Presi-
dent Cleveland's inauguration day, aged ninety-
seven years, in full possession of all his fiicul-
ties. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have been the parents
of four children, three of whom are living, oue
son and two daughters — Mary L., wife of Dr.
Charles G. Stockton, one of the most prominent
physicians in Buffalo ; Anna, wife of Henry W.
Huuter, of Canton, Ohio, and Tliomas B. C.
married to Charlotte Flower, of St. Lawrence
county, this State.

In politics Mr. Taylor is an uncompromising
democrat, a good substantial citizen, houorable
and enterprising, broad and liberal-minded and
a very pleasant and agreeable gentleman. A
community which possesses such citizens geuer-
allv feels a just pride in them, and the more thej-
have of such men the greater is their material
advantage and advancement. Mr. Taylor occu-
pies a high place in the respect and esteem of
the peojjle among whom he has dwelt so long.

FRED. W. TH03L\S. The press to-day
is a factor of potential jDower; has a
wonderful influence over the people among
whom it circulates, and molds jJublic opinion
to a large degree. The gentleman whose name
heads this sketch is the proprietor and editor of
the Hanover Gazette, the successor of a pajier

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY.

called the Silver Creek Local. Fred. W.
Thomas is a native of Wales, where he was
borii, December 28, 1853, and comes from
Cymric ancestors as far remote as the family
can be traced. His parents were James and
Ann Elizabeth Thomas, honorable and respect-
ed people of their native country.

Fred. W. Thomas was reared and educated
in the old country and remained close to the
scene of his birth until he reached his twenty-
fourth year, having been trained and practiced
in the art of book-keeping. As was custoniary
with those who aspired to the higher employ-
ments, he received a good classical and com-
mercial education, in a prominent grammar
seiiool. After his arrival in America ]Mr.
Thomas found employment in various capaci-
ties until 1885, when he embarked in the fire
insurance business in Silver Creek, and his suc-
cess in this line has been pronounced. In Feb-
ruary, 1890, his business mind saw that a news-
paper here would be a good investment, and
although it might not at once net large returns,
the succeeding years would increase its value,
and he bought the Hanover Gazette, the name
to which the Silver Creek Local had been
changed. This paper was founded by J. I.
Spears, who was attached to the New York
Sun's I'ecent expedition to explore Greenland.
The circulation of the Gazette is constantly in-
creasing under the new management and it is
entering into the confidence of its readers in a
way that is gratifying and creditable to Mr.
Thomas.

Journalism in Silver Creek has had a check-
ered career for thirteen years, but the Gazette
is founded on a solid basis, is a clean and care-
fully edited paper such as commends itself to
every home, and whilst its future is full of
promise, it may truthfully be asserted, that to
the present editor belongs the honor of estab-
lishing the most successful newspaper ever pub-
lished in Silver Creek.

October IS, 1882, he married Hattie Wells

Ward, a daughter of Dr. Spencer Ward, who
was a pioneer physician of northeastern Chau-
taufpm county, and lived iu this village. Dr.
Ward was a native of Vermont, from which
State he came and settled here. Fred. W. and
IMrs. Thomas have been blessed with three
children, all daughters : Helen Elizabeth, An-
nie Spencer and Marian Ward, who are yet,
young and live witli their parents.

■pi>WARD A. SKIXNER, a well-known
'•■^ business man and president of the Na-
tional Bank of Westfield, was born in the towu
of Aurora, Erie county. New York, May 10,
1841, and is a son of Rev. Levi A. and Laura
(Patterson) Skinner. His paternal grandfather,
Levi Skinner, was a farmer, and a native of
Massachusetts, from which he came to Oneida
county, this State, where he died in 1850. He
was of Euglish origin and had been a member
of the Presbyterian church for many years be-
fore his death. His son, Rev. Levi A. Skin-
ner (father), was reared iu the faith of the
Presbyterian church, iu which he became a
minister in early life. After preaching for sev-
eral years in Erie county, this State, his
voice failed him, and he was thus comjielled
to retire from the pulpit. He then (July
1, 1854) came to Westfield and succeeded
J. N. Hungerford as cashier of the Bank
of Westfield, which position he held un-
til 1864, when he became a stockholder and
director of tiie First National Bank of West-
field. In October the bank commenced busi-
ness and he was elected cashier, which position
he held until 1875, wheu he was elected presi-
dent and .served iu that capacity until his death,
April 12, 187(j, at sixty-five years of age. He
was a man of moderate means, stood well in
financial circles, and married Laura Patterson,
a daughter of John Patterson, who was of
Scotch-Irish descent.

Edward A. Skinner was reared in Erie
C(.)untv until he was twelve vears of aue, when

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

he came with his parents to Westfield where he
completed his education in the Westfield acad-
emy, from which he was graduated. At six-
teen years of age he went into the Westfield
Bank as book-keej)er, remained two years and
then was engaged in mercantile business until
1861, when he enlisted in Co. G, 9th N. Y.
cavalry, and served as second lieutenant several
months. In 1862 he was promoted to first
lieutenant and shortly afterwards was commis-
sioned regimental quartermaster, which position
he held until March, 1864, acting as brigade
quartermaster much of the time. He was then
discharged on account of physical disability, re-
turned to Westfield where he became assistant
cashier of the First National Bank of Westfield,
which position he held until 1870, when he
helped organize the First National Bank of
Ottawa, Kansas, with which he is still identi-
fied. He returned from Ottawa in 1874, was
elected in 1875 vice-president of the Flr.st Na-
tional Bank of Westfield, which position he held
until 1886, when at the death of his father he
succeeded him as president, and has acted in
that capacity ever since. This bank was organ-
ized in 1848 as the Bank of Westfield, has a
cajjital of fifty thousand dollars aud its deposits
average over two hundred thousand dollars.
A well established and well conducted bank is
a marked feature of progress in any community
and the National Bank of Westfield has been so
conducted that it has always commanded pub-
lic confidence.

In 1864 Mr. Skinner married Frances M.
Barger, who died in June, 1872. On August
19, 1874, he married Augusta Wheeler, of
Portvilie, New York, who is a daughter of
Hon. William F. Wheeler, president of the
First National Bank of Olean, this State. By
his second marriage he has three children :
Floi-a, Egbert and Frances.

Edward A. Skinner is a republican in poli-
tics and was supervisor of Westfield several
years. He has served since 1880 as treasurer

of the Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum,
and disburses nearly three million dollars per
year of the funds of that organization which
numbers over one hundred thousand members
in the United States and Canada.

^HAKLES 1>. COLBUUX is a fiirmer of
^^ prominence and was born to David L.
and Ann (AValter) Colburn in the town of
Poland, Chautauqua county, New York, Dec.
2, 1841. David Colburn (grandfather) was a
native of Otsego county, but died in Chautauijua
county. David L. Colburn was born in Otsego
county, this State, and removed to the town of
Poland, where he worked by the day as a
common laborer for a number of years, begin-
ning when eighteen years of age. He after-
wards became a landed farmer. He married
Ann Walter and reared three children : William
entered the Federal army in 1861, joining the
42d regiment, Illinois Infantiy, where entering
as a private he was discharged at the close of
the war with a captain's commission. Return-
ing to his home in Michigan, he died in 1873.
He carried a number of scars of wounds re-
ceived, none of which were permanently dis-
abling; Mary married a farmer named John
Smith, and lives in Yillanova, this county; aud
Charles D., who married Elizabeth Ingersoll,
a daughter of Peter Ingersoll, who was a riative
of Chenango county, and from there reuioved
into Chautauqua county, locating in the town of
Ellington, where he died in 1872, aged seventy-
two years. "When a young man he engaged in
merchandising, but later became a farmer.
Politically a democrat, he was elected justice of
the peace soon after his arrival in Chautauqua
and held the office almost all his life. His wife
was Lois M. Smith, who became the mother of
the following children. Martin Y. B., a farmer
residing in the town of Ellington ; Erastus S.,
resides at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, and is
a prominent merchant. He was a member of
the New York State Assembly two years ;

OF (JIIAUTAVQUA COUSTY.

Charles P., also represented his district in the
Assembly, aud has until lately resided at West-
field, hut uow lives in New York city, holding
the position of graud dictator of the Knights of
Honor ; J. Lambert was a lawyer and died at
Jamestown, in 1881 ; and Martha, married
Perry Slater ; she is now dead ; before her mar-
riage she was a teacher in the public schools.
They were all members of the Methodist
Episcopal church. Air. Colburn married the
second time to Theda M. Lily, aud had a large j
family, four of whom are living.

Charles D. Colburn has always followed farm-
iug and owns a farm of one hundred and eight ;
acres, a portion of it lieing in the corporate
limits of Jamestown, and has recently pur-
chased one hundred acres on the sliore of Chau-
tauqua lake.

On February 15, 18G5, he married Elizabeth
E. Ingersoll and their union has been blest
with three children : Mina B., is a very popular j
teacher in the Jamestown Kindergarten schools,
having graduated from the Jamestown High
school and prepared especially for teaching .
Martlia died when fourteen years and five
months old ; and B. Vincent. The maternal j
grandmother of Mrs. Colburn was among the
oldest inhabitants of Ellington, and lived to the
advanced age of one hundred and two ye.irs.

Air. Colburn is a republican, and with his
wife and entire family are members of the
Methodist church. He is also a member of i
Lodge No. 34, Ancient Order of United
AVorkmen.

T .EVERETT BARKER GREENE, of Fre-
^^ donia, is a grandson of General Leverett
Barker, and a lineal descendant of the brother
of General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary
memory. He is a sou of Eosell and Eliza
(Barker) Greene, and was born at Fredonia,
Chautauqua county. New York, November 23,
1839. The Greenes are of English origin, aud
the founder of the American branch of the

family was a Quaker, among whose descendants
were General Nathaniel Greene and his brother,
from whom Rosell Greene (father) was descended.
Rosell Greene was born in Herkimer county in
1815, and came, about 1830, to Mayville, where
he attended school. He afterwards i-emoved to
Fredonia, learned the trade of tanner with Gen.
Leverett Barker, and then took charge of the
tannery of the latter. He continued in the
tannery business until his death, in 1859, when
he owned the Fredonia tannery, besides a large
tannery and mills in Cattaraugus county. He
married Eliza Barker, the second child and
eldest daughter of Gen. Leverett Barker, and
had two sous and three daughters, all of whom
are dead except Leverett B., the subject of this
sketch. General Leverett Barker (maternal
grandfixther) was a son of Russel Barker, of
Branfort, Connecticut, where he was born
May 6, 1787. He came to Chautauqua county
in 1817, and on March 3, 1811, married Desire,
daughter of Hezekiah Barker, who had come to
Cauadaway in 1806. He built at Fredonia the
fir.st cannery in the county, had an intere.st in a
large tannery afterwards erected at Jamestown,
and died in 1848. He was one of the prime
movers, in 1831, in establishing the first bank
in the county — the Chautauqua County Bank —
of which he was president for several years.
He served in the war of 1812, and was succes-
sively commissioned lieuteuant, adjutant, lieu-
tenant-colonel (1818), colonel (1823), brigadier-
geueral of the 43d brigade (1824), and major-
general of the 26th division of New York
Infantry (1826). He left a family of two sons
and six daugliters.

Leverett Barker Greene .spent his boyhood
days at Fredouia, where he received his educa-
tion in the old academy of that place. At the
death of his father he a.ssumed charge of the
estate, aud is uow engaged in the tanning busi-
ne.ss and looking after his real e.state interests in
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus aud Erie counties.

On February 27th, 1868, Air. Greene married

176

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Isabella Burnliam, a native of Madison county,
and tbey have one adopted daughter, Kate.
Mrs. Greene is a lineal descendant of the De
Burnlumi, who was lord of the Saxon village
in England which was afterwards known as
Burn bam.

L. B. Greene is a republiean in politics, and
has been for several years a member of the
Masonic fraternity. He is a stockholder of the
Fredonia Xational Bank, the successor of the
Fredonia Bank of which his father was the first
president. He owns some valuable property at
Fredonia, which is his present home. The
General Leverett Barker homestead was bought
by his uncle, Darwin R. Barker, who willed
this property to the village to be used for a
public library.

TT IJAD FULLER. The material wealth of
-^^ a community is largely advanced by the
possession of good live stock. Chautauqua
county is justly renowned for the superior stock
she raises, and to Arad Fuller the credit is
largely due for its introduction. This gentle-
man, a son of Amos and Charity (Roberts)
Fuller, was born November 13, 1822, at Nor-
wich, AVindsor county, Vermont. His great-
grandfather, William Fuller, was born in Bos-
ton, Mass., where he married Persis Paine,
either a sister or niece of Robert Treat Paine.
Their children were: William, Persis, Witt and
a daughter (name forgotten).

Witt Fuller was born in Massachusetts and
married Deborah Garfield, by whom he had
eight children: Persis, Betsey, Lucy, Laura,
Walden, Nathan, Arad and Amos. He re-
moved to Vermont, where he died in 1809 or
1810. Amos Fuller was born in Vermont, but
in 1833 he emigrated to Chautauqua county and
settled in the town of Poland, where he lived
until his death, which occurred September 27,
1879, aged eighty-one years. By occupation he
was a luml)ermau and farmer, in politics a whig
and republican, and was a member of the Meth-

odist church, but before his death he became a
Universalist. Amos Fuller married Charity
Roberts and had six children, two sons and four
daughters, of whom Arad is the oldest. The
daughters died when young, and the other son,
Danford D., went to Iowa and afterwards to
Dakota, where he died in 1885.

Arad Fuller was educated in the early public
schools and began life as a lumberman, subse-
quently purchasing a small farm in Poland, to
which he added until his death, when he owned
about six hundred aci'es of land. He early de-
voted his attention to raising fine stock, and
brought some fine blood to Chautauqua county.
A clipping from a Jamestown paper, published
at the time of his death, April 11, 1887, says:
"All these years Arad Fuller has been one of the
re])resentative men of southern Chautauqua,
full of ambition, possessed of great industry, and
loving his work he has lived for a purpose and
filled it well. He \vas a great lover of fine stock
and always spent his money freely in any in-
vestments that tended to elevate and develop
the same.

" Chautanquans owe much of their celebrated
stock, to-day, to the good judgment exercised in
the past by Arad Fuller.

"It is proper here to say that no man was
better or more favorably known to this commun-
ity than Mr. Fuller. He was genial and always
glad to meet his fellow -citizens, they, in return,
ever had for him a warm and cordial reception.

"He will be greatly missed. His counsel and
advice will no more encourage his friends, but
his memory will remain, and in future years, as
now, many of us will recall the grandeur, the
integrity and the association of Arad Fuller."

Ai'ad Fuller married Malvina Bill, on March
4, 1846. She was a daughter of Norton B. and
Cemeutha (Ransom) Bill. The father of Mrs.
Fuller was a native of New England, and came
to this county from Oneida county, N. Y., in
1830, and located in Poland, where he followed
farmino- until his death, in 1871. Mrs. Fuller

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

177

was the second child of a family of seven. Mr.
and ^Irs. Fuller had three children : Sophia,
married John Ely, a farmer living in Kennedy,
Poland town, this county; Martha A., at home;
and Frank, who wedded Elizabeth Phillips, of
Villauova, and lives in South Dayton, Catta-
raugus county.

Politically he was a republican, a kind friend
antl a devoted husband and father.

TOHX JAY LIVIXGSTOX is a venerable

^ and dignified old gentleman of James-
town, who was familiar with the use of the
compass, tripod and chain for more than half a
century. He is a sou of William and Sarah
(Tracy) Livingston, and came into the world at
Hebron, Washington county, N. Y., ou October
19th, 1798. His grandfather, John Livingston,
was a native of Monaghan, Ireland, and from
there came to America, locating in Saratoga
county, jSTew York, where he lived three years,
and during this period subject's father, William
Livingston, was born, the scene of his birth
overlooking the now renowned, but then un-
known, historical battle ground where General
Burgoyne, the haughty Briton, was compelled
to acknowledge defeat and surrendered his
sword and entire army. The elder Li\ ingston
moved to Salem, Washington county, N. Y.,
while subject's father was a toddling infant.
His wife was a Miss Boyd, who bore her hus-
bend a fiimily of six sous and one daughter.
Two of the former, Francis and John, served
in the Continental army and were present at
the surrender of Burgoyne. AVilliam Living-
ston was born in 1768, and early in manhood,
or soon after the close of the war, he studied
medicine and was a practicing physician for
about fifty years. He was a republican in poli-
tics, and represented Washington county in the
State Legislature four terms. Later he went to
Essex county, this State. About 1830 he re-
moved to Chautauqua county, residing at Hart-
field for a few years ; then returned to Essex

county, where he died in his ninety-second
year. William Livingston married Sarah
Tracy, who was born in Connecticut, and was
twelve years old when Benedict Arnold betrayed
New London.

John Jay Livingston was born and educated
in Washington county, and then went to Essex
county, where he remained until 1830, and then
he came to Chautau(jua county and stayed two
years. In 1832 he went to Venango county,
Pennsylvania. Eight years later the county
was divided and Clarion county was erected
from the detached portion. Mr. Livingston
was a citizen of that county, the town being
called Shippenville, for fifty-eight years. He
was a student of languages, and attained a
wonderful proficiency in French and German,
and was also well informed on general subjects,
particularly mathematics, and observing the de-
mand for proficient surveyors, he took up the
study of that profession and followed it more
or less since 1832 until 1883. After his eigh-
tieth birthday he performed field work with
transit and chain for twenty -seven consecutive
days. He was married first to ]Mary Ball, and
for his second wife he took Maria Rice, of
Washington county. New York. By that
union be had seven children, four of whom yet
live : James B. is a physician at West Middle-
sex, Pennsylvania; William R. lives at Silver
Lake, Minnesota, and is a farmer. He served
four years in the 10th regiment Pennsylvania
Reserves, and was wounded in battle; Mary
married I. G. Laeey, a lumberman at Warren,
Pennsylvania; and Harriet E., still unmarried.
John Jay Livingston, for his third wife, mar-
ried Elizabeth J. Whitehill. Her father was a
native and citizen of Centre county, Pennsyl-
vania, until late in life, when he moved up into
Clarion county, and was a blacksmith by trade.
He died at the latter place. Mr. and Mrs.
Livingston lived happily together during more
than thirty-eight years, until June 7th, 1880,
when the latter died. She had one child, a son,

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

Alfred T., who is uow a practicing physician at
Jamestown, Xew York. He married Catherine
Paclver, of "Williarasport, Pennsylvania. Al-
fred T. Livingston was born in Clarion county,
Pennsylvania, and educated at the Jamestown
academy and Allegheny college. He then
studied medicine with his half-brother, Dr.
James B. Livingston, and then attended the
medical department of tlie University of Buf-
falo, after graduating at which he began tlie
practice of medicine in that city in 1873, but
staid there less than a year before he was ap-
pointed assi.stant physician of the State Insane
Asylum at Utica, where he remained for five
years. After this he went to Philadelphia,
Pennsyh-ania, and established a home-hosj)ital
for the treatment of mental disorders, which he
conducted for eight years and then he came to
Jamestown, where he is now established.

John Jay Livingston is one of the oldest citi-
zens of western New York, and his virtuous
and upright life has gained him the confidence
and respect of all his acquaintances. He is uow
living at the home of his son Alfred, with
whom he has resided for seven years. Rapidly
approaching his ninety-third year, he realizes
that his time upon earth is short at the longest,
but he is at peace with liis Maker and worships
Him in the Methodist Episcopal church, of
whicli Mr. Livingston iias been a member since
1833.

TA>1IJJA31 31. XEWTOX. Many of our
most brilliant men are cut down in the
prime of life, seemingly becau.se the physical
man is too weak to sustain, the mental strain
under which it labors. William M. Jsewtou
was of this class. His early life was pas.sed
with toil and hard study to attain an eminence
whicli he finally reached. His maturer years
were marked hy close application, that his
client's interests should not sutler, and he had
the confidence of tliose wiio employed his talent,
and the respect and consideration of his brother

barristers, even though they were opposed to
him at tlie bar, because he disdained .subterfuge
and petty advantages. William M. Xewtou was
a son of John and Sally (Loomer) Newton, and
was born in Norwich, New York, October 30,
1827, and died at Jamestown April 11, 1887,
aged fifty-uine years and si.v months. His
father, John Newton, went to Busti town in
1832 and settled as a farmer, and died a num-
l)er of years ago.

Wdliam !M. Newton early gave evidence of a
bright mind, which developed rapidly as he ap-
proached mauliood, but his parents were strug-
gling to maintain a family of five children, and
the young man got naught but such advantages
as the common .schools afforded. He early de-
termined to master the law for his life profes-
sion, and ids studies were directed to attain this
end. Various labor was performed to secure
means, and he spent the winters teaching sciiool,
principally in Chautauqua county.

On June 3, 1848, he married Prudence Bar-
ber, a daughter of Elihu Barber, an old resident
and farmer of Poland, who .served as a drum-
mer boy in the war of 1812. He had two
children : Agnes, who married Ed. D. Warren ;
and Otis J., who wedded jSIary E. Wilcox, and
has two children, Burt and Maud. Mrs. New-
ton was of great assistance to her young husband
in his .studies. Instead of being a burden to
him, she was the bright .star which led him on-
ward, and Mr. Newton, in later years, gave her
great credit for his attainment in legal study.

In 1850 he entered the office of JNIadison
Burnell, of Jamestown, who was one of the
most prominent lawyers of western New York.
His practice was extensive, and the young stu-
dent had excellent opportunities for practice in
the justices court long before his admission to
the bar. After spending two years with Mr.
Burnell, he attended the law school at Ballston
Spa, Saratoga county, this State, where he
rapidly improved in legal knowledge and style
of oratory. Naturally gifted with an eloquence

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTV.

which swept away all (hmlit, he soou acquired
a reputatiou for effective advocacy. He was
admitted to practice iu all the courts of the
State early in 1853, and on the 5th of Decem-
ber, followiug year, he formed a jwrtnership
with the Hon. C. R. Lockwood, of Jamestown,
which continued only a year, when Mr. Newton
went to Waterloo, Black Hawk county, Iowa,
where he remained about seven years, and was
elected district attorney. During the sixties he
returned to Jamestown and followed his profes-
sion with great success until his death, whicii
occurred in 1887. Mr. Newton's death cast a
gloom on the legal frateruity of Chautauqua
couuty. Probably, excepting his family, none
missed him so completely as his brother lawyers,
who were wont to listen to his eloquence and
wit. Politically, Mr. Newton was originally a
democrat, but being of large ideas he saw the
fallacy of parties and expressed himself as a
rigid adherent of no party. His integrity of
purpose and regard for the people, induced him
to act for the maintenance of right." "To his
cou.science, there were inconsistencies in the
prevalent teaching of orthodox religionists,
which he regarded as inconsistent with divine
goodness, and from a sense of duty, although
uot allying himself to any particular denomina-
tion, he advocated the more liberal sentiment of
the time." "He regarded superstition and
bigotry as relics of darkest ages, which should
succumb to the purer light and higher educa-
tion of the present." He was devoted to his
family, to his friends and to his profession, and
although nearly sixty years of age, was still
a youug man-, for age cannot be numbered by
years. He is survived by his wife, one sou
and a daughter, Agnes, — Mrs. Warren.

Ed. D. Warren was a journalist of extraor-
dinary ability. He was born in Trenton, Onei-
da county, N. Y., July 1, 1849, was educated
at Jamestown academy and learned the printer's
trade. He then took up editorial wt)rk and
was soon recognized as a l>rilliant writer and

a successful journalist. The Jamestown, and
Springfield, Mass., papers were well acquainted
with him and prized the products of his pen.
The Union of the last named city was his home
for ten years. He then went to Concord, N. H.,
and took charge of the Blade. It was there
that he did the best work of his life. In 1884
he returned to S[)ringfield and in the fall of
1888, assumed the editorship of the Paper
World, a monthly publication devoted to tlie
news of periodicals and paper production, which
position he held until a few weeks before his
death when exhausted vitality compelled him to
relinquish his pen and surrender his desk. He
died at Boston, Massachusetts, March 9, 1890,
leaving a young wife in sorrow. His health
iiad never been rugged. For years he had been
a sufferer and many daj-s were spent at work by
force of will onlj'. His employers respected,
and fellow employees admired him for the de-
termination not to give up, which though un-
spoken was displayed, and it was only when
completely exhausted that he quit.

Ed. D. Warren was a republican, a member
of De Soto lodge, No. 155, I. O. O. F., and an
active Christian worker iu Sabbath-sciiool and
church. His wife is now living at iier home,
on Lake View avenue, Jamestown.

HON. ALBERT B. SHELDON, one of the
leading representatives of busiuess, politi-
cal and social life of central Chautauqua county,
is a son of Frauklin and Eliza (Brigham)
Sheldon, was born in the town of Westfield,
tiiis couuty, on April 7, 1842. The parents of
our subject came from Pawlet, Vermont, and
reached this couuty about 1830. Franklin
Sheldon settled in the town of Westfield aud
began to farm and deal in cattle, which he has
followed to a greater or less extent until within
the past few years. He is now eighty-two years
of age, and for many years was assessor in the
town of Westfield, and he filled the olfiee iu a
most commendaljle manner.

BIOGRArUY AXD HISTORY

Albert B. Sheldon was born and reared on a
farm, and received his education at the district
scliools. Although the facilities for securing an
education were far inferior to those of the
present day, before he had reached the age of
twenty- one he was the possessor of a teacher's
State certificate of proficiency, and it is doubtful
if there is another parallel instance. At fifteen
years of age he began to teach and followed the
jjrofession during the winter seasons for ten
years. The summers were passed in the pur-
chase and sale of stock, from the proceeds of
which he accumulated considerable money. In
18C3 he became a produce dealer, and altliough
now interested in many other matters, he still
is identified as a drover. Butter and cheese
form a large part of his annual business, and
he is one of the very few who have made it a
success. Between forty and fifty thousand
dollars worth of these staple commodities pass
through his hands yearly. In 1881 he was
elected to the State legislature, and was re-elected
the following year, and served as chairman of
the committee on agricultiu'e. Mr. Sheldon was
supervisor of the town of Sherman for three
years, and is now vice-president of the State
Bank of Sherman, that was organized in Feb-
ruary, 1890, and of which Enoch Sperry is
p)resident. The towns of Sherman, Kiantone,
Westfield and Chautauqua, and the city of
Jamestown, contain valuable real estate that
belongs to him. He also has large real estate
interests at Butfalo.

Hon. A. B. Sheldon has a fine house at Sher-
man, in which he takes much comfort and
pleasure. In 1872 he married Maria Slocum,
a lady from Frewsbnrgh, this county, and they
had one child, which unfortunately died. He
is a hard worker and pays close attention to
business for nine months each year, but during
the cold winter months he takes a vacation for
amusement, rest and pleasure. Mr. and Mrs.
Sheldon have traveled very extensively both in
Europe and America, and are well informed

regarding the manners and customs of foreign
countries, and the current news of American
j)olitics and the affairs of State and nation come
to them daily through the medium of periodicals
published at Buffalo.

FKAXK S. WHEELEH, a member of the
Chautauqua county bar, is a .son of Silas
and ^Nlaria (Camp) Wheeler, and M"as born in
the town of Ellington, Chautauqua county,
New York, December 16, 1864.

His great-grandfather, Seth Wheeler, was
born in Xew Hampshire, in which State he
lived during his life time ; he was a farmer by
occupation. Moses Wheeler (grandfather) was
born in Xew Hampshire, but removed to El-
lington, Chautauqua county. New York, in
182-1 or 1825. He was a farmer by occupa-
tion, and a whig in politics until the disruption
of that party, when he joined the republican
ranks. When the Free Will Baptist church
of Ellington was orgar.ized in 1824, Closes
Wheeler was one of the eight original mem-
bers. He had four children, two .sons, Albert
and Sila.s, and two daughters, Emily and ^Eary
Jane. One of his .sons, Silas Wheeler (fatlier),
was born in the town of Ellington in 1834, and
is a prosperous farmer of the town of Poland,
owning about three hundred acres of land in
the towns of Ellington and Poland. He is a
republican, and always votes that ticket. In
1862 he married ^laria Camp, daughter of
William and Eliza Camj), of the town of Po-
land. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have had one
child, Frank S. Wheeler. William Camp,
Mrs. W^heeler's tather, was born in Onondaga
county, New York, and i-emoved to Chautauqua
county about 1831, and settled in the town of
Poland. He is a farmer by occupation, and a
republican. He married Eliza Wheelock,
daughter of Eliab WHieelock, of the town of
Poland. Mr. and !Mrs. Camjj had three chil-
dren : ^laria, Julia and INIartha.

Frank S. Wheeler received his education in

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

the 2>iiblic schools of tlie town of EHington, in
the Ellington academy and the Chamberlain
institute at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, from
Mhich latter institution he was graduated in
1883. In the fall of 1884 he began the study
of law, reading first with Theodore Case, of
Ellington, and with Bootey, Fowler & Weeks,
of Jamestown, and then attended the law school
at Albany, fi'om which he was graduated in
1887, and was admitted to the bar as attorney
and counsellor of the State in 1887, since which
time he has been actively engaged in the prac-
tice of his profession, first at Ellington, but
since July, 1890, at Jamestown, where he has
decided to make his permanent home.

He votes the Republican ticket, but avoids all
political complications. During the Harrison
campaign he unfortunatel)' lost his left leg by
the bursting of a cannon. He is a member of
Lodge 97, A. O. U. W., of Ellington, and I.
O. O. F., No. 522, of Kennedy.

nEVElJEXD CHAKLES EDWAKD
S3IITH, D.D., pastor of the First
Baptist church of Fredonia, is of New Eng-
land birth and parentage. He is a son of
Philip and Roby (Simmons) Smith, and was
born in Fall River, Bristol county, Massachu-
setts, January 22d, 18.35. His grandfather,
Edward Smith, was born at Newport, Newpoi-t
county, Rhode Island, in 1770, and was a
farmer by occupation. One of the beaches on
the sea-coast near Newport is named Smith's
Beach in honor of his ancestors, who settled
there when they came from England. He
moved to Massachusetts in 1822, and settled in
Fall River, and there lived a retired life, being
of a theological turn of mind and an acute
reasoner. He died in 1834, in his sixty-fourth
year. Brown Simmons, the maternal grand-
father of Rev. C. E. Smith, was born in
Somerset, Bristol county, Massachusetts, where
he spent his whole life in the occupation of a
farmer. In religion he was a member of the i

Baptist church. His ancestors were English
people, who reached Massachusetts not long-
after the " Mayflower." Brown Simmons was
' married to Huldah Brown in 1770, and for
that reason was excused from serving as a
soldier in the Revolutionary war. By this
marriage there were seven children, two sons
and five daughters. The father of these chil-
dren died in 1838, and the mother in 1848, in
her ninety-third year. Philip Smith (father)
was born in Newport, Newport county, Rhode
Island, in 1804, and worked on the form until
he was eighteen years old. Being ingenious to
an unusual degree, and to develop this gift, he
went to Fall River, IMassachusetts, served three
years' apprenticeship) in a machine-shop, event-
ually became a contractor for building cotton-mill
machinery, and continued in this business the
remainder of his life. In religion he was a
member and deacon of the First Baptist church
of Fall River, of high moral character, and
very highly respected. Politically he was a
member of the so-called Liberty party. Philip
Smith was married (1.828) to Roby Simmons,
and had three children, two sous and a daughter:
Philip B., born in 1830, and died at the age of
twenty-three years; Roby M., born in 1832,
and died in 1834; and Charles Edward.

C. E. Smith graduated from the Fall River
(Massachusetts) High school in 1856, then went
to the university of Rochestei-, New York,
where he graduated in 1860, and then entered
the Rochester Theological Seminary, graduating
therefrom in 1863. He was licensed to preach
by the church the night after he left home for
college, and that summer had been assistant
editor of the Fall Biver News. His first pas-
toral charge was in Pawtucket, Providence
county, Rhode Island, where he was ordained
in August, 1863, as pastor of the first Baptist
church. In 1868 he became pastor in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, which pastorate he was compelled to
resign in 1870 on account of ill-health. He
then spent a year at Fulton, Oswego county.

BIOGRAPHY AM) IILSTORY

this State, whcrt' lie was assistant engineer on
the Erie canal, at the same time being active
pastor of the church there. From 1871 to
1875 he was pastor of Calvary Baptist church
in New Haven, Connecticut, a large church
with a seating capacity of twelve hundred. In
the latter year he came to Syracuse, this State,
where he was pastor of the First Baptist church
for six years, when lie was again forced to resign
on account of ill health. While recuperating,
he wrote and published the book known as
"The Baptism in Fire." In 1885 he came to
Fredonia as pastor of the Baptist church, where
he has since resided and occupied that pulpit.
This church was organized October 8th, 1808,
and is believed to be the second church organ-
ized in the county, and the present brick edifice
was built in 1853. Rev. Mr. Smith has just
published another book entitled, " The World
Lighted," a study of the Apocalypse.

Ou June 16, 1891, the University of Roches-
ter, N. Y., conferred upon him the honorary
degree of Doctor of Divinity, a title which he
is well (jualified to sustain with dignity.

Rev. C. E. Smith was married February 17th,
1864, to Catherine A. Kimball, a daughter of
Morris and Louisa C. Kimball, of Fulton, New
York, her father being a civil engineer all his
life on the Erie canal. By this marriage there
is one daughter, who is married to Dr. Nelson G.
Richmond, a prosi)erous physician of Fredonia.

IS.\AC A. SAXTOX. Within the last half-
century several citizens of Chautauqua
county have been very successful in the gold-
fields of the Pacific slope and prominent in the
founding and early progress of some of the
leading cities of the great west. Among these
was the late Isaac A. Saxton, of Fredonia. He
was a son of Major Isaac and Lucy (Chapin)
Saxton and was born in Oneida county, New
Y'ork, June 24, 1818. Major Isaac Saxton re-
moved with his family from Oneida county to
uear Brocton, in the town of Portland, where

he afterwards died. He married Lucy Chapin,
who was a descendant of the Massachusetts
family of that name.

Isaac A. Saxton, after completing his academic
course, was engaged for a short time in teaching
in Kentucky, where he received one thousand
dollars per year and was furnished a negro page
to attend him. After returning from Kentucky
he entered Hamilton college, from which he was
graduated at the close of his senior year. He
then went to Shreveport, Louisiana, and was in
business for some time, after which he became
a I'esideut of New Orleans, but his place of
business burned soon after its establishment.
To repair his loss, he sought the then new dis-
covered gold-fields of California, where numer-
ous ventures iu locating and developing gold
territory were successful, although at various
times he met with reverses and had his residence
and business buildings burned. Returning from
California to Chautauqua county, he read medi-
cine for a short time, but then abandoned all
idea of that profession and applied himself to
the .study of law at Fredonia in order to fully
fit himself Tor a business career as well as for a
professional life. He was admitted to the Chau-
tauqua county bar and did a large amount of
real estate and other business during his life.
At an early day in the history of Chicago he
had strong faith in the future development of
that then mere town. He invested largely in
Chicago real estate, which advanced rapidly in
value, as he had anticipated, and yielded him a
wonderful iucrea.se of profit on his investments.
He purchased western lands which became val-
uable and had various other profitable business
interests in this county and in the western States,
besides forty acres of land within seven miles of
the heart of the city of Chicago. He accumu-
lated a fortune of large proportions by his un-
ceasing activity, unwearied energy and successful
investments. While cool, calculating and con-
servative, while heeding carefully boom and lull
in busine.ss, yet he was far-seeing and able ta

(iM^z.^:^^^, yk^^^t^

OF CHAUTAVql'A COVXTY.

predict the future successtul results of various
investments in which many substantial business
men were afraid to become interested. In polit-
ical matters he supported the Republican party.
After nearly half a century of active and suc-
cessful business life he died on March 4, 1884,
when in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His
remains were entombed with appropriate cere-
monies in Forest Hill cemetery.

Ou January 2, 1855, Isaac Saxton married
Louisa W. Pier, of this county. Their union
was blessed with four children, of whom one
son still lives: Isaac Henry, who is married and
resides in Chicago when not engaged on his horse
ranch of nearly four thousand acres in the State
of Kansas.

At the time of her marriage Mrs. Saxton w as
teaching in the city of New York. She resides
at Fredonia, where she has a beautiful and
pleasant home. Mrs. Saxton is a daughter of
Daniel Pier, who was boru at Cooperstown, Xew
York, and removed to the site of Dunkirk city
in January, 1814, where he engaged in farming.
He and his father-in-law, Amon Gaylord, two
of his brothers-in-law and four other parties
sold their farms to a company who laid out on
their purchase the village of Dunkirk. Daniel
Pier had purchased the larger part of the site of
the village for seventy dollars and sold it to this
company for twenty-four hundred dollars. He
died in 1837, aged fifty-four years. Before
removing to Dunkirk he had followed merchau I
dising, although by trade a hatter. He was a
public-spirited man, and married Candace Gay-
lord, daughter of Amon Gaylord, by whom he
had seven children, of whom three are living :
Amelia S., Mrs. Aveline H. Morey and Mrs.
Louisa AV. Saxton.

TA Ml,LIA3I J. COBB, a prosperous merchant

-**■ and retired agricultural implement man-
ufacturer of Jamestown, is a sou of Adam B.
and Thetis (Bishop) Cobb, and he first saw tiie
light of day February 17, 1823, inElizabethtown,

Essex county, New York, where his father was
married. Zaciiariah Cobb, grandfather of the
subject of (Hir sketch, was a native of Connec-
ticut, but early in manhood enjigrated to Essex
county, this State, where he followed farming
until his death. During the Revolution, like
Putnam, he left his plow and with musket on
his shoulder, remained in the Colonial service
until the contest was decided, and again, at the
breaking out of the second war with England,
he went to the front. He married a Miss
Brady and reared a family of four sons and
three daughters. Elijaii Bishop (maternal
grandfather) although of English extraction
was born in New Milford, Connecticut, 1760.
While young he emigrated to Vermont and
later came to New York where he died. He
was a man of considerable ingenuity, which he
employed to good advantage. During the war
of 1812 he served as major with distinction.
When interested in politics he was identified
with the democrats. He was twice married,
his first wife being Dorcas Holcomb, who bore
him eight children, of whom Elijah Bishop and
the mother of "William J. Cobb, are the only
ones now living. Adam B. Cobb (father) was
born in 1801, in Essex county, and when thirty-
two years of age, with his family, came to this
county and died in Jamestown, in 1883. Like
his son he was a whig and afterwards a republi-
can. For a number of years he was associated
with his son, William J. Cobb, in the manufac-
turing business, but several years before he died
he disposed of the business. He was a member
of the Congregational church in which faith he
died. In 1822, he married Thetis Bishop, who
was born March 4, 1800, and who bore him
four children : William J., Norval B., now
dead, who served ou the Union side during the
Rebellion; Sheldon B., (dead); and Lucy, who
is the wife of William Broadhead, and resides
in Jamestown.

William J. Cobb received his early education
in the common schools of his home, and early ia

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

life engaged with his father in the manufacture
of agricuhural tools, from which he retired
about twenty-five years ago and since then has
been engaged in the grocery business. An en-
thusiastic republican he is also a patriotic cit-
izen, and enjoys seeing the government properly
conducted, and is with his wife an active mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. !Mr.
Cobb has a very pleasant home whicli it is
hoped he will yet enjoy for many years.

On Dec. 23, 18^6, Mr. Cobb married for his
first wife Miranda Woodward, a daughter of
Reuben Woodward, a resident of Chautauqua
county, who was the mother of two children :
Ordello \\. was a merchant tailor of James-
town, but is now in the insurance business, and
was married to Clara Brooks ; and Orlando W.
(dead). The youngest son, George D., a conduc-
tor on the electric street cars, is a child by IMr.
Cobb's second wife, and is also married, his
wife being Vesta A. Fox. After the death of
the first Mrs. Cobb, he married Mrs. Martha
T. (Simmons) Clements, with whom he had a
very happy home for many years. Martha T.
Cobb died June 11, 1891.

-t>EXJ.\3IIN J. COFFIX, a promineni resi-
-'^ dent of Sherman, who at first became well
known as a gallant soldier, and later, through
his business abilities, was born at Xantucket,
Massachusetts, on July 30, 1821, and is a son of
John G. and Rebecca (Joy) Coffin. The CofSn
family is of English extraction and the Ameri-
can branch are all descended from Tristam Cof-
fin, who landed from the mother country about
1642. His first residence was at Salem, Massa-
chusetts, but during the persecutions he removed
to Nantucket, where he might enjoy his Quaker
religion without being molested. Tristam Cof-
fin was I'emote from our subject nine generations.
He married Dionus Stevens. The great-grand-
father of our subject was James Coffin, who en-
tered the world at Nautucket, lived there, served
as justice of the peace and a member of the

General Assembly of !Massac!iusetts, and died
in the town of his birth. His sou, Samuel
Coffin, was boru at the same place and learned
tailoring. The latter's wife was Eunice Folger,
and belonged to the same family as Ex-Secretary
of the Treasury, Folger. They had six children.
The maternal grandfather, Obed Joy, was of
English descent, although born in the town of
Xantucket, and his fatlier's name was jSIoses
Joy. Obed Joy was a skillful mariner aud fol-
lowed the sea throughout his life. He married
Ann Cartwright aud reared seven children.
John G. Coffin was boru at the town of Xan-
tucket in 1797. While yet young he went to
sea aud followed it all his life. He rose to the
dignity of a master and died while on a voyage.
His remains were iuterred at Tombos, South
America.

Captain Coffin was a member of tlie Pres-
byterian church and married Rebecca Joy,
who was born October 29, 1798, and is still
living (1891), and enjoying good health. They
had three children — subject, and two daughters:
Keziah J. now lives at Xantucket witii her
mother on the old homestead ; and Mary A., who
married George Simpson, now dead, aud she,
too, is living with her mother.

Benjamin J. Coffin was educated in the com-
mon schools of his native town, and as they
ranked with the average of their day, the extent
of his instruction may be imagined. Wheu he
left home he went to Xew York city and Brook-
lyn and learned sash and blind making. In
March, 1843, he united in marriage with Eliza-
beth G. Paddock, a daughter of George Pad-
dock, a Bay State mariner. He was master of
a vessel aud while at Xew Orleans was attacked
with yellow fever and died. Mr. and Mrs. Cof-
fin have been blessed with two children : John
G., who married Adaliue Miller, now lives in
Westfield, where he owns aud operates a saw-
mill — he has five children : George, Ruth, Eli-
zabeth A., Mary aud Lueretia ; and Rebecca,
now the wife of A. Jerome Peck, a gents' fur-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTy.

nisher and clothiug dealer at Sherman — they
have a daughter Louise.

Benjamin J. Coffin first worked at carpenter-
ing in Siierman and Westfield up to 1860, and
then went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania
and lived at Rouseville for one year, but in
July, 1861, he returned to Sherman and re-
cruited Company E, 9th regiment, New York
Cavalry, and they were mustered out of service
in October, 1864. Mr. Coffin was captain of
his company for two years and eight months.
After leaving the army he returned to the oil
regions and engaged as a superintendent for two
or three years, and then came back to Sherman,
where, soon after, he was elected justice of the
peace on the Republican ticket, and he has been
re-elected at every election since. This is com-
plimentary to the gentleman's integrity aud per-
sonal popularity. In addition to his office of
trust he does a large business in conveyancing
and settling up estates, most of that work in this
community coming to him. He has been supei'-
visor of his town for eight years — first in 1856,
and for the last seven years has served consecu-
tively. Benjamin J. Coffin is a member of
Sheldon Post, No. 295, G. A. R., and also be-
longs to the Equitable Aid Union.

"PLIAS FORBES, who is now enjoying a
-'"^ well-earned aud comfortable repose in the
evening of life, was born in Greene, Chenango
county, N. Y., January 10, 1819, and is a sou
of John and Statira (Phelps) Forbes. Nothing
is known of his paternal grandfather, except
that he was a sailor aud passed to the world
beyond when his son John, (fsither) was nine
years old. Jonathan Phelps, maternal grand-
father of Elias Forbes, was a native of Con-
necticut and a sea-faring man, who, became a
captain of a privateer during the Revolutionary
war and captured several prizes. With the
money tluis gained, added to the pension which
was awarded him, he was enabled to live in
luxuiy in his old age. He came to this countv
10

in 1835 and settled in Fredonia, where he re-
sided uutil 1850, when he went to Rutledge,
Cattaraugus county, to live witli his daughter
I and subsequently died there at the age of ninety-
six years. In religion he favored the Baptists,
being an attendant at a church of that denomina-
j tion, of which his wife was a member. Jona-
I thau Phelps married Charity Beckwith, by
whom he had twelve cliiklreu, of whom Rodney
[ is a farmer in Chenango county ; Beckwith is a
liatter in Central New York ; Newell is a farmer
at Bear Lake, Penua.; Statira (mother), Julia,
married Lymau Shattuck ; Susan, married
Jonathan Thompson ; Celestia, married a JMr.
Wheeler; Aseuath married David Shattuck,
and China Maria married Edwin Adams. The
mother died in 1870 in her ninety-sixth year ;
husband and wife by a singular coincidence each
lacking just four years of completing a century
of life. John Forbes (father) was born in
New Haven, Conn., in 1790, and being left
fatherless at the age of nine years, was thus
early in life compelled to aid his mother in the
maiutenauce of the family, which moved to Ciie-
nango county, this State, aud settled in Greene;
John having learned the trade of a tanner and
currier. Afterward he purchased a farm of two
huudred acres, which he cultivated in connection
with operating a tannery. In the fall of 18.31
he was compelled to dispose of his farm aud
tannery on account of ill health, and in the
spring of 1832 he moved to this county and
bought a farm of one luuidred acres (now owned
by Clinton Ball) in the corjwration of Fredonia,
where he remained two years and then sold it,
shortly afterward engaging in the mercantile
business at Fredonia, in which he continued
until 1843. In 1852 he moved to Batavia,
Genesee county, where he resided eleven years,
and then went to Rochester, Mouroe county,
where he died May 2, 1878, aged eighty-eight
years. He was colonel of a regiment in Che-
nango county and was drafted for the war of
1812, but peace was declared before he was or-

188

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

dered iuto service. la freemasonry he was W.
M. of a Lodge in Greene. In religion he was
a member of the Baptist church, of wliich he
was a trustee nearly all his life, and always a
very prominent man in church affairs. John
Forbes was married in 1814 to Statira Phelps,
the union resulting in the birth of five children,
three sous and two daughters : Julia A., born
in 1815 and married Louis B. Grant, a merchant
at Forestville, and later at Fredonia; David S.,
a retired merchant of Fredonia, who married
Catherine J. Abell ; Maria, died at the age of
three years ; and John B. The mother died
January 8, 1850, and John Forbes married for
his second wife Lavinia j\I. Grant, a daughter
of Jared Grant, of Chenango county, in June,
1850. She is still living in Rochester, Monroe
county, at the age of eighty-three.

Elias Forbes was educated at the Fredonia
academy and left school when he was eighteen
years old to work as a clerk in his father's store,
in which position he remained four years. In
1844 he bought his father's interest in the store
and formed a partnership with his brother David
S., under the firm-name of D. S. & E. Forbes;
but David was later afflicted with inflammatory
rheumatism and his father purchased his inter-
est, \vhich he subsequently sold to Elias and L.
B. Grant, the firm then being known as Grant
& Forbes. This firm continued eight years,
when Mr. Forbes sold his interest to ^Ir. Grant,
remained inactive for a year and a half and then
formed a partnership with Robert ilcPherson,
under the firm-name of McPherson & Forbes,
with whom he continued two years and then
bought him out and conducted the business alone
until his health failed in 1858, when he sold to
Horace Pemberton, and, in connection with
Preston Barmore, formed a gas company for the
purpose of lighting the village and streets of
Fredonia. The use of natural gas in Fredonia
was begun in 1821, and among the public places
into which it was introduced was the hotel that
occupied the site of the present Taylor House,

which was illuminated when Gen. La Fayette
passed through the village by the first gas used
in the L'nited States, and the gas-works then
established were the first of their kind in the
country. The spring first discovered and from
which this gas was used is located on the north
bank of Canadaway creek at the bridge crossing
the stream on Main street. The gas from this
well was sufficient for thirty burners and was
used until 1858, when Preston Barmore sunk
another well in the northwest part of the vil-
lage, the shaft being thirty feet deep, six feet in
diameter at the top and fourteen feet at the bot-
tom, with two vertical borings, one one hundred
and the other one hundred and fifty feet deep.
It was this well in which ^Ir. Forbes purcha.sed
a half interest. At first the well supplied two
thousand cubic feet per day, through three miles
of mains. In 1859 the company put in a gas
receiver of twelve thousand cubic feet capacity
and supplied private houses. In 1871 Albert
Colburu sunk a well twelve hundred feet, for
the purpose of supplying fuel for generating
steam, but it proved inadequate and he bought
out j\Ir. Barmore's interest in the gas company,
connected his with the company's receiver, thus
enabling them to supply the whole village. Of
this company Mr. Forbes was elected president
and held that office until 1878, when he sold
out his interest and retired from business to
spend the remainder of his days amid the sur-
roundings of a most comfortable home. In re-
ligion he is an Episcopalian. In 1858 he was
elected one of the wardens of Trinity Episcopal
church in Fredonia and still holds the same po-
sition. He has been trustee of the village of
Fredonia and held the office of treasurer for
many years, and trustee of the old Fredonia
academy here,
i Elias Forbes was married November 5, 1843,
to Rebecca E. Walworth, a daughter of Benja-
min and Charlotte (Eddy) Walworth, her father
being one of the most prominent physicians and
surgeons in western New York, and for thirteen

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

years was jiulge of Chaiitau(|iia county, and for
several years was examiner in chancery. He
resided in Fredonia, whitiier he came from
Hoosic Falls, N. Y., in ] 824. By this mar-
riage there were three children : Kosciusko W.,
born Decemijer 14, 1844, married to Nellie A.
Payne, by whom he has three daughters, and
lives in Buffalo ; Charlotte E., born November
26, 1846, married Isaac S. Kingsland, a civil
engineer, and was J. Condit Smith's chief en-
gineer — he died in 1883, leaving a widow, one
son and thi-ee daughters ; and John B., born Au-
gust 19, 1855 and died May 30, 1862.

/^OL. SILAS SHEAKMAX & SONS, of

^^ Jamestown, have been prominent in the
manufacturing interests of that city for many
years, and the sous, Rufus P. and Addison P.,
are the members of the present upholstering and
furniture firm of Shearman Brothers. The
Shearmans are of English descent, and the
family was founded in New England by three
brothers, who settled respectively in Massachu-
setts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. From
the family is descended Col. Silas Shearman,
who was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, De-
cember 11, 1803, and is a son of Silas and
Elizabeth (Perry) Shearman. Silas Siiearman,
Sr., removed, in 1808, from Rhode Island to
Cazenovia, Madison county, New York, where
ten years later he died. He was a cabinet-
maker and an excellent workman, and his two
brothers, John and Carletou, learned cabinet-
making with him in Rhode Island. He was a
democrat, and married Elizabeth Perry, wiio
was a daughter of Godfrey Perry, of Rhode
Island ; he was a son of Stafford Perry, and a
relative of the famous Commodore Oliver
Hazard Perry of American naval fame. Thev
reared a family of nine sons and one daughter:
Perry, a lumberman of Pennsylvania, where I
he died ; Noble (deceased), a farmer of near
Mayville; Eliza (dead); Silas, David, who is
farming near Hartfield ; Edward, of Ohio, on

part of whose farm the town of Plymouth is
built; William, who went to Virginia about
the commencement of the civil war, and of
whom nothing has been heard since; Godfrey
P., who died in Detroit, Michigan ; John P.,
of Jamestown, where he died ; and Elias, who
removed from Jamestown in 1890, and from
whom nothing has been heard since he left.
Col. Silas Siiearman attended the schools of his
boyhood days in Madison and Chautauqua
counties. He learned the trade of saddler and
harness-maker, worked for a time at Fredonia,
and in 1827 commenced in that lineof busiuess
for himself in Jamestown, where lie opened a
shop in the Endlong building, afterwards known
as the Hawley block. In December, 1832, he
removed to a brick building, which he had
erected on Third street opposite the Allen
house. He dealt to some extent in saddlery
and hardware, and gradually enlarged his busi-
ness. In 1854 he associated his son, Rufus
P., and afterwards his son, Addisoii P., with
him under the firm name of S. Shearman &
Sons, in which ixirtnerships he was an active
member until 1870, when he retired from busi-
ness life. Tlie sous were in various business
operations until 1881, when they engaged in the
upholstery business, and in 1882 erected their
present large furniture flictory. In early life
Mr. Shearman took considerable interest in the
military affairs of his State, from which he
held, at different times, five commissions under
Governor Troop and Governor Marcy, — three
in the cavalry, and those of major and colonel
in the field. He cast his first presidential vote
for Andrew Jackson, and was a Democrat until
the close of Polk's administration, when he be-
came an abolitionist, and acted as a conductor
on the underground railroad in assisting slaves
to reach Canada. Since the late war he has
been a Republican. He has been a remarkably
strong man physically as well as mentally; and
to-day at eighty-seven years of age is still active
in both mind and body. He has always been

190

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

strictly temperate as to his use of food and
drink, and duriug tiie last sixty years of his
life has used no stimulants of any kind. He
has witnessed the erection of every building in
Jamestown except one, and still resides in the
house which he built in 1829. While no poli-
tician, Col. Silas Shearman expresses the hope
that he may live to see the day when the
elective franchise will be extended to women.

On the 29th of March, 1829, he married
]\Iary C. Marsh, daughter of Ebenezer Marsh,
of Windham county, Vermont. They have
been the parents of six children : Rufus P.,
Addison P., and four that died in infancy.

Rufus P. Shearman is the eldest son of
Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, and
was born in Jamestown, May 31, 1831. He
received his education at the Jamestown acad-
emy, and embarked in 1854 with his father in
the harness business, in which he continued
until 1870. In 1880 he became a member of
the present upholstery and furniture firm of
Shearman Brothers. On October 19, 1854, he
married Sophronia M., daughter of Adam
NeiJ, of Cortland county. They have two chil-
dren : Fred J., a locomotive builder who mar-
ried Ella ]McCullough, who died and left him
one child, M. Evelyu, after which he married
Minnie Rugg; and Frank E., who has charge
of his father's office, and married Catherine
Derry, by whom he has three children : Lulu
C, Frank E. and Florence M. He is a Repub-
lican in politics, but never takes any active part
in political affairs.

Addison P. Shearman, the second son of
Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, was
born in Jamestown, June 25, 1843. He at-
tended the Janiestown academy, and then en-
tered the Jamestown office of the A. & G. W.
R. R., in which he learned telegraphy, and
served as a telegrajih operator until 1862. On
August 25th of that year he enlisted in Co. F,
112th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and served under
Grant at Cold Harbor and Petersburg ; Terry

at Ft. Fisher; Gilmore at Charleston, and
Sherman in his capture of Johnston's army at
Raleigh, N. C. He returned home in 1865,
and was engaged with his father in the manu-
facture of harness and various other lines of
business until January 1, 1870. In 1881 he
became a partner with his brother in their pres-
ent upholstery and furniture business. He is a
republican in jjolitics, and a member of James
M. Brown Post, No. 295, G. A. R. He mar-
ried Caroline L. Havens, of Elmira, N. Y.,
October 1, 1867, by whom he had one son,
William Brown Shearman, who died March
20, 1877.

The furniture factory of the Shearman
Brothers is located at Shearman Place, ojjposite
the Union R. R. Depot. It is a five-story
building 40x100 feet in dimensions with an L
32x40. It is equipped with all necessary
machinery and modern appliances, and the firm
gives employment to a force of one hundred
workmen. In addition to the fiictory there is
a large storage building. They make a spec-
ialty of lounges and couches, of which they are
probably the largest manufacturers in the
United States. They keep six traveling sales-
men constantly on the road, fill all orders
promptly, and have an extensive wholesale ti'ade
throughout this and adjoining States.

\kt ^' ^^^ '^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ William H. and
-*"'■ • Maria (Smith) Sly, and was born at
Parish, Oswego county, New York, March 20th,
1847. His grandfather, John Sly, was born in
London, England, in 1784, and came to Amer-
ica with an uncle, when he was eight years old,
who settled in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county.
He remained with his uncle until he was twelve
years of age and then he went to live with a
Captain Fowler, with whom he resided until he
was eighteen years old, when he went to Canada.
In 1812 he returned to the United States and
enlisted with Captain Fowler in the American
army and was stationed at Sackett's Harbor

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

during the war. Forty-two years after the
close of the war he received a land grant for his
services. After the war he was engaged for a
few years in running lumber from Oswego to
JNIontreal and Quebec. He then purchased a
farm in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county, New
York, which he occupied and cultivated until
his death, which occurred in his eighty-ninth
year. He was twice married. First to Ellen,
daughter of Hiram Lovejoy, by whom he had
four children, two sons and two daughters :
William H., father of W. S. ; James, Julia, who
married Philip Fellows, of Parish, N. Y. ; and
Laura, who married Bradley Taylor, of Michi-
gan. His first wife died, and in 1842 he mar-
ried Mrs. ^laria (Fordham) Belden, daughter of
Theodore Fordham, but had no children. The
maternal grandfather of W. S. Sly was named
Harvey Smith, who was born at Cobleskill,
Schoharie county, N. Y., and was of German
descent. He lived all his life and died on a
farm in Parish, Oswego county, New York,
where he owned three large farms. He died
March, 1871, aged 77 years. He was a mem- '
ber of the Baptist church and was a quiet, re-
served man, atteuding strictly to his own affairs,
and accumulated considerable wealth, as fortunes
were counted in those days. He was married
in 1822 to Catherine, daughter of Charles
Simouds, and had five children, three sons and
two daughters : Maria (mother) ; Nancy, who
married C. H. Davy, of Parish ; Hiram, a
farmer and lumberman in Oswego county ; aud
David, who died while a young man, just after
graduating from Fredouia academy. ]\Irs. Smith
died in 1874 aged 76. William H. Sly (father)
was born at Antwerp, October 18, 1825, and
was educated in the public schools, supplemented
by two years in Gouverneur academy. After
leaving school he served au apprenticeship of
seven years as a carpenter and joiner, wliieh
trade he followed the remainder of his life,
working as a contractor in Oswego and St.
Lawrence counties. New York, building mills.

I business blocks, etc. In religion he was a
Methodist, being a member of the church of that
denomination, and also a trustee for a number
I of years. He was married in September, 1844,
to Maria Smith and had seven children, five
I sons and two daughters. The first-born died in
infancy ; the second was W. S. ; then came
George W., a carpenter and joiner in Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, who was married first to
Frances Redman, second to ]Mary Eason, and
third to (name forgotten); Mary J., married to
T. H. Wolfers, a carpenter and joiner, now fore-
man in a shop in Buffalo ; Laura, who died
aged twelve years ; Charles died at four years
of age; Harvey, a sewing machine agent, who
married Ada Corlett and died September 20th,
1888. Mrs. Sly is still living at the age of G5
years.

W. S. Sly received his education in the public
schools of St. Lawrence county, this State. At
sixteen years of age he entered the shop of G.
W. Burhaus at .Jamesville, Onondaga county,
New York, manufacturer of doors, sash, blinds
aud broom handles, where he remained al)out a
year and then enlisted .January 6th, 1864, in
Company C, 9th New York Heavy Artillery.
He participated in the battles of Cold Harbor,
Monocacy Junction, "Winchester, Cedar Creek,
aud Petersburg. In the last named battle he
was wounded in the right arm between the elbow
and shoulder. He was honorably discharged
September 20th, 1865, and returned to the shop
of G. W. Burhaus at Jamesville, remaining
there until the next spring, when he went on a
farm in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county. Sep-
tember 6th, 1866, he came to Fredonia and
worked at his trade of carpenter and joiuer for
Robert Wolfers for three years. He then went
to Forest vi lie and formed a partnership with
Robert Wolfers, uuder the firm name of AVolfers
& Sly, contractors and builders. Mr. W^olfers
retired from the firm after a year had passed
and Mr. Sly carried on the business for two
vears alone. In 1873 he returned to Fredonia

BIOGn.lPJir AXD HISTORY

and entered the employ of Wliite & Wells,
manufacturers of dooi-s, sash, etc., with whom
he remained until May loth, 1890, when he
entered into partnership with S. O. Codington,
buving the White & Wells plant, which firm is
still doing husiness, manufacturing sash, doors,
blinds and building material, etc., and contract-
ing and building. W. S. Sly is a member of
Temple No. 49, Fredonia, Temple of Honor, at
Fredonia, of which he is Select Templar. He
is also a member of Lodge No. 314, American
Legion of Honor; No. 104, Equitable Aid
Union, and the Life LTnioii, all at Fredonia.
In religious matters he is a consistent member
of the Methodist Episcopal church at Fredonia,
of wiiich he has been steward three years.

W. S. Sly was married Se])tember 16th, 1869,
to Ella B. Smith, daughter of La Fayette and
Arabella (Hinkley) Smith, her father being a
dealer in live stock in Laona, this county. By
this union there have been three children, all
sons : G. Eugene, who is a clerk for the grocery
firm of Belden O. Leworthy, of Fredonia ;
Fred. S., who is at school ; and J. Sidney, de-
ceased.

QiaOCH LAPHAM. Of the many old
^*- families, of which Chautaurpia county
has an abundant supply, none has kept its record
moi-e accurately, nor extends farther into auti-
cpiity with indisputable clearness than that of
Arioch Lapham, whose grandfather of the
seventh generation, John Lapham, was a weaver
at Devonshire, England, and came from there
about 16.50 and settled in Providence, Rhode
Island. He married Mary Mann, a daughter
of William Maun, who lived at the future cap-
ital of the little state, and after beginning to
keep house, bad it burned on the night of
March 29th, 1676, by a band of Indians who
belonged to King Philiji's red-skinned warriors.
He was the father of four sons and one daugh-
ter : Thomas ; William ; John ; Nicholas (six gen-
erations remote from our snl))ect) ; and Mary,

who married a Charles Dyer. Nicholas Lap-
ham married Marcy Arnold, who bore him five
children : Nicholas ; Abigail ; Arnold ; Rebec-
ca: and, following the line of succession, Solo-
mon, who was born August 1st, 1730, and died
June 24th, 1800. He married his second cousin,
Sylvia Lapham, and reared seven children :
Dutee, married first, Mary Caldwell, second,
Mrs. Amanda Wheeler; William united with
Susannah Ballon, of Burrillsville, Rhode
Island ; Ruth ; Rhoda became the wife of Mar-
tin Harris ; Rebecca was first the wife of Ben-
jamin Smith and then of Elisha Brown; Zodock,
born in 1764, died when five years old; and
Thomas.

Arioch Lapham is the son of Arioch and Eu-
nice (Sherman) Lapham and was born near
Sherwood, Cayuga county, New York, January
16th, 1821. His graudfiither, before mentioned,
Thomas Lapham, was born at Smithfield,
Rhode Island, on April 3d, 1761, and mo%'ed
to Cayuga county, New York, some thirty-four
vears after. About 1800 he bought a farm of
two hundred and fifty acres of land near Sher-
wood and followed farming all bis life, dying
between 1835-40. Thomas Lapham was a
member of the Baptist church, in which he was
a deacon. He married Thankful Smith, a
daughter of John Smith, of Gloucester, Rhode
Island, and by this union there came nine child-
ren : Cynthia married Elijah Kemp ; Sally
wedded Benjamin Waldron; Amalek united
with Charlotte Bullard ; Sinai became the wife
of Nathaniel Tibbels ; Winsor married Elmina
Dunham ; Sidney was the husband of Jane Mc-
Comber; Cyrene was the wife of Jesse Moss ;
Alva married Laura Hanua ; and Arioch, father
of subject. The maternal grandfather of
Arioch Lapham, Jr. was Charles Sherman, a
native of Massachusetts. He moved from
Dartmouth about 1800 and settled in the town
of Venice, Cayuga county, where he owned a
farm of one hundred acres. He also had a
tract of four hundred acres in Ohio, in what

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTV.

was known as the Connecticut Fire Land. He
spent his life in farming and died about 1820.
Mr. Sherman's wife's maiden name was Lois
West, who became the mother of six children :
Jonathan was a farmer in Indiana ; Charles died
young; Benjamin was an agriculturist in Erie
county, New York; Eunice is subject's mother;
Edith became jNIrs. Dorcey Roberts ; and Lois
married Samuel Rogers. Arioch Lapham, Sr.,
was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and,
moving with his parents to Cayuga county.
New York, worked upon his father's farm until
he was twenty-one years of age. He afterward
joined David Thomas' engineer corps, then en-
gaged • in the construction of the Erie canal.
Wiiile this work was in progress he sickened
and died at Middleport, Niagara county, in No-
vember, 1820, two months before the birth of
our subject. He married Eunice Sherman about
1815 and three children, all sons, were born :
Charles, a farmer in Iowa, married Olivia Win-
ship, but is now dead ; George was a farmer of
Erie county. New York, living in Eden. He
married first, Lurena Newell and second, Mrs.
Mary A. Rogers. Many years after the death
of her husband, Mrs. Lapham married Deacon
Benjamin Seamons, and died in 1868.

Ariocli Lapham was educated in the public
schools of Cayuga and Erie counties and at the
age of twenty, entered the store of Thomas Rus-
sel, of Collins, Erie county, as a clerk. After
working two years he bought his former em-
ployer out and conducted the business himself
for four years and then selling out to B. W.
Sherman, he went to BuflPalo and clerked for
Pratt & Co. One year after he moved to Green-
wich, Hiu-on county, Ohio, and embarked in
mercantile life, continuing for four years. He
then came back to Erie county, where, in con-
nection with his brother-in-law, Charles Sniitii,
he built a large tannery. A year after, he sold
out to Mr. Smith and returned to Ohio, the
scene of his first home, and again followed mer-
cantile pursuits until 1859. Then ilr. Lapham

bought a farm of fifty acres in Erie county.
For eighteen years he was a member of the firm
of Smith & Lapham, wholesale grocers, on Sen-
eca street, Buffalo. In 1882 he purchased a
handsome property in Fredonia and moved into
it, where he now lives a retired life. While
living in Ohio, he served as postmaster under
both Presidents Pierce and Buchanan.

On December .')Oth, 1842, I\Ir. Lapham mar-
ried Sylvia Smith, a daughter of Humphrey
and Deborah (Kniffen) Smith, a farmer, tanner
and currier, at Collins. Erie county, New York,
and by this marriage there has been one daugh-
ter, Ella G, a graduate of Yassar C(jllege in
the class of 1876.

Arioch Lapham is a member of the Univer-
salist church and a gentleman of upright char-
acter. Few, if any, families of the United
States can produce an ancestral tree with tiie
trunk so strongly intact, or witli its escutcheon
so free from blemish.

QXDREW BUKX.S, a resident of West-
^^^ field, and one of the largest manufac-
turers in the United States of grape baskets
and fruit barrels, was born in Hanover, now
one of the northwestern provinces of the great
German empire, June 3, 185.3, and is a son of
Theodore and Sophia (Caring) Burns. Theo-
dore Burns was a native of Hanover, one of
wliose electors became king of England and
founded the present royal family of that king-
dom, and was born in the first half of that
period which is known in the history of Ger-
many as the Interregnum, which extended from
the subversion of the German empire by Napo-
leon Bonaparte in 1806 until its re-establish-
ment in 1870 by William L, Bismark and Yon
Moltke. Theodore Burns was a cooper by
trade, served as a soldier in the German army,
and married Sophia Caring, who was a native
of the same electorate as himself. He came in
1853 to Batavia, Genesee county, where, after
remaining a few months, he went to Cattarau-

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

gus county, and afterwards removed to West-
field, where he now resides, aged sixty-four
years. His wife was boru in 1828, and they
have reared a family of four sons and three
daughters.

Andrew Burns was reared in Hanover, Ger-
many, until he was six years of age, when his
parents brought him to Batavia. He received
his education in the public schools of Cattarau-
gus village. He learned the trade of cooper
with his father, with whom he worked for some
time at Cattaraugus. He then (1871) removed
to Westfield, where he worked at his trade until
1875, when he and J. F. Wass engaged in the
manufacture of staves, headings and fruit bar- ]
rels. In 1880 they started a branch factory at
Sherman, X. Y., and at both places employed a
total of sixty-five hands. In 1883 they dis-
solved partnership and Mr. Burns continued
alone. In 1886 he added to his business the
manufacture of grape and berry baskets. Mr.
Burns is the patentee of some very valuable
machinery for the manufacture of staves and
baskets, by the use of whicii much labor is
saved and the work considerably expedited.

He has served his village for the last few
years as one of its trustees and is a member of
the Junior Order of American ilechanics. He
owns one hundred and ten acres of land in the
towns of Westfield and Sherman.

On September 16, 1874, he united in mar-

' riage with Eva Page, daughter of Calvin Page;

a carpenter of Westfield. To this union have

been born three children, two daughters and one

sou : Jennie ; Adelbert ; and Mabel.

His present fine residence on Union street,
which he erected at a cost of over five thousand
dollars, is a frame structure of modern style with
slate roof Mr. Burns' plant for the manufac-
ture of grape and berry baskets, and fruit bar-
rels covers nearly three acres of ground. He
employs a regular force of thirty hands, and
does a business of thirty tiiousand dollars per
year. Tiie l)asket making department of his

works has a capacity of one million per year,
while his barrel naills and shops are run steadily
during the entire year. His baskets and bar-
rels are largely used throughout Chautauqua
county, which is rapidly becoming one of the
foremost grape and fruit counties of the United
States. His orders also come from many other
counties of New York, and from adjoining
States, and at times tax the utmost capacity of
his works to fill them. He is one of the lead-
ing pioneers in a manufacturing industry that
must ere many years assume proportions of con-
siderable magnitude, as large orchards and vine-
yards are being planted in every section of the
Union which has been found adapted to fruit
and grapes.

T^HOJFAS C. JOXES is one of the enter-
-*- prising and successful citizens of Dunkirk,
who has an undoubted right to feel an honest
and just pride in the success he has achieved in
his business career, as he practically began the
battle of life at the age of eleven years without
a dollar. He was born in Buffalo, Erie county.
New York, September 16, 1840, and is a .son of
Thomas and Elizabeth (Dear) Jones. His
father was a native of London, England, and
was born in 1797. He married Elizabeth Dear,
of Bedfordshire, England, and had twelve
children. He came to the United States in
1835, located at Buffalo, this State, and worked
at making soap and candles. In 1851 he came
to Dunkirk, and engaged in the same business
for Camp Bros. Politically he was independent,
and in religion was a member of the Episcopal
church, as was also his wife, who died October,
1881, aged seventy-three years. In August,
1886, he joined her in another and a better
world at the age of eighty-nine years.

Thomas C. Jones attended the public .schools
in Buffalo until he was eleven years old, and
then received employment in a grocery store,
where he remained one year, and then began to
learn the butcher's trade, at which lie worked

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY.

until 1862, when he enlisted in company D
72d New York Volunteers, served until the
close of the war, and was honorably discharged
at Kingston, New York. In 1866 he opened a
butclier shop in Dunkirk, in which business he
still remains, and now has the largest and best-
equipped shop and the largest trade in Dunkirk.
He also owns some valuable real estate here.
In politics he is a Republican, has once been
mayor of Dunkirk, and has served four years
in the City Council, where he now has a seat.
In the fire department, where he has been
seventeen years, he has held every position from
ladderman to chief engineer. In religion he is
a memlter of the Episcopal church. He is a
member of Dunkirk Chapter, 191, R. A. M.,
Dunkirk Commandery, Xo. 40, and has received
the thirty-second degree A. and A. Scottish Rite.
Thomas C. Jones, in 1869, married Mary L.
Andrews, a daughter of Horatio Andrews, of
Pomiret, this county, by whom he has had two
children (sous), George H. and Charles C.

/^OUYDON A. RUGG, a citizen of James-
^^ town and assistant superintendent of the
knitting mills of A. F. Kent & Co., is a son of
Di'. Corydou C. and Fidelia (Goodell) Rugg,
and was born at Irving, Chautauqua county,
New York, April 1, 1853. The Ruggs point
to Scotland as the land of their origin where
their ancestors were known as the " Strong
Men of Scotland." Isaac Rugg, the great-
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was
born near Bloody Point, in Vermont, served in
the Revolutionary war and died in his native
State at Ruggtown, which was named in honor
of his family. He was a Methodist and was
married three times. His first wife was Katie
Gates, who bore him one child, Jonathan
(grandfiither), and after her death he wedded
Emma Matoou, who died and left two children,
John and Aurelia. His third wife was Al)igail
Skinner, by whom he had ten children. J<ina-
than Rugg (grandfather) was born at the In ad

of Bloody Point, on Lake George and after a
residence of some years in Genesee county, he
removed, in 1818, to what is known as the
Rugg settlement near Perrysburg, Cattaraugus
county, where he was a large laudiiolder. He
was a fanner and a Democrat and served in the
war of 1812 during which he distinguished
himself at the battle of Sackett's Harbor. He
married Maria Tousey and reared a family of
four sons and two daughters : Carlos A., of
Silver Creek, a veterinary surgeon in the Union
Army ; Milton V., was one of the California
forty-niners and died in 1853 ; Dr. Jonathan G.,
of Gowanda, N. Y. ; Mariette, wife of Dr. C.
G. Cowell, of Meadville, Pa., who is a graduate
of Hahnneman IMedical college, of Chicago ;
Dr. Corydou C, died January 14, 1891 and
Ann M., who died August 20, 1888. Dr.
Corydou C. Rugg (father) was born at Rugg-
town, Cattaraugus county. May 3, 1822. At
twenty years of age he commenced the study of
medicine under the Thompson who founded tiie
Thompsonian Eclectic system of Medicine aud
was graduated in 1848, from the Cincinnati
Medical College. He practiced at Gowanda
in his native county for twenty-five years and
then in Rutland, Vermont, for four years, after
which he came, in 1877, to Jamestown where
he has practiced ever since. He was surgeon of
154th regiment, N. Y. Vols., was taken pris-
oner at Gettysburg and after his release served
at Lookout Mountain aud under Sherman iu his
march to the sea. Dr. Rugg married Fidelia
Goodell aud to their union have beeu born two
sons aud four daughters : Adella D., married
John F. Clark, a real estate dealer of Detroit,
Michigan ; Loella V., wife of Orris F. John-
ston ; Corydou A. ; Estella F., wife of Walter
D. Russell, formerly of New York City ; Clay-
ton A., who married Catherine M. O. Donnell
aud is engaged in the clothing business ; and
Minnie M., wife of Fred. Jay Shearman, son of
Rufus Shearman of Jamestown.

Corydou Rngg attended Oneida (/(jllege and

BIOGRAPHY AXL) HISTORY

upon completing his course read medicine for
some time with his father. He then entered
Hall's worsted mill where lie remained for ten
years and served successively as shipping clerk,
inspector of cloth, and travelling salesman.
During the next two years he was in the Rey-
nolds' knitting mill and upon the mill sluittiug
down he practiced medicine with his father for
a short time. On September 1, 18 — , he be-
came assistant superintendent of the knitting
mills of A. F. Kent tt Co., which position he
still holds. He is a Democrat in politics. Mr.
Rugg well understands every part of the busi-
ness in which he is now engaged and discharges
efficiently the duties of his important position.
Ou April 30, 1887, he uuited in marriage
with Jennie M. Merrit, daughter of Benjamin
G. Merrit, of Vermont. Their union has been
blessed with one son and one daughter : Louise,
and Corvdon Harrold.

HKXKY SEVEKAXCE, of Dunkirk, author
of " John Bull in America,' ' and a forth-
coming work entitled " Chautauqua," was born
in the town of Cazenovia, Madison county. New
York, January 30, 1808, and is a son of Elihu
and Triphena (Gnnn) Severance. The Sever-
ance family is of French descent, and came from
France to New England about the time of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or a little
later, say 1635. Elihu Severance was a native
of Montague, ilassaehusetts, \\'here he married
Triphena Gunn and in 1799 removed to Madi-
son county, in which he died on March 7, 1834,
aged sixty and a half years. He cleared out a
farm in the woods, was an unassuming man and
served his town for a number of years as super-
visor. His widow survived him twenty years,
and passed away in 1854, when in the seventy-
ninth year of lier age.

Henry Severance grew to manhood in his
native county, and attended the limited schools
which a new country could only aftbrd. Leav-
ing school he served an apprenticeship at wool

carding and cloth dressing, and in 1835 came
to Dunkirk during the boom of the New York,
Lake Erie and Western railroad. In a short
time he went back to iladison county, but in
1851 returned to Dunkirk, where he has resided
ever since, and followed the trade of carpenter,
excepting eight years that he served as keeper
of the Dunkirk light-house.

May 23, 1833, he married Helen J., daugh-
ter of Alford and Mary Wooley, of Madison
county. JNIr. and Mrs. Severance have two
children : Harriet, wife of E. M. Lucas ; and
Emma H., principal of the Intermediate de-
partment of School No. 2, of Duukirk.

He is a Republican, and was three times
elected justice of the peace, twice in Cazenovia
and once in Dunkirk, which last office he re-
signed after holding the office for a short time.
He also served as corporal in the New York
militia. Mr. Severance has devoted a jiortion
of liis leisure time to literary pursuits, and has
written and published an interesting and in-
structive book entitled " John Bull in America,"
and has in press his forthcoming work of
" Chautauqua," which is intended to give the
world at large an adequate idea of the resources
and advantages of this county which is now so
largely attracting public attention. In an epic
poem, published in 1891, he tells in verse the
story of the races past and gone who dwelt in
Chautauqua county, narrates present facts and
indulges in speculations for the future that are
acceptable to Chautauquans.

JOSEPH LAND.SCHOOF, JR.,isanativeot
^ Holstein, Prussia, a territory over the pos-
session of which much blood and treasure has
been spent. It was a duchy of Denmark, but
now is a part of Schleswig Holstein, Prussia.
He was born August 17, 1830, and is a sou of
Joseph and INIargaret (Radden) Laudschoof.
His father and mother were natives and life-
long residents of the same place, and they were
the pareuts of three children, two sons and one

OF CHAVTAUQVA COUXTY.

201

(lauifliter. Mr. Laiul.sclioof was a roofer by
trade at which he worked until his death,
which occurred iu 1864, in his native land, at
sixty-seven years of age, and Mrs. Landschoof
died in 1848, in her fiftieth year. In religion
he was a member of the Lutheran church.

Joseph liandschoof, Jr., was reared iu his
native country, and his education was received
in her common schools, after leaving which
he served an apprentieeshij) for four years in
a mercantile store. By the laws of the country
he was then drafted for the army, and had
scarcely had time to be drilled when the war
with Denmark broke out, and he was ordered
to the front. In a year Holstein was conquered,
and he was forced into the Danish army, where
he served five years, and after his discharge he
was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store
until 1857, in which year he emigrated to Can-
ada, where he remained but a few months;
coming to the United States, lauding in Buffalo'
whence he traveled to Silver Creek, this county'
where he worked on a farm by the month until
1861, when he came to Dunkirk and secured
employment in the car repair shops of the Erie
railroad with which he remained until 1869,
being steadily promoted from one responsible
position to another. In the latter year he was
employed by the Brooks Locomotive Works, as
foreman of the lumber yard, which position he
held until the panic of 1873. In May, 1874,
he was jilaced in charge of the store-room in the
Brooks Locomotive AYorks, where he has been
ever since.

In 1884 he engaged in the mercantile
business in Dunkirk, which is managed by
his wife, and they have built up a very flourisli-
ing trade. In jjolitics he is a Democrat, and in
religion a member of the Lutheran church. He
has been an Odd Fellow since 1862, and is now
a member of Point Gratiot Lodge, No. LSI, of
that order. In November, 1863, he made a
visit to his native country, renewing old friend-
ships and returned in tiie spring of 1864. He

is a genial gentleman and commands the re-
spect and esteem of all who know him,

October 27, 18G1, jNIr. Landschoof united iu
marriage with Minnie, daughter of Frederick
Peters, a retired watchmaker of Silver Creek,
this county, and their union has been blest with
three children, two sons and one daughter :
Emma, Charles and William, whose ages are,
twenty-nine, twenty-seven and twenty-two years
respectively.

O-VM. J. GIFFOKl), who is the proprietor

■*^ of the oldest insurance agency of Dunkirk
and Chautauqua county, and who dispatched the
first train ever run over the Lake Shore road by
telegraphic orders, was born at Ashtabula, Ohio,
May 14, 1834, and is a son of Samuel and Rose
(Eraser) Gilford. Samuel Gilford was born in
1797 at Baubridge, near Belfast, Ireland, where
he learned the trade of cutter in the tailoring
business. He came to the United States in
1831 and .settled at Ashtabula, where he con-
ducted a large shop, and at one time emj)loyed
twenty-two journeymen tailors. He was a
member of the Protestant Episcopal church,
had been a freemason for sixty-two years, and
died at Ashtabula, Xovember 11, 1877. He
Inarried Rose Eraser, a native of Belfast, Ire-
land, who was an Episcopalian, and died Feb-
ruary 16, 1874, aged seventy -four years.

Sam. J. Gifford was reared at Ashtabula until
he was eighteen years of age, received his edu-
cation in the public schools and then was engaged
for a short time in grinding bark in a tannery.
On Octoljer 1, 1848, he became the first devil
in the office of the Ashtabula Weehly Telegraph,
which was established on the above named day.
He learned telegraphy on the old Speed line
while iu that printing office, which he left on
June 1, 1852, to become a telegraph operator in
the New York and Erie railroad. He was first
stationed at Dunkirk, but worked all along the
line, and on June 1, 1854, he was appointed as
night train-dispatclicr and operator of the Erie

BIOORAPHY AXD HISTORY

road at Dunkirk, which he left in February,
1855, to accept the position of cashier and
operator in the freight department of the Buffalo
and Erie (now Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern) railroad. He was the first operator
on this road, on which he dispatched the first
train ever run over it by telegrapliic orders.
On February 26, 1869, he resigned and acted
as agent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company
of Xew York until 1872, when he became a
member of the Skinner & Giffbrd Manufacturing
Corajiany, which erected a large iron works at
Dunkirk for building engines, boilers and rail-
road fixtures. In 1875 and 1876 this firm built
the Texas and New Orleans railroad (now
Soutliern Pacific), after which they failed in
business and sold their iron works. From 1876
to 1879 Mr. Gilford assisted in running these
iron-works, and then became a partner with his
brother-in-law, J. H. Van Buren, in the insur-
ance business. Their partnership lasted until
1882, when he again became cashier on the
L. S. & M. S. R. R., and served as such until
April 1, 1885. He then formed a second in-
surance partnership with his brother-in-law
which existed until 1888. In that year he pui"-
chased the insurance business of the late Otis
Stillmau, which was the first insurance business
established (1850) in the county.

Sam. J. Gifford represents some of the most
economical and reliable life and fire insurance
companies of the world. His agency represents
the ^Ftua, Phcenix, and Orient companies, of
Hartford, Conn. ; the German-American, Conti-
nental, Fidelity, and L^nited States companies,
of Xew York city ; the California, and Fire-
men's Fund companies, of San Francisco ; the
Liverpool, London and Globe, and Lancashire
companies of England ; the American Central
company, of St. Louis, and the Mutual Life
Insurance company, of New York city, which
has assets of over one hundred and fifty mil-
lions.
In politics Mr. Gifibrd is a straight Republican.

He is a member and vestryman of St. John's
Protestant Episcopal church, of whose Sunday-
school he was superintendent for several years.
He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity
since 1861, and holds active membership in
Irondequoit Lodge, Xo. 301, Chapter and Com-
mandery Xo. 40, and Ismalia Temple.

TA>-HIT3IAN fl.AKK comes from English
-*"*■ ancestry on the paternal side of the
house, and running with it in his veins, is the
cool and conservative Scotch blood of his mater-
nal ancestors. He was born in Erie county,
Xew York, July 16, 1826, and is a son of
Simeon Jr. and Hannah (Stone) Clark. Sim-
eon Clark (grandfather) was a native of Ver-
mont, served as a soldier throughout the war of
the Revolution, and then moved to Erie county,
this State, and engaged in farming. He died in
1837, aged seventy-four years. Simeon, Jr.
(father) was also a native of \ermont, and,
emulating the patriotic example of his father,
served his country as a soldier, enlisting among
the first troops summoned to figlit the British
in 1812, and after that war ended, he too, set-
tled in Erie county, this State, and engaged in
the manufacture of chairs and wheels, and also
in the occupation of a millwright. The latter
part of his life was spent in Clarksburg, Erie
county, a town named in his honor, where he
operated a saw and grist-mill. In politics he
was a whig and in religion was a devout mem-
ber of the Baptist church. He was a very en-
ergetic man and respected by all who knew
him. Simeon Clark, Jr., married Hannah
Stone, by whom he had five children. Mrs.
Clark was born in Rhode Island, in 1794, was
a member of the Baptist ghurch, and died in
Erie county, this State, May 28, 1828, aged
thirty-four years. Mr. Clark died in Clarks-
burg, March 22, 1859, aged seventy-three
years and twenty-two days.

Whitman Clark was reared in Erie county
and received a common school education.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

After his school days liad ended, he learned the
trade of a carpenter and joiner, and in 1852
■went to work as a millwright, which vocation
he has since pursued, and, in connection there-
with, handles a large amount of mill machinery
of all kinds on commission. May 2, 1870, he
came to Dunkirk and has resided hei-e ever
since. In politics he is a straight Democrat,
and takes a very active interest in local, State
and general political matters. In the election
of the spring of 1887, he was chosen justice of
the peace, and was re-elected in March, 1891,
for four years. He is a very public-spirited
man and always ready to aid any movement
beneficial to the city, and is a member of Phce-
nix Lodge, No. 262, F. & A. M.

A\'hitman Clark married in 1846, Emily
Beardsley, a daughter of Solomon Beardsley, of
Eden, Erie county, by whom he had four chil-
dren, two sous and two daughters: Simeon, who
was born in 1846 and died in December, 1854;
Jennie, born in 1850 and died August 18,
1871 ; Hattie M., born in 1863 and died May
19, 1879 ; and Newton L., born December 25,
1867, who is a clerk in Dunkirk.

■HIT ATTHEW S. XOXOX. Industry, econ-
4 omy and good management will secure a

competency for any man. This is strikingly
proven in the case of our subject, who was left
an orplian when one year of age, and started in
life without a dollar. Matthew S. Noxon is a
.sou of Claudius and Lodunia (Farington)
Noxon, and was born in Delaware county, New
York, April 12, 1822. The maternafgrand-
father, Matthew Farington, lived in Fishkill,
Dutchess county, N. Y., M'here subject's mother
was born. He had a sou, Daniel M. Faring-
ton, who came to Westfield town in 1832, and
died in 1881, aged eighty-six years. He Mas
the foster-father of Matthew S. Noxon. Clau-
dius Noxon was a native of Dutchess county,
N. Y., married there and followed farming until
his death in 1823. His wife was born in 1799,

and lived until 1881. She was a member of
the Baptist church.

Matthew S. Noxon lived in Dutchess county,
until nine years of age, when he was sent to live
with his uncle, Daniel M. Farington, who
reared him. He attended the "\\'estfield schools
where he received his education and having
learned practical farming with his uncle, when
grown to manhood he began to farm on his own
account. One of the finest farms in Portland,
consisting of one hundred and ten acres, upon
which is eighteen acres of neat vineyard, is his
property, where he has a jiretty home.

On March 28, I860, he married Ermina
Weaver, who was born in Allegany county,
February 21, 1832, a daughter of John "Weaver,
who still lives in Westfield town, aged eighty-
seven years. The latter's wife was Ann Benton,
a gentle Christian woman who died in 1850,
when but forty-five years of age. Mr. and
Mrs. Noxon have au adopted daughter : Lizzie,
aged twenty-two years.

M. S. Noxon affiliates with the Republican
party and has served the town as school trustee.
His success has been due entirely to his indivi-
dual efforts. Without a dollar's capital when he
began life, he is now one of the town's sub-
stantial citizen.s, a position he has attained by
incessant toil ^and good management. He is
proud of the fact that a blacksmith shop or
store has nev-er carried his name on their books,
it being his rule to jJay cash. Being just and
exact in his business transactions he has never
been called to answer to a law suit. Having
reached nearly seventy years of age he has
retired from active labor and is enjoying the
reward of his labors.

TA^^ILLIS D. liEET, one of the proprietors
-*"*■ in the large tanning business at Laona,
is a son of William and Harriet (Belden) Leet,
and Mas boi'u at Point Chautauqua, this county,
October 29, 1856. The Leet family came from
the eastern states, and grandfather Anson Leet

BIOGRAPHY ASn HISTORY

settled in the towD of Stockton iu 1811, coming
there from Connecticut and remaining two years,
when he moved to the shore of the lake. The
father of our subject was boru there and has
been engaged in the produce business for the
past thirty years, and during that time has been
twice elected treasurer of the county.

Willis D. Leet was reared iu Chautauqua
town, acquired a good common-school educa-
tion and then entered the produce business with
his brother, George E., and followed it for eight
or nine years. Being of a genial, good-natured
disposition, Mr. Leet became very popular, and
when only twenty-eight years of age he was
elected treasurer of Chautauqua county and filled
the office during the term of three years. In
1889 he came to Laona and bought a third
interest in the "White tannery, one of the largest
in the county. The buildings are very exten-
sive and the product exceeds .§100,000 annually,
the priucipal sales being made in Boston, and
the works give employment to about twenty-five
hands.

Willis D. Leet led Carrie White to the mat-
rimonial altar in 1884, and their union has been
blessed with three children : Arthur W., AVillis
D. and Harvey E. In addition to this Laona
property Mr. Leet owns a fine home at Mayville.
Willis D. Leet is a gentleman of recognized
integrity and of strong force of character. His
business ability stiiuds out promineutly iu the
mercantile world, and the older men, who have
passed tlieir experimental stage, warmly grasp
his hand and welcome him, for they recognize
an equal.

WILLIAM F. GREEN. The prosperity of
a community is often reflected, as a face
in a mirror, by the condition of the local bank;
and the banking facilities of a locality often
decide whether business shall be active or slug-
gish. William F. Green, the venerable but
active and energetic cashier of the bank of Sher-
man, realizes all this and does much to promote

the business interests of his village. He is a
son of William and ]Martha (Tomlinsou) Green,
natives of Lincolnshire, England, and was boru
in the town of Chautauqua, this county, March
3, 1832, two years after the arrival of his parents
from their mother country. William Green
was a carpenter by trade, iind when he first
reached America he made a short sojourn near
the city of Utica and followed his trade, but iu
1831 he came to this county, and after a short
residence in the town of Chautauqua he settled
permanently in Sherman. He was born in 1803,
and married Martha Tomlinson in England.
In 1856 and 1857 he was supervisor of the town
of Sherman, and he died March 25, 18(52, when
fifty-nine years of age, leaving five children.

William F. Green spent the first fourteen
years of his life in Chautauqua county, and was
then sent to Oneida county, where he lived with an
uncle. He was educated at the public schools and
the Oneida Castle academy, and such was his
proficiency and aptitude for absorbing knowl-
edge that he was among the foremost scholars
of the school. He attended there for six years
and then took a clerkship in Henry Ransom's
grocery and dry-goods store at Sherman. He
remained there until about twenty years of age
and then went to work for Isaac E. Hawley, a
prominent dealer at Sherman. Upon attaiuing
his twenty-third year he embarked in the gen-
eral dry-goods business on his own account and
conducted it for about five years, at Oneida
Castle and Taberg.

He married ^lartha T. Wiiite, of Taberg,
Oneida county, and they have had one son,
Israel W. They left Oneida county and came
to Sherman and engaged in the dry-goods busi-
ness with his brother, I. T. Green, for several
years; afterwards moved to Northeast, Pennsyl-
vauia, and then returned to this county and
settled again in Sherman, where he engaged in
the butter, cheese and grocery business, after-
wards moving to Jamestown and remaining
some two vears, where Mrs. Green died i'n 1883;

OF CJIAUTAU(JUA COUSTY.

he then again returned to Sherman, and in 1884
Mr. Green married Hattie S. Underhill, of
Rochester, Minnesota, and from tiiat date ■ntil
1889 he was engaged in the wholesale produce
business. INIr. Green assumed the duties of
cashier in the Bank of Sherman during the
month of February, 1890, succeeding ]Mr. W.
F. Smalhvood, who had officiated as such since
its opening, on November 6, 1884. It has
always been a prosperous institution and, al-
though an individual corporation, it represents
a capital of 8200,000. Associated are A. Cal-
houn, Hiram Parker and James Vincent — all
solid and responsible men.

William F. Green, although becoming ad-
vanced in years, retains the vigor of his earlier
days and transacts the business of his bank with
the system and skill of a National bank. He is
punctual and prompt in all his business trans-
actions, and the increasing volume of business
of the institution, whose business he directs,
attests the appreciation and confidence of the
public.

T . AWKENCE EUGEXE SHATTUt K.

■'■^ One of the pioneers of Chautaurpia coun-
ty, who spent his mature life here and gave
most valuable aid in reclaiming its fertile lands
from the wilds of nature was Lawrence Eugene
Shattuck, who was the son of Pliny and Dolly
(Rice) Shattuck, born in the State of Massachu-
setts, July 20, 1810, and died at his home in
Cherry Creek, January 20, 1890, aged seventy-
three years and six months. The Shattucks
were for several generations natives and resi-
dents of New England.

Pliny Shattuck was born in Massachusetts,
and after marrying Dolly Rice, in 1820 moved
to Virginia ; he was a blacksmith by trade, and
followed that business in the Old Dominion,
where he remained for four years and came to
Sinclairville, and worked at blacksmithing,
where he lived for eight years and then came
to Chei-ry Creek, at which place he made his

home until his death. By his union with Dolly
Rice Mr. Shattuck became the father of eight
children, as follows : Jerome B., Dolly H.,
Oliver, Frederick, Lucy, Eugene, Harriet and
Philemon. Five of these are yet living.

Lawrence Eugene Shattuck was sixteen years
of age when his father came to Cherry Creek
and located upon a wild farm about one mile
west of the village, where his father built a
blacksmith shop and carried on the trade. The
other members of the family cleared up a small
form and tilled the soil, while L. E. Shattuck "
worked in the shop with his father, and, having
learned the trade, succeeded to his father's
business when the latter died. He was the
only blacksmith for some distance around that
could shoe oxen, and had all the work that he
could do, but as he became older he found the
work uncongenial, and gradually lessened his
business until some years before his death he
discontinued it entirely.

On April 13, 183(3, Mr. Shattuck married
Amy Anguline Ames, a stirring, energetic
young lady, who was born at Trenton, Oneida
county, New York, February 26, 1S17. Their
union was blessed with five children, two sons
and three daughters: L. E. Jr., born April 11,
1838; Lydia, born September 7, 1839; Amy
A., born February 10, 1843; Jerome B., born
May 27, 1847 ; and Rosella, born Novemljer
12, 1851.

The old gentleman's fiirm was located at tour
corners of the road one mile west of Cherry Creek
village, and the place is still known as Shattuck
Corners.

Amy Angeliue Ames was a daughter of Amos
Ames, who was born in Vermont, and married
Lydia Franklin. She was the daughter of
Stephen Franklin, and the latter was a great-
grandson of the renowned philanthropist and
American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Ste-
phen Franklin married Rachel Car])enter,
whose father came from England. Mr. Frank-
lin was a minister of the Gospel, an earnest.

206

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

devout aud self-sacrificiug preacher, whose

thought was uot of dollars but the faithful ser-
vice of his Master. He became the father of
five childreu, three sons and two daughters :

John, Ebenezer, Eleazer, Hester and Lydia.
The latter, the mother of INIrs. Shattuck, died
May 15, 1830, after which jNIr. Ames married
Mrs. Phrebe Burnett. He M'as a farmer mid
cleared one hundred acres of laud on the banks
of West Canada Creek, in Oneida county, just
two miles below Trenton Falls, and, building a

' commodious house, he kept a hotel for a num-
ber of years. His children by his first wife
■were Lydia F., Luther Loren and Amy Angel-
ine, aud to his last wife was born one son, who
did not reach manhood. Amos Ames died
May 27, 1847, the same day that Mrs. Shat-
tuck's youngest son was born.

Mrs. Amy Ames Shattuck has always been
characterized by energy, good judgment and
force of character. "While she was yet a young
girl, becoming dissatisfied with the arbitrary ac-
tions of her step-mother, she left her father's
home aud supported herself until she was mar-
ried. While yet very young she spent three
years in succession spinuiug wool for Pliny
Shattuck and for a number of succeeding years
she did this and other service. The winter
following her marriage, after having spent the
summer in preparing household linen and other
necessary comforts, she put what goods she
could command in boxes and barrels, and took
them to the canal where she shipped them, by
way of Rochester aud Buffalo, to Chautauqua
county. During the journey she met a INIr.
Beverly, who was going to the same place with
his family, and he assisted her in hiring teams
at Buffalo to convey them to their new home,
where, after a tiresome journey, she arrived,
and the following spring herself and husband
began keeping house, at that time a lonely
place in the woods, one half mile from the
nearest neighbor. Mr. Shattuck and his sons,
who are now gray-haired old men, have always

said that their success in life was entirely due to
the advice, counsel and encouragement received
from their wife and mother.

The oldest .son is L. E. Shattuck, Jr., now
living at Stanbury, Missouri, where he is a
sheep and cattle breeder, and is well known in
that line all over the United States and Canada ;
the youngest son, J. B. Shattuck, is a successful
farmer living in the town of Cherry Creek, this
county. It is to such mothers as Mrs. Shat-
tuck that the county of Chautauqua owes its
development and the United States of America

its greatness.

yNANIEL, LEWIS WAGGONER, although

^^ for the past decade he has been living on
borrowed time beyond the allotted span of man,
enjoys a serene, happy and vigorous old age,
and well deserves it. He is a son of Calvin
and Rebecca (Babcock) Waggoner, and was
born in Cayuga county, New York, August 4,
1809. His paternal grandfather, George Wag-
goner, was born in 1756, was a farmer by oc-
cupation, and served as a good soldier in the
war of the Revolution, enlisting for a short
term and re-enlisting at the expiration of that
term. At the close of the war he resumed
farming in Cayuga county, whither he moved,
and eventually moved to Canada, where he
spent the rest of his life, dying in 1827. He
mai-ried Mary Connor in 1783, and had four
sons and four daughters: INIargaret, Israel,
George, Calvin, Cyrus, Charlotte, Polly and
Electa. Calvin Waggoner (father) was born
in Cayuga county, this State, in 1785, and was
a farmer there until 1810, when he removed to
Canada, leased some land and resumed his oc-
cupation, continuing as tiller of the soil until
his death in 1835. He married Rebecca Bab-
cock in 1808, and she bore him six children,
two sons and four daughters: Daniel Lewis;
Caroline, who married John Vaughn, a farmer
and tanner in Canada; Matilda, who married
Rosel Merchant, a farmer in Crawford county,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Pennsylvania ; Charlotte, who married Michael
Baugher, a lumberman in Crawford county,
Pennsylvania ; Charles A., a farmer in Char-
lotte, this county, who married Sarah Johnson ;
and Rebecca, who married John Williams and
lives in Canada. The motlier of these children
died in 1828.

D. L. Waggoner was educated in the corn-
man schools of Canada. No better facilities for
an education then being oiFered him, he was
obliged to finish his education at home. He
worked on a farm until a young man, when the
farm was to be sold for unpaid taxes and rent, it
being a leased farm. He borrowed money,
paid the debts, cultivated the land a few years
and then sold to a Mr. Hall, who came from
England and moved to this county in 1832,
and bought a tract containing ninety acres of
land on the line between Cherry Creek and
Ellington, about twelve miles from Jamestown.
Subsequently he sold this and bought one hun-
dred and fifty acres farther west, and afterward
purchased two hundred more in Cherry Creek,
part of which he gave his children. In Sep-
tember, 1889, he moved to Fredonia, bought
five acres of land, built himself a nice house
and enjoys the fortune he has accumulated.
Beside the land given away, he still owns one
hundred and sixty acres of land in Ellington
village, a lot in Jamestown and a house and lot
in Chautauqua. He is a member of the Meth-
odist church and politically is a stanch prohibi-
tionist.

D. L. Waggoner was married August 14,
1831, to Maiy Millspaw, a daughter of Jere-
miah and Margaret ilillspaw, of Canada, and
has had by her six children, three sons and
three daughters : Calvin M., died young ; Dan-
iel Marshall, married to Mira B. Woodward, is
retired from business and lives in Fredonia;
Jane A., married Ezra Greeley, who is dead,
and she lives at Jamestown ; George N., mar-
ried to Victoria Ferguson, is retired from busi-
ness and lives in Jamestown ; Mary M., mar-
11

ried to William Hitchcock, a farmer in Cherry
Creek ; and Emily, married to Perry Slater, a
farmer in Ellington.

QNTHONY BKATT, an aged and venerable

*^*~ gentleman, now leading a quiet and re-
tired life, was born to Christopher and Elizabeth
(Lee) Bratt, in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga
county, New York, February 3, 1821. His
grandfather, Daniel Bratt, was a native of
Holland, but came to America and .settled ou
the bank of the Hudson river, between Albany
and Schenectady and established a hotel, but
later, about the year 1834, emigrated to Chau-
tauqua county, and shortly afterwards died.
His principal occupation, besides keeping hotel,
was farming. He was a democrat politically,
like most of tJie early settlers of his nationality.
His wife was a Dutch woman and they reared
a family of five .sons and two daughters. Chris-
topher Bratt (father) was born near the Hud-
son river above Albany, in 1793, and later
moved to Stillwater, which is located ou the
same stream a number of miles above. AI)out
1834 he moved to Jamestown and farmed in
connection with his other business until 1871,
when he died on October 12th. Mr. Bratt
married Elizabeth Lee, and she bore him tliree
children : Elzada, married George Nelson and
moved to Minnesota : Erastus (dead) ; and
Anthony.

Anthony Bratt received his education at the
schools of the localities in which his early life
was passed, and after coming to Chautauqua
county, iu 1834, he jjursued farming until ten
or twelve years since when advancing years
caused him to relinquish this heavy work.

Anthony Bratt has been married three times.
His first wife was Eliza Lee, whom he married
in 1844, and who bore him two children :
Charles, now living at Bradford, is in a paper
store; and Jeauette, wife of Harvey Davis, a
carpenter of Jamestown. For his second wife
he married Mary Lee, and had two children :

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

Orsinius, who married Maria Juden. Mr.
Bratt married for his third wife Elvira Bailey,
aud bv her has two children : Bailey, married
and resides in Jamestown ; and ^lary, wedded
Fred. ^loon and died.

ADI>ISON C. CUSHIXO, an nnc-le of the
renowned heroic Lieutenant Cushing, one
of the pioneer grape culturists of the town of
Pomfret, aud oue of the most prominent of
that town's progressive men, is a son of Judge
Zattu and Eunice (Elderkin) Cushing and was
born near the site of his present home in
Fredouia, May 4, 1820. His grand-parents
were honorable Puritans who lived in the New
England States. Judge Zattu Cushing was
born at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in 1770,
and was one of thirteen children born to
Nathaniel and Lydia Cushing. He received
but a meager education, the schools of that day
being primitive and their course of study
limited in extent, but his natural industry,
eneri;v, self reliance and integrity were of more
value to him than schools. At an early age he
was apprenticed to a ship carpenter, and when
he had mastered that trade, he followed it for
some time at Boston. The work, however, was
not congenial to his nature and he decided to
exchange it for a fiirmer's life and for the pur-
pose moved to Ballston, Saratoga county, where
he married Rachel Buckingham and then re-
moved to Paris, Oneida county, and took up a
tract of laud in the forest, from which he made
a farm. In 1799 he was employed to go to
Presque Isle, adjacent to Erie, Pennsylvania,
for the purpose of superintending the con-
struction of a ship. When it was completed it
was christened the " Good Intent "' and was the
first vessel of note-worthy size built on Lake
Erie. She was losi with all on board in 18D5.
In returning from the scene of his labors, one
of his horses strayed, and while attempting to
secure it, night came upon him aud he passed
the night upon the lands where forty years

later he built him a home. Having had excel-
lent opportunities for examining the lands of
that locality, he determined to locate there, and
in February, 1805, he moved his family to the
site where now stands the town of Fredonia.
Two yoke of oxen, each drawing a sled, were
the conveyances used and it took three weeks to
perform the journey that may now be made in
twice as many hours. At the time ^Ir. Cush-
ing had eight children: Walter; Lvdia,
married Dr. Squire White ; Milton B ; Zat-
tu ; Catharine, married Philo H. Stevens ;
Lucinda, the widow of William Barker j
Alonzo ; and Rachel, who married Mr. Tup-
per. All are dead. When they arrived at
Buffalo, they started down the Pike upon the
ice, intending to camp nights on the shore, but
a driving storm coming on, they were compelled
to stop, and were only rescued by two men who
heard their signals of distress. At daybreak
the ice was broken up so that escape would
then have been impossible. L^pou his arrival
here, he was much disappointed to find that his
choice of lots was taken by Thomas IMcClintock
and he took another, upon which he cleared
fifty acres during the ensuing two years. In
1807 he sold to Mr. ^larsh, father of the
present occupant, and bought from Mr. Mc-
Clintock, for one-hundred dollars, the farm that
he originally desired. He then paid the land
claim at Batavia and on November 7, 1807,
received a title to about six hundred acres, a
great portion of which is now covered by the
village of Fredonia. About the last mentioned
date he erected the log -house on Eagle street,
where A. F. Taylor now lives. Zattu Cushing
was eminently a pious man, a Baptist of un-
swerving devotion, aud his first thought upon
reaching here was to establish a church. In
1811, when the organization of the county was
completed, Mr. Cushing was appointed the first
judge and he wore the ermine until 1822. At
the battle of Butialo he served as a private and
was highly indignant, feeling that with a com-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyVY.

peteut commander, the result might have been
(liffereut. On the fourth of July 1812, a cele-
bration was held at Judge Cushing's farm, he
himself being the orator. Ere long the i-eport
of u cannon and the rattle of musketry showed
the presence of an enemy at the mouth of the
creek. Jumping from his rough rostrum, the
speaker was the iirst at the scene of action
ready for <lefense. In August, 1816, a great
sorrow fell upon his household, the mother of
his children, who had been the light of his
home and shared his trials, his joys, his sorrows
and his hopes, was called away. Never before
in the history of the village had so large and
sorrowing a funeral been known. In 1817, he
married Eunice Elderkin, a native of the town
of Burlington, Otsego county. In 1826, just
after the Erie canal was opened for navigation,
in com{)any with Joseph Sprage, Mr. Gushing
built a canal-boat. It was built on the flats at
the foot of Fort hill and was named the
" Fredonia Enterprise." To draw the boat to
the water required one hundred yoke of oxen,
and after it was launched, they loaded it with
wheat, and the steamer " Lake Superior " towed
it to Buffalo. In 1823, he was foremost in
establishing the Fredonia academy and until
his death, was one of its most liberal support-
ers. January 13, 1839, after a long experience
of physical suffering which he patiently en-
dured, Judge Zattu Gushing passed peacefully
away. When the battle of life was over, his
peaceful triumph commenced. At the next
term of court, upon the motion of Judge Wal-
lace, the bar of this county procured his portrait
to be suspended in the court-house above the
bench where judges sit. Guarded with tender
care, it still remains there and will for ages to
come, as a proper memorial of as pure a man
and upright a judge as ever dispensed justice in
any tribunal. By his second marriage Judge
Gushing had four more children. The only
daughter, Sarah M. L., died. The oldest boys
were living in the west and his daughters by

his first wife were hap[)ily married and lived
near him. The youngest sous, Judson E.,
Addison C. and Frank were at home, the pleas-
ure of his declining years. All of them are
now passed away excepting Judson and Addison
G. Zattu Gushing was the grandfather of
Alonzo H. Gushing, who was killed at the
battle of Gettysburg, who, although twice
wounded, was standing by his gun until the
fatal leaden missile struck him down, and of
Lieutenant Gommander William B. Gushing
(see his sketch), who by repeated and successful
deeds of valor and patriotic devotion stands
breast to breast with Paul Jones and Gommo-
doi'e Perry, and whose name will stand bright
and fresh in the liearts of the American people
as long as marble and metal hold their shape
and this great Republic i-emains intact.

Addison Gushing was educated at the district
schools of Fredonia until sixteen years of age
and then entered the academy and took a three-
years course. He then employed himself on his
father's farm until his marriage to Elizabeth
King, whicli occurred April 9th, 1846, when
his father's estate was divided and he moved on
a farm of his own. Agriculture has been his
life-long pursuit, and in 1860 he began tlie cul-
tivation of small fruits. Forming a mutual
company, he erected a canning factory, which
prepared the product of their oi'chards for the
market. After running one year, this fixctory
was destroyed by fire. Addison Gushing was
one of the pioneers of grape culture and was
the second man to conduct the business. He is
a democrat and although the town is strongly
republican, he has beeu re-elected president of
the village oftener than any one man. Mr.
Gushing has served twelve years as justice of
the peace and when the Normal school was or-
ganized, he was elected one of its trustees. He
is a member of the Episcopal church and since
1884 has been a warden; for nearly forty years
he was a member of the vestry. Addison
Gushing is exemplary in his habits and is an

a I -2

K/(i.,/.VUW/V .l,V/> IIISI\)I{\'

K-\\^A\v\\i ('\an\plo I'oi' young imMi lo r<>lli>\\.
Iliftlii-sl vvito \Vi»>» it ilivujihior of tJonornl Nn-
ll\!>iuol (^iuul j< Mif<>> (Jivv'l King'. Mr, Kiii)i'
wtis t> Isnvvor snul litonvtiMti' of llnmillou,
MiulixMi (Mnin(y,(l\i,« Stato. To tlii-j union \vo)v
Inirn two >l!\ngl»li>i'!»: Marniui'l ncnritnl .1. .1.
>Sm'voss, !( InndHMMn.'in living at Porlsmouih,
\"i(..i»iul tliov lnul ono«li\ngl(tiM' : tind l'!li(r(vl*otl>
K.. i\o\v tl»o wilv of I', n. i"un\n\inji, !» iVnit
I'lvisor ol" l''n<»loni!( ; tl\ov \vm\ two sons and two
ilnnglitoiN, Mr, ('nsl>inj>'s wilo diinl Au,u«,«t
V!.MI\, l.'^^s. {vn,l o\( (VIoIht i)ih, ISI'A ho wi\f!
nnilo<l to I'.llon rnniining. a dunsildovor Kolu>vt
and l,y<lia Cnnuning. Mv, Cniwnting was a
S\H>toh jivnilontan wl»o wont to Auslmlirt. on-
a.ajj\Hl in laiming and iliod tl\o\T, To Me, and
Mi's, Tnshing wvtv l>on\ Mary, who i\varri<sl S,
1>, 1 1, .laokson. a lawyor )>n»otioitvji' at Yvntngx-
tvwti, Ohio; slio diisl it» ISvSo; and Kmnk ('., a
iwoivhant tail»>r ol' l''n>lonia, Kinvnk T, Cnslv-
ing nianit^d Jonnio («lis)»n, M«y Tll>, 18SI, and
ho di(>l Soptondvr '2'2\\, «>l'tho s)»n»o \-\\u', Mrs.
Addison (\ rnshinji diivi Mat>'h Silt. l.*^.*<l.and
on .hnio od, IS.Sti, Mr, rnsliing t>>ok for his
tl»i»\l wilo V'slhor T. l'rit\>hai\l. a danghtor ol'
l^aniol V^, and .VUigail (^iJwltivy^ Prid-ltaivl,
living i(» l'i\Hlot\ia.

•Vddison (.\ Ctishii\ii lias i»;issxn1 tho aUottt\l
thixv-sv\>iv and ton of man, hiil. owing to his
tonn>or!ito litv and ji\>\Hl (>Mistitntion. ho still oii-
jv>y>i tino hoaUh, an>l it is hoj><Hi will livo tor
many y\\n>s to i\>ntiniio t)iou\>od whiv^li h.i'^Kvn
I'liai-jiotoristii' ol' liis litV.

ol' tho pivmiiiont, inlUiontial sind pnMio-
.«|nrit<\l oitinms ot' wrxstiorn Now Y»>rk, as wvU
(W Chantniinna vvniity, w>Mild Iv iiuvmplot\»
withont i\s|Hvial montiv>n »»t' tho IvMig and nsot\d
vN'Uwr ol' dndgx* \\"iUiam l\\u\>»'k. wluvso namo
will K^ luMionihly pi\\*in'\-\\l t'i»m v>hUviv>n in
tho history ol'tlio Krio oanal, tho snrvxwTs ot'tho
Holland Innd »\>mjvu\y, and tlio matorial do\-\^l-
opmont v^r Dunkirk, Mayvillo and tho ivnnty.

Mo waK horn in I'lstor iM>iiiity. Now \ oik,
l'\>lirnary 'J'J, iTSt), and was a .miii oI" 'riuunas
and Margaivt ^AiidoisoiO lV\'i>>»K'k, Hi> latlior
sorvod iindor \\"ashiiigti<n in tho Uovoliitionary
war, and shortly al\or tho tivaty of |>oa(V
ivmovoil with his wit'o and (jimily to a larm
wliioli ho owiunI n(\'ir (tonova, this Stalo. Uo
had ihixv ohildi-iMi, two sons and ono danghlor.
Tho sons woiv; .Induv William, .lohn an.l
Ahs'iloni ; and tho daiightor, (lonova, who
marritnl Sjininol lliijihiiisvm. who liv<sl in \\ ,i^li-
ingtoii, 0. r.

William IV^uNvk was iwiivd on his tathor's
tarin, ivtviv(>l a g\H>d i\lnoatioii, and stiidii^l
siirvoying. In l.'^Oo ho wvnt to Ritavia with
tho intvntion o(' jixMng to Now Orhsuis, hiit was
vlisviuuhnl l\Mm his\Mntvnn>lati\l trip hy .Uvsopli
Klli<\>tt. aiixMit of tho Holland l.and iMinjviny,
and ontti'tHl tho omplov ol" that i\>m|>any as a
snrvoyor. Mo snrvoyo<l largv Uidios ot' tlioir
Irtiuls on tho (Jonosoo rivor and tho w^vtxMn
ivirt ot' tho Stato, Uo snrvoy»\l a largx^ |*!Ut ot'
tho silo ol" UiitValo. whoix' ho piii\'liasi\l sovonil
U>ls, as wvll as hnyiiiji' t'i\>in tho <\Mn|vniy somo
valnaMo traots of laiivl in Ohanlaiu^iia >xMinty,
In l."<10 ho oamo to May\ illo. whon thoiv woix»
Uiit two or tluHv oahins thoiv, and whoiv ho
aotixl as .agxMit iW tho Holland 1 /md wnnviny
until it »lisp(VMxl ot' tho last ol' its nnsold lands
in Iv'^Jk?. whon his ollivv wasd(\sti\m\l hy a mob
ot' dohtxM's ol' tho (»m}viny, who sviighl hy this
unlaw I'nl nuvisniv tv» ohlitvr;Uo all i>\>M>i ol" thoir
indohtixlnoss {o tho ivm|vniy. hnt in whioh thov
wviv signally t"oih\l. as ho ha>l svni v»pios v^l'all
his jvuvi-s to tho gvnoral v^lVuv ol' tlio »\Mn|v\ny.
,\ t'nll avWMint y^f this (ivnhlo will Iv t'onnd in
tho hist\n\vortho Holland Ixind »vin|vvny whioh
is jviwn in a\u>thor phuv in this volnmo, .ludgx^
IVuvok was a vory av\nu"!\tx» survt\vor and hnsi-
n<\ss man, and had ol>vn o\j>»v<»\l himsx^lf to gix\it
^langx^xs whilojin thosorviivot'tho Holland l^md
(vnnwny, AtWr 1S;U? ho do\»txxl his time
m>vstly t\> tho managx^nont ot' tho valuaMo »x>j>l
and poi-svMial ostnh? whioh ho j^ossx^s^wl at May-

Ifc"«^

fij/ Cr/ />9fJ^

OF CHAUTAUQUA VOUSTY.

ville and elsewhere in south-western New York.
He was appointed as one of the commissioners
for bnildiug the first court-liouse at Mayville,
and was one of the most liberal patrons of the
academy at that place.

He was one of the early associate judges of
the county court, and in 1821 served as treasurer
of Chautauqua county. Prior to his removal
from Batavia Judge Peacock took great interest
in the conception and subsequent construction of
the Erie canal. He gave Jesse Hawley, the
engineer in charge of the work, valuable informa-
tion, and the route he marked out for the canal
through western Xew York was adopted with
but little variation. lu 1816 he surveyed and
located the western part of this canal, and two
years later was appointed to survey and i-eport
on the construction of a harbor at Butfalo.
Judge Peacock was a strong democrat, and a
great admirer of General Jackson and all demo-
cratic leaders of the Jacksonian school. He
was a Free and Accepted Mason from 1803
until his death.

On October 3, 1807, he married Alice Evans,
a uiece of Joseph Elliott, and who passed away
after a short illness on April 19, 1859, when in
the seventy-ninth year of her age. They had
no children, and the Mayville Sentinel stated
that Mrs. Peacock was no ordinary woman, and
that her mental and physical powers were alike
vigorous and active. Her numerous deeds of
charity, the lives she saved, and the aid which
she rendered to the sick and sorrowful have been
handed down from parent to child. Her hand,
her heart and her purse were ever open to aid
any Christian enterprise. Her remains were
interred in the family lot in the Mayville ceme-
tery, where over them was erected a plain but
costly monument. Being without other heirs,
the Judge's nearest relatives were the children of
his brother Absalom, who married Jane Nichols,
of Newburg, this State, and in 1814 came to
Westfield, where he followed farming until his
death iu 1836. Absalom Peacock had eiirht

children, one of whom, ]\Irs. Sarah J. Birdsall,
of INIayville, is the widow of Judge John
Birdsall, a native of eastern New York, who
was a well-known lawyer and served on the
bench .

Eighteen years after the death of his wife,
Judge Peacock entered upon his final rest on
the 21st of February, 1877, when he had attained
nearly to his ninety-seventh year. His body
was laid to rest witii the impressive ceremonies
of the Masonic ritual. He left no will, and
his large estate was inherited by his nephews
and nieces. He sleeps by the side of his wife,
and although the monumental marble above his
resting-place only records his age and the day
of his death, yet his memory and virtues are
written in the hearts of the people among whom
he lived and labored.

TOY LOVE, was born in (xerry, Chautauqua
^ county, on the 28th day of June, 1829.
His grandfather, John Love, was born in Con-
necticut, in 1769. He came to Chenango
county when a young man, and afterwards,
became an early settler of the town of EUery, iu
Chautauqua county, where he came to reside in
February, 1811. He died in Illinois, in his
ninety-first year. His son John, the father of
Joy Love, was born January 29, 1789. He
married jNlary S. ^yard. He was one of the
earliest settlers of the town of Gerry, and during
his life, a well-known citizen of that part of the
county. In 1812, he purchased the farm first
owned by Amos Atkins, situated about one
mile south of Sinclairville, on the Old Chau-
tauqua road. He afterwards erected buildings
thereon, which were long known as the Love
Stand. He kept this inn for over thirty years,
and afterwards, for about four years, the hotel
in Sinclairville. He died upon his old farm,
March 18, 1857.

Joy Love followed the business of farming
during the early part of his life, upon the old
homestead, in Crorrv, owned l)v his fatiier in his

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

lifetime, and afterwards to some extent in Port-
laud, ChautaiKjua county. In 1882, he formed
a co-partnership in the business of hanking and
milling, at Siuclairville with E. B. Crissy, now
of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank of James-
town, under the name of E. B. Crissy & Co.,
which continued six years. He then formed a
co-partnership in the same business with his
son, John A. Love, under the style Joy Love
& Son, in which business he has continued at
Siuclairville, until this time. May 24, 1854, he
married Rosina Flagg, daughter of Alonzo and
Caioliue Flagg. John A. Love, who was boi'u
February 24, 18G1, is their only child. He re-
ceived his education at the Fredonia I^ormal
school, and the Poughkeepsie Commercial col-
lege. His business has always been banking.
He now has principal charge of the business of
the firm of Joy Love & Son, and is the present
supervisor of the towu of Charlotte. October
29, 1884, he married Fanny A., the daughter
of Obed and Emily A. Edsou. Their children
are : Allen J., born in Siuclairville, August 23,
1885; and Nellie E., born in Siuclairville, Jan-
uary 2, 1887.

TA3IES MUI^OKKW is a man who has, by

^ his own uutiriug energy aud industry,
accumulated a competency, and commands the
respect of all who honor a successful mau. He
was born in Duucaunou, County Tyrone, Ireland,
June 6, 1843, and is a son of James aud
Catherine (Gough) Mulgrew. His father was
a native of the same towu, aud was born in
1806. He pursued the calling of a farmer on
a rented farm, aud also transacted an agent's
business for the queen's warehouse, being a good
business man, highly respected by all classes.
In religion he was a member of the Roman
Catholic church. He died on Christmas day,
1870, and his wife (mother) is now living on
the old homestead, in her seventy-fifth year.

James Mulgrew was reared on a farm, aud
I'eceived his education in the common schools of

his native town. He learned the carpenter's
trade, aud in 1S(J6 he came to America, putting
his feet on American soil May 1st of that year,
and shortly afterward located in Silver Creek,
where he was employed on the construction
train on the L. S. & M. S. R. R. He worked
fifteen years on this train, being steadily pro-
moted until, in 1881, he was given full control.
It is his pride that he never had a pair of trucks
leave the track in the twenty-two years he spent
on that train. While iu Indiana, in 1888, he
resigned his position, aud left the employ of the
road December 10th of that year. Since then
he has lived on his farm in Hanover, one mile
from Silver Creek, where he has opened a rock
quarry, aud finds a quick aud ready market for
all the paviug-stoues and material for macad-
amizing which he can quarry. He also has a
good-sized tract of land devoted to grape culture.
In National elections he votes the Democratic
ticket, but in local elections he is independent,
voting always for the mau he considers the best
qualified for the office iu question. Religiously,
he is a member of the Roman Catholic church.
He has two brothers, Barney and John F.,
engaged in gold raining in ^Montana.

James Mulgrew was married, in 18G0, to
JNIargaret L. ^lulgrew, daughter of Peter Mul-
grew, of Duncannon, Ireland, and they have
three children, one sou aud two daughters :
John F., Mary E., aud Margaret S., all attend-
ins- school at Silver Creek.

T tEVI J. PIERCE, the well-known dealer

^^ iu agricultural machinery, residing at
Forestville, is a son of Levi H. aud Electa
(lugells) Pierce, aud was born in the village of
Cooperstowu, Otsego county, New York, Octo-
ber 3, 1830, and is now in his sixty-first year.
The parents of ^Ir. Pierce were both New Eng-
land emigrants, the father having come from
the Granite State, and the mother from Con-
necticut. Levi H. Pierce came to Otsego
countv and was euLraoed in the business of dis-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY.

tilling. The name was originally Pers, which
is from the Englisli. Grandfather, Stephen
Ingells, served with bravery and valor in the
Revolutionary war, and was Iionorabl)' 'dis-
charged at its close.

The condition of his i^arents being humble,
Levi J. Pierce was early taught habits of in-
dustry, and pa.ssed his boyhood and youth in
his native county. He was sent to the public
schools and acquired such education as the
fountain afforded. When a young man he
secured a clerkship in a store at Cooperstown,
and remained there until 1852, Avhen he came
to Forestville and engaged in business with J.
G. Hopkins and N. B. Brown, and the firm re-
mained intact for twelve years. About the date
of the close of the war, Mr. Hopkins dropjied
out, and Messrs. Pierce & Brown continued the
business for seven years longer, when they dis-
solved partnership. Mr. Pierce then opened a
hardware store, which he conducted until 1889,
and since that time he has been handling all
kinds of farming machinery and implements.

On Jan. 17, 1860, he married Frances Hop-
kins, a daughter of Joseph G. Hopkins, the latter
being one of the early settlers and business men
of Yillauova, this county, over fifty years ago.
He was a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and
died in 1876, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. and
Mrs. Pierce have been blessed with a family of
four children : Charles H., resides in Oregon;
Albert L., is in the lumber business at Irvona,
Clearfield county, Pa.; Joseph G., lives in
Madford, Oregon, also engaged in the lumber
business ; and Ophelia.

Levi J. Pierce is the owner of considerable
valuable property in Forestville, and Mrs.
Pierce owns two farms within a couple of miles
of the village. They have a pleasant and hap- ■
py home, and by their business ability and good
management have risen to the position of re-
spect and comfort they now occupy. j

C'ETH ALDRICH, one of the most prosperous
'*^ farmers in this section, came from sterling
Quaker ancestry on both sides of the house. He
was born in Hamburg, Erie Couuty, X. Y., Oc-
tober 7, 1827, and is a son of Scott and Eliza
(■White) Aldrich. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich
I of Rhode Island is a family connection. The
! paternal grandfather of Seth Aldrich, Nathan,
married Phivbe Apjilebee, each a member of
the Society of Friends, and to them seven chil-
dren were born, six sons and one daughter :
James, Sayles, Simeon, Nathan, Thomas, Scott
(father), and Esther. Scott Aldrich, was liorn
in Smithfield, Providence county, Rhode Island,
June 6, 1801. When eighteen years of age he
went to learn the trade of shoemaking, and so
apt was he that it might be said he made a pair
of shoes the first day. After serving his full
time as apprentice, he worked for some time as
a journeyman. In 1820, having married, he
and his wife drove from their Rhode Island
home to Evans, Erie county, this State, carry-
ing all their earthly possessions with them in a
one-horse covered wagon. His brothers, James
and Sayles had preceded him, and he spent the
winter of 1823-24 with them. In the spring
he purchased a farm of one hundred acres,
located east of Haml)urg, Erie county, paying
ten dollars an acre for it, and cleared and im-
proved it with the aid of an ox-team and a
wooden plow, adding to it until he owned three
hundred and seventy-five acres. In 1849 he
bought a farm on the flats of Buffalo creek,
containing one hundred and eighty-five acres, for
\vhich he paid one hundred dollars per acre,
and in 1853, only four years later, he sold it
for two hundred dollars per acre, netting him
eighteen thousand five hundred dollars, which
was a big business transaction in those days,
involving an output on the part of the juir-
chaser of thirty-seven thousand dollars, a hand-
some fortune then. This was the best invest-
ment he ever made, and profits of one hundred
])er cent, were extremely rare in anv business.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

He was one of the origiual promoters aud man-
agers of the phink-road from Hamburg to Buf-
falo, acting as the chief executive in its con-
struction. Some of the directors becoming dis-
satisfied, Thompson Culbertson offered him a
farm near Forestville, this county, in excliange
for his plank-road stock, aud he accepted. He
had then (1857) resided in Hamburg thirty-
three years. After a year's residence on his
Forestville farm, he moved to Fredonia (1858)
and bought the i)lace where Chas. Z. Webster
now resides. This lot of land he soon sold to
T. Z. Higgins, and bought the place known as
" Sunset Hill," and most of the territory en-
closed by Central avenue, Division, Free and
Day streets, where he built the house in which
T. S Hubbard now resides, but after a while
exchanged his " Sunset Hill " place for a farm
on the main road, just west of the corporation
line, but after a shoi't time returned to the vil-
lage and built a house on the corner of Free
and Day streets. At the time of his death he
owned thirteen hundred acres of land, but had
previously at one time possessed twenty-eight
hundred acres. Some time before he was sum-
moned to a higher sphere, he disposed of a por-
tion of his land to his sons, giving to each one
three thousand dollars to be applied on these
purchases, aud an equivalent in cash to the
other children, who did not take land. He was
a member of the Free Will Baptist church in
Hamburg, but in his later years practiced the
simple usages of his Quaker ancestors. The
poor had in him a most excellent friend and
benefactor, and in all his business transactions
he was honest aud upright. He will be re-
membered kindly by many who, in their early
struggles for the possession of a home, experi-
enced his generous and forbearing treatment.
Just in all his dealings, his word was as good as
a bond, and when once he had made a bargain,
even verbally, he never in any way retreated.
When the board of commissioners was appointed
to appraise tiie lands for the Lake Shore rail-

road between Buffalo and Eighteen Mile Creek,
he was a member. He died October 16, 1885,
in his eighty-fifth year. Scott Aldrich was
married April 13, 1823, to Eliza White, by
whom he had seven children, four sons aud
three daughters : Amos, a farmer, who married
Cordelia Culbertson; Mason, a farmer, who
married Licena Clark ; Seth ; Ira, a farmer,
who married Loui.sa Taylor ; Mary, who mar-
ried Benjamin Miller, a farmer and gai'dener at
Hamburg ; Ann, who married Isaac Long ; and
an infant. Amy, who died September 28, 1838.
The mother of these children died in April,
1855. July 26, 1855, he was married to Anna
Meal, of Boston, Erie county, this State. Of
their children, the eldest, David, died in Sheri-
dan, May G, 1872. The others are still living,
namely : George, a farmer, who married Mar-
tha Dye, of Sheridan ; Xathau, a farmer, who
married for his first wife, ilary Prescott, aud
for his second Ellen Dye; Sayles, a farmer,
who married Virginia Sweet ; Simon, a farmer,
who married Carrie Spink ; Eliza, who married
Carmie Daily of Fredonia ; INIartha, who mar-
ried J. J. Kelly ; and IMaria, who married Jasper
K. Aldrich. The second wife of Scott Aldrich
died May 14, 1857, in her forty-fourth year,
and he married, July 29, 1858, Lydia A. Snell,
of Waterford, Pennsylvania, who bore him one
child who died in infancy.

I Seth Aldrich was educated in the common
.schools of Erie couuty, this State, and also at
the select schools of Hamburg, in the same
county, attending at these founts of learning
until he was twenty-two years of age. In 1851,
iu company with his brother, INIason, he bought
the stage line running from White's Corners,
now in Hamburg, to Buffalo, carried it a year,
aud in the fall of 1852 sold out. In the fall
of 1853 he moved to Wyomiug couuty, where

j he aud his brother, Mason, bought a farm of
one hundred and ten acres, located near Weth-
ersfield Springs. Here he remained until the
spring of 1855, when he removed to Sheridan,

^^^

^f^f^s^^^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTV.

this coiiuty, on a farm owned by liis father,
where he stayed two years, and then went to
Hamburg and bought a farm of forty-four
acres, on which he lived a year and then went
to Wethersfield Springs, and traded his Ham-
burg farm for the one he formerly owned, his
brother having sold it. On this farm he resided
four years, after which time he sold it and
moved to Pomfret, this county, where he culti-
vated a leased farm for five years. Then his
father disposed of his property and he bought
the so-called " Old Tarbox farm," four miles
south of Fredouia, containing two hundred and
fifty acres. Here he remained until March,
1887, when he bought a farm of eighteen acres
one mile east of Fredouia, situated on the main
road, on which was a fine residence, which he
now occupies and raises grapes and small
fruits.

He is a member of the Methodist church of
Fredouia, of which he is a class leader, and
has been trustee, steward and Sunday school
superintendent. All his life he has retained
the many excellent qualities taught him by
his good Quaker father and mother. Seth
Aldrich was married May 10, 1853, to Mar-
tha M. Clark, a daughter of Levi and Sallie
(Fisk) Clark, the father being a farmer and
blacksmith of Hamburg, Erie county, this
State, and this union has been blessed with
two children, a daughter and a son ; the former
died July 26, 1860, in her third year.

/^BED EDSOX, was born in Sinclairvillc,

^^ Chautau(|ua county, February 18, 1832.
He is a descendant of the seventh generation,
from Samuel Edson, who was born in England,
in 1(312, came over to Salem, JNlass., in the
year 1638 or 1639, and afterwards became an
original proprietor, and first settler of Bridg-
water, Plymouth county, !Mass. His father
Judge John M. Edson, was bpru in the town
of Eaton, ^ladison county. New York, July 30,
1801. He came to Sinclairville in 1810, with

his step-father, Samuel Sinclair, from whom
that village derives its name.

Obed Edson obtained his education at the com-
mon schools and Fredonia academy. He in 1851
commenced the study of la w in the office of Hon.E.
H. Sears, in Sinclairville; in 1853 heattended the
Albany Law university ; was admitted to the
bar, April 8, 1853, and since that time has fol-
lowed the practice of his profession at Sinclair-
ville, Chautauqua county. He commenced
practice as a partner of Judge E. F. AVarren ; at
a later period for a few years, was a co-])artner
of C. F. C^hapman. He has at intervals, fol-
lowed the business of civil engineering. When
eighteen years of age, he served as chainmau on
the Xew York & Erie railroad, the year before
its completion to Dunkirk. He has since been
engaged in the survey of several railroads in
New York and Pennsylvania. He ran the lo-
cating line of the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley &
Pittsburgh railroad, in the State of New York,
in 1867.

He was for several years supervisor of his na-
tive town, and has held at different times, various
other official positions in the town and county.
In 1874, Ive was elected to the Assembly from
Chautauqua county, and is the only democrat
that has ever been chosen to fill that position,
in its second assembly district.

Mr. Edson, has been a contributor to The
Continent, The ChaKtauquan, and other leading
magazines ; generally upon historical subjects.
He first gathered and collated the facts respect-
ing the expedition of Colonel Daniel Broad-
head, which was sent against the Indians of the
Upper Allegheny river by General Washington,
during the war of the Revolution, to operate in
conjunction with General Sullivan. ]Mr. Edson
prepared a full hi.story of this expedition, which
was published as the leading article, in the
November number of the magazine of American
HiHtonj, for the year 1879. He is one of the
founders of the Chautauqua County Historical
Society, and has made to it, many original con-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

tributious, usually of a historical, geological, or
archeological nature. He is the author of sev-
eral local histories, among which is a portion of
Young's History of CLautauqua county, and
all of that part of it which relates to its Indian,
French, and early history.

He was married May 11, 1859, to p]mily
A. Allen, the daughter of Hon. Caleb I. and
Emily E. (Haley) Alien. She was born in
New London, Connecticut, November 27, 18.3.5.
The children of Obed and Emily A. Edson,
were Ijoru in Siuelairville, and are : Fanny A.^
born April 28, 1860 ; married John A. Love,
who is a banker in Siuelairville ; John M.,
born September 29, 18G1, married Alma B.
Green — he lives at New "Whatcom in the State
of Washington, and is a printer and publisher;
Samuel A., born September 1-5, 1803, died
November 1(3, 1872 ; Mary U., born September
11, 1865t died November 27, 1872; Hannah,
born February 15, 1809, died December 10,
1881; Walter H., born January 8, 1874;
Ellen E., born April 21, 1875, died :\Iarch 31,
1887 ; and Allen O., born September 3, 1880,
died January 1 6, 1 882.

nUFUS FITCH. ]\Iuch study, a great deal
of wealth and many lives have been ex-
pended upon the theory, and in a practical search
for the north pole. The gentleman whose name
heads this sketch devoted a great amount of
thought and wrote many articles upon this sub-
ject. He was a son of Edwin and Lucy (Billings)
Filch, and was born in Norwich, Connecticut,
in 1830. The Fitch family were indigenous to
New England for more than a century, a re-
nowned ancestor being Rev. John Fitch, a
preacher, contemporaneous with Revolutionary
times. Rufus Fitch's early life was spent on a
farm in Connecticut, where he secured an edu-
cation in the district schools, which was supple-
mented by a course in the city of New Haven.
Prior to 1850 he went to St. Louis, where a few
vears later he was eusi-ao-ed in the wholesale sta-

tionery, paper and book business, his partner
being an intimate friend, Robert Patterson.
This business was continued for fifteen years,
when declining health demanded a change of
climate and atmosphere. Some years were
passed in seeking a location congenial, and in
1874 Jamestown was selected, where four years
later he died. The house where Mrs. Fitch
now resides was erected by him. On October
7th, 1863, he married Mary Churchill, daugh-
ter of Crispeu and Hannah Churchill. jNIrs.
Fitch's grandfather on maternal side, William
Churchill, was from England, bringing a large
fortune with him, and settled in Newbern,
North Carolina. She is a lady of an unusual
degree of intelligence and exceedingly entertain-
ing, being an accomplished conversationalist.
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had five children : Dabney
C, born September 30th, 1804, prepared for
college and is now in New York city engaged
as a manufacturer's representative ; Mary C,
was born in August, 1800, and graduated from
the Jamestown High school, and Houghton
Seminary; Edwin R., born June 19th, 1869;
Lucy B., born September, 1870, is attending
the Boston Conservatory of Music, being an
accomplished musician of marked ability ; and
Churchill, born in September, 1873. Mr. Fitch
was a republican, but paid little attention to
politics. He was a writer of prominence, his
articles attracting most attention being upon the
subject mentioned at the opening of this sketch
and the science of fishing and hunting. His
death, which occurred in 1878, was deeply re-
gretted and mourned by many friends.

DAVID A. WII^SON, the proprietor of the
well-known " Wilson House," of West-
field, and a veteran Union soldier of the late
civil war, is a son of Willard W. and Nancy
(Knight) ^^'ilson, and was born in Oswego
county, New Y'ork, March 13, 1838. The
Wilson family is of Scotch descent and settled
in the United States at an earlv day in its colo-

OF ClIAl'TAVQVA COrXTV.

niftl history. Willard W. Wilsou was borii in
Vernionl, where lie learued the trade of shoe-
maker. In 1830 he removed to Oswego county,
from whicii lie went in 1851 to Livingston
county, Michigan, where he died in 1853, aged
forty-four years. He was a farmer by oc'cu[)a-
tiou, an old-line whig in politics and a Uni-
versalist in religious belief and church member-
ship. His wife, Nancy (Knight) Wilsou, who
was of English extraction and a native of Ver-
mont, was a member of the Universalist church
and passed away in Livingston county, Michi-
gan, in February, 1888, at seventy -seven years
of age.

David A. Wilson received his education in
the common schools of Xew York and Michi-
gan. At seventeen years of age he left the farm
to become a clerk in a hotel. Six years later,
in 1861, he enlisted as a soldier iu Co. D, 4tli
Michigan Lifantry, but at the end of five months
service had a severe hemorrhage of the lungs
and was honorably discharged. He returned
home, where he soon regained his health and
enlisted as a sergeant in Co. G, Third Michigan
Cavalry, in which he served three years. After
being honorably discharged in Detroit, Michi-
gan, in 1864, he returned home and for the
next ten years was employed as a clerk in dif-
ferent hotels in the county and at Titusville,
Pa. In 1875 he engaged in the hotel business
at Westfield, where he conducted the Lake
Shore hotel for four years. He then went to
Erie, Pa., where he purchased the Mansion house
but soon disposed of it on account of sickness
and bought the Brocton house and restaurant
at Brocton, this county, which he conducted
thirteen months. At the end of this time he
sold his Broctou property, re-puichased the
Mansion house, of Erie, Pa., which he conducted
successfully for four years, when he sold it and
returned to Westfield, where he erected during
the summer of 1887 his present hotel, the " Wil-
son House." Probably no feature of a place _
is more conducive to a favorable impression on

visitors than that represented by hotel accom-
modations. In this respect the " Wilson House "
has attained a reputation equal to any hotel in
the State outside of the leading cities. Its com-
fortable and neatly furnished rooms, excellent
table and courteous attendants are higlily appre-
ciated by tiie traveling public. The house is
furnished throughout in good taste and style,
while its proprietor brings to its successful man-
agement over a cjuarter of a ceutury's experi-
ence as a clerk and manager of some of the fore-
most hotels of southwestern New York and
northern Pennsylvania. Mr. Wilson is pleasant,
courteous and accommodating. He is a repub-
lican in politics, a Universalist in religion and a
member of Council No. 8, Ancient Order of
United Workmen.

On May 12, 1867, Mr. Wilsou married Delia
Connelly, of Westfield, and their union has
been blest with one child, a daughter named
Ella M.

PJLISHA TOAVEK, Jl{., came from a line
^^ of ancestors who, witli the excepti(jn of
his paternal grandfather, had followed man's
first occupation — that of tilling the soil, leaving
it only to serve their country when she sum-
moned her loyal sons to her aid. Elisha Tower
was born in Ellery, Chautauqua county, New
York, January 13, 1818, and is a son of Elisha
and Philena (Morgan) Tower. Isaiah Tower
(grandfather) was a native of Massachusetts,
being born in 1760, and was a captain of a
whaling vessel sailing from Xew Bedford,
which occupation he left to serve as a soldier
under General Washington, during the entire
war of the Revolution. About 1800 he re-
moved to Duanesburg, Schenectady county, this
State, and located on a farm which lie occupied
until his death. In religion he was a Baptist,
of which church he was an influential member.
Isaiah Tower was married iu 1786 to Sylvia
Toby, l)y whom he had eleven children, eight
sons and three daughters: Kiieuamv, l>orn in

lilOQEAFlIY AND HISTORY

1790, and married Mr. Bowles; Benjamin,
born in 1792, was a farmer by occupation, and
died wliile a young man ; Isaiah, born in 1795,
was a millwright by occupation, and married
Mary Sherbum ; Sylvanus, born in 1797, was '
a farmer; John, born in 1799, was. a farmer, j
and married Mary Shauber; Jeremiah, born in
1801, and Joseph, born in 1803, were farmers;
Sylvia, born in 180G, and married Thomas
Beal ; Stephen, born in 1808, became a min-
ister of the Baptist denomination, and married i
Martha Ruddock; and Zaccheus, born in 1811.
Isaiah Tower died in January, 1846, aged
eighty-six years, and Mrs. Tower died Decem-
ber 3, 1848, aged eighty -two years. Simeon
IMorgan (maternal grandfather) was born in
1765, and spent most of his life in Berne,
Albany county, this State, where he owned and
cultivated a farm, and conducted a general
store. He married Rhobe Allyn, by M'hom he
had five children, one son and four daughters :
Clarissa, who married Ezra (iallup ; Xancy,
wife of Nathan Gallup, and died young, leav-
ing two children ; Philena (mother), born in
Preston, Connecticut, June 1, 1792; Rhoda,
wife of Johu Wheeler, and Simeon, Jr., a law-
yer in Ciallupville, Schoharie county, this
State, who married Jane Lee. Simeon Morgan
died in 1814, aged forty-nine years, and Mrs.
Morgan died in 1826. Elisha Tower (father)
was born in New Bedford, Bristol county, Mas-
sachusetts, May 10, 1788, and went to Duanes-
burg, Schenectady county, New York, with his
father, where he remained until 1810, when he
came to this county witli his knapsack, pro-
visions, a change of clothing and an axe,
coming by way of Cross Roads to Mayville,
where he worked a short time to replenish his
nearly exhausted exchequer. In the fall he
took a job of chopping at the Inlet, now in the
town of Hartfield, which lie completed about
the first of April, 1811, having boarded himself
in a shanty, which he built by a fallen tree,
having little else than a blanket and a frying-

pan, his board being chiefly Johnnie cake and
fried pork. In December, 1811, he took an
article for the east half of lot four, township
three, range twelve, comprising one hundred
and seventy-six acres, lying between what are
now the towns of Ellery and Gerry, and eight
miles northwest of Jamestown, for which he
paid less than three dollars an acre, it being all
forest land, which he cleared and improved, and
occupied most of the time until his death, ex-
cepting from 1839 until 1842, during which
time he resided in Jamestown. In 1812 he
built a log house in which he lived alone for
awhile, and in 1813 was drafted into the army,
and participated in the battle of Black Rock,
and was also j)resent at the burning of Buffalo,
in December, 1813. Cornelius De Long, who
built a house in Gerry, near the Ellery line
where James IMcAlister now lives, was severely
wounded in tlie head by a grape-shot at the
battle of Buffalo, and was taken to the cabin of
a settler and cared for by his fellow-soldier and
neighbor, Elisha Tower. De Long afterward
went West and participated in the Black Hawk
j war in 1832, in which he received a captain's
! commission. After the war of 1812, Elisha
Tower received a pension and a land grant. In
the autumn of 1814 he returned to Duanes-
burg, Schenectady county. In 1817, with his
I wife and one child he returned to Ellery, but
the child being taken ill, they were forced to
stop at the house of William Barrows, where
it died. He removed to his log cabin, where
he lived until he could build a commodious
frame house, to which he moved, and resided
there until 1837, when he again moved to a
I large two-story house which he had built. He
j held several town offices iu Ellery, including
that of justice of the peace. In religion he
was a Baptist, being a member of the church of
that denomination in Sinclairville, a village
near the depot in Gerry, named in honor of
Major Sinclair. Elisha Tower was married
June 1, 1815, to Philena Morgan, a daughter

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

of Simeon aud Rhobe (Allyii) Morgan, of
Berne, Albany county, this State, by whom he
had seven children, three sous and four daugh-
ters : Emily, bom March 11, 181G, in Berne,
Albany county, and died in childhood in
Ellery ; all the rest were born in this county,
Elisha; Rhobe Allyn, born May 4, 1820, wife
of Ebenezer Moon, a farmer in Stockton, at
Moon station ; Simeon jNI., born September 11,
1822, married Sarah Denison, owns and occu-
pies the south part of his father's homestead,
and resides on the east side of the town line of
Gerry; Clarissa, born June 14, 182(3; Emily
M., born June 19, 1829, aud married Franklin
Denison, a farmer and dealer in live stock ;
and Corydou L., born Oct. 26, 1834, married
Harriet Felt, aud resides ou the old homestead,
by occupation a farmer. Elisha Tower sick-
ened while ou a visit to his daughter in Stock-
ton, and died January 9, 186(5, iu his seventy-
eighth year. Mrs. Tower died December 17,
1860. "

Elisha Tower, Jr., acquired a common school
education by attending the winter terms of the
school of his neighborhood, being obliged to
work on the farm the rest of the year until he
attained his majority. He remained on his
father's farm until he was tweuty-seven years
old, wheu he bought a farm of fifty acres in
Gerry, on which he resided seven years, when
he sold it and removed to Portlaud, where he
bought a farm of sixty-five acres located three
miles east of AVestfield, ou which he resided
twenty-seven years, and then disposed of it and
came to Fredonia in 1884, where he purchased
twenty-five acres on the avenue, ten acres of
which he devotes to the cultivation of grapes.
He is enjoying the fruit of his labors in a se-
rene old age, having the respect of the com-
munity and the love of a host of friends, j
Elisha Tower, Jr., was married January 3,
1854, to Electa Moon, her father being a
farmer and mill-owner iu Gerry. Thev have
had one son and one daughter. The son, Har-

lan, resides with his father, aud the daughter,
Emma C, married Daniel Farringtou, a farmer
who lives on the farm iu Portlaud, formerly
owned by her father. She died November 28,
1890. Mrs. Tower died in December, 1874,
aged fortv-five years, aud was buried iu Port-
land.

IlirAKVrX H. WOLKBEX comes from Ger-
V"*- man ancestors, is the son of Abraham
and Minerva A. (Fuller) Wolebeu, aud was
born in Portland town, Chautauqua county,
New York, August l-j, 1846. His grand-
father, John Wolebeu, was a native of Herki-
mer county, and came from the latter place to
Portland, this county, in 1833. He lived in
this town and followed farming until 1852, aud
then went to Illinois, where he died iu 1852,
having reached the age of fifty-nine years. He
served as a soldier through the War of 1812, mar-
ried Catherine Isemau, aud had five children.
Abraham Wolebeu was a native of Herkimer
county, this State, aud came to the town of
Portland in 1833, where he began to form con-
tinuing until his death in the fall of 1878, when
in his fifty-fifth year. He married Minerva A.
Fuller who was born in Dutchess county, this
State, in 1820. She is still living, now the
wife of David Grauger, whom she married in
1885. Mr. aud Mrs. Wolebeu had two chil-
dren, of whom both are still living.

Marvin H. Wolebeu attended the schools of
his district aud there received his education.
His early life was speut ou his father's farm
and wheu he attained his mauhood assumed
control of its management. His place is loca-
ted four miles east of the village of Westfield,
where he gives considerable attention to raisino-
grapes.

On December 29, 1869, Mr. Wolebeu united
in marriage with Mary J. Munson, a daughter
of Chester Munson, who resides iu Portland
town. They have only one child, Jay, whom
they adopted.

BIOGRAPHY AyD HISTORY

M. H. Wolebeu is a democrat, a generous
citizen, and came from one of tlie most respect-
ed families in the county.

T . lEUT. PHILANDER W. BE3IIS, one

■'-* of Phil. Sheridan's cavalry-men in the
late war, was born in tiie town of French
Creek, Chautauqua county, New York, Feb-
ruarv 5, 1842, and is a son of David and Beth-
iah (Vanostrand) Bemis. David Bemis left
his native State of Vermont when a boy, and
settled in French Creek, where he followed
farming until his death in 1867, at sixty-five
years of age. He was accompanied by his
father, Stephen Bemis, who was also a native
of Vermont. David Bemis married Bethiah
Vanostrand, who was a native of Xew York
and died in 1850, aged forty-six years.

Philander W. Bemis grew to manhood on
the farm, attended the public schools, and in
1861, enlisted in Co. I, 8th Illinois Cavalry.
He was promoted to sergt.-major of his regi-
ment, by reason of his efficiency and soldierly
conduct, and was mustei'ed out of that regiment
during the latter part of 1862, by order of the
war department as a supernumerary officer.
He re-enlisted in 1863, in the fifteenth New
York Cavalry and served until June 17, 1865,
when he was discharged on account of a Mound
received at the battle of Five Forks, where he
was struck in the left arm and shoulder by a
minie-ball, which he carried in his body fif-
teen months. Lieutenant Bemis made an en-
viable war record of which he may be justifi-
ably proud, as he served under Sheridan in all
of that great commander's famous campaigns in
Virginia, and participated in thirty-five en-
gagements and battles. After the close of the
w^ar he came to ^Vestfield where he has resided
ever since, and where he has served five years
as a lieutenant in the New York State troops.
He has been, since boyhood, a member of the
^Methodist Episcopal church and is now class
leader and chairman of the b(jard of trustees of

the Westfield church of that denomiuation, in
which he served in an official capacity for
twenty-five years. He is a republican in poli-
tics, has been active in the temperance cause for
many years, served several terms as town clerk
and as a member of the board of education
and is now deputy sheriff of the county. He
is a Past Master of Summit Lodge, No. 219,
Free and Accepted ilasous. He has been con-
nected with tlie Chautauqua Assembly ever
since it was organized and has had entire charge
of the ticket department, in which he handles
from thirty to fifty thousand dollars every year
and in connection with which he has served for
five years as chief of police of the grounds.
After coming to Westfield he engaged in the
mercantile business, from which he retired three
years ago.

August 14, 1866, he married Jennie A., a
noble Christian woman, daughter of Alexander
and Malinda MeCoUom, of Westfield. Lieut,
and ]Mrs. Bemis have two children : Ernest
W., a printer, who is also a fine musician ; and
Pearl A., aged respectively twenty-two and
thirteen. Pearl A. could read in the Bible at
two and one-half years of age, and when eight
years of age, wrote the prize poem for which
fifty competitors under seventeen years of age
were contesting. She is a good musician and
has already written poems which have been
published.

S3I. SKI03I0KE, a well-known grower
• of small fruits, was born in Charlotte,
two miles from Sinclairville, Chautauqua coun-
ty, July 22, 1831, and is a son of Ira and
Lydia S. (Mann) Skidmore.

Luther M. Skidmore (grandfather) moved to
Otsego county, this State, settling in Morris,
M-here he owned a store, and a half interest in a
cotton factory. He was married and had three
sous : Wolcot, who was a clothier, and came to
Forestville, this county, and kept a hotel, after-
ward dying iu Ti>ledo, Ohio; Ira (father), and

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY.

Enssell, who died while young. The maternal
graudflither of S. M. Skidmore, Samuel Mann,
moved to Otsego county, where he was a car-
penter and joiner. About 18-38 he came to this
county and settled at Laona, where he contin-
ued working at his trade. He was married and
had four children, one son and three daughters :
Olive, married William Johnson ; Lvdia S.
(mother), married Ira Skidmore. Samuel Mann
died in 18G0, aged about eighty years. Ira
Skidmore (fatiier) was boi-n in Morris, Otsego
county, this State, iu 179C. Whik^ a young
man he came to Chautauqua county, settling in
Charlotte, where he bought a farm of one hun-
dred acres. Ten years later he sold that farm
and moved to Sheridan, where he bought an-
other farm, remained on it a year, then sold it
and bought still another of one hundred acres,
which is now within the corporation of Dun-
kirk, this county. He was a Mason until tiie
William Morgan trouble, in 182(i, when he left
them. Ira Skidmore married Lydia S. Maun,
in 1823, and by this union had eight cliildren,
six sons and two daughters, seven of whom
reached maturity : JNIartha F., married to Sam-
uel Tolles, a lumber dealer and oil operator,
who lives in Dunkirk ; Thomas J., a contractor
and coal dealer, who married jNIarion Johnson,
and lives at Lily Dale ; S. S. ; Frances D.,
married to Stephen Yeasey, a locomotive engin-
eer, who lives at Hornellsville, Steuben county ;
Henry H., was assistant freight agent of the
W. N. Y. & E. R. R., and now lives at Corry,
Pennsylvania, married Martha Eaton, now
dead ; George E., died in infancy ; Oscar W.,
a locomotive engineer, who married Sarah
Keyes and lives iu Thornton, Illinois; and
Charles W., a locomotive engineer, who died on
the Erie railroad at Dayton, this State; mar-
ried Mary Le Roy. The father of these children
died when sixty-eight years old, and the mother
died in 1850, aged forty-seven years. Both are
buried in Laona.

S. M. Skidmore was educated in the common

schools at Fredonia and the academic depart-
ment at Dunkirk. After leaving school he
learned the trade of a tinsmith with Hart &
Lester, serving three years, after which he
worked at this vocation until 1857, when he
entered into partnership witli M. J. Bellous iu
the hardware business, in Dunkirk, the firm
name being Bellous & Skidmore. He contin-
ued in this firm one year and then sold out to
R. L. Carey, accepting the position of foreman
in their large shop, which he liekl five years.
In 18G3 he went in partnership with J. B.
Gardner, dealing in field, garden and flower
seeds, at Fredonia. Here he remained twenty
years, and then, in 1883 they closed up the
business. In addition to the seed business he
had also engaged in growing small fruits,
grapes, berries, etc., and now devotes his entire
attention to the raising of small fruits, havin"-
eleven acres devoted to their cultivation.

S. M. Skidmore was married in January,
1853 to Annette Hewitt, daughter of Cyrus
and Lucia Hewitt, of Fredonia, the fother be-
ing a carpenter and joiner. By this union
there were two children, a son and a daughter :
Xellie H. and Henry H., the latter being a
locomotive engineer, married to Emma Beaver,
of Huntington, Indiana, where he lives. The
mother of these children died in 18G8, and in
1870 Mr. Skidmore married Alice Roberts, a
daughter of Deacon Eli and Julia (Sheldon)
Roberts, of Fredonia, by whom he has one
daughter, Maude A., who resides with her pa-
rents. His second wife dying in 1882, in 1884
he married Hattie J. Safford, a daughter of
Justus and Charlotte (Chairman) Satford, of
Fredonia.

"PUGEXE K. HOUGH has passed through
-*-^ many shifting scenes on the stage of life,
and has imprinted on the plates invented by
Daguerre, and by those later who have improved
on his process, the counterfeit presentments of
the representatives of many nations. He was

228

BIOGRAPHY AXn HISTORY

boiu at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New
York, December 24, 1834, aud is a son of E. A.
and Susan (Pierce) Hough. E. A. Hough was
a native of Connecticut, a builder and contractor
by occupation, and served as a volunteer in the
w"ar of 1812. He was married in 1829 to
Susan Pierce, who was a native of Vermont and
a cousin to Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth
president of the United States. They had
seven children, of whom E. K. was the oldest
but one, who died in infancy.

Euo-eue K. Hough was reared in St. Lawrence
county, and was educated in the academy of
Potsdam and the High school of Lockport, this
State. He left school at the age of seventeen to
learn the then newly-discovered art of daguer-
reotyping, which he practiced for some years
successfully in the villages of Canton and
Maloue, county-seats of St. Lawrence and
Franklin counties. When twenty-three years
of age, partly to oblige his cousin, S. E. Buttolph,
and partly to see more of the world, he exchanged
his Malone gallery for a travelling daguerreo-
type car, in which his cousin had traveled from
St. Lawrence county to Brocton, in Chautauqua
county. Mr. Hough operated but a short time
in this county before he sold the car to accept a
situation oflered him in a house for the supply
of daguerreotype and ambrotype materials,
established in Xew York city. In 1859 he was
sent by the house to Petersburg, Va., and thence
to South Carolina, where he was during the
exciting time of John Brown's raid and Lincoln's
canvass. Realizing the gravity of the coming
trouble, he returned north, reaching New York
the day after Lincoln's election. He remained
in New York city during the war, accepting a
situation as photographic operator with Meade
Bros, on Broadway, aud afterward with R. A.
Lewis, who had galleries at Chatham square,
aud at 19th Street aud Broadway. In 1865,
.still desiring to see more of the world, he went
to Barbadoes, in the West Indies, for a winter,
and found his business so profitable in the

tropics aud life so pleasant that he visited, with
his photographic art, some of the largest cities
in South America, remaining a year in Per-
nambuco, afterward visiting Bahia aud Rio
Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. In 1869 he
returned to the United States, and opened a
gallery in New York city.

In 1870 he was married to Frances Mason,
of Ripley, this county. Then, for more than
ten years, he maintained a successful business of
his own amid the intense competition of New
York city, meanwhile continuing his art studies
in the Academy of Design, aud being a regular
paid correspondeut of the photographic maga-
zines. The winter of 1879 he left his gallery
in New York in charge of his brother and went
to Trinidad, in the English West Indies, with
his wife, mainly for her health, she having been
ill several winters with severe neuralgia, com-
plicated with heart trouble, and her physician
advised a milder climate. They went to Trini-
dad because they had friends there. Shortly
after their arrival the two sous of the Prince of
\ Wales stopped there on their voyage around the
\ world. The governor of the islaud honored
] ISIr. Hough with an invitation to photograph
the princes amid the tropical foliage surround-
ing the governor's palace. This proved an
excellent advertisement ; hundreds of their pic-
tures were sold among the loyal population,
and a profitable business immediately flowed in
upon him. The business continued so good,
and his wife's health so improved, that in 1881
his brother sold the gallery in New York and
joined him, with the intention of remaining
until they made a fortune, as they had every
prospect of doing ; when suddenly in the height
of their prosperity, a severe epidemic of yellow
fever struck the island ; there had not been one
before for nearly twenty years, and the Hough
brothers and their families barely escaped with
their lives, while hundreds were dying arouud
them. At one time they were given up to die,
but finally recovered to find their business

cA^i/l^u^^^-t^'

OF CIlAVTAUijUA COUNTY.

ruined for the time, and their health so impaired
that they were compelled to return to the States.
In 1883, shortly after his return, Mr. Hough
purchased forty acres of grape land in Ripley,
and placed it in care of his wife's brother,
George Mason, to plant a vineyard, the Chau-
tauqua grape interest having then just begun.

When he l)ought the grape farm it was Mr.
Hough's intention to continue his business south
in winter and only visit the farm in summer.
On that plan he spent a winter in New Orleans
in charge of an exhibit at the world's fair, and
two winters in North Carolina, where his
business was profitable and his wife's health
seemed to improve. But she decided that she
would rather live a few years less among friends
and kindred than to be always among strangers;
and his main endeavor being to place her in a
condition most conducive to her health and
happiness, he bought a house in Fredoiiia next
to her sister's, and was just fitting it up as a
quiet home, when his wife was taken worse and
died of heart failure in May, 1887. Shortly
after lier bi'other, George Mason, died with
bilious inflammation, thus leaving two l>roken
homes, with the incomplete vineyard, in Mr.
Hough's care.

In November, 1889, to continue their strong
ties of family affection and unite their broken
homes, Mrs. Fannie Mason, the widow, and
Mr. Hougj) were married, and now reside in
the Fredonia houie.

The vineyard now has twenty acres of bear-
ing vines under good management, and promises
to be a profitable investment. He also has a
photograph gallery in Fredonia, which keeps
him pleasantly occupied in line with his life
work. Mr. Hough is a quiet, unassuming gen-
tleman, with no tendency to ostentation or
display, and while he sometimes entertains his
friends with descriptions of the countries he has
visited, his residence so many years in the active
centres of life and business, has satisfied his
desire for bustle and excitement, and he now
12

has settled down, like Goldsmith's traveler
returning liome, his remaining years " in ease
and rest to spend." He has cliosen this Chau-
tauqua grape region as having more that is
pleasant and less that is disagreeable for a
permanent residence than any part of tlie world
he has visited.

I^ORMAN BABCOCK.— Thouglits for his
\ ^ fellow-man, feelings for the needy, aspira-
tions to be useful, and a determination to win
deserving and enduring success ; these were the
materials out of which Norman Babcock built
his active and honorable life. He was the
youngest son of Samuel and Polly (Cleveland)
Babccx*k, and was born at Forestville, in the
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, New
York, April 19, 18.38. Sanniel Babcock was a
descendant of one of five Babcock brothers,
who, according to tradition, came over in the
" Mayflower." He was born at Mansfield,
Connecticut, October 31, 1793. In 1795 his
parents removed to Bridgewater, near Wood-
stock, Vermont, where he was reared and re-
ceived a good edu(^ation. In early life he came
to central New York and afl:crwards was en-
gaged in teaching in Montgomery, Monroe, Al-
legany and in this county, of wiiich he was one
of the pioneer teachers. After a resilience of
some years at Ellington and Forestville he re-
moved, in 184], to Silver Creek, where he re-
sided until his sudden death in 1882. In his
thirty-fourth year he learned cabinet-making in
wiiieh he soon became a skilled workman. He
followed making cabinet furniture for several
years at Silver Creek, after which he resided
with his children. In 1825 he married Polly
Cleveland, who was a native of Windsor county,
Vermont, and died in 1867. Tiieir children
were: Pamelia, Alpheus (see his sketch), Martha,
Laura and Norman. Mr. Bal)coek and his
wife were both members of the Presbyterian
church. On Sunday afternoon June 11, 1882,
while takinu; his accustomed walk around the

232

BIOGRAPHY AND IIISTOKY

dejiot, he stepped from the right-hand railroad
track to let a train j)ass and iu attempting to cross
the other track was struck and instantly killed
by a west-bound train. He was a constant
reader and was well informed in political and
religious affairs and in jihilosophy and literature.
He was popular with the employees of the
Eureka works who attended his funeral iu a
body and the Silver Creek Local, in an extended
account of his life said, " He has taught us by
his sunny temper ' How far the gulf stream of
our youth may flow into the Arctic regions of
our lives.' "

Norman Babcock was reared from four years
of age at Silver Creek, where he attended the
public schools and received a good business edu-
cation. Leaving school he went into his father's
shop where he first learned to handle tools. He
afterwards entered the iron foundry of Hawkins
&GreenIeaf, learned the trade of pattern-maker
and followed tJiat business for several years,
during which time he was foreman of a large shop
in Erie, Pa. In January, 1864, he formed a
partnership with his brother, Alpheus Babcock,
who had been engaged for some time in the
manufacture of a smut and separating machine,
and whose successive improvements developed
into the present justly celebrated and widely
known Eureka smut and separating machine,
whose history is given in the sketch of the late
Alpheus Babcock. In July, 1883, Norman
Babcock withdrew from the firm of Howes,
Babcock &, Ewell, then owning and operating
the Eureka Smut Machine works. From that
time on until his death he was not engaged in
any line of business.

On March *J, 1805, he married Ursula Record,
a native of Cattaraugus county, and a daughter
of Israel and Mary (Gardner) Record, natives
of Dutchess county, N. Y. To Norman and
Ursula Babcock were born two children — Cleve-
land, born in 1873 and now attending Exeter
college in New Hampsiiire; and Grace, who was
born in 1876. Mrs. Babcock still resides in

her beautiful and well-appointed home at Silver
Creek, to which is attached sixty-five acres of
productive land.

Norman Babcock had served once as president
of his village but resigned as his time was
chiefly needed for his work, although he was
never too busy to assist a friend or relieve the
distress of the needy. As a meml)er of his firm
he had special charge of the mechanical depart-
ment, and like his other partners always favored
in dull times enougli macliines to keep all the
hands fully employed. About 1881 he had an
attack of hemorrhage of the stomach and con-
tinued in ill-health until Christinas, 1883, when
a series of hemorrhages commenced which proved
fatal on the next day at ten o'clock. On the
succeeding Sabbath his funeral occurred which
was attended by the employees of the Eureka
works in a body and after simple but very im-
pressive funeral rites his remains were entombed
in Glenwood cemetery. Fitting tributes to his
memory appeared in the newspapers of western
New York, one of which said, " Few men have
ever died whose departure has called forth such
universal expressions of deep regret, or caused
so much sorrow iu .so many breasts." One who
knew him intimately for f"orty years bore testi-
mony of him in the wish that '" we had more
like him with as many virtues even if they had
to have more faults.''

The swift-flying years as they grow full-
orbed and wane and die iu the future, may
sweep from human sight the sculptured marble
that stands in memory of Norman Babcock, but
the mighty and slow-rolling ages of time will
preserve his name and perpetuate his virtues as
long as knowledge or memory of Silver Creek
shall exist in history, or be repeated in tradition.

T L. THAYER, stands well up in the front
^ • rank of the prominent business men of
Chautauqua county, and, although compara-
tively a young man, has rushed ahead until he
has reached an eminence of which many an older

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

2;{3

mau might feel proiul. J. L. Tlia}'fr was born
in tiie town of Miiia, Cliautaucjna county, New
York, February Otli, 1851, and is a son of
Ichabod and Fidelia (La Due) Thayer. The
former was a native of Milford, Massachusetts,
while his wife came from this State. Ichabod
Tiiayer came to the Empire State before the
first score had been counted in the years of this
century, and in 1824 he settled in Mina, Chau-
tauqua county and followed farming until 18()4,
when he retired and moved to Westfield, where
he lived until he died in 1888, when he had
passed his eightieth year. Although not a poli-
tician, as the word is usually understood, Mr.
Thayer held many of the town offices and dis-
charged their duties well. Grandfather La Due ''
carried French blood in his veins and came to I
the town of Mina early in its history. He was
a popular man and was one of its first supervi-
sors.

J. L. Thayer spent his early life on a fiirm in
the town of Mina and completed his education !
at the Westfield academy. His fir.st business '
experience was clerking during tiie year 18C6 at '
Brooklyn, but he staid there le.ss tlian a year and {
then went to scliooi for about the same length of
time, afterwards coming to Dunkirk and clerk-
ing in a store in 18G9. The two succeeding
years were passed in the emj)loy of B. Feuner,
at Sherman, and then Mr. Thayer bought an
interest in his employer's business. Two years
later he purchased the entire establishment and
embarked in business for himself. Mr. Thayer
has added to and enlarged his place until now he
conducts a double store and carries a line of
drugs, jewelry, wall-papers and other stock equal
to the best in the county. One store is sixty-
five feet deep, the other forty-three. Mr.
Thayer was active with Mr. Sperry, Mr. C'or-
bitt and others in establishing the new State
Bank and he was one of the first village trus-
tees.

In 1873 he married Julia E. Horton, who
came from Erie county, and their union has

been blessed with two children — one son and
one daughter : Amos H. and Susie C.

Politically, J. L. Thayer is a democrat an<l
has been secretary of the Union .school and
academy since 1881, which rank well with any
.school in the county. He is an astute business
man, a good financier and an agreeable compan-
ion. No store bears a better reputation than
his and it but reflects his own private character.

TOHN GKASIIO is a man who presents in
^^ himself an example of what can be accom-
plished by hard work, enei-getic and well di-
rected efforts and a steady accumulation of sav-
ings. He was born in that part of the German
empire known as Prussia, May 28, 18.!7, being
I a son of Frederick and Loui.sa (Lempky)
Grasho. Frederick Grasho (father) was a
native of Germany, born in 1809, and emio-rated
to America in 1858, locating iu Chautauqua
county, this State, where he obtained employ-
ment as a day laborer. He died in April, 1889,
iu the eightieth year of his age. Frederick
Gra.sho married Louisa Lempky and by her
had children. She was born in Germany, in
1817, and now resides in Hanover, this county.
John Grasho spent the first two decades of
his life in his native land, and received an edu-
cation in the common schools of Baden. In
1857, during the .second great financial panic
which agitated America, he came to these
shores and located temporarily in Erie county,
this State, where he remained six months. He
admits an intimate acquaintance with impecu-
niosity, for lie walked from Buffalo to Hanover,
this county, because he lacked the nece.ssary
funds wherewith to pay his fare. Immediately
on his arrival here in Hanover, he began work
by the day, then .secured em[)loyment bv the
month on a farm where he remained about five
years, and then leased a farm and cultivated it
on share,s. In 1867 he had accumulated enough
money to purcha.se a part of the farm he now
occupies, anil two more payments for additional

234

SIOORAPHV AXD IIISTOliY

portions, made him the owner of one hundred
and forty-eight acres. Beside this farm he
owns another comprising ninety-two acres,
hicated in Hanover Centre. Tiie farm on
which he resides, is well improved, and a por-
tion of it is witiiin the corporation boundary of
Silver creek, which materially enhances its
value. In addition to his farming operations
he Iniys immense amounts of hay, which, with
several tons he cuts on his own land, he sells to
the stock-yards in Buffalo. He is now in the
enjoyment of a comfortable bank account, and
is a successful man. In political matters he is
a democrat, and in religion is a member of the
Gerujan Lutheran church.

John Grasho was married in 18(32 to Minnie
Loss, of this county, by whom lie lias three
children, one son and two daughteis : < 'liarles ;
Kllen, who married C. J. Neuendorf, of Silver
Creek ; and Lizzie.

TTIjPHKUS IJABCOt'K, the pioneer of the

•**- smut machine in modern milling machin-
ery and the inventor of the celebrated Eureka
Combined Smutter and Separator, of which
Simeon Howes is now proprietor, was born in
Pike, Allegany county, New York, October
27, 1827, and the oldest sou of Samuel and
Polly (Cleveland) Bubcock. According to fam-
ily tradition five Babcock brothers came from
England in the " Mayflower" and Samuel Bab-
cock was descended from one of these brothers.
Samuel Babcock was born at Mansfield, Con-
necticut, October 31, 1793, was reared and edu-
(^ated at Bridgewater, Vermont, and became one
of the pioneer teachers of this county. He re-
sided at Ellington and Forestville and in li>41
came to Silver Creek where he followed cabinet
making for .some years and where he was acci-
dentally struck and killed by a railway train on
Sunday, June 11, 1882. Tie was a great reader
anil an exemplary nienil)er of the Presbyterian
church and married Polly Cleveland, a native
of Vermont, who died in 1867. They reared

a family of five children: Pamelia, Alpheus,
Martha, Laura and Norman, in whose sketch a
more extended history of the family is given.

Alpheus Babcock received a common school
education and learned the trade of mili-wright
which he followed for some years. Being of an
ingenious turn of mind and possessing good in-
ventive ability, he gave some thought to the
subject of improving mill machinery while he
was busily engaged in erecting flouring mills in
different parts of western New York. In 185-i
he bought of G. E. Throop the right of the
Rutter & Rouzer smut cleaning and separating
machine for nine counties in Pennsylvania. It
was very imperfect and after souie time spent
in studying its defects he was enabled to gel up
a far superior machine for which he obtained a
patent in 1861 and after several years of suc-
cessful manufacturing he sold his interest, and
the machine was afterwards made by Huntley,
Holcomb & Howes. In January, 1864, he as-
.sociated his brother Norman with him in the
manufacture of his machine, and in the follow-
ing vear Simeon Howes became a partner with
them and the firui name was changed to Howes,
Babcock & Co. During 1865 they manufac-
tured and .sold two hundred machines. On
January 1, 1866, they took possession of the
Montgomery machine works which they had
purchased the preceding fall for twenty thous-
and dollars. They refitted this wooden estab-
lishment and used it until 1873, when, to fill
their increase of orders, larger buildings were
demanded and a three-story brick building,
80x110 feet in dimensions, was erected at a
cost of twenty thousand dollars, besides a large
and carefully planned foundry. The entire
plaut w.as now christened " The Eureka
Works " by which name it has become known
wherever improved milling machinery is used in
the civilized world. In the fall of I860 .llbert
Horton became a partner, but in 1868 sold his
interest to Carlos Ewell who died in 1887,
when Mr. Howes purchased the interest of his

cA4^^ - dJL./i

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

heirs and already having the interests of Alpheus
and Nonuan Babcock, became, in 1888, tlie sole
proprietor of the Eureka works. lu 1870 a
suit for infringement of patent was brought
against Howes, Babeock & Co., which they suc-
cessfully contested and won at a cost of eight
thousand dollars. The result of this suit was
in the interest of millers and purchasers as
the Babcocks could have saved all this cost by
paying a royalty to the prosecuting sharpers and
then adding it to the price of their machines.
Another fact deserving of notice in the business
career of Alpheus Babcock is that the founda-
tion of Silver Creek's present prosperity was
laid by the establishment of the Eureka works,
which is the pioneer of the numerous plants
that send out thousands of smut and separating
machines to all parts of the world. During Mr.
Babcock's connection with these works, the
force of hands was increased from fourteen to
sixty-six, the pay-roll went up from eighteen to
nearly fifty thousand dollars per year, and the
annual output of machines ran up from hun-
dreds to thousands.

In 1867 Alpheus Babcock married Sarah
Pierce who died some years afterwards and left
no children.

The labors of his active and useful life came
to a close on December 1 1, 1878. His death
was caused by softening of the brain from over-
work. His remains were entombed in Gleuwood
cemetery amid a vast and silent throng wiio
gathered to witness the last sad rites of one who
had been deservedly popular in the community
in which he had resided. Alpheus Babeock has
aided largely in developing Silver Creek from a
quiet village into a great manufacturing center,
where many years of his active life were spent
in perfecting the machine which will preserve
his name from oblivion throughout the world as
long as improved milling machinery is used by
the human race.

r r j ILSON S. ANDKUS is of English an-
^^^^ cestry and he and his father have been
well-known and highly respected citizens of
this immediate section for three-cpiarters of a
century. He is the son of Sylvester and Rachel
(Harris) Audrus, and was born in the town of
Portland, Chauhiuqua county, New York, Sep-
tember 20, 1819. His father was a native of
Connecticut and married Rachel Harris of Rens-
selaer county, New York, by whom he had
eight ciiildren. While a young man be came
to this county and located near Brocton, 1814,
where he engaged in farming imtil 1828, with
the exception of one year (1815) which lie spent
in Connecticut on account of a severe attack of
nostalgia. In 1828, he came to the town of
Hanover, where he followed farming the re-
mainder of his life and was a very prosperous
farmer, lie was an old-line whig until the
agitation of the slavery question, when he
became a stanch democrat. He was poor-
master for several years. In religion he was a
Baptist, being a member and deacon of the first
church of that denomination organized in Port-
land. He died in 1805, aged seventy-four
years. His wife (mother of W. S.) was also a
consistent member of the Baptist church and
died in 1883, aged eighty-eight years.

Wilson S. Audrus was brougiit up on the
farm and received a common school education.
He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits
all his life and, in connection therewith, has
also handled thousands of feet of lumber, hav-
ing for five years been in that business in
Buffalo. He now owns a farm of one hundred
and twelve acres near the village of Silver
Creek, and has for sixty-three years lived in
what is now the village corporation. He
has been very successful and has accumulated
a snug fortune. He owns the fir.st mill-stone
made in this town. It was made from a boul-
der taken from the hillside about one hundred
rods from where the first grist-mill was erected
in 1804, by Abel Cleveland and David Dickin

238

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

son. It was afterwards used in a mill Iniilt by |
Thomas Kidder and Nehemiah Heaton in 1806,
on Walnnt creek, near where the famous great
black walnut tree stoml, and also on the spot
where his saw-mill now stands in the south part
of the village. The stone is still in an excellent
state of preservation. Mr. Andrus also owns a
cane, which was made from this black walnut
tree, from whicii the creek takes its name, and
which stoo<l on his farm. The tree was blown
down April 22, 1824. It was twenty-seven
feet in circumference, nine feet in diameter and
the lowest limb was seventy feet from the
ground. Being hollow at the butt, about twelve i
feet was cut oft' from the lower end and the
inside worked down and smoothed out, leaving
a shell four inches thick. A man on horse-
back rode through it. It was raised on end
and used for a grocery and on one occasion, for
a ladies' tea-party. It was sold for two hundreil
dollars to two men named Roberts and Stearns,
who lost money by exhibiting it along the Erie
canal. It was bought by New York city
parties in 1S26, fitted and splendidly fouruished
as a drawing-room and proved fairly successful
as an exhibit. Some idea can be formed of its
insi<le measurement when it is stated that thirty-
nine persons standing and fourteen sitting have
been in its interior at one time. It was sold to
London parties for three thousand dollars in
1828, and placed in a museum, where it was
afterward destroyed by fire. The London
Liteniry Gazette said that three thousand vol-
umes could be placed in its interior on shelves
projecting not more than six inches. Mr.
Andrus is a straight democrat and has been
urged several times to accept office, but has de-
clined. He is the oldest member of the
Masonic Lodge in Silver Creek. Firm in his
convictions, withal he is a kindly man and gen-
erally esteemed.

Wilson S. Andrus has been married three
times. In 1844 he espoused Aziibah Trask, of
Silver Creek, She died, leaving one child, a

son, the Hon. Leroy Andrus of Buffalo, this
State. For his second wife, he chose Percy E.
Tucker, of Silver Creek. His third wife, was
Mrs. Almena (O'Donaghey) Smith, a daughter
of William S. O'Donaghey, who came from
Batavia, Genesee county, this State, to this
county and was a farmer in the town of Stock-
ton. He died in Silver Creek in 1878, in his
eighty-seventh year. He was in his latter years
a democrat. The present Mrs. Andrus has
also been married three times. Her first hus-
band was Tracy Walker of Hartfield, this
county. And her second Porter B. Smith, of
Hanover.

■i^.VVID RUSSELL is a sturdy, self-reliant
^^ son of the land of Robert Bruce and
Robert Burns, and has, by his own merits,
reached the position he now occupies — that of
superintendent of the largest manufacturing
establishment in Dunkirk, and one of the largest
in the State of New York, an estal)lishment
which emj)loys a thousand men, whose earnings
are more than twelve thousand dollars a week,
who.se annual output of various kinds of loco-
motives and cars is valued at two and a half
millions of dollars, and the excellency of whose
work is not surpassed byanyotlier manufactory
of its kind in the world.

David Russell was born in St. Andrews, Scot-
land, May ."{Q, 1S26, and is a son of Thomas
and Jane (Russell) Rus.scll. His father was a
native of historic old Edinboro' Town, Scotland,
and was a tinsmith by trade, which business he
followed in his native land until his death. He
was a member of the Scotch Presbyterian church.
His wife (mother) was a native of St. Andrews,
and she was born in 1802. She now lives in
St. Andrews, Scotland, and is a member of the
Presbyterian church.

David Russell was reared in his native town
and received a common school education. After
leaving school he learned the trade of a machin-
ist, and has always worked in that useful Indus-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COXjyTY.

239

trial pursuit. In 1845 he came across the
Atlantic to America, aud located iu Paterson,
New Jersey, where he at ouce secured work.
Here he remained until 1852, when he came to
Dunkirk, this county, and went to work as a
machinist in the Erie railroad shops, and con-
tinued in their employ until October, 18f)9, when
H. G. Brooks, the general manager, suddenly
received an order from the president of the road
to permanently close the works. Instead of
doing so, however, he immediately reorganized
them under the name of the Brooks Locomotive
Works, with himself as president, and by that
name they are now known all over the civilized
world. Mr. Russell entered their employ, and
was steadily and deservedly promotetl from one
position to another, going a striile or two each
time, until he was appointed superintendent, a
position in which he commands the universal
respect of the employees and the commendation
of his employers. Politically he is a republi-
can, and iu his religious principles is a Scotch
Presbyterian, of which church he is a member
and trustee. He is a member of Irondequoit
lodge, F. & A. M. He is a member of the
board of water commissioners of Dunkirk and
also a member of the school board. A man of
firm convictions and of a kind and generous
disposition, he is ever ready to devote his best
efforts in aid of any movement conducive to the
welfare of his fellow-citizens. He owns a fine
residence and understands how to get the most
out of life in a practical and sensible manner.

David Russell was married, March 15, 1847,
to Eliza Russell, daughter of James Russell, of
Montrose, Scotland, and by her has seven chil-
dren, five sons and two daughters : Thomas,
James, Mary J., David, George, John and Nellie.

■T^HOS. A. JONES, a Union veteran of the
-*- late civil war and a gallant soldier in
the Army of the Potomac, who was wounded
at the terrible battle of the Wilderness, where
in the three days fight. May fifth, sixth and

seventh, thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred
and thirty-seven others of the army to which
he was attached, were either killed, wounded,
or made prisoner, is a son of Robert and Mary
(INIanning) Jones and was born May 10, 1845,
in the village of Westfield, Chautauqua county,
New York. The Jones family is of English
extraction, the immediate ancestors upon both
sides being children of" the mother of the new
world." Robert Jones was born in England
about 1800, and came to America about 1825.
He first located at Lyons, Wayne county, then
came to We.stfield and then went to Ohio,
where he died. Upon familiarizing himself
with our political institutions, he allied himself
with the republicans and was a factor in local
politics. In 1820 he married Mary IManning,
by whom he had eleven children, six of whom
are still living. Jacob H., entered Co. G, 49th
regiment New York Infantry, August 17, 1861,
and was killed Aj)ril 2, 1865, at the storming of
Petersburg. He served with his regiment all
through the war and lost his life just one week
before (ieneral Lee made his final capitulation of
the Confederate armies under his immediate
command. The battle in which he fell, while
not as disastrous to either side as many others,
was hard fought and fiercely contested, no
less than three thousand of his comrades at
arms falling in the struggle, either killed or
wounded.

Thomas A. Jones was educated at the com-
mon schools. When the 49th regiment New
York Infantry was organized he joined Co. G,
August 17, 1861, and served until 1864, a total
of three years and eleven months. Being at-
tached to the Army of the Potomac he was en-
gaged in nearly all of the important Ijattles of
this renowned organization. He was wounded
the first day of the battle of the Wilderness.
May 5, 1864, aud was confined to the hospital
until the following February. Mr. Jones was
a valiant soldier and made an honorable record.
Upon returning home at the clo.se of his enlist-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

meat he settled back to farruiiig and lias been
so engaged ever since.

On December 17, 1864, T. A. Junes mariied
]\Iaria I'erdue, a danghter of William Purdue,
and reared a family of five cliildien : Frances,
wife of Michael Decker, a Ripley farmer ; Fred
L.; Addic A., married John Burgen, who tills
the soil at Northeast, Erie county, Pa, ; Belle
and Roy A.

T. A. Jones has been identified with the Re-
publican party and is now a postmaster at
South Ripley, receiving his appointment April
1, 1891. Having served so long and so loyally
in the Federal army, it is not surprising that
he is an enthusia.stic member of John Braiden
Post, No. 488, Grand Army of the Republic,
which meets at Northeast, Erie county, Pa.
He is a good citizen and has the confidence and
esteem of his neighbors and townsmen.

CHAHT>ES W. 3IORGAN is one of those
practical, sagacious, enterprising business
men who constitute a very welcome and import-
ant factor in the material welfare and progres.s
of a community, and Jamestown is fortunate in
possessing such a man. He is a son of Harvey
and Amy (Crawford) Morgan, and was born in
Randolph, Cattaraugus county, New York,
August 12, 1855. Caleb Morgan, (great-grand-
father) was born July 19, 1740, and died at
Randolph, Vt., September 9, 1810, in the sev-
enty-first year of his age. He married Ann
Brooks, who was born March 18, 1745, and
died December 11, 1816, by whom he had sev-
eral children. Rufus Morgan (grandfather)
was born in Brattleboro, Vt., May 4, 1781, and
died in Randolph, Vt., October 17, 1827. He
married Ruth Kibbe, who was born April 9,
1783, by wliora he had eleven children : Laura,
born September 5, 1806 ; Maria, born March
22, 1808 ; Norman, born June 30, 1809 ; Cath-
erine, born February 23, 1811; Caleb, born
July 19, 1812; Frederick, born October 12,
1814; Nancy, born March 12, 1816; Elijah,

born September 29, 1817; Heman, born Sep-
tember 2, 1819 ; Harvey (father), born August
13, 1821 ; and Israel, born February 12, 1825.
The maternal grandfather, William Crawford,
was born in Hebron, Washington county, this
State, April 5, 1798, was a farmer by occupa-
tion and tiled in Napoli, Cattaraugus county,
same State, October 27, 1875. He married
Betsy Shaw, of White Creek, N. Y., by whom
he had thirteen chihlreu, all of whom were i)orn
in this State: Susan, born in Hebron, Wash-
ington county, April 19, 1820, and died in
Middleburg, Schoharie county, September 12,
1859; Matilda M., born in Hebron, February
20, 1822, and died in Napoli, Cattaraugus
c(junty, October 15, 1880; John, born in Hebron,
December 10, 1823; Amy (mother), born in
Hebron, August 30, 1825; William, Jr., born
in Bethany, Genesee county, August 23, 1827,
and died in Java, Wyoming county, April 5,
1849; Harriet, born in Bethany, January 1,
1829; Phoebe R., born in Bethany, September
1, 1831 ; James, born in China, Wyoming
county, July 21, 1833 ; Dolly B., born in China,
July 2, 1835; Cornelius, born in Java, May 5,
1 1837 ; Ira, born December 23, 1842, and died
in Napoli, September 10, 1857 ; Franklin C,
born in Java, November 3, 1845 ; and Daniel
S., born in Java, December 26, 1847. Mrs.
Crawford was born in White Creek, Washing-
ton county, August 15, 1802,and died in Napoli,
\ November 4, 1878, both husband and wife being
in their seventy-seventh year when summoned
to join the silent majority. Harvey Morgan
(father) was born in Randolph, Vt., August 13,
I 1821, and when a young man emigrated to
Cattaraugus county, this State, and thence to
Allegany county, where he still resides, having
1 retired from business, his profession being that
of a dentist. In politics he is a republican, and
on June 6, 1844, he married Amy Crawford,
a daughter of AVilliam Crawford, by whom he
1 had four children : Henry, born January 3,
1846, died February 22, 1867, who entered the

1^jLy^ P??.

^^^^^iU^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

army during the late civil war, was taken pris-
oner and imprisoned at Cahawba, Alabama,
during the last eigliteen months of the war, from
the effects of which incarceration he died shortly
after his release; Alice, born May 18, 1850,
married to George T. Berry, had two children,
Fred. N., born, Dec. 8, 1867 ; and Lewis A.,
born April 14, 1870, who died, and she mar-
ried for her second husband C. H. Kilburn, who
is one of the members of the North American
Photo- Copying Co., of Jamestown ; Charles \V. ;
and Julia, born Nov. 8, 1857, died Feb. 6,
18(32.

Cliarles \y. Morgan was educated in tlie
common schools of Randolph, this State, sup-
plemented by a commercial course in Chamber-
lain Institute, from which he graduated when
sixteen years of age, and afterward.s accepted a
position as book-keeper and clerk in a grocery
store in Randolph, where he remained until
February, 1874, when he went to Blue Rapids,
Kansas, and engaged in the grocery business,
but becoming dissatisfied returned to Randolph
in the autumn of the same year, taking a posi-
tion as clerk and book-keej)er in a hardware
store, where he remained several years. In
January, 1881, he came to Jamestown and en-
gaged in the plumbing and steam-heating busi- ;
ness in which he was very successful. In May, [

1885, his health being seriously impaired, he
sold out and remained inactive until Jamiary,

1886, when he organized the Maddux Reclining
Chair Co., which was afterwards reorganized
under the firm name of Morgan, Maddox & Co.,
and engaged in the manufacture of polished
centre tables, with wood, marble and plush tops,
which he also made an emphatic success ; but
being interested in three laud companies in
Buffalo, owning twelve lots of valuable real
estate in Jamestown and a farm of one hundred
and twenty-five acres in Cattaraugus county, he
was unable to devote an adequate amount of
time to the table business and therefore sold out
his inteix'st in that firm in July, 1890. In

October of the same year he commenced the
erection of a large factory to be devoted to the
manufacture of furniture, the building being
located midway between the Erie and the Chau-
tauqua lake railways, and on the bank of the
Chautauqua lake outlet, a few ro<ls from the
wharves of the large steamboats, rendering the
facilities lor receiving material and .shipping
products unsurpassed. He then organized the
Morgan Manufacturing ( 'o., as.sociating with
him L. C. Jagger, thus forming one of the
strongest practical business firms in western
New York. Their specialty is the finest grades
t)f library and parlor tables and their factory,
which is 50x120 feet and five stories in height,
with an addition of thirty-one feet tor the boiler,
engine and dry kiln, is equipped with the mo-st
modern and best makes of machinery, mostly
located on the second floor, which is four iuches
thick and so rigid tliat there is scarcely a tremor
when all the machinery is in motion. The
bench work is done on the third floor, the
tops finished and the tables set up on the fourth
floor and the frame finishing on the fifth floor.
Everything has been done to facilitate the busi-
ness which large practical experience and in-
genuity could suggest. The firm employs from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty men, ac-
cording to the season, and ai'e bound from the
nature of things, their enterprise and experience
and their reputation, to achieve a phenomenal
success. In the winter of 1889-90 Mr. Morgan
aided in organizing the Tousley Harvester Co.,
of which he is president.

On May 26, 1875, Mr. Morgan united in
marriage with Stella, daughter of Tliaddeus
Cornell, of Randolph, Cattaraugus county, by
whom he has two children : Ray Hart, born
March 17, 1876, and Alice Marie, born De-
cember 11, 1885.

In politics Mr. Morgan is an independent
republican and in religion is a member of the
Indeijendent Congregational church. He is a
member of Randolph Lodge, No. 448, I. O. O.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

¥., of Randolph ; Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145,
F. and A. M.; Western Sun Cha])ter, No. 67,
R. A M. ; and Jamestown ('ommandery, No. 61,
K. T., of Jamestown. Having cared for him-
self since he was fifteen years of age and accu-
mulated a handsome property by his own un-
aided efforts, he may be safely ranked as a most
successful self-made man, who enjoys the con-
fidence, respect and esteem of all who know him.

y^H. ,U>SKI*H C. (IIFFOKD, a successful
•*^ and one of the oldest dentists of West-
field, ('hautauqua county, has been successful
in three widely different kinds of business, ex-
hibiting a versatility and powers of application
quite unusual in a single individual. He is a
son of William and Phiebe (Cornell) Giftbrd,
and was born in the town of El lery, Chautau-
qua county, New York, September 18th, 1820.
His paternal grandfather, Jeremiah Gifford, was
one of the early settlers of this county, remov-
ing hither from Washington county, this State,
and settling on lot No. 23, in the town of Busti,
where he pursued farming until his death. Wil-
liam Gifford (father) was a prominent man of
Chautauqua county ; he was born in Washing-
ton county in 1797, and came here in 1824,
settling in the town of Ellery the following
year, where he engaged in farming and lumber-
ing. In 1832 he was appointed keeper of the
poor-house, and held that position until 1841,
and then movetl to Mayville, where he lived
until death called him, in 188.'j, when he had
reached the age of eighty-eight years. He held
the offices of county superintendent of the poor,
1840-1843; county treasurer, 1847-56, a pe-
riod of nine years, and was then elected justice
of the peace, and held that office for a number
of years. Originally he was a whig, but after
the war he voted with the democrats. AVhen a
young man he became a member of the Method-
ist church, and throughout his life held many
offices in that body, being always an active and
influential member, and making his house the

temporary home of every traveling preacher.
He married Phcebe Cornell, of White Creek,
Washington county, by whom he had five sons:
Edson, Horace H., (Jeorge W., Joseph C. and
James. His wife, Phiebe Cornell Gifford, sur-
vived her husband three years, and died in
1888, aged eighty-five years.

Joseph C. Gifford, after receiving his educa-
tion in the common schools and the Jamestown
academy, left the farm to engage with his bro-
ther, Horace H. (Jifford, in the carding and
cloth dressing business at Panama, this county,
and they afterward moved to Wrightsville,
Warren county, Pennsylvania, (if which latter
place he was a resident for eight years. In
1852 he came to Westfield and engaged in the
hardware business; he followed it for four
years, in the meantime studying dentistry, and
l)egan to j)racti<'e this profession in 1856, and
l)y close application to business in a few years
he succeeded in establishing an extensive prac-
tice, which he has maintained ever since. In
religion Dr. Gifford is a member of the Method-
ist Episcopal church at ^^'estfield, in which body
he has been recording steward for thirty-nine
years. Politically he is a democrat, and is a
member and Past Master of Summit Lodge,
No. 219, F. and A. M., of Westfield ; he is
also chaplain and Past High Priest of Westfield
Chapter Royal Arch Masons.

Joseph C. Gifford is one of Westfield's best
citizens in every sense of the word, broad and

! liberal-minded, kind, genial and generous, fore-
most in good works and with a large array of
friends.

On January 19, 1848, he married Rachel R.
Messenger, a daughter of Chauncey Messenger,
of Wrightsville, Warren county. Pa. Their
oidy child, Clarence, who was a young man of

I bright promise, died upon the eve of his gradu-
ation from Amherst College, in 1877, when in
the twentieth year of his age. His untimely

I death was a source of great and lasting sorrow

I to his parents.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

245

■j^AVID O. SHERMAN, the only sou of
^^ Merritt and Laura (Barnes) Sherman,
was born in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New
York, May 7tli, 1833. His grandfather was
Abram S. Slierman, a native of Albany county,
this State. From tliere he went to Cayuga
county, and then came to Chautauqua at an
early date, where he followed farming and be-
came prosperous. He affiliated with the Whig
party, which at that time was dominant. He
married and reared a family of six sons and
two daughters. Merritt Sherman was born
during his parent.s sojourn in Cayuga county.
He learned farming and followed it tiirough life.
He came to Chautauqua county and settled, and
lived for a number of years, but died in James-
town in 1891. His sympathies and votes were
cast with the followers of Hamilton, but he
refrained from active political life. He mar-
ried Laura Barnes, a daughter of John Barnes,
who lived at Ashville, Harmony P. O., this
county. They were the parents of three chil-
dren, two daughters and one son. One daugh-
ter married W. W. Eddy, and lives at James-
town, N. Y. ; the second sister married Samuel
Cowing, and resides at Lakewood, N. Y.

David O. Sherman, the subject of our sketch,
was reared on the farm and passed his early
days in the usual manner which country boys
do. The public schools, that bulwark of the
nation's safety, furnished him an education
which has stood him in good stead throughout
his long and honorable life. In April, 1857,
he married for his first wife Miss Amanda
Currier, who was a native of Arcade, Wyoming
county, this State, and after her death lie mar-
ried Mrs. Carrie (Bailey) Sabin, a daughter of
Gambriel Bailey, of Hadden, Conn., who died
in Holyoke, Mass., in 182(5. He was a shoe-
maker by trade, at which he worked in connec-
tion with his farming. Politically Mr. Bailey
was a Connecticut democrat and married Lucy
Phelps. They reared a family of nine children,
two sons and seven daughters. Mrs. Sherman

has been three times married : first to Hector
L. Bodwell ; second to David Sal)iii, by whom
she had one daughter, Nettie, now the wife of
Martin Harrington, a farmer in the town of
Ripley ; and last to David O. Sherman, ou
September 25th, 188!». Mr. and Mrs. Sherman
have a very happy and pleasant home. He is
courteous, hospitable and generous, and a man
of well-known integrity both in public and
private life.

For twenty years he was in mercantile life at
No. 207 Main Street, Buffalo, in the wholesale
grocery trade, and for the same length of time
at other places. He established himself in
Buffalo in 1857, and remained until the year
following the nation's Centennial of Indepen-
dence.

/^•HAKLES N. WILCOX, was born in
^^ Charlotte, Chautauqua county, New Y'ork,
October 2, 1851, and is a son of Elisha and
Caroline (Barnum) Wilcox. His paternal
grandfather, Samuel Wilcox, was born in
Chenango county, New York, and at an early
age he learned the trade of mill-wright and
worked at it until 1830, when he moved to
this county, and .settled in the town of Char-
lotte, where he bought a farm, which he culti-
vated in connection witli his trade until 1840,
in which year he went to Kentucky to build a
mill, where, in a short time, he died. He was
married to Amanda Savage and had eight
children, five sons and three daughters : Alonzo ;
Eliab; Joseph; Elisha (father) ; Louis; Abi-
gail, who married first. Freeman L. Link, then
Charles Rijjley ; Louisa, married Morgan Link ;
and Amanda, who married Albert Warner.
Mrs. Wilcox died in 1849, aged fifty-five years.
The maternal grandfather of C. N. Wilcox was
Eliakim Barnum, who was born in Chenango
county. New York, in 1800 and in 181(5 came
to this county and .settled in the so-called
" Pickett District " in Charlotte, being one of
the first settlers in that town. The original

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Barnuras of America came from England. Two
brothers were stolen, placed on board a man-of-
war and sent to Yiro;inia, and from these sprang
the family. Phiueas T. Barnum, the famous
showman, was a relative of Eliakim Barnum,
who bought one hundred and fifty acres of land
in the Pickett district, cultivated it for thirty
years and sold it to his son. His grandson,
Charles H. Barnum, now owns the place.
Eliakim Barnum was considerable of a specula-
tor in real estate and made large sums of
money. He died April 25,1875, and Mrs. Bar-
num died in February, 1878, aged seventy-seven
years. He was married in 1824 to Sophia
Underwood and by her had five children, three
.sons and two daughters : Eliab ; Noah ; Charles ;
Caroline (mother) ; and Mary, who married
Brainard Kappell. Elisiia Wilcox (father) was
born in Chenango county, this State, September
15, 1827, and came with iiis parents to this
county, in 1830, settling in Charlotte. He
worked on his father's farm until he was four-
teen years old, when his father died and the
farm was sold April 1, 1851 ; when he was
twenty-four years of age he bought a farm of
oue hundred and twenty-one acres in the Pickett
district in Charlotte, and lived there until 1871,
when he moved to Pomfret, where he bought a
farm of fifty-nine acres, lived on it eighteen
years and then moved to Cassadaga and iiought
a house and lot, where he now resides. In re-
ligion he is a member of the Christian church
at Arkwright, of which he was trustee sevei'al
years. Elisha AVilcox was married December
22, 1850, to Caroline Barnum ; by her he had
two sons, Elisha and George O., the latter being
a merchant in Cherry Creek, this county, who
married first, Lizzie Todd and second, Mira
Hartley, and has two children. Both parents i
are still living.

Charles N. Wilcox was educated in the dis-
trict schools of Charlotte, until he was eighteen
years of age, when he entered the State Normal
school at Fredouia for a term, after which, he

taught school for one terra. After his marriage
he settled on his father's farm in Charlotte,
where he lived four years and then moved to
Cassadaga, and bought a half interest in the
hardware store of C. S. Shepard, with whom he
remained a year, when he bought him out and
has since coutimied the business, carrying four
thousand dollars worth of stock on an average,
and having a patronage of twelve thousand dol-
lars a year. He has a general line of hard and
tin-ware, stoves and everything one would ex-
pect to find in a fir.st-cla.ss hardware store. As
a secret society man, he is a member and W. M.
of Sylvan Lodge, No. 303, F. and A. M. of
Sinclairville, and a charter member of Cassa-
daga Lake Lodge, No. 28, A. O. U. AV. of
Cassadaga.

Charles N. AA'ilcox was married to Alice
Sears, a daughter of Lyman and Anna (Pier-
pout) Sears, the father being a farmer in Gerry,
this county, whither he came from Franklin
county, Massachusetts, in 1868. By this union
there has been one .son, Ernest H., who is now
in .school.

HON. IA)RENZO MORKIS, a prominent
lawyer of Fredonia and an (;x-State
senator of New York, was born in Madison
county, New York, August 14, 1817, and is a
son of David and Abigail (Blodgett) Morris.
David Morris and his wife were both natives of
New England, and settled in the town of Chau-
tauqua, this county, in 1829. After some years
they removed to Sherman, where Mr. Morris
die<l in 1868, aged seventy-seven 3'ears. His
wife passed away in 1873, at eighty years of
age.

Lorenzo Morris attended the common .schools,
then entered the old Mayville academy, from
which he was graduated in 1836, and was after-
wards engaged in teaching for a few years. In
1837 he turned his attention to the study of law,
and read for two j'ears with Hon. Thomas A.
Osborne, oue of the five judges of which the

OF CHAUTAVQUA COUNTY.

court of common pleas of Chautauqua county
then consisted. In 1840 he went to Jamestown
where he read for one year witli Judge Cooke,
and after being admitted to practice in tlie court
of common pleas became a partner of his pre-
ceptor. The law then required seven years of
practice as a requisite for admission as an attor-
ney before the supreme court of the State, but
made a reduction of time in favor of those who
liad pursued classical studies, and Mr. Morris
having a certificate of a classical course of read-
ing, was admitted as an attorney of the supreme
court in 1844, at the end of only three years
practice in the lower courts. In the same year
he removed to Mayville and practiced until
1852, when he came to Fredonia where he has
been in active and successful practice ever since.
In 1838 he was commissioned by Cov. William
H. Seward as lieutenant-colonel of the 207th
regiment, N. Y. militia, in wliieh he had served
as adjutant. He was elected coloucl during the
next year and commanded the regiment until
1842, when he resigned.

On October 5, 1843, he married Fannie E.
Strong, daughter of Walter Strong, an early
.settler and prominent citizen of the town of
Westfield. She died June 2, 1873, and left
three children : Mrs. Ellen M. Rus.sel, Mrs. S.
H. Albro, and Walter D. Morris, cashier of the
Citizens Bank of Watertown, South Dakota.
On May 28, 1885, he united in marriage with
Mrs. Marian H. (Hovey) Stillmau, of Fretlonia.

In politics Senator Morris is an old-time
democrat who is opposed to measures antago-
nistic to the principles of Jefferson and Jackson.
He was appointed in 1871 as one of the trustees
of the asylum for the in.sane at Buffalo, which
position he resigned in 1875. His political
career commenced in 1867, when he was nomi-
nated by his party as their candidate for State
senator in the twenty-sixth district, composed of
the counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua.
Although the district was largely republican,
yet he was elected by two hundred and three

majority over his two republican competitors,
and served creditably in the State Senate during
its session of 1868-69. In 1872 he was a
member of the convention which met that year
in Albany to revise the State constitution.
Senator Morris has always taken great interest
in the common schools and all general matters
of public improvement. While serving in the
State Senate he procured the abolition of the
local board of managers of the Fredonia Normal
school, the school having closed for want of
harmony, and placed the school under the con-
trol of the State superintendent until 1873,
when he was made president of a new board of
trustees which has been harmonious and the
school prosperous, and is now justly recognized
as one of the best of the normal schools in the
State.

TA>^ILI.IAl\r UIM)AI)HKA1> was born in
^^ Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Febru-
ary 17, 181!l. While still a lad he was appren-
ticed for a year to learn the trade of a weaver.
At the entl of that year he began working in
the smithy with his father, and cuntinued with
him until he Itecame of age.

Ill January, 1843, being dissatisfied witii his
prospects in England, he emigrated to America,
going first to Busti, where his uncle, the Rev.
John Broadhead, was living. Seeing that
Jamestown offered a much more favorable open-
ing to a young man, he souglit em})loyment
there and found it in the shop of Saftbrd Eddy.
But he was too ambitious to remain a dav
laborer long. Ever on t!ie lookout for some-
thing more profitable, he soon found the oppor-
tunity of forming a partnership with Adam
C'obb, whose daughter Lucy lie had married in
1845. The firm of Cobb & Broadhead, scythe
snath manufacturers, continued in existence for
nine years, and was then dissolved, Mr. Cobb
continuing in the manufacture of snaths and
grain cradles and Mr. Broadhead in that of
axes and forks.

250

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

When his eldest son, Shelden, was about
twenty years old, Mr. Broadhead opened a
clothing store, taking this son into partnership
with him, and a few years later he gave his
younger son, Almet, an interest in the business.
Under the firm-name of William Broadhead &
Sons their business increased rapidly, until they
soon had the largest merchant tailoring estab-
lishment in Jamestown or the surrounding
country.

In 1872, Mr. Broadhead, accompanied by
his wife and eldest daughter, visited his native
home. Great changes had taken- place dur-
ing his thirty years absence, especially in the
neighboring city of Bradford, which had be-
come the centre of the worsted manufactur-
ing interests in England. His early interest,
awakened when as a boy he learned to weave
at a hand-loom, was now re-kiudled by the
signs of prosjierity and success due to these
mills. He returned to Jamestown thoroughly
imbued with the idea that the establishment
of a mill for the manufacture of dress goods
in Jamestown, was feasible and would be most
beneficial to the town as well as profitable to
the owners. While he had by industry, eco-
nomical habits, close attention to business and
successful investments in real estate acquired
a considerable sum, he felt that so large an
undertiiking demanded more money than he
could personally command, and so he set about
to interest some of his moneyed townsmen in
his project. The result of his efforts was the
formation of the firm of Hall, Broadhead &
Turner ; Mr. William Hall to assist him in
furnishing the money, and Mr. Joseph Turner,
of England, who had had some experience in
the business.

The alpaca mill erected by the firm in
1873, continued for one year and a half to be
owned by them, and then Mr. Broadhead
withdrew. A short time afterward he erected
another mill, for the manufacture of simi-
lar cloths, this time having for partners his

two sons. When the business was well es-
tablished, William Broadhead & Sons disposed
of their cl(»thing store and turned their entire
attention to the manufacture of ladies' dress
goods. The mills have been enlarged from
time to time as the business demanded.

Early in the spring of 1880 Mr. Broad-
head again visited England for the purpose
of buying some of the late.st improved ma-
chinery for his mills.

The mills in llieir present condition con-
sist of six large buildings, covering about
four acres and giving employment to seven
hundred operatives. Their salesmen traverse
nearly every State and territory in the Union,
and such is the reputation of their goods that
it is at times difficult to supply the de-
mand.

As Mr. Broadhead foresaw, these mills have
contributed immeasurably to the growth and
prosperity of the city. Much of the steady in-
crease in population is due to their continued
demand for skilled workmen. The good wages
and constant emj)loyment have attracted hither
family after fixmily of intelligent and industri-
ous English peojile, who have proved them-
.selves mo.st acceptxible citizens.

Mr. Broadhead is politically an ardent re-
publican and a strong protectionist, believing
that policy to be even more necessary for the
welfare of his employees than for himself

In his native town Mr. Broadhead was a
member of the Wesleyan Methodist church and
a superintendent in its Sabl)ath .school. On
settling in Jamestown, he joined the Methodi.st
Epi.scopal church as the denomination nearest
like the Wesleyan. Before the war, when the
Methodist church was divideil on the subject of
slavery, quite a lumiber of abolitionists, among
them Mr. Broadhead, left the Methodist church
and formed a Wesleyan organization which
continued in existence until 1862, when the
church building was destroyed by fire. Since
then Mr. Broadhead has been an active member

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

of the First Congregational church, contribut-
ing liberally to its support.

To William and Lucy Broadhead six chil-
dren have been liorn : Sheldon Brady, associ-
ated with Mr. Broadhead in business, who was
married in 1870 to Mary Woodworth ; Her-
wood, who died at the age of seven years ;
Almet Norval, also a partner with his father,
who was married in 1886 to Margaret Allen
Bradshaw ; Mary T., who married Adna H.
Reynolds and now resides in Tacoma, Wash-
ington : Stella Florine; and Mertie M., wiio re-
side with their parents.

^ARL<;),S EVVELL. One of the foremost
^^ business men in the village of Silver
Creek at the time of his death was Carlos Ewell,
who was born in Middlebury, Wyomiug county,
New York, in 1833, and died at his home in
Silver Creek about noon on the 27tli day of
October, 1887.

On the 10th day of January, 1856, he mar-
ried Auuette Wilson, of Wyoming county, and
the union resulted in a family of tiiree ciiiidren;
Mrs. George Moore resides in Fredonia; Ernest
graduated at the Buifalo Medical University
and is practicing in that city ; and Jo.sephine, a
miss now six years of age.

Carlos Ewell came to Silver Creek in 1866
and bought a one-fourth interest in the manu-
facturing establishment of Howes, Babeock &
Co., and the style of the firm was changed to
Howes, Babeock & Ewell ; later Mr. Babeock
retired and the house was known as Howes &
Ewell. During the first ten years of his con-
nection with this company Mr. Ewell became
quite prominent in local politics, but in 1877 he
was severely attacked with nervous prostration,
which entirely unfitted him for business of any
kind for a period of six years, when he seemed
to secure a new lease of health and from tJiat
date until his death he was apparently on the high-
way of longevity ; and he again assumed the ar-
duous duties of purchaser and general overseer of

the works that had grown to lai-ge proportions
and in which he had acquired a Jialf interest.
He applied himself diligently to business, in
fact too cldsely, and it was not long before his
kidney trouble again displayed its presence and
soon develoiH'd into acute Brigiit's di-sease, which
compelled liiui to abandon, one after tiie other,
the duties he had been accustomed to perform
until exhausted vitality gave way and his life
expired. Carlos Ewell was a man of positive
character, as exacting in his requirements upon
those whom he euiployed as he was rigid in the
discharge of those duties that he himself was
expected to perform, yet he possessed the faculty
of commanding the respectful attachment of his
employees, and withal was popular with his
men, neighbors and fellow-townsmen. By his
untiring attention to busine.ss, although so many
years compelled to relinquish its active superin-
tendence, he .secured a substantial fortune. So-
cial pleasures had but small attraction for him,
his chief happiness appearing to centre in his
business and his family. Alter his decease his
interest in the machinery factory, then known as
the Eureka works, was disposed of to his for-
mer associate, Simeon Howes, who .still contin-
ues the business.

For fifteen years Mr. Ewell was a uiember of
the Presbyterian cluirch and was a liberal con-
tributor to its support. In 1882 he erected at
Silver Creek one of the finest residences in
Chautauqua county, a model of convenience and
architectural beauty, in which his widow, who
has since married Cilbert B. Brewster, now re-
sides. Mr. Brewster was formerly of Addison,
New York. He was born in Elmira, Chemung
county, New York, in 1828, removing to Ad-
dison in 1845. Mr. Brew'ster has been engaged
in various business enterprises in Addison but
has now retired from active business and resides
in Silver Creek.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

FREDERICK A. FULLER, an old and j
well-known citizeu of Jamestown, who
has l)een identified with the progress and pros-
perity of that thriving city for over fifty
years, is a son of Fretlerick A. and llaciiel
(Gordon) Fuller, and was born in Rutland,
Vermont, May 24, 1813. Frederick A. Fuller,
is a lineal descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller,
who was one of the "Pilgrim Fathers," who
came over in the Mayflower and who was one
of the signers on board of that historic bark of
the immortal civil compact of the Puritans, the
oldest as well as one of the noblest written con-
stitutions of the new world. Dr. Fuller was
the grandfather of Ebenezer Fuller of Ply-
mouth, whose son, Ebenezer Fuller, Jr., was
born in 1695, and died in 1759. He settled in
1731, at Hebron, Connecticut, where his farm
is still in the hands of his descendants. He
married Joanna Gray and had one child, Eben-
ezer Fuller (great-grandfather), who was born
September 25, 1715, in Massachusetts and died
at Hebron. He married, on September 30,
1 738, Mary Rowley, by whom he had four sons
and two daughters. One of tiiese sons, Roger
Fuller (grand fatiicr), was born September 25,
1773, and died September 24, 1819. He was
a farmer, lived on the home farm at Hebron and
was married four times. His wives were
Martha Phelps, by whom he had five sons and
four daughtei's ; Violetta Taylor, who bore him
one son and two daughters ; Louisa Taylor and
Louisa Kenney. The third son by the first
marriage was Frederick A. Fuller (father), who
was born in Tolland county. Conn., March 1,
1775, and removed to Rutland, Vermont,
where he was a successful merchant and where
he died July 20, 1832. He was a federalist
and whig, married January 20, 1811. Rachel
Gordon and reared a family of five children :
Samuel G., born in 1811, and lost on "The
Home" on his return to Charleston, S. C,
where he was a merchant ; Frederick A., Frank,
born May 20, 1815; Dudley B. ; and Mary

Ann. Mrs. Fuller, who died in Jamestown,

October 28, 1856, was a daughter of Capt.
Samuel Gordon, a Revolutionary officer, who
was at Yorktown and afterwards commanded a
company in the war of 1812. He died at Troy,
this State, aged ninety-four and was a son of
John Gordon, who came from Scotland to
America as a British soldier in the Frendi and
Indian war, and afterwards settled at Belch-
town, Conn, where he died. He had four
children, one son and three (laughters.

Fretlerick A. Fuller received a common
school education at Rutland, Vermont, where
he learned the jewelry business witii Benjamin
Lord. After an apprenticeship of five years he
went to New York city, where he was employed
for three yea i-s in the jewelry establishment of
H. & D. Tarbox. In 1836 he returned to
Rutland where he remained three years. He
then returned to this State, and in July, 1841,
came to Jamestown, where for forty j'eai"s he
conducted one of the leading jewelry houses of
western New York. In 1881 he transferred
his jewelry business to his eldest son, Frederick
A. Fuller, Jr., in order to retire from active
life. He has been a member of the First Pres-
byterian church of Jamestown since 1857, and
is a republican in politics.

At Rutland, Vt., on June 19, 1838, he married
Emily Rathbone, who was a daughter of ^yaite
and Betsy Rathbone, of Tinmouth, Vt., where
Mr. Rathbone was a prominent iron manufac-
turer. Mrs. Fuller died February 5, 1886, and
on October 3, 1890, Mr. Fuller married Mrs.
Martha B. Marsh, daughter of Dr. Boyer, of
Clarendon, Vt. By his first marriage Mr.
Fuller had four children : Frederick A., Jr. ;
Dr. Dudley B., born Marcii 10, 1848, served
throughout the last war as an assistant surgeon
and died in 1889, at San Quentin, California,
where he had practiced medicine from 1866 ;
William Rathbone, born February 1, 1843;
and Dr. Charles Gordon, who was born August
7, 1856, graduated from a medical college in

§Ti<i)^oJ&lixfV-

OF (■n.\fT.\r(,ir.\ county.

Chicago, then took a full foiirso at a loading
medical college in New York and is now a
practicing physician of the former city.

Hon. Frederick A. Fuller, Jr., the eldest son,
antl a prominent democrat of western New
York, was horn in Rutland, Vermont, April
10, 1839, but was reare<l at Jamestown wliere
he received his education iu the academy of that
place and (hen learned the trade of jeweler
with his fatiicr, witii wlmiu he remained in
business from 1857 to 1<S6(). He then went to
New York city, where he was engaged for nine
years in importing and in doing a jolibing busi-
ness in diamonds and fine watches. In 1881 he
returned to Jamestown and l>ecame proprietor
of his father's large and important jewelry
establishment which he has coudncted success-
fully ever since. On May 24, 1800, he married
Cornelia I^ndlow Benedict, of Brooklyn, a
daughter of Roswell S. Benedict, formerly
senior member of the old and well-known shoe
mannflietin-ing firm of Benedict, Hall A: Co., of
New York city, and a member of the Fnglish
Benedict family of (Janaan, Conn., which came
to Brooklyn in an early day and is one of the
old families of that city. Mr. Benedi<'t is one of
the original mend)ers of Plymoutii chiirch,
whose iiiHuence has been National in txifut and
character. To Mr. and Mrs. l''nllcr have Ixi-n
born three sons: Koswell Se\inonr and ('lif
ford Rathbone, born in Brooklvn, August I,
1871, and February 17, 1.S7;!; and (iordon
Carter, l)c>rn irr .lamestown, August 3, 18S4.
He and his wife are members of the Fii-st
Presbytei-ian church. He is a member of Mt.
Moriah Lodge, No. 14i3, F. & A. M., and a
director of the City National Bank of James-
town, and the Rochester Mutual Relief society.
Frederick A. Fuller, Jr., has always been a
democrat in politics, is serving his third con-
secutive term as a member of the board of edu-
cation and has frequently been a delegate to
Democratic State conventions. In 1884 he was
elected as the Cleveland and Hendricks presi-

dential elector rejjresenting the 'rhirlv-fnurth
Congressional District, composed of the eouii-
ties of Chautauqua, Allegany ami Cattaraugus.
At the meeting of the Electoral College held at
the Capitol in the City of Albany, on tlii' third
day of December, 1,S,S4, Mr. Fuller, with
Hon. Erastus Corning, of .Albanv, xvcre ap-
pointed the special messengers to eouvev the
sealed Electoral vote of the State of Xew York,
for President and Vice President of the iriiiie<|
States to the seat of government.

JQSHBILL K. <'ATIJN'. Among the gen-
•*■" tlernen of the old school who have adopted
and put in active practice the modern method
of transacting an honorable and legitimate busi-
ness Jamestown is proud to number the gentle-
man whose honored name stands at the head of
this tribute to his successful cai-eer. He sprang
from an honest, rugged, hard-working, honored
and honorable ancestry, who were em-olled in the
ranks of that first of man's vocations — tillei's of
the soil. He was liorn in North HikIsoii
Kssex county, New 'idrk, .lid\' 7, lsi*7, when
Taurus was in the midst of his reign among
the planetary orbits, and is a son of Linus and
Sabrina (Jones) ( 'atlin. J lis grandl'alhcr, Theiaii
(!atlin, was a native of \'ermont, but duiine
his early manhood he removed to and purchased
a farm in Wyoming <'omity, Pa., and there s|)enl
the remainder of his life. He marrie(i and
was blessed with eight (children four sons and
four daughters. I'eltiah Jones (maternal grand-
father) was born in Schroon, Essex eountv, this
State, where after reaching man's estate, he
bought a farm, married, reared a family of
children, tilled the earth, led an honest, healthv,
hap[)y life, and obeyed, without a murnun-, the
sununons to join the silent, majoritv. Linus
Catlin (father) was a native of Vermont and
was born in 1 7!)!), almost at the very i)lnsh of the
dawn of the nineteenth century — that era w hi<h
was to witnes.s the most gigantic strides in the
development of science, art, education and labor,

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

the world had ever seen. When he attained
Ills majority, he removed to North Hudson, this
State, where he spent the prime of" his life in
the vocation of his immediate ancestors, and
when the pulse slovvefl and the heart beat
serenely even, he transferred his lares and
peuates to Jamestown aud there, when he passed
the nintii decadal point of a centur3''s life, was
gathered to his fathers. He was a Jacksonian [
democrat and was steadfast in the faith. He
married Sabrina Jones, who bore him one son
and three daughters, and only the son, Ashbill
R., survives.

Ashbill R. Catlin received his education
mainly in the Jamestown academy, and resolved
to supply a portion of mankind with more of
the necessaries of life than did even his ances-
tors and in pursuance of this determination, he
opened a grocery store in Jamestown in 1850
aud has steadily pursued that business to the
present time, having built up a large and lucra-
tive trade. He also sells large quantities of
salt, provisions and grain. He inherited the
democratic proclivities of his father, tempered
withal by the softening and broadening influence
of the generation now asserting itself.

On November 20th, 1851, Ashbill R. Catlin
exercised his usually sound judgment, when
from among the scores of womanly women, he
chose as his life companion Ruth A. South-
wick, a daughter of Alwin Southwick, of '
Busti, this county. She bore him six chil- ;
dren, two of whom were early enrolled among 1
the angels. Of the survivors, Frank L.
married and resides in Denver, Col., where he is
a wholesale confection manufacturer ; Ada
E., wife of John C. Palmer, who is in the oil
well supply busiuessin Pittsburgh, Pa. ; JohnB.,
mari'ie<l to Maude Steirly, of Jamestown, aud is
in business with his father ; and Agnes, wife of
Charles W. Warrington, of Denver, Col., who
is engaged in the meat aud provision business.

A. R. Catlin is a relative of George Catlin,
the famous delineator aud historian of the j

Indian races of North America, whose books
are read wherever the English language is
spoken.

JOHN ,J. STERNEBERG is a worthy ex-
^ ample of a stranger in a strange land who
has by perseverance, sound business methods
and close application won an enviable position
for himself. He is a son of John T. and Mary
C. (Smith) Sterneberg, and was born in Prussia,
Germany, March 3, 1841. William Sterneberg
(grandfather) was also a native of the same
locality, being born and living all his life in a
house which had been owned and occupied by
the Sterneberg family for three hundred and
fifty years. By trade and occupation he was a
cooper and farmer. He married Johanna Hol-
liuk, by whom he had six children, two sons
and four daughters, two of whom came to
America; also John T's. father, and John W.,
died with cholera in 1850 in Chicago; and sis-
ter Hannah, also died in Chicago in 1840 with
cholera. The maternal grandparents and flieir
ancestors were Hollanders, none of whom, witli
the single exception of an uncle and aunt, (now
living in Holland, Michigan,) of John .J., came
to the United States. This uncle was James
Smith, who located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ;
the aunt Elizabeth (Smith) Bos, eighty-three
years old ; mother Mary C. (Smith) Sterneberg,
born October 13, 1811, died December 28,
1883; John T. Sterneberg (father) was born at
the old homestead house in Prussia, Germany,
October 19, 1811, came to America in 1847,
and after remaining six months in Chicago,
located in Grandville, seven miles below Grand
Rapids, Kent county, Michigan, where he
bought a farm of twenty acres, with a good
house aud barn and out-buildings on it, and to
this he added lots in the suburbs of Grandville,
until he owned si.xty acres, now crossed by two
railroads. On this farm he lived seventeen
years and in August, 1862, he came ea.st to
Buffalo, where he lived oue year, moving thence

OF CHA UTA U(/ UA ( '0 UMT.

to Mina, tliis county, wIktc lie died February
15, 1889. He had been a republican in pol-
itics from the time he stepped on American
soil, and in religion was a member of the
Dutch Reformed church during his early years,
but later in life became a Baptist. In 18;37, he
married Mary C. Smitli, by whom he had two
children : John W., who was born March 24,
1839, married Christina Terhauer, by whom
he has had nine children, two of whom are
dead, and is an extensive farmer of Mina, this
county ; and John J.

John J. Sterneberg acquired a common
school education, but considering the limited
facilities he then had, sought to expand his
learning more thoroughly and succeeded so well
that few of our ado])ted citizens, are better or
more widely read, and more conversant with
current and past events. He writes and speaks
Holland (the Dutch language), and speaks and
reads German very readily. He learned the
trade of a carriage-maker at Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Came to Panama and continued
to work at it until 1883, when he united with
it the hardware business and conducted both
until 1888, in which year he discontinued
carriage-making and has since devoted his time
and attention to hardware, cutlery, paints, pict-
ure-framing and undertaking, having a fine
trade built up by his own exertions. He is an
exceptionally good iiusiness man, buying and
selling for cash, and is affable and .agreeable in
all his business and social relations. In poli-
tics he is a republican, has served as excise
commissioner two terms in Panama, and in re-
ligion is a memljer of the Baptist church. He
is also a charter member of Ivodge, No. Tri,
Ancient Order of United \yorkm('n.

•John J. Sterneberg was married on Febru-
ary 21, 1864, to Joanna G. Terhauer, a daugh-
ter of Henry and Mary (Heller) Terhauer, of
Mina. This union has been blest with four
children, two sous and two daughters : Mary,
wife of Merle D. Powers, a salesman and de-

livery clerk for a tea house in Jamestown ; and
H. Romain, P^mma C, and Raymond T., who
died of diphtheria. Mrs. Sterneberg is a mem-
ber of the Baptist cluirdi and belongs to the
Equitable Aid Union.

/^-HARLES E. Cimii is a s f Charles

^^ and Eliza (Curfiss) Cobb, and was born
in Harbour Creek, Erie county, Pennsylvania,
October 18, 1856. His paternal grandfather,
Bassett Cobb, was a native of Connecticut, was
for several years a resident of this county,
whence he removed to Erie county, Pa , spend-
ing the balance of his days there, being a farmer
by occupation, and in politics a whig and later
a republican. He married and had five sons
and three daughters. Charles Cobb (father)
was born on March 3, 1826, mid when a young
man came to this county and settled in Sinclair-
ville, town of Charlotte, where he followed the
o(!cu|)atii)n of a farmer. He served in the array
one and one-half years during the <^ivil war,
enlisting in 1S()2. In ]H.',2 he married Eliza
Curtiss, by whom lie had (wo ciiildren : Ida,
wife of William McKinley, a farmer in Ash-
tabula, Ohio ; and CHiarles E.

Charles E. Cobb was reared on the farm until
he was nineteen years of age, and received his
education in the common schools. After leaving
school he went to the oil regions and worked as
a contractor in developing the oil territory, for
a few years owning and operating his own terri-
tory. He came to Sherman in the spring of
1 884, and engaged in the lumber manufacturing
business, purchasing the interest of a Mr. Burns,
and operated tiie ])lant himself until 18X7, when
he associated with him as partner William Free-
man, and during the bu.sy season em])loved
twenty men, making a specialty of heading,
staves and fruit barrels, besides all kinds of
lumber. He also owns some oil-producing prop-
erty in Butler county. Pa. In politics he is a
republican, and is a member of the board of
trustees of Sherman. He is a member oi" Olive

JllOd I! A I'll Y A yi> IIISTOU Y

Lodge, No. 575, F. & A. M., and iSluMinaii
Lodge, No. 45, A. (). U. W.

Charles E. Cobb united in marriage with
Kate ^L Russell, a dangliterof Wilber Russell,
of Cameron county, J'a. This tuiion has \)vm\
blest with one daughter : Nina J*>., who was
born March 2, 18S2.

OAMUKL N. SWKZKY, a leading member
^^ of the Farmers' Alliance and a prosperous
agriculturist of Ripley town, is a son of Daniel
and Clarissa (Sperry) Swezey, who was born in
the town of Kussia, Herkimer count}', New
York, December 26, 1830. Daniel Swezey was a
native of Long Island, this State, with his
grandfather; the latter going to Herkimer
county from his birthplace among tlie very first
|iioneers. It took tiiem three weeks to make
the trij) with oxen and carts, and upon their ar-
rival tiiey were obliged to chop a home out of
the woods. All of the hardshij)s incident to
pioneer life were known to them. Before leav-
ing Long Island, he had married Sarah Beal
and they reared a t'amily of eight children, five
sons and three daughters. The maternal grand-
lather, John Sperry, came from New England.
Daniel Swezey, Jr., was born on Long Island,
Christmas day, 1778, and went witli his father
to Herkimer county, l)ut afterwards came to
Harmony, this county, in 1836, and died there
in 1847. He was a singularly successful farmer,
methodical with his work and careful of all
things appertaining to his business. He be-
longed to the Whig [)arty and served in the war
(.fl812. On December 25, 1805 he inanied
Clarissa Sperry and reared a large family of
children, seven sons and .seven daughters, all of
whom lived to maturity and became good and
prosperous citizens.

Samuel N. Swezey was given a superior
education at the district schools and the
academy, and upon leaving them he spent a
number of years in teaching, being very suc-
cessful in this work. He finallv decided to

adopt farming and began in Harmony, l)ut
changed his residcMice to Rii)ley, where he now
lives and owns three hundred and twenty-eight
acres of good farming land all in doc boily.
When tr<j(ips were needed to suppress the lie-
licllion he was drawn, but on account of physi-
cal disability was unable to .serve. It is on
this account tliat we cannot record any military
history under his name. He is a sharp, shrewd
and sagacious business man who.se ability is
recognized by his farmer a.ssociates.

On October 6, 1857, he married Sai'ali Shel-
don, a daughter of David Sheldon, of Kipley
town, this county, and they have four childi'cn :
Sheldon, living at home ; Flora, Ida and Alice.

Politically Mr. Swezey now favors the pro-
hibitionists, although formerly a republican and
has .served a number of years in local offices.
As one of a committee of three, he has suc-
ceeded in .securing a post office, to be known as
Sheldon's Corners, of which he is postmaster,
the office being in his house. Mr. Swezey is a
member of the Farmi'rs" Alliauce and is its
agent for their mer(;han<lize business iu the
town of Ripley.

" "PVERGREEN CEMETEIJY, although

-'■^ situated near a little country village, is
one of the most beautiful in western New
York. It lies within the corporate limits of
the village of Sinclairville, yet its situation is
such as (o retiie it from the localities around it.
It oeeu]jies a moderate eminence, which termi-
nates a tongue of laud that extends nearly across
the valley of Mill Creek, crowding the waters
of the stream into a narrow passage. A high
and precipitous bank forms the southern boun-
dary of the valley and also the northern limits
of the cemetery. Mill Creek gathered into a
pond extends along the base of the bank ; there
its waters darkly gleam from out the shade ot
overhanging elms and willows. A steep bank
bounds the cemetery on the west, along which
a race, issuing from the pond, extends to an

OF CHAVr.WQVA COUXTY.

ancient grist-mill. A .siiarp tlcclivity substan-
tially marks its southern limit. The cemetery
is accessible, without himlrauce, from tiie east,
where a village street lies between it and the
jjleasant fields beyond.

"It would be difficult to choose a burial place
so convenient of access, with such interesting
surrounding.s, and at tiie same time a place of
retireinenf .so well suited to its sober uses. The
wild gorge, |)artly hidden by twisted birches
and ragged hemlocks; the pond, dimly .seen
down deep iu its shadows ; the .stream, the
bridge that spans it, and the old mill are pleas-
ing objects, in harmony with the peace and re-
pose that pervades this abode of the dead. On
every side are green fields and gently rising-
hills. As you look northward tluough foliage
that fringes this border of the cemetery you
have glimpses of the narrow, winding vallev of
Mill Creek, skirted ^^■ith leafy venlure, leading
to the dimly visible and fin- away hills that
tiverlook Lake Erie. Southward, and near at
hand, lies the pleasant village ; its handsome
academy flanked by church .spires; its clean
yards and painted hou.scs among shadows of
maples and elms. Beyond the village are mea-
dows and pastures. There the valley broadens
away to the southwest, until the distant Ellery
hills bound the view. |

" In themid.st of verdant fields and inviting
scenes like this, it is proper to consecrate the
spot where the living may meet the dead and
soothe our grief at the loss of friends, by laving
them to rest in plea.sant places."

jM KLSON BTTLKR was a pioneer tailor and
\ ^ clothing dealer of Jamestown, and was
identified with her earliest .secret .societies. He
was a sou of James and Nancy (Ward) Butler
and was born at Laona, this county, August 2,
1818, and died in the city of Jamestown, Feb-
ruary 12, 1857. His fiither, James Butler, was
a native of Massachusetts and came from there
to Laona, New York, and from there to James-

town, where he died. He followed farming as
a means of gaining a livelihood for himself and
family, and in politics was a whig. While in
the prime of life he married Nancy Ward, who
joined the Baptist church and was a lifelong
member. The result of this union was eight
children — five sons and three daughters.

Nelson Butler was educated in the common
schools and at the age of sixteen years he was
apprenticed to learn tailoring, which he followed
for a number of years, and also conducted a
clothing-hou.se in this city. Politically he was
a republican and was a.ssociated with the Meth-
odist church until he joined the Ma.sons, when,
the popular feeling being opposed to secret so-
cieties, he relinquished his membership in the
church. He was attached to the New York
State Militia and belonged to Mount Moriah
Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., in which he at-
tained the degree of Master Mason. He was
one of the incorporators of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows at Jamestown and at-
tained some prominence iu that oider.

July 3, 1 839, he married Mary A. Story, a
daughter of Elisha Story, and by this union
became the father of seven daughters — Nancy
A., dead ; Adelaide N., married to Allan Smith,
a miller, living at Boone, Iowa ; Agues M. is a
fiori.st and resides at home; Evelyn is the wife
of Irving Ells, a profe.ssional book-keeper in
the employ of Benjamin Moore & Co., whole-
.sale dealers in paints and calciminingat Brook-
lyn, New York; Arabella, dead; Mary E., a
(■ompositor in the office of the Jamestown Journal;
and Sophie D., also a florist, living at home.

Nelson Butler was a man of the strictest in-
tegrity and un([uestionable morals. His repu-
tati(jn and private character were untarnished
and he i)as.scd into that better world as unblem-
ished as may be approached by man. He was
a kind father and his memory is cherished with
unal)ated love by his family still surviving.

One of his distinguishing characteristics was
his kindness to the poor. No one asking him

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

for lielp ever was turned away without a kind
word and generous gifts.

"PLLIS FINK, manager of the well-known
■■■^ Star clotiiing house and gents' furnisiiing
store at No. 315 Lyon street, is a son of Alex-
ander and Eva Fiuk, and was born in Pittsburg,
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, December 22,
l<S5f5. TIk^ father, Alexander Fink, is a native
of AViina, Russia, and earae to America when a
young man, locating at Apollo, Armstrong
county. Pa. He was one of tlie first men to
run a boat on the old Pennsylvania canal from
Apollo to Pittsburg. Mr. Fink was the owner
of the boat. He lived at Apollo until 1849,
when he removed to Pittsburg, and engaged in
the retail clothing business until 18(J1. From
Pitt.sbnrg he went to New York city and estab-
lished a wholesale clothing house, continuing it
until 18(59, when he retired from business, and
moved back to Pittsburg in 1870, where he has
since resided. Although retired from business
for over twenty years he is a stockholder in
several of the Pittsburg banks, and in the
bridges connecting the city with Allegheny City
and other suburban points. The Benevolent
H(»brew society of that city has made him its
j)resi(lent for several years. He is a republiian,
and is seventy-five years old. His wife is a
native of the same Russian province from which
her husband came, and is seventy-eight vears
old.

Ellis Fink was educated in Pittsburg and the
New York city public schools. Wiien fourteen
years old he worked in his brother's clothing
store at the 8moky City, where he remained until
twenty-two years of age. He then went to
Colorado, at the time when things were liveliest
there, and engaged in the mining business near
Leadville. He stayed two years and made
several locations, one of which has recently been
sold by him to ex-Ijieut.-(TOV. H. W. Tabor, of
Colorado, and Major A. Y. Bohn, of Leadville.
After his return IVom tlie west he worked for

his brother uutil 1884, and then went to Buifalo
and got employment with the large clothing
house of Altman & Co., where he remained four
years, and in 1888 came to Dunkirk and opened
the business which he is still conducting on
Lyon street. He has a fine trade, does a good
business, and (arries the largest stock of clothing
to be found in Dunkirk. The firm name is
Brown, Friend & Co., the |)artners being Brown
and Friend, of Butliilo, who are interested in
one of the largest clothing establishments in the
country. Mr. Fink is genial ami frank and,
handling good clothing, holds the trade he
once secures.

On October 9, 1888, he married Harriet
Brown, a daughter of Henry Brown, of Buftalo.
They have one child, Beatrice, an interesting
little girl of nearly two years.

He is a republican, and takes an active interest
in politics, and it may be said of him that he
is one of Dunkirk's truly enterprising business
men.

mlLLIAM ,7. ( RONYN, M.D., a prom-
inent and leading physician and sur-
geon of Dunkirk, and Surgeon-General of the
(irand Army of the Republic of the State of
New York in 1885, was born in the province
of Ontario, Canada, November 15, 1848, and
is a son of Robert and Margaret Cronyn. In
the history of Ireland, as far back as the
Cronyn family can be traced, it was always op-
posed to England and English rule in the
Emerald Isle. David Cronyn, the paternal
grandfather of Dr. Cronyn, was a large land
owner in County Cork, Ireland, where he died
in 1834, aged sixty years. One of his sons was
Robert Cronyn (father), who was educated at
the Dublin University, which differed in one
important respect from its great sister universi-
ties of (Oxford and Cambridge, for while they
consisted of several colleges, it has but one col-
lege, "The College of the Holy and Undivided
Trinity." It was founded in 1591, and has

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

263

given to the United Kingdom some of her most
illustrious and distinguished sons. Robert
Cronyu, after he left the University, resided in
County Cork until 18,"57 when, on account of
political troubles he started for the United
States, but was prevailed on by friends whom
he found in Ontario, Canada, to settle in that
province, where he died in 1852, aged fifty- two
years. He was a tine classical scholar, a pleas-
ant and courteous gentleman, and a Scottish
Rite Mason. His widow, Margaret Ci'unyn,
was a native of the city of Bandon, Ireland,
and died in Ontario in 1882, when in the sixty-
ninth year of her age.

William J. Cronyn was educated in the
Monks' schools of his native province, and in
1864, at fifteen years of age enlisted in Co. A,
30th Michigan Infantry, in which he served
until he was honorably discharged at the close
of the late war. In 1867 he commenced to
read medicine with his uncle, Professor John
Cronyn, now president of the Medical Faculty
of Niagara University, and entered the Sisters
of Charity Hospital and the medical depart-
ment of the University of Buffalo, from which
he was graduated in 1870. In the same year
he came to Dunkirk, where he soon established
himself in a good practice, which has been con-
tinually increasing ever since. He was absent
from Dunkirk from 1873 to 1876, during
which period he was an assistant surgeon in the
United States Navy, and served at the Boston
navy yard ; the Norfolk naval hospital ; on the
U. S. Sloop of war Constellation, cruise of '74 ;
and had the full medical charge for some
months of the iron-clad fleet off Pensacola,
Fla., in '75-'6. Upon his return in 1876 to
Dunkirk, he established the Dunkirk Tribiuie,
which he edited for one year. He resides in a
beautiful residence on the corner of Deer street
and Fifth Avenue, which he erected in 1882.

Dr. Cronyn is a republican in politics, has
been a member of the common council, board
of education, supervisor, etc., and has frequently

served his party as a delegate to County and
State conventions, besides having been favor-
ably mentioned in the county Kepnlilican press
of late years as a suitable and desirable candi-
date for Congress. He is a member of Dun-
I kirk Lodge, No. 767, F. & A. M., and
Rochester Consistory Scottish Rite Masonry, in
which he has taken the thirty-second degree.
He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine,
Ismalia Temple, Buffalo, N. Y. Dr. Cronyn,
when Stevens Post, No. 393, G. A. R., of Dun-
kirk, was organized, was elected as its first
commander, and afterward served a second term
in that office. During 1885 he was Surgeon-
General of the G. A. R., for I he State of New
York, and in 1886, received the appointment
of Aide-de-Camp on the national staff under
Commander-in-Chief Burdette. The following
year he was commissioned as aid to General
Fairchild, Commander-in-Chief He has served
as secretary and treasurer of the Chautauqua
County Medical Society, and was also chairman
of the board of censors of that body. In an
account of Dr. Cronyn, which appeared in the
press in 1890, we find the following tribute to
him as a man and a physician : " His manly
qualities and his splendid intellectual gifts,
deeply rooted in his character shine forth, with-
out any effort on his part to display them, and
his fellow practitioners of Dunkirk say that he
is the leading physician and surgeon of that
city." Dr. Cronyn is a man of fine personal
appearance, who favorably impresses all who
come in contact with him by his honesty and
straightforwardness.

/^RLANDO J. HILER, an opulent citizen
^^ of the village of Silver Creek, is a retired
merchant and a large holder of some of its val-
uable real estate. He is a sou of Silas and
Eunice (Seager) Hiler, and was born at Penfield,
near Rochester, Monroe county, New York, July
3, 1842. His father, Silas Hiler, too, was a
native of Penfield, where he followed farming

BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY

until ]<S4(i, wlicii lie iudvciI to Aslitubiila comity,
Oliio, aiul still resides there. He Las grown
grey in farm life and has done a very extensive
l)iisine.ss, and, altlioiigli now in liis eiglitietli year,
I'onducts liis work witii lii.s old-time vigor. Be-
sides l)eing a nieniher of tlie Methodist E|)iseo-
pal churcli, he is prominently identified with
religious and edueatioual matters. He is a
Jacksonian demoerat, and throughout iiis active
lite has been an energetic and successful business
man. Both branches of our sul)ject's family are
from tiie New Knglanil Htates, aud came to
central New York early in this century. He
married Eunice Seager in LS.Jti, and she is now
in her .seventy-fifth year.

( )rlan(!o J. Hiler was reared in Ashtabula
c((unty, Ohio, and received his education in the
common schools. After leaving school he learned
the harness-making and saddlery business and
conducted a shoj) of his own for two years at
C'ouneaui, Ohio, and on April "), l.StJij, he went
to Cincinnati, Ohio, aud enlisted in Co. G, lltSth
regiment, Ohio J nfantry Vols., and .served until
the close of the war. Upon the receipt of iiis
discharge he icturned home and engaged in
business for one year; then, in 1867, he went
(o ( Jowanda, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and
worked at his trade; but on July 14, ].S6!J, he
came to iSilver Creek aud worked for six months
as a journeyman and then bought out the busi-
ness, which he continued for fifteen years. The
four suc(!ecding years were spent out of business,
aud then he o|)ened a general hardware store,
whicii lie conducted two years and a half and
then ictircil. Since then he has spent his time
<piietly l)ut not idly. Iiis large ])roperty inter-
ests both here and in ()hio re(juire a great deal
of attention and keep him employed.

On June 23, 1881, he married Martha I!.
Ward, a daughter of Doctor Spencer Ward (de-
ceased), late of Silver Creek. Spencer Ward,
M.D., was born at Poultuey, Rutland county,
Vt., in 1807, and wiis graduated from the Cas-
tleton Medical college, afterwards coming to

Chautan(|iia county, in October, 1836, when he
located in Silver Creek and .soon .secured a large
|)ractice. Being singularly successful with dif-
ficult cases, his fame sj)reail far and near, and
he was .so completely overworked, and suffering
from cancer, that he was obliged to reliuipiish
his practice a couple of years befijre his death.
He died April \'?>, 1874, leaving much property,
the accumulations of investments made from
the receijits of his large practice. He married
Mrs. Ann (Wilmot) IJice, a native of Fair
Haven, N'ei'mont, and she bore iiini two chil-
dren: Wilmot and Martha It. Siie died May
29, 1854.

Wilmot \\'ard, u|)on att.iining his majority,
nio\cd to ('incinnati, ()hin, and engaged in
the lumber business, but died in the prime
of life, Jainiary 8, 18(J1, when but fwentv-
six years of age. Dr. Ward married a .second
lime, in I.S.'ii;, to Helen ( iales, of Silver Creek.
This union resulted in one daughter, Hattie,
who married F. W. Thomas and lives in this
village. Mrs. Ward icsides in her old home-
stead at this ])lacc.

Orlando ,1. Hiler is a democrat, and lias
served as a tru.stee of this town. During his
term of office he labored incessantly to improve
the conditiou and advance the business and
social interests of the ])lace. He is a gentleman
of strong character aud enjoys the confidence of
all Silver ('reek's people who are acipiaintcd
with him.

/^lOOKGK IS. .lO.S.SKLVN, the proprietor of
^^ the well-known grape-vine aud small fruit
luirseries at Fredonia, was born in Plymouth
county, Ma.ssadiusetts, June 17, 1842, and is a
.sou of Stephen and Eliza (Studley) Jos.selyn.
His paternal grandfather, Eleazer Josselyu, was
a resident of Plymouth county and .served in
the War of 1812. Stepheu Jo.s,seIyn was boru
and reared in Plymouth couuty, where he re-
ceived his education. He was a shoe manufec-
turer and conducted a general mercantile busi-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

iiess. He married f]liza Studley, who was a
native oCtlie same ccjiiiity as himself.

George 8. Josselyn received an academic e(hi-
catiuii and at seventeen years uf age left iiis na-
tive iiiiMity and worked in Boston and vicinity
as a civil engineer. In ]8(j;} lie came to Chaii-
tan((i!a county wliere he hecaine a civil engineer
on the Erie railroad with head-quarters at Dun-
kirk. He remained in the employ of the Erie
railroad company for fifteen years, and during
seven years of this time he was roail master of
the westei-n division of liie road. In 1870 he
came to Fredouia, where eigiit years later he
established his present graiie-\ine and small
fruit nursery.

On August 31, ],S(i9, he united in marriage
with Mary White, tiaughter of Devillo Wiiite,
of Fredouia.

In polities Mr. .losselyn is a democrat and
has served as supeivisor of his town for one
term. He owns and has under lease over two
hundred acres of land in Fredouia and in the
town of Sheridan, near Fredouia, which is en-
tirely occupied by his gra])eries and small fruit
mirseries. He has been a careful experimenter
with new fruits, has originated and introduced
some valuable varieties and has contributed his
sliai-e toward placing horticulture on a success-
ful and paying basis. He has the lai'gest grape- i
root cellar in the United States and ships large
((uantities of grape-vines and small fruit plants
to all parts of the country. He individually
conducts and personally .supervises his extensive
business, while his necessary correspondence in
connection with it re(|uires the constant services
()f two tyj)e- writers. His persistent skill and !
industry has brought him success in iiorticidliire
where others have failed.

1857. His fatlier, Thomas Mawiiir, was a
native of County Down, Ireland, and came to
the United States about 1850. He first made
his lionie in Westfield, but in 18.1;5 he came to
this town and pursued farming until the grim
reaper called him away, on ,\i)ril l(j, 188!), at
the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. Mawhir
was a stirring and enthusiastic republican, ac-
tive in all his party's struggles. He was mar-
ried to Mary McEevy, a native of County Down,
Ireland, in 18.35, who is still living witii her
son in Portland town, and an active mcnibci of
the Methodist church.

George D. Mawliir, when arrived at a school
age, alternated summer and winter between tiie
farm and the school-house, and thereby secured
a good common .school educatiou. He then
began farming for himself and now owns the
one on which he resides. He is engaged exten-
sively in grape culture and raises a fine crop of
this fruit.

In 1882 Mr. Mawliir was married to ilattic
Barnes, a daughter of Alpha IJarnes (a sketcli
of his life will be found elsewhere in this Ijook).
Their marriage has been blest with one child, a
son, Albert.

G. D. Mawhir is a republican, and is known
as a re|)resentative citizen of his town.

/^KOUGIO 1>. M.VWJIIK, a j>rominent
^^ young farmer and grape grower of Port-
land, is a son of Thomas and Mary Mawhir,
and was boru on the farm in Portland town,
Chautauqua county. New York, February 11,

Tvl't'IUS LomiJAHO. Among those who

'"^ have experienced the excitement of specu-
lating in oil, enjoyed the .steady income of a
judiciously managed general mercantile busi-
ness, and then, preferring the quiet and peace-
fid life of an independent farmer, returned to
the scenes of his early manhood, is the gen-
tleman whose name heads this sketch. Lucius
Lombard was born in the town of Riplev,
Chautauqua county. New York, July 21, 18.'>1.
His parents, Daniel and Nancy (Ransom) Lom-
bard, were what is known as New England
Yankees. Thomas Ijombard was his paternal
grandfather and lived at Brimfield, Hampden
county, Massachusetts. Leaving the place of

BIOGRAPHY AND HTSTORY

his nativity about the beginning of the present
century he moved to Madison county, this
State, wiiere he died in 1815. The subsistence
of himself and family was gained by farming.
Thomas Lombard .served his country in the
.struggle for Independence, and rejoiced with his
countrymen in their success. He married first
Eunice Bacon, who died, leaving five children,
and after her death he married Anna Shaw, of
Brimfield, Massachusetts, by whom he had four
children, Daniel Lombard (father) being the
eldest. The maternal grandfather, Thomas
Ransom, was a native of Otsego county, where
he spent his life farming. He married Sarah
Temple and reared eight children. Daniel
Lombard was horn in Massachusetts in 1794.
When his father removed to Madison county he
accompanied him. In 1828 he and his brother
Luciuscontinued the westward journey until they
reached the town of Ripley, where they settled
on lots Nos. 34 and 35. Some years later the
latter moved into Westfield, where he died, in
1874. Daniel Lombard continued his residence
on his original location until his death, in 1884.
He owned at the time about three hundred
and seventy-five acres of land. He married
Nancy Ransom, and had four children : Lucius,
Mary, who married Rev. G. W. INIoore, a min-
ister of the Methodist Episcopal church, at
Minneapolis, Minn. ; Dwight married Catherine
Osterman, and is fanning in this town, and
Sarah, v;idow of Henry W. Dickson, now lives
in Tioga county, Pa.

Lucius Lombard was reared at Ripley, and
received such an education at the common
schools as fitted him for a good business man.
He stuck to the farm until thirty years of age,
and then went down into the oil couutrj" and
passed through the vi<;issitudes of an oil man's
life for one year. The succeeding four years
were spent in the general store business at Rip-
ley, which furnished less e.xcitement but was
more stable. Then two years more were pa.ssed
in the oil country, followal by a return to Rip-

ley and a repetition of mercantile life, but the
year succee(h'ng the Nation's Centennial cele-
bration he came to the farm on which he still
reside.s, and owns one hundred and twenty-two
acres, twenty of it being a well-kept vineyard.

On December 27, 1865, he united in mar-
riage with Helen Hall, a daughter of David
Hall. They have three children : Catherine,
wife of Winfield A. Holcomb, the school com-
missioner of Chautauqua county; Grace ; and
Alice. Mrs. Lombard was called away in 1890.
Her kindly disposition and domestic virtues
made her lo,ss felt and deeply mourned by
many friends.

Lucius Lombard stands high in his commu-
nity, and, while not an ambitious politician, is,
nevertheless, a good detnocrat upon whom many
of his party rely.

FRED. M'. EDMUNDS. A prominent bu.si-
ne.ss man and one of the leading butter
producers of Chautauqua county is a resident of
the village of Sherman. He is a son of Salem
and Caroline (Wright) Edmunds, and was born
in the town of Villanova, this county. January
10, 1854. The ancestors of Mr. Edmunds came
from the north of England and, coming to
America in 1630, they settled first in the State
of Connecticut and lived there for several gen-
erations. The first person of the name to
come to this county was Salem Edmunds, Sr.,
who arrived here about 1830, two hundred
years after the name was first planted in the
new world. The last named gentleman located
at Dunkirk and pursued farming in connection
with his trade — stone masoning. He married
Rachel Sabin and became the father of nine
children, six sons and three daughters. The
maternal grandfather was Orin AVright, who
entered the world at Edwinston, Otsego county,
and came from there to Villanova town, Chau-
tauqua county, where he died. He was a farmer
by occupation ; married Belinda Underwood, a
native of Otsego coimty. She was a lady of

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

superior attainments and attracted some atten-
tion near her home. Mr. and Mrs. Wright
were the parents of six ciiildreii, tliree sons and
three daughters, of wiioin Edwin served in the
Ninth regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, went to the
front as a private September 20tl), 1861, and
was mustered out July 17tli, 1865, witii a second
lieutenant's commission. On the paternal side
Austin Fxlmunds, an uncle to our subject, en-
listed in the 112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry,
and was taken prisoner, dying in the horrible,
loath.some, notorious Andersonville prison. He
entered the army early in the war and died just
before it clo.sed. Hosea Edmunds joined the
9th New York Cavalry and served one year.
Salem Edmunds was born in Herkimer county,
New York, while his father was en route from
Connecticut. He finally located in the town of
Villanova and now resides in Sheridan, aged
sixty-six years. He was a farmer by occupa-
tion and in politics for many years a republican,
but is now in the ranks of the prohibitionists.
He is a member of the Methodist church, and
is the father of three sons and two daughters :
Frank died in infancy ; Fred. AY. ; Walter, mar-
ried Minnie Daniels and is living on the old
homestead in Sheridan ; Persis died June 17,
1885; and Jennie, now the wife of Fred. C.
Kruger, a farmer of Siieridan.

On the 2d of October, 1878, Fred. W. Ed-
munds married Emma R. Swezey, a daughter
of Leonard Swezey, a native of Herkimer, but
later a resident of Chautauqua county.

He was educated in the common schools and
academy at Forestville, Chautauqua county, and
went to work in a che&se factory at Arkwright
in 1 873 and stayed one year, and then accepted
the management of a cheese factory in f Chautau-
qua town. Tlie next four years were spent in
the same capacity at various places until 1878,
when he o|)ened a cheese factory near the village
of Sherman, and then began the erection of
similar establishments all over the county until
1885, when he owned thirteen in tlic vicinity

of Sherman. One year later he consolidated
five of these into the Sherman creamery, which
is devoted to the maiuifacture of butter and
cheese, principally the former. Mr. Edmunds
has pursued this business longer than any other
who has ever undertaken it in that community.
In 1882 he erected a fine grist-mill in Sherman
and runs it in connection with his other busi-
ness. During the summer of 1891 he will
operate sixteen creameries adjacent to Sherman.
Tlie output of butter for the year 1890 aggre-
gated three hundred and sixty thousand pounds
of butter at the Sherman creamery alone, and
during the summer season no less than forty-
five men are employed to operate the different
factories. Politically he is a prohibitionist, and
belongs to the Presbyterian church. Mr. and
Mrs. Edmunds have a pleasant family of three
children, Edith, Bessie, and Raymond, all of
whom are living with their parents.

FB. WIIjSON is probably the most exten-
• sive dealer in meats and poultry who
transacts business in this section. There is
nothing in the line of meats and poultry which
cannot be found at his comj)letely equipped
market at all seasons. He does an average
business of twenty thousand dollars per annum.
F. B. Wilson is a son of E. P. and Julia A.
(Barber) AVilson, and was born in Pomfret,
Chautauqua county, New York, August 11th,
1860. His great-grandfather, Ejjhraim Wilson,
was born in Northbridge, Worcester county,
Massachusetts, in 1760. When sixteen years
old he enlisted in the American army and
assisted in the capture of General John Bur-
goyne. He was taken prisoner and carried to
England and confined in that most infamous of
all England's cruelties, the Dartmoor prison,
until the close of the war, when, with the hun-
dreds of other emaciated and almost dead men,
he was exchanged and returned to Boston. He
studied medicine and, after his marriage, moved
to Princeton, at the base of Wachiisett moun-

BJOGRAFHY AND HISTORY

tain, ill Worcester county, Massaciuisetts, wiiere
lie practiced medicine, surgery and dentistry.
After his second marriage he removed to Barrc,
ill the same county, where he engaged in farm-
ing and raising beef cattle, whicii lie drove to
the Boston market, located where tiie fimious
Brighton market now is. After the death of
his second wife he retired from active life, living
to a ripe old age. He was of a cheerful dis-
position and very successful as a physician.
For his first wife he married Persis Gassett, a
daughter of Henry Gassett, a wealthy wholesale
merchant of Boston. By her he had five child-
ren, four sons and a daughter : Jonas, Henry,
Lewis, Sally and Benjamin (grandfather). His
second wife was Clarissa Gale, by whom he
had eight children, six sons and two daughters:
Leonard, Ephraim, Jr., Salome, Sophia, Ijuther,
Charles, William and Calvin. The grandfather
of F. B. Wilson, Benjamin Wilson, was born in
Princeton, \\'orcestcr county, Massachnsett.s,
August 25th, 1794, where he afterward owned
a farm which he occupied and cultivated, and
also dealt iri live stock until IS'iS, when he sold
out and removed to this State, settling in Pom-
fret, four miles from Fredonia, Chautauqua
county, on what is known as the Stockton road.
Here he purchased a farm of one hundred and
seventy-six acres, partially improved. Being
.seriously injured once at a raising and again
while driving .stock to Philadelphia, IVnn.syl-
vania, he traded this farm for one adjoining,
containing but one hundred acres, in order to
lessen his labors, and on this latter farm he
spent the remainder of his life, dying October
30th, 1857, having nearl)' completed his sixty-
third year. He was married May 20th, 1818,
to Sally Perry, of Princeton, Massachusetts, and
had nine children, three .sons and six daughters:
Sarah A., born February 17th, 1821, and mar-
ried Blanchard Derby, April 20th, 1842, who
was a farmer in Pomfret, this county; Sally,
born Ajjril 22d, 182;1, and married William
Derbv, a farmer and teamster in Fredonia ;

Harriet P., boru September 25th, 1825, and
married August 31st, 1847, Jerome B. Lang, a
l>lacksmith in Sugar Grove, Penn.sylvania ;
Klizabeth B., born July 18th, 1828, and mar-
ried April 15th, 1840, Charles Tarbox, a farmer
in Pomfret; Henry G., born April 25th, 1831,
a farmer in Pomfret, wiio married March 18th,
1856, Nancy Cornwell ; Ephraim P. (father);
Mariette, born January 2d, 1837, and died in
the early bloom of youth; Nancy J., born
March 9th, 1840, and married Lewis L. Crocker,
November 17th, 1857, who was a farmer in
Pomfret ; Benjamin, Jr., born June 12th, 1842,
and died in infancy. Mrs. Wilson was born
November 3d, 1796, and died September 28th,
1882. Ephraim P. AVilson, (father) received a
common-school education in Pomfret until he
was twelve years old, when, on account of his
I'ather'.s disability, he was obliged to remain at
home. But he is a man of wonderful intellect
and exceedingly well read. He is of"ten called
upon to settle disputes on literary and historical
matters. He lived on the farm with his father
until the death of the latter in 1857, and with
his brother, to whom, with himself, the farm
had been given in consideration of their care of
their jwrents during their life. Li 1866 he sold
his share iu the farm to his brother and pur-
cha.sed one of one hundred acres in Portland,
four miles from Brocton and half way to West-
ticld. Here lie lived until .Vpril, 1873, when
he sold the farm and inovt^d to Fredonia. In
connection with farming he had been an exten-
sive dealer in livc^ stock, in j)artnership with
Lewis L. Crocker, under tiie firm name of
Crocker & Wilson, which inisiness they con-
ducted .seven years, « lien he bought Mr. Crock-
er's interest and ailmitled his son, F. B., as
partner, and shortly afterward sold his own
interest to Luman S. Barber. Since then he
has devoted his time to dealing in live stock.
He also owns a large grapery and a lot of pas-
ture land. He was highway commissioner of
Portland, this county, and also of Pomfret, hold-

OF CHAUTAVQVA COUNTr.

ing that office and also that of assessor four
years. He was elected on the republican ticket.

He was married, September 16, 1858, to Julia
A. Barber, daughter of Chanipliu and Malancey
((ireen) Barber, her father being a former in
I'omfret for the past forty years. He had by
this union four children — three daughters and a
sou, Fred. B. The daughters were Martha C,
who married Gilbert P. Marsh, a real estate
agent in I'ittsburg, Kansas; Mary .). and .Tulia
L., who are both at home.

Fred. B. "Wilson was educated in tlic public
schools of Pomfret and Portland and in the
State Normal school at Fredonia, where lie re-
mained three years, and at sixteen years of age
began to learn the butchering business with
Crocker & Wilson, remaining with them five
years. Immediately upon attaining his majority
he bought a half-interest in the business (Mr.
Crocker's), and, on the retirement of his father,
admitted into partnership L. S. Barber, under
the firm-name of Barber & Wilson. In April,
1890, Mr. Barber sold his interest to Mr. Wilson,
and the latter now owns the entire business.
Coming from English and Irish ancestry, he
unites the best business qualities of both nation-
alities.

Fred. B. Wilson was married October 'J.'>,
1889, to Augusta C. Schmeiser, a daughter of
Jacob Schmeiser, of Fredonia, and has one son,
Edward.

TUIIN II. ANDKHSON, afirndy-establisiicd
^^ hay and fruit shipper and merchant, is a
native of western Sweden, where he was born
to Andrew and Charlotte (Jacoljson) Anderson,
February 15th, 1855. The fiimiiy have been
natives and residents of Sweden from time irn
memorial. Andrew Anders(jn was born at
Ulreckshatu, Sweden, about 1828, and served
in the array for nearly thirty-eight years, and
then took up the business of farming, at which
he is still engaged. About 1849 he married
Charlotte Jacobsou, and to tiiem have been

born three sons: Claus, John H., and Oscar.
The latter still lives in his native country, and
the two former came to America in 18()3.

John H. Anderson came to Jamestown, New
York, on June 20, 1871, and for twenty years
lias been a resident of Chautau(pia cnunty at
Poland Centre and Kennedy, residing now at
the latter place. He first engaged at farm
work, and then, seeing an excellent op[)ortunity
for handling iiay and fruit, he end)arked in an
independent busi'.iess, and aixnit 188() added
general merchandizing. In February, 1886,
he was elected commissioner of highways i'ov
tlie town of I'oiand, and was re-elected in 1887,
serving as such two years. He was educated in
the Swedish common schools, and since coming
to the United States has acquired a good
knowledge of English. Politically he is a
republican, and is now holding the office of
postmaster of Kennedy, N. Y.

In 18,S4 he married Olivia Davenport, and
now lias liiicc cliildren: Maude, Merrill, and
Hobart.

Joiin II. Anderson is a carcfid, active and
honorable business man, wlio by his own efforts
has achieved what the world calls success.

■MATHAN J. HOKTOX. A prominent se-
\ ^ ci'et society man is Grand Recorder Hor-
ton of the A. O. U. W., whose office is located
in Dunkirk. Nathan J. Horton is the son of
Truman and Betsy E. (Carr) Horton and was
born at Boston, Erie county, New York, July
25, 18-tl. The family is of English extraction
but long established in America, the pioneer
landing here during the seventeenth century.
His grandfather, Jacob Horton, was born No-
vember 5, 1770, in the town of New Lebanon,
Columbia county, this State, and died in 1848.
Truman Horton (father) was born May 29, 1796,
at the last named town, and in 1818 went with
his family to Boston, Erie county. New York,
where he lived until his death which occurred
in 1869. He was a licensed Baptist preacher.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

and altliougli a man offeree and elotiuence, was
never ordained, yet he worked zealously for his
ciiurch, and was most ably supported by his
wife. In polities he was a whig, abolitionist
and republican. He married Betsy E. Carr, of
New Lebanon, on December 28, 1816, by whom
he had ten children. Mrs. Hortou died at her
home in Boston, Erie county, New York, in
1886, aged eigiity-six years.

Nathan J. Horton was reared near the scene
of his birth and received a common school edu-
cation. On August 5, 1862, he enlisted in
Company F, 116th regiment, New York infan-
try (Col. E. P. Chapin, commanding), and served
until the close of the war; two years of the
time being spent in the gulf department, partic-
ipating at the siege of Port Hudson and in the
Red River campaign. In the spring of 1864
his regiment was returned to Washington, at-
tached to Sheridan's command and was with it
in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was
wounded at tlie battle of Fisher's Hill, Septem-
ber 22, 1864, which prevented him from fur-
ther active service. The latter part of 1865
and early part of 1866 were passed in the Penn-
sylvania oil region. In August, 1866, he re-
turned to this State and was engaged in teaching
school and in taking a course at Bryant A Strat-
ton's business college, Buffalo, New York, the
better to fit himself for a mercantile life. In
March, 1868, Mr. Horton located at Ripley,
forming a partnership with Fletcher Dawson,
under the firm name of Dawson & Horton, and
conducted a general store for two years, wiien
Mr. Dawson died and his interest was bought
by our subject, who continued the business until
1874. After this date the ensuing six years
were profitably spent in buying and shipping
(x)untry produce. He has served his town in
the capacity of supervisor, justice of the peace
and town clerk. Mr. Horton went to Buffalo
in 1881 and became a member of the firm of
Oatraan Bros., the name being changed to Oat-
man Bros. & Co., doing a jobbing and commis-

sion business. They continued this partnership
until September, 1883. In February, 1884,
Mr. Horton, for a .second time, attended tlie
Grand Lodge, Ancient Order United Workmen,
held at Syracuse, New York, and after a spirit-
ed contest was elected to the responsible office of
Grand Recorder for the State of New York
and has been re-elected without opposition at
every session held since.

Nathan J. Horton married Susie E., a daugh-
ter of Hon. C. O. Daughaday, of Ripley,
Chautauqua county, New York, on November
11, 1869; since which the village of Ripley has
been their home. In all matters of a public
and social character connected with the village
and town, both Mr. and Mrs. Horton take a
lively intere.st. Mr. Horton's interest in fra-
ternal societies is attested by his position in the
Grand Lodge A. O.U.W., as well as the fact
that he is a member of Bidwell-Wilkinson Post,
No. 9, G. A. R. ; Summit Lodge, No. 219, F.
& A. M., Dunkirk Commaudery, No. 40,
Knights Templar and intermediate orders and
a thirty-second degree mason, being a member
of Rochester Grand Consistory.

HOR-\C'E H. SH-\W. One of the represen-
tative citizens of the town of Westfield,
who has sprung from a family who settled here
early in Chautauqua county's history, is Horace
H. Shaw, a son of David and Sophia (Barney)
Shaw, and was born in Cayuga county. New
York, April 16, 1820, and was two years old
when brought to Westfield by his parents. The
family is of Scotch-English e.xtraction. David
Shaw was born in 1793, in Massachusetts and
moved to Cayuga county when twelve years
old. He was reared a farmer and when twenty-
two years of age, in 1815, married Sophia Bar-
ney, a daughter of Daniel Barney, who lived iu
Cayuga county. They had seven children, six
ofwhom are now living ; one died in infancy.
The year 1882 saw him in this town which was
then in Portland, and he charred a small tract

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

271

of land (charring, is deading the trees prepara-
tory to clearing), when he returned to Cayuga
for his family whom he soon after brought back.
The log house was built and a home established,
clearing coutinued until enough land was con-
verted into fields to raise food for the family.
Mr. Siiaw continued to farm until within a few
years of his death, which occurred in 1880,
when eighty-seven years of age. He was a com-
municant of the Universalist church and a
member of the Republican party, by whom he
was elected to the office of assessor, but being of
an unassuming and modest disposition he never
essayed to higher political honors. Mr. Shaw
served in the army during the war of 1812,
and drew a pension until his death. Mrs.
Shaw, too, belonged to the Universalist church
and survived her octogenarian husband less than
one year. She died in the spring of 1881,
aged eighty-six years.

Horace H. Shaw was reared a farmer in
Westfield by his parents, remaining there
with the exception of the decade between 1864
and 1874, which time he lived in Huron
county, Ohio. In 1874 he returned to the farm
in Westfield, on which he now lives. He was
educated in the district schools and prepared
for the busy life which has followed.

In 1849, he married Sophrona Chatsev, a
daughter of Benjamin Chatsey, a respectable
farmer of the same town, and they had one
child, a daughter : Adlade, who married, and
now the widow of William Palmer, who died in
Fitch ville, Ohio, in 1887. They had two chil-
dren : AMlliam A. and Horace D., who with
tlieir motiier now lives witli their grandfather ;
in 1850 he lost his wife and in 1851 he married
Phoebe Chatsey, also a daughter of Benjamin
Chatsey, by whom he had two daughters: \
Harriet and Mary ; Harriet S., is the wife of
Eugene Waterhouse, M.D., a successful physi-
cian of St. Louis, Mo. ; and Mary I., is at
home.

H. H. Shaw is a republican and has served

the town in several officfs. He is uiiriglil in
character and his name is synonymous with in-
tegrity.

JOHN MAWHIK is one of the wide-awake

^ horticulturists of Portland town. He
is a son of Thomas and Mary Mawhir, and
was born on the farm adjoining, where he
now resides, in Portland town, Chautauqua
county. New York, August 31, 1858. Thomas
Mawhir was born in Ireland in 1810, and came
to America, locating at Westfield. In 1853 he
moved to Portland and bouglit the farm where
his son now lives, and followed agriculture
until his death, April 16, 1889. He was a
stirring, energetic man, and favored the Repub-
lican party. His wife survives him and lives
in Portland with her son. She is seventy -seven
years of age and is a member of the Presbyte-
rian church.

John Mawhir was reared on the farm and
received his education in the common schools.
He has always resided on a farm, thirty acres
of which he owns, and has a fine giape orchard
in the culture of wiiich he takes great interest.
On December 15, 1880, Mr. Mawhir was
wedded to Mary Guest, a daughter of William
A. Guest, who is a farmer in Portland. They
have four children, one son and three daugliters:
Ella, Mynferd, Jennie and Anna.

He is an adherent to Republican principles
and votes \\ith that party, and is recognized as
a most progressive farmer.

IPOHKRT NEWLAND BLAXCHAKl),
'^ M.l)., a prominent and skillful pliysician
and surgeon of the city i^f Jamestown, is a son
of Flint and Jane (Allen) Blanchai-d, and was
born in the town of Ellicott, Chautau(:|ua
county, New York, November 16, 1856.

Robert N. Blanchard was educated in the
common schools, and at the age of eighteen
graduated from Jamestown Higli School, after
which he entered the ranks of .the pedagogue.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

and taught school for two terms. He com-
mencod the study of medioine witli Dr. H. C
lilaiichard, his uncle, witli wlioiu he remained
for four years, and entered tiie Medical Dopart-
mont of the University of Buffalo, from which
lie graduated iu 1880, and, returning to the <'ily
of Jamestown, he began the practice of nicdi-
cinc with his uncle, who died August G, 1884,
wiicn our suhject succeciicd (o his practice, and
has since l)nilt u]) the patronage of a large and
l)aying class of people. 11. N. Blanchard is a
democrat in ]K)lities, and at the time ol' the or-
ganization of the city of Jamestown, he was ap-
jwinted health oflicer of the city. Dr. Blanch-
ard l)eiongs to the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, of Jamestown, and is a mend)er of the
Independent Congregational church, although
both his flither and graudffithcr were Presbyte-
rians. The latter died Jan. IT), 1,S91, at the ad-
van(!ed ageof 92 years. Dr. Blanchard is also at-
tached to the Knights of Maccabees, American
Legion of Honor and the Royal Arcanum.

The other mend)ers of his father's family are
Dr. Amos Blanchard, a practicing physician at
Frewsl)urg, this county, who is also a graduate
of the Buffalo University ; Charles, a farmer
who lives upon and tills the old homestead ;
Mary E., who married P'red. A. Hentley, the
vice-president of the Chautauqua Countv
National Banh, and a prominent financier of this
city ; Henry C, who married a Miss Foster, a
(laugiiter of Judge Foster, who resides in tlw
State of Washington. Henry C. Blanchard
graduated from the San Francisco, Califltrnia,
Law School, and is now living and practicing
his ]>rofession in the city of Seattle, Washing-
ton, where lie is also engaged in tlir iron busi-
ness.

Bobert Newland Hlanciiard on tiie 14th day
of June, 18X2, married Belle B. Burtis, a
daughter of William E. Burtis, who was an old
settler of Chautauqua county. Dr. and Mrs.
Blanchard have one .son, Robert B., who was
born on the 27th day of Marcii, 1883.

Dr. Blanchard is an intelligent, educated
physician and surgeon, who takes much i)ains
to keep himself fully informed upon the ad-
vancement which is being made in his profes-
sion, and being skillful and uniformly success-
ful in difficult and stubborn cases, he has the
<'onfidence of the people whom he serv<s. So-
cially he is a pleasant gentleman, and lie is pop-
ular in the comiuunity in wliii-ii le' resides.

^K<H{(JK K. WIC.VVKR is a son of .lohii
^^ and Anna (Benton) Weaver, and was
born in Allegany county, New York, .\piil !l,
k^."!4. Joiin Weaver was born in the eastern
part of the Empire State, in 1804, but came to
("liaiitauqua county in 184(), when lie locate<l
iu Westfield town. He has made his residence
at tliis place coiitiuuously for fifty-one years,
antl still lives, aged eighty-seven years. Fol-
lowing fariuing wheu it was necessary to work
hard to produce the same which improved ma-
chinery will do by the expenditure of much less
toil, he had but little time to wa.ste with poli-
tics, although his sympathies and votes were for
the party of Jefferson, Jack.son and Tilden.
His wife was Anna Benton, whom he married
in 1827. She bore him eight children and died
in 1850, when only forty-four years of age.

George R. Weaver was si.x years old when
he came to Cliautau(|ua county with his father.
He was rearecl on a farm and receiveil the edu-
cation comiiion schools could confer. Upon at-
taining his luauliood he decided upon agricul-
ture and grape growing for his life's work, and
now owns fifty -six acres lying three miles east
of Westfield village admirably ada|)ted for his
uses in grape growing.

On November 2, 1859, Mr. Weaver married
Augusta Twiug, a tlaughter of Luther Twing,
an old resident of this town, by whoiu he had
one son, Ernest E., now married to Lydia A.
Boorn, and engaged in farming near the village
of Westfield, growing grapes and other fruits.

I'oliticallv Mr. Weaver affiliates \\itli the t.le-

OF CHA Vr. VVQT \\ CO UNTY.

273

mocrats, but is a strong advocate of the tem-
perance cause, and belongs to tlie Equitable Aid
Union, and has been a member of Wcstfield
Grange since 1S74. He is a constant attendant
of tlie Bai)tist clmrcli upon whose roll of mem-
bership his name is inscrilied. He is a man of
integrity and honor.

^EORGK r. KOSSITKK is a prominent
^^ young druggist, a social companion and
an enterprising business man of Brocton. He
is a son of Charles and Ellen (Risley) Rossiter,
and was born in Pomfret, Chautauqua county,
New York, September .30, 18(j5. The jjaternal
great-grandfather, Elisha Rossiter, was a native
of Rochester, and was a pioneer of Chautauqua
county. He came from Rochester with an ox
team, and settling at Pomfret, followed farming
until his death, which occurred in ]«8;3. Charles
Rossiter was born in P(jmfret town in 184.5,
and until 1887 pursued farming as a means of
gaining a livelihood. He still owns his farm in
Pomfret, but moved to Brocton four years ao-o,
where he now lives, being interested in a vine-
yard in the town of Portland. He married
Ellen Risley, of Pomfret town in 18G4, by
whom he had one child. She is a member of
the Methodist (rhurcli, and is now 4() years old.
George I. Rossiter was reared on a farm and
educated in the common schools, afterwards at-
tending the State Normal School at Fredonia.
In 1X80 he engaged in the general mercantile
business at Portland, following it for one year,
and then came to Brocton and opened a drug
store in which he has been very successful. He
carries a large and assorted stock in the fine
brick building erected in 1887 by his father,
and has a large trade which he is careful to
satisf)' with superior articles and drugs.

Politically he affiliates with the Republican
party, and is a member of Brocton Lodge, No.
284,* Knights of Pythias. He is a good young
busine.ss man, and has many friends around the
locality in which he lives.
14

. J'AME.S H. WARD is a veteran sehool-
^^ teacher, who, in his later years, has turned
his energies in an entirely different channel and
looks after the personal belongings of thousand
of travelers each year. He was born in Rupert,
Bennington sounty, Wrmonf, August 4th, 1821,
and is a son of Reuben and Azubah (Taylor)
Ward. His grandfather, Humphrey Ward,
was a native of Connecticut and a farmer by
occupation. He married a Miss Grise and had
four children, two sons and two daughters. He
died in Washington county, this State. The
maternal grandfatiier of .1. H. Ward was Jona-
tlian Taylor, wlio died in Rutland county, Ver-
mont. Reuben Ward, (father) was born in
Washington county, this State, in 17112.

He served as a substitute in the war of 1812
and participated in the battle of Plattsburg,
September 11, 1814. In 1826 he came to
Cattaraugus county this State, and took up a
farm in the wilderness in the town of Perrys-
burgh, being one of the earliest .settlers there,
cleared it and lived on it the -remainder of his
life. One of his .sons now lives upon that farm.
In politics he was a democrat and held the
office of justice of the peace for twelve con.secu-
tive years in Perrysbui-gh. He married Azubaii
Taylor in 1818 and had ten children — .seven
sons and three daughters, one .son and two
daughters dying young, the others reaching
maturity.

.Tames H. Ward was eilucated in the academy
at Springville, Erie comity. New York, and at
Fredonia, this county, and then taught .school
about twenty years in Cattaraugus and Chau-
tauqua counties, being a very sucee.ssful and
enthusiastic teacher. Locating in Versailles,
('attaraugus county, after his experience as an
educator, he devoted about six years to the
manufacture of shoes and then came to this
county and engaged in the railroad and express
business, first at Brocton, where he had charge
of freight and baggage at the B. P. & W. depot,
and then at Mayville, where he was appoitited

274

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

express agent. When the Chautauqua Associa-
tion was organized in 1875 lie was appointed
general l)aggage- master, which position he held
seven years. In politics he was a democrat up
to the administration of Martin Van Buren in
1837, when he became a free-soiler and in 185()
a republican. He has held the office of justice
of the peace continuously since 1877. In relig-
ion he, as well as his wife, is a member of the
Methodist church. He is Worthy Master of
Peacock Lodge, (j9(3 F. <S: A. M., named in honor
of Judge William Peacock, and secrelary of
Westfield Chapter, No. 239, R. A. M., in which
he has occupied many of the chairs.

James H. Ward was married Sej)tember 29,
1847, to Harriet Blaisdell, a daughter of Rev.
William Blaisdell, a minister in the Christian
chui'ch, who went to Iowa, enlisted in what
was known as the " Gray Beard Regiment "
and entered the civil war, where he died. By
this union there have been born three sons :
William T., who married Ellen Fuller and is a
farmer in Kansas, has two son.s — Samuel and
Jonathan; Reulten F., who married Mary
Wing, had four children — Lillian M., James
H., Hattie M., and Nellie who died young and
was killed by lightning in Kansas at the age of
twenty-six years ; George F., married to Ilattie
Healey, a traveling salesman for a factory supply
company and lives in Jamestown.

HON. FKANK E. Si:sSIONS, ex-special
county judge of Chautauqua county, and
the present secretary of the New York State
League of Loan and Building associations, is
one of the ablest and best known lawyers of
western New York. He is a son of Columbus
and Cordelia (French) Sessions, and was born
at Chautauqua, on the celebrated lake of the
same name, in Chautauqua county. New York,
May 22, 1847. The Sessions family is of hon-
orable New England lineage and for several
generations has been noted for the enterprise,
intelligence and energy of its members. John

Sessions, the great-grandfather of Frank E.
Sessions, was a native, in all probability, of
Massachusetts. He was of English extraction
and for a time resided at the foot of the Green
mountains in Vermont. He afterwards re-
moved from that State to New York, where he
continued to follow his occupation of droving
until his death. His son, Schuyler Sessions
(grandfather), was born in the " Green Moun-
tain " State and came with his father to New
York, where he cleared out a farm in Chau-
tauqua county. He then joined in the west-
ward tide of emigration to the prairie lands
west of the " Fatlier of Waters '' and settled in
Iowa where he remained until his death, which
occurred in 1857. He was a farmer and a
democrat, and married Sallie Green by whom
he had five sons and two daughters. All of
these sons are living, and one of them, Colum-
bus Sessions (father), was born in Vermont,
March 31, 1818. He came to Chautauqua
county in 1832, removed to \\'isconsin in 1852,
returned to this State in 18(38, and in 1880
went to Iowa where he now resides, at Algona,
with one of his sons. He is a farmer and tan-
ner by occupation and a republican in politics.
He has been twice married ; his first wife was
Cordelia French, who died in December, 1863,
aged thirty-six years ; and after her death he
married Mrs. Cordelia Herrick, widow of Cap-
tain Herrick, who served and was killed in the
late war. By his first marriage he had three
.sons : H. Alanson, a marble dealer and insur-
ance agent of Algona, Iowa ; Frank E. and
Schuyler S., a prominent lawyer and one of the
nine directors of the State Agricultural Associa-
tion, of Iowa, being the youngest man by twen-
ty years, who has ever been elected to that
position. Mrs. Cordelia (French) Sessions was
a daughter of Samuel French (maternal grand-
father), who was born in Massachusetts and
settled, about 1820, at French Creek, this
county, where he afterwards died. He was a
farmer by occupation, a Baptist in religious be-

- "f *? J«>,«5 R/f,:cr i ScriKfl"''^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

lief and an old-line whig in political opinion.
He was ujiirried in Massachusetts, and was the
father of four sons and two daughters.

Frank E. Sessions left the common schools
of Fon du Lac county, Wisconsin, at the early
age of fifteen years to engage in teaching,
which he followed continuously for seven years.
During that time he taught thirteen terms and
spent all his leisure hours in reading and self-
study. He then sought for a wider field for
the exercise of his powers tlian that bounded
by the walls of the school-room, and entered up-
on the study of law, with his uncle, Walter L.
Sessions, of Panama. After reading steadily
for one year he gave his attention, partly, dur-
ing 1869, to the tanning business, but with the
beginning of the next year he applied himself
with renewed assiduity to his legal studies and
wa-s admitted to the New York bar in April,
1873. From the time that he began the study
of law until his admission at tlie bar, he kept
up his studies and made his own way without
pecuniary assistance from any one. In 187(1
he opened an office in Jauiestown where he
has practiced his profession successfully ever
since.

He was apj)ointed by Gov. Cornell, as special
county judge for Chautauqua county and his
services as such were so well and ably rendered
that at the end of his term he was elected to
the same office, for a term of three years. At
the end of his second term Judge Sessions re-
sumed the practice of his profession at James-
town and in the courts of the adjoining coun-
ties. Although busily engaged in an extensive
law practice, yet he always gives encourage-
ment and aid to any enterprise that is calculated
to be of real benefit in any way to his fellow-
citizens. He has been a leading spirit in the
organization and management of the Jamestown
Permanent Loan an<l Building Association, and
at the present time is one of its board of direct-
ors and its attorney. This association was or-
ganized November 22, 1881, has built hun-

dreds of houses alread)', and is a potent factor
of the city's present prosperity.

On June 1, 1876, he united in marriage with
Julia R. Bush, of Jamestown. To their union
have been born two children : Clara H., born
December 28, 1880, died April 11, 1890; and
Edgar W., born February 11, 1887.

In politics Judge Sessions, while always a
pronounced republican yet has never bteii a
strenuous or bitter partisan. He is a niemljcr
of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and
Accepted Masons, and the Methodist Episcopal
church of Jamestown, of which he has long
.served as treasurer. He has also .served as
superintendent of its Sunday-.school and is now
superintendent of the senior department of the
school. Able as a jurist and eminent as a law-
yer, he ranks high in his profession in western
New York, where to be successful and attain
standing at the bar, a lawyer must have decided
ability and possess succe.ss-winuing qualities of
the highest order.

/>'H.\HLES I). 311 KHAV, a Cleveland
^^ democrat and one of tlic prominent law-
yers of Dunkirk, was born at (Juilford, Che-
nango county, New York, May 4, 18;U, ami is
a son oi' Dauphin and Sallie (Seyniour) Murray.
His paternal grandfather, Captain Elihu Mur-
ray, c(jmmaniled a com|iaiiy of Continental
troops during the revolutionary war and after-
wards removed from his native State of Con-
necticut to Guilford, where he died in 1837, at
the advanced age of eigiity-eight years. His
son, Dauphin Murray (father), was born in Con-
nectiiHit and spent the early part of his life as a
farmer of (Juilford. He then engaged in con-
tracting i>ii piiliiii- works which he followed until
1855, when he was killed in a railroail accident
at Hinsdale, Cattaraugus county. He was fifty-
seven years of age at the time of his death, and
his wife had preceded him to the tomb in 1852,
when she passed away at Hin.sdale, aged fifty-
four years.

B 100 R A PHY AM) HISTORY

Charles D. Murray was brought by liis parents,
in 1839, from Guilford to Hinsdale, where he
remained until 1845 and attended the "Old
Red School-house." At fourteen years of age
lie became a clerk in a dry goods house of Nor-
wich, New York, in which he remained until
1850, when he joined in the westward tide of
emigration to the Golden State of the Pacific
slope. Arriving in San Francisco and finding
no business opening he hired as a drayman, but
soon saved enough money to buy himself a dray.
He followed draying for one year, during which
time he was ou the alert for a business opening
and found it in the jobbing jiroduce and com-
mission ti'adc. He became a member of the
firm of jNIurray & Foster, and handled large
amounts of produce until 1855, when Mr. Mur-
ray was called home by the death of his father.
During liis business career in California he matle
three trips to Oregon and two trips with cargoes
of lumber to Sidney, jVustralia. ( )n his return
home he engaged in the mercantile and Inmbcr-
ing business at Hin.sdale, which he followed
until 1858, when he went down with thousands
of other business men in the panic of that year.
In the last-named year he was appointed route
agent in the mail .service from Hornellsville to
Dunkirk, on the Erie railroad, and had six
hours of spare time every day at Hornellsville
which he spent in reading law in the office of
Reynolds & Brundage. In 1860 by a change
in the administration he was removed from his
position in the mail .service and was admitted as
an attorney and coun.selor of the Supreme Court
of New York at its general session in Buffalo
and opened an office at Hin.sdale where he ])rac-
ticed until 18(i4. He was then drafted and in
order to procure a substitute came to Dunkirk,
with which he was so favorably im[)res.sed that
he secured his present law-office in the Gerrans
block. He enjoys an extensive and remunera-
tive practice and has attained a prominent stand-
ing in his profession. ^Ir. Murray has been
identified for several years with the financial,

educational and religious interests of the city.
He is vice-president of the Merchants National
Bank which was organized March 6, 1882; was
president of the board of education for .six years
and is a senior warden of St. John's Protestant
E])iscopal church.

On the 20th of May, 18(iO, Mr. Murray
united in marriage with Orpha A. lianfield,
daughter of George D. Banfield, of Hinsdale,
New York, They have thi'ee children — Henry
T., who is in the law-office with his father;
Lewis N., a clerk in the Merchants National
Bank, and ]\Iaud M., wife of Henry M. Ger-
rans, one of the proprietors nf the Iroipiois hotel
of Buffiilo, N. Y.

Charles D. Murray is a democrat of the Jack-
sonian and Cleveland type and attended the
Baltimore convention of 1858, and has been a
delegate to .several State conventions, and the
Democratic National convention of 1884, which
nominated Grover Cleveland for president.
He served as president of the b(jard of water
commissioners, and was mayor of Dunkirk for
one term. In 1870 Mr. Murray was the demo-
cratic nominee for Congress in his district (the
3;3d) which was then rej)ublican by six thousand
majority, and lacked but three hundred votes of
being; elected.

nOBEKT E. CROSGltOVE, one of Ripley
town's leading farmers and best citizens
was born at Ripley, Chautauqua county. New
York, November 15, 1851, and is a son of John
and Mary (Cochrane) Crosgrove. His grand-
father, William Crosgrove, was a native of
Ireland, but deciding that America was the land
of promise, he said good-by to the green fields
of his childhood, and took passage for New
York, where he landed November 17, 1801.
A few years were spent in various places, and
in 1804 he married Rachel Cochrane, who bore
him eight children. William Crosgrove lived
for two 3'ears in western Penn-sylvania, but in
1808 he came to Ripley and settled on the farm

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY.

uow owned by W. A. and R. E. Crosgrove. j year. He is a member of the Presbyterian
The maternal grandfather was Robert Coclirane, church, and votes with the Republican party.

who was born in County Down, Ireland, Oct. ! «

22, 178G, and came to America in 1812. One Q KCHIBAT.D CALHOUN is a canny
year later he settled in the northwest part of ^^ Scotcliman, who has had an experince in
Westfield, on lot No. 4, where he lived until life which would form the foundation for a verv
his death, May 6, 1870. Politically he was a interesting book. He was born in Ellensboro
republican, and a member of the Presbyterian , on the Clyde, October 25, 1828, and is a son of
church. His wife was Jane Law, whom he Peter and Ellen (McCauslan) Calhoun, a branch
married in Ireland, and they had eleven chil- of the family of which John C. Callioun, the
dren, the eldest, Mary, being the mother of our i famous southern statesman, was a member,
subject. John Crosgrove (father) was born at I James Calhoun (grandfather) was a native and
Cold Spring station, Pa., June 20, 180(5. When | life-long resident of Scotland atid by occupation
two years of age his father brought him to the was a farmer. Humphrey McCauslan (maternal
town of Ripley where he spent his life, and died grandfather) was also a native of the same
at the age of seventy-eight years. William country, where Ik- was a stock-raiser. Peter
Crosgrove, Either of John Crosgrove, bought of Calhoun (flither) was born in Scotland in 1793,
the Holland Land company one hundred and and early emigrated to the land of freedom, set-
thirty-five acres of land, cleared it, aud lived on tling in Delaware county. New York, where he
the place until his death. John Crosgrove ; died in 1875, at (he age of eighty-six yeans. By
bought his father's place, and lived there until occupation he was a farmer, in religion he was
his death. Early in life he experienced the need a member of the Presbyterian church, and in
of spiritual consolation, and joined himself to iwlitics was an active worker in the whig party,
the Presbyterian church, in which he was a Peter Calhoun was mariied to Ellen McCauslan,'
deacon. In 1842 he married Mary Cochrane, | by whom he hail ten children, six .sons and four
and their union was blessed with five children : daughters, all but two sons and one daughter
Harriet, born June 1, 1844, and is now the wife being born in Scotland. Mrs. Calhoun "died
of E. T. Kingsley, a reserve operator for the \ in 1883, aged eighty-three years.
L. S. & M. S. R. R. at Ripley ; William, born \ Archibald Calhoun was educated in the com-
August 10, 1846, is a farmer and lives with his | mon schools of Delaware county, this State, and
flither; Alfred, born March 10, 1847, married , in the spring of 1851, when he was twenty-one
to Mrs. Hayden, and lives at Pilot Point, Texas, j years of age, went to California, tiie El Dorado
where he is engaged in merchandizing; Nettie, of the Occident, and engaged in gold mining,
born August 30, 1840, and died in 181)0; and forming and stock-raising for twelve years, and'
Robert E. I then went to Nevada, where he devoted two

Robert E. Crosgrove received his etlucation years to prospecting for silver and ten years of
at the public schools, after which he began stock-raising. He then drove a flock of thirty-
farming, and has continued it ever since on the I six-hundred sheep from Nevada to Montana,
old homestead, to which they have added one himself riding horseback, and sold them at a
hundred acres more, making a total of two | good profit. On several occasions din-ing his
hundred and thirty-five broad acres of as fine , residence in California and Nevada he wa^sur-
land as one could wish to see. A vineyard of | rounded by hostile Indians with arrows drawn
ten acres in extent furnishes fruit for the table ! to the head, but always succeeded in arguing
and the market— tons having been sold in one them out of a desire to kill or harm him, and

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

not infrequently lie came in too close quarters
with grizzly hears, but managed by desperate
fighting to get oW practically uniiarmed. He
crossed the Isthmus of Panama four times and
has been over the Rocky mountains thirteen
times, twice in a stage-coach. In 1877 he came
east and located in Sherman, where in 1878 he
])archased afarm,whic]i he still occupies. After-
ward he bought the so-called " Old Israel Shel-
don ])Iace" of two hundred and fifty-five acres
and the " Henry Sheldon place " of two hun-
dreil and thirty-seven a(U'es and has made a
specialty of dairy farming. In October, 1883,
in connection with W. P. Siuallwood, Hiram
Parker and James Vincent, he organized the
Bank of Sherman, and was elected president,
which office he has since held. It is the first
organized of the two banks now in Sherman,
but one bank, the Sheldon, preceded this, and,
with the exception of ]\Ir. Smallwood, who has
retired from the board of directors, the same
men who organized it still manage its business.
Outside of his banking operations connected
with the bank, Mr. Calhoun derives a good
revenue by making independent loans on un-
questionable .securities. In religion he is a
member as well as a trustee of the I^resbyterian
church ; and in politics he is a stanch republi-
can, taking an active interest in the succe.ss of
his party, but always declining the many re-
(jiiests to use his name as a candidate for any
office. His varied experience while on the
Pacific Slope and his vast fund of reminiscences
make him a very interesting companion, being,
naturally, a genial gentleman.

Archibald Calhoun was married May 7,
1871, to Aleda Rose, a daughter of Itluimer
Rose, a native of Schoharie county, this State,
by whom he has four children, three sons and
" one daughter: Rose, Le Roy, John and Max-
well. Mrs. Calhoun is a member of the Pres-
byterian church.

TTM>KKW .T. MERKXE, at one time a
•**■ captain on a lake vessel running between
Buffalo and Chicago; then the owner of a line
of ve,s.sels in the same trade ; later, and now, the
proprietor of a large general store in Brocton,
at present preparing one of the largest vine-
yards in the town, is a .son of Philip and Se-
liiida (Briggs) Mericle, and was born in the
town of Sardinia, Erie county, New York,
May 1, 1829. Philip Mericle was a native of
Schoharie county, where he was bora in the
town of Sharon, in 1799. From thence he re-
moved to Erie county, when a young man, and
came to Chautauqua county in 1834. He lo-
cated iu the town of Portland, began to farm,
and followed that vocation until his death.
Being of Dutch extraction he inherited the
industry and economy of that race. He mar-
ried Selinda Briggs iu 1828, and had four
children, two .sons and two daughters : Mr.
Mericle was a democrat of tiie Jeffer-soniau
type, of unquestioned integrity and patriotism.
He died in 1858, aged sixty years. His wife
was a native of Rhode Island, and living to
the advanced age of eighty-four yeans, died
February 22, 1889.

Andrew Jackson Mericle was reared in the
town of Portland, and received the education
afforded by its common schools. When but
fifteen years of age, he entered a sailing ve.ssel
plying the great lakes, and learned to be a
sailor. It is unnecessary to recount the hard-
shi])s the young man had to undergo, but, in-
stead we will record the triumph he achieved.
When manhood cast her mantle about his
shoulders, he found himself possessed with
enough to buy a small vessel. This he as-
sumed command of, carrying freights, and the
profits were sufficient to buy other vessels, until
he has become the owner of a little fleet, all of
which he, excepting one, successively command-
ed. Mr. Mericle engaged in this traffic until
1879, when he di.spo.seil of his shipping, and
I gave his whole attention to a general mercantile

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

281

business, which he had established in Brocton,
in 18()9. The store is a large one, and carries
a stock of groceries, boots and shoes, dry goods,
clothing and drugs. His trade is immense,
and is drawn for miles from the surrounding
country. He owns a farm of ninety acres in
Portland town, which lie is now converting into
an immense vineyard.

In December, 1840, Mr. Mericle married
Sarah M. JMartin, a daughter of Jason Martin,
of Portland, who has been his companion for
nearly forty years. They are the parents of two
children ; Jay P. and Frank J.

A. J. Mericle is a democrat, a man of wealtli,
a shrewd business man and a leading citizen.

TAMES H. FLAGLER is a sou of John H.
^ and Adeline B. (Rhodes) Flagler, and
was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New
York, March 8, 1 835. His grandfather, James
Flagler, was a descendant of one of two broth-
ers, who came to America from Germany, and
was born in Dutchess county, this State, from
whence he removed to Washington county,
where lie followed the occu|)ation of a farmer
until his death in 1 825, at the age of forty-five
years. He married Vincey Hall, and by her
had five children, four sous and one daughter,
who reached maturity. The maternal grand-
father of J. H. Flagler was named William
Rhodes, born in Connecticut and removed to
Washington county, this State, where he fol-
lowed farming and also served as a soldier in
the war of 1812. He died in Washington
county in 1869, at the age of eighty-two years.
John H. Flagler (father) was born in AV^ash-
ington county, this State, September 15, 1806.
He came to this county and located at Summer
Dale, a place west of Mayville, where he en-
gaged in farming. In politics he was an old-
line whig and took an active interest in them-
In religion he was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church and also a local preacher
therein. He married Adeline B. Rhodes, Jan-

;' uary 25, 1831, and had five children, three
I sons and two daughters. One of the children
I died quite young ; another one, Fletcher J.,
I lives in Kansas. John H. Flagler died in

September, 1887.
I James H. Flagler was educated in the com-
mon schools of Chautauqua town, and West-
field academy, and began to earn a livelihood
as a .school teacher. He taught foiu-teen years
altogether, including two terms of four months
each in the corporation of Mayville. When he
had completed his experience in teaching the
young idea how to shoot, he moved to Chau-
tauqua and from there to the farm of his flither
at Summer Dale, which originally contained
i three hundred acres, and of which he now owns
two hundred and forty acres. In 1872 he
operated a dairy flirm at this location. He
then moved to Mayville, where he has since re-
sided, mainly engaged in the coal business. In
politics he has been a republican since the birth
of the party, voting for Fremont and Dayton in
1856, and has been a member of the board of
as.sessors of Mayville for six years. August 8,
1890, President Harrison appointed him post-
master of Mayville, In religion he is a mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a
member of Mayville Eodge, No. 284, I. O.O. F.
of Mayville, of which he is N. G., and has been
financial secretary of Mayville Lodge, No. 25,
A. O. U. W. for eight years.

James H. Flagler was married November 1,
1859, to Nancy A Keyes, of Mayville, by
whom he has two sons : Elmer E., who is mar-
ried to Frances Van Volkenburg, and is in the
dry goods business in Westfield ; and Grant S.,
married to Alta M. Owen, is receiving and jiay-
ing teller in the Westfield National Bank, in
which town he also resides.

•^r\ B. AI>AMS, one of the substantial agri-

'^ • culturists of Fredonia, is a son of
Bishop and Betsey (Palmer) Adams, and was
born in Van Buren, Chautauqua county. New

BtOGRAPUY A\D HISTORY

York, November 5, 1829. Justus Adams
(grandfather) was lioru in Dutchess county, tiiis
State, in 17()4, and nios'cd to Delaware county,
wliere lie bought a farm, on which he remained
a few years and then removctl to this county in
the spring of 181 1, where he |>urchase<l, in Mav
of that year, one-half of lot No. 21, in township
six, now Porafret, comprising one hundred and
eighty acres, which he cultivated until his death,
in 1848, at the age of eighty-four yeai-s. The
tlirm'was then occupied by two of his sons, later
by another son, Bishop (father) and now by his
grandson, D. B. He married Jemima Bishop
in 1785, by whom he had nine children, five
.sons and four daughters : Bishoj), Morris, Jes-
sie, John and Thomas ; Rebecca, who married
a Mr. Ganung ; Eliza, marrieil to another Mr.
Ganung ; Jemima, married to Wm. Birch ; and
Polly, married to Thomas Lacelles. Mrs.
Adams (grandmother) died in 1837. Jo.se))h
Palmer (maternal grandfiither) was born in
Connecticut, and came to this county in 1810,
settling in Pomfret, near Fredonia, where he
took up a large farm, which he cidtivatcd until
1834, when he sold it and removed to Indiana
and took up a tract of land on the St. Joseph
river. He niarrietl and reared .seven children,
four sons and three daughters: Daniel, James,
Asher, and one who.se name is forgotten ; Bet-
.sey (mother); Cynthia, who married Mr. (tier;
and another who married Mr. Stilson. Bishop
Adams (father) was born in Dutchess county in
1789, came to this county in 1809 and bought
a tract of land consisting of three hundred
acres, for which he paid less than three dollars
an acre. This he .sold in 18S6 aud moved to
the farm now owned by his son, D. B , one
mile northwest of Fre<lonia, for the purpose of
assisting and caring for his father, who had
passed the three-score and ten years allotted to
man, and remained here until his death, in
1866, at the age of seventy-seven years. Bishop
Adams was married in the fall of 1811 to Bet-
sey Palmer, by whom lie had ninv children,

five of whom died in infancy : John was a phy-
siciau in this county, and marritd Chloe Wil-
Inir ; Elizabeth married Smith Wilbur, a far-
mer in this county ; and Philinda married
Daniel Elli.s, a farmer in Panama, this county.

D. B. Adams was educatetl in the common
schools of this county, of >vhich, happily, the
youth of the present generation have no knowl-
edge. He worked on the farm during the plant-
ing, haying aud harvesting seasons, and winters
he sawed, .'^)ilit and chopped wood, " done
chores," attende<l to the live stock, attended the
school which was locateil close by, on one cor-
ner of the farm on which he lived, until he
was fifteen years old. Fortunately nature
])artly compensated for this pursuit of knowledge
under difficulties by endowing him with a phe-
nomenal memory, so that his mind is a store-
house of knowledge gained by a wide range of
reading, and never fails to honor the drafts
made upon it. He worked upon his father's
farm and eared for him when the infirmities of
age grew upon him, and after his death pur-
cha.sed the iuterest of the other heir.s, tiie entire
farm being ik)w in the very centre of the grape-
growing district, which materially increases its
value. He has eight acres devoted to the cul-
tivation of that succulent fruit of the vine, and
is increasing the average each year. In June,
1863, he enlisted in Company A, Sixty-eighth
New York Volunteers, but was honorably dis-
charged on account of the expiration of his en-
listment, August 1st of the same year, and is a
member of Holt Post, No. 403, G. A. R. of Fre-
donia, also of Fredonia Grange, and the Temple
of Honor, Select Templars and of Fredonia
Lodge, No. 338 I. O. O. F., all of Fredonia, and
takes an active interest in each. In politics he
is republican.

D. B. Adams was marrietl November 9,
1848, to Mary E. Hyde, a daughter of Jo.seph
and Laura (Woodcock) Hyde, her father being
a farmer at Springville, Erie county, this State,
which uniou resulted in four children, two

v!«*a-«»«*^

''m^ .^yi^i^>/^

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

285

.sons and two daughters : Florence A., married to
M. J. Mattisou, a teacher at Cedar Rapids,
Michigan ; Marvin B., a farmer iu Pomfret and
lives on Brigham street, Fredonia, married to
Anna Fry ; Eva, married Delos Keith, a farmer
on Brighaiii street, Fredonia ; and Frank M.,
a farmer, married to Sarah Van Wey, and re-
sides with his parents.

"RJI'ILTON E. BEEBE, architect and snjier-
4 intcndent, of Fredonia, and wiio was tiie

candidate against Grover Cleveland, in 1881,
for mayor of Buffalo, is a son of Justus T. and
Harriet C. (Quigley) Beebe, and was born at
Cassadaga, Chautauqua county. New York,
November 27, 1840. His paternal grandfath-
er, Abel Beebe, was a native of Connecticut,
and was one of the first white .settlers on the
site of Buffalo, where he purclutscd, in 1800,
a tract of land called "Cold Springs." He
afterwards .sold this land, and purchased and
cleared out a heavily timbered farm on the shore
of Lake Ca.ssadaga, in this county, wliere he
reared a family of four .sons and three daugh-
ters: Delos, James, Justus T., Cyrenus C,
Locena, Elvira and Lucy. Justus T. Beebe
(father) was born in Cas.sadaga, December 27,
1811, and died in Cassadaga, December 5,
1886. He owned a small farm and married
Harriet C. Quigley, who is now living. Tiiey
had two .sons and two daughters : Milton E.,
Laura A., Francis M. and Helen M.

Milton E. Beebe received his edu(^ation in
the three months winter school of his town anil
Fredonia academy, which he attended during
one term. At an early age he exhibited consid-
erable talent for music, as well as a ta.ste for
drawing and mechanical construction. At six-
teen years of age he went to learn the trade of
carpenter and joiner witli Ivevi Totman, and in
a short time was sufficient master of his trade
to engage in carpentery for himself atCa.ssadaga
and other places. At nineteen years of age he
pommenced teaching in the winter schools, and I

when the late war broke out, he enlisted in the
9th N. Y. Cavalry. He served at New York
and Washington cities until 18()2, then was as-
signed to Col. Hunt's artillery, j)arlicipated in
the Peninsular Campaign until the battle of
Fair Oaks, when his command was ordered to
Washington City, where he took typhoid fever,
and after his recovery was discharged for plnsi-
cal disability, wliich prevented his re-eidist-
ment afterwards. Returning home, in connec-
tion with his trade, he took up the study of
architecture, which iie pursued from 1865 to
187;5, under leading architects in the cities of
Buffalo, Chicago, New York, and Worcester,
Mass. In 1873 he established him.self at
Buffalo as an architect, and among the import-
ant buildings that he has designed and built are
the post office building at Buffalo, the court-
hou.ses of Cambria, Huntingdon and Warren
counties, Pa., and Niagara county, N. Y., each
costing one hundred thou.sand dollars ; the
Board of Trade building at Buffalo, costing one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and the
Miller and Greiner l>uildings, costing one hun-
dred thousand dollars each ; Manufacturer^ and
Traders Bank building. Agency building,
Tucker's Iron building, John C. Jewett's build-
ing, Zink tt Hatch office building, and J. M.
Richmond's building, each costing upwards of
one hundred thou.sand dollars, besides many
co.stly churches and fine private residences.
He has also just completed one of the finest
court-houses in the country, at Pottsville,
Schuylkill county, Pa., co.sting alxjut three
hundred thousand dollars. In 1885 he came
to Fredonia, and purclia.sed the old Gen. Ri.sley
place, where he has one of the finest and best
furnished residences of the town. He is still
actively engaged in his profession, with offices
in Buffalo.

November 5, 1862, he married Rosina,
daughter of Sawyer, and sister to Prof. Philii)
Phillips, the noted singer. They have one
child, a son, Harry P., who was born May 15,

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

1865, and is uow engaged in architectural work
with his father.

In politics ]\Ir. Beebe is a zealous republican.
In 1879 he was elected alderman in the second
ward of Butt'alo, and upon the organization of
the board, was made its president, which was an
unusual honor to be conferred on a new mem-
ber. He was re-elected and re-appointed the
next year to the .same position, and in 18'Sl
was nominated by acclamation as the republican
candidate for mayor of Buffalo, but it was a
year of adverse fate for the republicans in New
York, and Mr. Beebe, although popular, went
down with many other prominent candidates of
his party. He was defeated for mayor by
Grover Cleveland, whose political good for-
tunes that carried him to the presidential chair
were born in his success at that election. Mr.
Beebe is a member of Bidwell Wilkinson Post,
No. 9, Grand Army of the Republic, and
Queen City Lodge, No. 358, Free and Accepted
Masons ; is now Eminent Commander of Hugh
de Payens Commandery, No. 30, Knights
Templar, stationed at Buffalo, N. Y., and is a
Past Grand Master of the A. O. U. W., of the
State of New^ York.

/^ILBKRT I.. DAVIS is an artisan of recog-
^^ nized ability, whose well- trained hand
lias erected some of the most substantial and
.sightly buildings at the village of Falconer. He
is a son of Simeon C. and Betsy P. (Benson)
Davis and was born in the town of Carroll, this
county, June 14, 1828. He is a grandson of
Rev. Paul Davis, who came to the town of
Carroll from the State of Vermont in 1816.
Rev. Davis resided in Carroll until he die<l in
1826. He was an orthodox minister of the
Baptist church, a pioneer — one of the first in
that secjtion, and he was a liberal and fair-
minded man. Consider Benson, his maternal
grandfather, was born in New Salem, Massachu-
setts, on September 4, 1 766, and came to New
York in 1816, where he followed farming at I

Carroll, Chautauqua county. During the second
war with England he carried an old flint-lock
musket and served throughout the struggle as
a private. His death occurred at Falconer,
April 3, 1855. He married Hannah Pnring-
ton, in Massachusetts, and became the father of
seven children. Simeon C. Davis was born at
Wordsborough, Vermont, October 15, 1788,
and lived on a farm until twenty-one years of
age. He received a good education for that
period and then learned masoning, which he
pursued in connection with his farming. In
1814 he came to Chautauqua county and spent
twenty-two years here farming and working at
his trade. On the 11th day of August, 1814,
he married Lydia Tobey, who bore him four
children : Simeon C, Jr., died in June, 1890 ;
Mary married A. F. Fairbank and died in
1873; Joseph died February 12, 1888; and
John T., is now living in the town of Carroll,
an industrious and thriving fai'mer. His first
wife died on January 19, 1822, and September
26,, 1822, he married Betsy P. Benson. The
latter also became the mother of four children :
Lydia A., married George A. Hall, of
Kiantone town, died in 1873; Susan P. is the
wife of Milo Van Namee, also of Kiantone;
Gilbert L. ; and Josiah, the latter a prominent
engineer and surveyor of Jamestown. Simeon
C. Davis was a whig and being a popular man,
was elected to several of the town offices, his
party being dominant at that time. He was
strongly attached to the Baptist church and con-
tributed very liberally to its support. When
the country had been drained of its supply of
men, who had gone into the army during the
early war, he was one of the active promoters
in organizing the boys' regiment of home
guards, which did such effective service in
defending the frontier at Plattsburg, Vt. Simeon
C. Davis was a public-spirited and generous
man, patriotic and self-denying. He died in
Carroll, May 12, 1836.

Gilbert L. Davis was born and educated a

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

287

farmer and although he has learned the trade of
carpentering, the fast-inations of farm life cling
to him and he makes his trade subservient to
the tilling of the soil. He came to the town
of Ellicott in 1875 and has since resided there.

On June 22, 1847, he married Adeline Van
Namee, and reared three children : George G.
was born May 9, 1848, and died November 2,
188'"). He was educated in the common
branches of English instruction and then went
to the Medical department of the University
of Michigan, from which he took the degree of
M.D., following his graduation, he practiced at
Frewsburg, New York, for fifteen years ; James
A. died in 1861, when twelve years of age ;
and jMurray H. is a carpenter and joiner living
at home.

Politically, Mr. Davis is a republican and
takes an active interest in local affairs. He is
now serving as justice of the peace, a position
which he has held for fifteen years ; besides this
many offices of minor importance have been
filled by him. Mr. Davis is a member of the
Congregational churcJi and lias been prominent-
ly identified with improving the educational
f^icilities of Falconer for many years. I

JOHN H. ELY is a farmer of the town of

^^ Poland and has become noted on account
of the fine stock he keeps for .sale and breeding
purj)ose,s. He is ne.xt to the youngest child of
Samuel aud Artle.ss (Clark) Ely, and was born
in the town of Ellington, Chautau<pia county,
New York, July 27, 1844. His grandfathers
were Israel Ely, who came from a family of
early New P^ngland settlers of English de.scent,
and Joseph Clark, a native and resident of St.
Lawrence county. New York. Samuel Ely was
born in Hancock, (named for John Hancock)
Massachusetts, September 2.3, 1786, and changed
his residence to Washington county in 1800.
He lived there forty years and then moved to
the town of Ellington, this county, and died in

(Jerry in 1885. His education was acquired at
the common schools and his life-long work was
farming. His first wife was Rebecca Duell,
who bore him si.\ children, and after she died
he united with Artless Clark, by whom he had
twelve children. None of the children by his
first wife are living, but of the second eight
survive: Rebecca, widow of George Broomley ;
Mary, married Amos Bannore now dead ; Ruth,
married Samuel Gladen, also dead; Perry, mar-
ried Ann E. Strong, of Poland ; Clark, resides
in Ellicott, married to Camelia Mattocks; Sam-
uel, married Victoria Mosher and lives in Po-
land ; and John H. Samuel Ely affiliated with
the Republican party and is a member of the
school board. He developed ability in business
matters and by judicious trade became comfort-
ably wealthy. He was of untiring energy and
took an active interest in public affairs.

John H. Ely led the life of a farmer boy un-
til seven years old, and then left Ellington to go
to Washington county, where he remained until
twenty-two years old. He then returned to his
native town and after spending two years in the
employ of his father he bought himself a farm
in Poland in 1875. Mr. Ely .still owns and
resides near this farm, and gives most of his
attention to stock raising.

On April 25, 1872, he was joined in marriage
to Sophia Fuller, a daughter of Arad Fuller, of
Poland, and they have had two children :
Eloise M., born February 22, ]87!l; and Lee,
born October 1, 1887.

J. H. Ely belongs to the Democratic party
and to Herschel Lodge, No. 508, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, and now lives in quiet comfort
giving only a proper oversight to his flirming
and stock. He is a gentleman deeply read and
keeps himself thoroughly posted upon the cur-
rent events of all subjects. Probably do man
engaged in the same business is better acquaint-
ed with the affairs of the State and Nation than
Mr. Ely. He believes that every member of a
republican form of government should be fam-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

iliar with what is trauppiring, auil with tliis
eud in view leads the vau.

i^OCTOK SQVIKE WHITE, the subject of

^^ this sketch, was born in Guilford, Ver-
mont, November 20, 1785, and died at Fredo-
nia. New York, April 2, 1857. He was a son
of William C. and Eunice (Rogers) White.
Major William White earned his title in the
Revolutionary war. He was a line officer at
the battle of Bennington and received a wound.
At the close of the war he was awarded one
thousand acres of land lying adjacent to the
Susquehanna river, near where the city of
Binghamton now is.

Dr. Squire White secured an early education
and then applied himself to the study of medi-
cine, continuing it for seven years. In 1808
he came to Chautauqua county and taught its
first school. In 1813 he married Sallie Bar-
ker, a daughter of Hezekiah Barker, who was
a native of Rhode Island. The latter, too, was
a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner, and built
the first saw-mill in this county. The machin-
ery used in operating it was brought from the
east by cattle. Mr. Barker came to Canada-
way in 1806 and one year later brought his
family. He owned large tracts adjacent to
Fredonia and gave to the village the beautiful
park that adorns the centre, and he also dona-
ted them lots for their churches. He died in
1834 and was reputed to be among the wealth-
iest men of that day, and, although a farmer,
was one of the most liberal and pulilic-spirited
men in the country.

For his second wife Dr. White wedded Ijydia
Gushing, one of that iiimily who made the name
famous. She was related to ex-president John
Adams. When S(juire AVhite began practicing
he settled at Fredonia, and made that village
his home for fifty years, and his practice exten-
ded for a radius of thirty miles. Politically he
was an old-line whig, and for four terms he
held the office of surrogate and served in the

legislature in the years 1830, '31 and '32, and
there secured the friendship of many of the
leading men of the State. At his death Dr.
White owned two hundred acres of land within
the corporate limits of Fredonia. Dr. White's
popularity was almost phenomenal ; he was
jH'obably as thoroughly known throughout the
length and breadth of Chautauqua county as
any other man and every acquaintance was his
friend. He stood at the liead of his profession
and was much souglit for in severe or desperate
cases. Although highly educated, he never
stopped studying and he kept himself fully
abreast of the times, and up with the advance-
ments of his profession, through his books and
journals.

Twice married, he had three children by
each wife, three of whom are now living. Al-
though more than a third of a century has
elapsed since his demise, he is yet fondly re-
membered by many of the older people of this
conuimnity, and tradition has handed his mem-
ory down to those who are yet children. A
truly good man lives long after the breath
leaves his body and the heart ceases to pulsate.

r\ LBERT Jj. PHILLIPS comes from two

"**■ German families that left the fatherland
over a hundretl years ago, came to this country
and have become thoroughly Americanized. He
began life humbly, secured his education by
personal efforts, gave three years of service
towards preserving the Union intact, and then
returned to the pursuits of peace, and after a
few years preliminary skirmishing, has estab-
lished one of the largest flouring-mills in this
section of the county. Albert L. Phillips is a
son of George and Lydia (Shaver) Phillij)s, and
was born in Stephentown, Rensselaer county.
New York, April 12, 1842. Zachariah Phillips
was a native of Germany, but in early life he
emigrated to America and settled in Rensselaer
county, this State, wliere he died. Being one
of the pioneers of that county, he attacked th§

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

forests with his axe, subdued the natural growth
and in its place sowed the seeds which, sprouting
and maturing, fed the hungry mouths of stock
and children. After serving in the Revolutionary
war lie returned to his farm, where lie dieti in
1852. Ilis wife bore him five or six children
that grew to niatiir'ity. In politics he was a
whig. Of tlie mother's family the same might
be said ; the grandfather came to America and
settled in the same county. George Phillips
was born in Rensselaer county, and learned the
carpenter's trade, which he followed, with con-
tracting and building. He died in 1SG7, aged
seventy-eiglit years. Most of his life was spent
in Rensselaer county, although, for a time, he
lived and followed his trade in Dutche.ss county.
In 1811 he married Lydia Shaver, and reared
a family of seven children, four daughters and
three sons. Two of the latter and one daughter
are still living: George E. is at Stottville, New
York ; and 8arah A. is married to Alberton
Hick, of Rensselaer county, New York. Mr.
Phillips was a democrat.

Albert L. Phillips passed tlie early years of
life and received his education through his own
unaided efforts. He worked hard during the
day and studied at night and during spare
monjents. While still a youth he learned the
secrets of milling, and before he was legally a
man he was a master miller. Seven years
apprenticeship was passed, and he then took
charge of a mill in Chatham, tV)lnmbia county,
this State, where he remained until August 22,
1862, and then enlisted in Company I, 1st
regiment. New York Mounted Rifles, and served
as private and corporal until the close of the
war, his discharge being dated June 12, 18f)5.
His regiment was commanded by Col. C. C.
Dodge. He was mainly on detached duty
during his service, and was with Generals I
Spinola and Terry at Suffolk, Va., Fort Dar- !
ling, Bermuda Hundred, City Point and Peters-
burg. While Mr. Phillips was engaged in
bearing dispatches from Gen. Terry to Col. ,

I White he was pursued by Confederates and four
bullets passed through his clothing. Much
danger was incurred while doing duty as dis-
patch-bearer, scout and spy, but he .seemed to
bear a diarnied life, and always escaj)ed un-
injured. When Ri<^hmond capitulated, his
company was among the first to ride trium-
phantly through the streets of the rebel capital.
Upon returning home, he was employed at the
following-named phu^s : Pluenix mills and
Revere mills, Rochester, New York ; Gowanda,
New York, and was burned out in the latter place
in March, 1870; then at Versailles, Otto, New
York ; Union City, Pa., and in 1873 he removed
to East Randi(l])hand remained until 1 877. From
there he went to Dayton, Ohio, and engaged in
the grain business for about one year, then
moved to Niles, Ohio, and ran a mill ; from the
latter place he went to Meadville, Pa., and in
1881 he came to Kennedy, where he has since
remained, and conducts one of the largest mills
in Chautauqua county, having a capacity of one
iuuidred and twenty-five barrels of Hour and a
car-load of feed per day, and emj)loys ten men.
Mr. Phillips is a.s.sociatcd with William Thomas
a resident of Meadvilli', I'm. Politically he is
a democrat, and belongs to Jamestown Lodo-e,
Knights of Honor.

In 1869 he married Jennie Barlow, a daughter
of Alausou Barlow, of Gowanda, New York,
and they have one daughter, E. Maud, born
March 14, 1876.

Mrs. Philli|)s died Augu.st 5, 1800, after
having spent considerable time in Florida search-
ing for health. Albert L. Phillips' success in
the milling business is a proud monument to his
perseverance and skill. Under his management
the business has exjianded lo its present propor-
tiou.s, a large proportion of their product being
consumed by local trade. It is not alone in
business that he is successful ; socially he is a
pleasant gentleman, and numbers his friends by
his acquaintances.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

HERBKRT W. AL,T^EN is a young and
enterprising manufacturer of Silver Creek,
having a business which is known and patron-
ized in ail parts of tiie United States and is rap-
idly spreading over Europe, his machines being
in demand by the best millers in the world.
Mr. Allen is a son of Hon. Henry F. and Lucy
E. (Woodbury) Allen, of Buffalo, New York,
and was born in (lowanda, Cattaraugus county.
New York, March IS, 18G2. John F. Allen,
his grandfather, was boru in the State of Ver-
mont in 17!llt, and was a graduate of Amherst
college, Andierst, ]\rassachusetts, class of '29
and considered a finely educated gentleman. He
was one of the early settlers of Gowanda, this
State, where his son, Hon. Henry F. and his
grandson Herbert W. were born, but in his
later years he removed to Buffalo, Erie county,
where he died in 1885, in the eighty-sixth year
of his age, honored and i-espected by all. Hon.
Henry F. Allen (father) was born in Gowanda
in 18.36, in politics is a democrat, and was
elected a member of the Assembly from Erie
county in 1878 on the democratic ticket and
aflerward was a candidate for the supreme judge-
ship against Hon. J. S. Lambert. In 1879 he
removed to Buffalo, Erie county, and formed
the law firm of Allen, Movious & Wilco.v,
which has a large and lucrative practice, and he
is also one of the commissioners of the New York
Stiite Board of Claims. He is a member of
Ancient Landmarks Lodge, F. and A. M. He
married Lucy E. Woodbury, who was born in
Silver Creek in 1842, and by her had four chil-
dren. She is a member of the Lafayette Pres-
byterian church in Buffalo.

Herbert W. Allen was reared in his native
town of Gowanda, and graduated at the acad-
emy there in 1879. He then read law with his
father at the ofHce of his law firm in Buffalo,
and was admitted to the bar in 1883, after
which he practiced two years in Gowanda. In
the latter part of 1885 he abandoned Blackstone
and entered the office of his father in law, Au-

gust Heine, in Silver Creek, this county, and
engaged in the more congenial business of man-
ufacturing. In 1888, in addition to his other
duties, he commenced the manufacture of
middling purifiers for flour mills and is rapidly
building an extensive trade. He is a democrat
in politics and is a member of one secret soci-
ety, Relief Lodge, I. (). O. F.

Herbert W. Allen was married in 1882 to
Mary A. Heine, a daughter of August Heine,
of Silver Creek, by whom he had one sou,
named in honor of his father-in-law, August.

nOBERT SHAW, .senior member of the
boot, shoe and rubber firm of Shaw &
Hale, of Westfield, was born in County Down,
Ireland, July 17, 1833, and is a son of James
and Margaret (Robinson) Shaw. His paternal
grandfather, William Shaw, was a native and
life-long resident of County Down, where he
followed his trade of cooper. He was a Pres-
byterian in religious belief, and died at the ad-
vanced age of eighty-seven years. His son,
James Shaw, the father of Robert Shaw, was
one of the large linen manufacturers of Irelaml.
He owned a farm of one hundred and sixty-
seven acres of land in County Down where his
liuen factory was built. He employed from four
hundred to six hundred hands in the manufac-
ture of linen, operated a general store and was
a man well-known for his energy and enter-
prise. He was a member of the Presbyterian
church and died November 9, 1849, aged fifty-
seven years. His wife was a native of County
Down, and a Presbyterian, and died in 1837.
Robert Shaw was reared in his native countv,
received his education in the National schools of
Ireland, and in 1857, at twenty-four years of
age, came to New York. On May 27th, of
that year he came to Westfield, where he has
resided ever .since. He was engaged in farming
from 1857 to June 1, 1863, when he became a
clerk in a grocery house of AVestfield, which
position he held for four years and two months.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

On July 27, 1867, he formed a partnership
with William Ellison, and they pnrchased the
establishment in which he had servetl as a
clerk. This firm of Shaw and Ellison contin-
ued one year when Mr. Shaw purchased the in-
terest of Ellison and conducted the store until
April 1, 1872. He then associated his two
nephews, W. R. Douglas and J. R. S. Cros-
grove in business with him under the firm name
of R. Shaw & Co. On March 29, 1882, he
disposed of his interest in this firm to W. R.
Douglas, and for the next three years was not
engaged in any line of mercantile business. On
April 14, 1885, he formed his present partner-
ship with (i. W. Hale, under the firm name of
Shaw & Hale. They are dealers in boots, shoes
and rubbers, and their establishment is at No.
14, Main street. They have well arranged
salesrooms, carry a nice stock of goods and do a
good business.

June 5, 1872, Mr. Shaw united in marriage
with Nancy Ard, daughter of John Ard, Sr., of
Westfield. They have three children, one son i
and two daughters : p]dith May, George Pat-
terson and Clara Jane.

Robert Shaw is a straight republican in pol-
itics, has served for eighteen years as a member
of the school board and is a successful business
man of twenty-eight years experience. He is a
member of the First Presbyterian church of
Westfield, Westfield Lodge, No. 591, Indepen-
dent Order of Odd Fellows, Olive Lodge, No.
621, Knights of Honor, Chautauqua Lodge,
No. 3, Ancient Order of United \\'orkmen, and
Westfield Union, No. 63, Equitable Aid Union.
He was a member of the village board of
trustees for seven years, also town clerk for
one year.

f^ANlKL P. TOOMEV, the proprietor of
-^^oue of the largest and foremost flour, feed
and grain houses in Dunkirk, is a son of Daniel
and Catherine (Buckley) Tooraey, and was born
in the city of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county,

New York, February 6, 1855. Daniel Toomey
was born in 1811, in County Cork, where he
married Catherine Buckley, a member of the
Catholic church who died in 1860, at forty-
four years of age. Daniel Toomey came to the
United States in 1838, and .settled at Piermont
on the Hudson river, from where he removed
to Dunkirk. He is a democrat and a member
of the Catholic church and has ijcen engaged
I for some years in the local freight business of
J the Erie railroad.

I Daniel F. Toomey attended the public .schools
of his native city for a few terms and was
engaged for two years on a farm which he left
to enter the employ oi" Frank May, then in the
flour and feed business in Dunkirk. At the end
} of seven years he left the employ of Mr. May
I to engage in the flour and feed business for him-
self. His office is at No. 434-36 Lion street,
while his ware and .salesrooms are on' the corner
of Lion and Fifth .streets. He handles a full
line of flour, feed and grain, has the Dunkirk
agency for Higgins' P^ureka .salt and Coe's bone
fertilizers and enjoys a wide trade.

In October, 1885, he united in marriage with
Margaret A., daughter of Arthur and Ann
Lascelles of Dunkirk. To Mr. and Mrs.
Toomey have been born two children : Loretta
and Arthur D., aged respectively four and two
years of age.

D. F. Toomey is a member of the Catholic
church, has always been a strong democrat, is
now serving his fifth term as chairman of the
Democratic district committee and was a dele-
gate to the Democratic State Convention of
1889. He is a member of the Young Men's
association, which is limited to a membership of
twenty-five and which was organized in 1887 as
a philanthropic organization for the advance-
ment of Dunkirk. This a.ssociation has given
one thou.saud dollars to the improvement of
Washington park, besides donating books to
the library association and in many other ways
contributing to the progress of Dunkirk. Mr.

292

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Toomey lias been engaged with good success for
the last three years in the real estate business in
Buffalo, N. Y. He and his younger brother,
Michael P., are the proprietors of tiie Dunkirk
Stock Improvement farm, where they keep very
fine thoroughbred horses. Tlieir summer head-
([uarters are at the driving-park between Dun-
kirk and Fredouia, while their winter head-
quarters are in Dunkirk. They also buy and
sell high-bred horses and have done ranch
toward the improvement ol the trotting stock
of western New York. Mr. Toomey has
achieved business success by his own unaided
efforts and is energetic in whatever enterjirise he
engages.

TTi\\AA\y\ \\. PKTTIT is oue of the

^■^^ leading grape cultiu'ists and farmers
of Portland town. He was born in Pulaski,
Oswego county, New York, January 13, 18;35,
and is a son of James J. and Sarah (Hill)
Pettit. The fannily is of French Huguenot
extraction but of long residence in the United
States. The paternal grandfather. Dr. James
Pettit, was a native of Albany, this State,
where he wa.s born April 13, 1777. Dr. Pettit
became a physician of renown, paid particular
attention to optical surgery and gave to the
world the eye salve which bears his name. He
came to F'redonia in 1835 and practiced his pro-
fession until his death May 24, 1849. James
J. Pettit was born in Hamilton, Madison county,
N. Y., May 26, 1804. He was a lawyer by
profession and in 1838 he came to Fredoniaand
practiced for a number of years. From Fredo-
nia he went to Perry, Wyoming county, and
continued practicing law^ until 1848, when he
removed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he
practiced for a while and was then elected
county judge. He died August 5, 1877. Mr.
Pettit was a good man, a member of the Pres-
byterian church and of the Republican party,
by whom he was elected judge. He married
Sarah Hill, in 1829, a native of Cazenovia,

Madison county, who was born March 15, 1805.
She, too, was a member of the Presbyterian
church. They were the parents of six children,
Mrs. Pettit died May 30, 1 863.

William W. Pettit was reared at Kenosha,
Wisconsin, and educated in the public .schools.
.\fter leaving school he learned the machini.st's
trade and followed it until 1860. In 1861 he
j(jined Co. G, l.st regiment, Wisconsin Infantry,
and entered the war for four months service,
holding a first lieutenant's commission. In
1862, he re-enlisted in Co. D, 34th regiment,
Wisconsin Infantry, and remained in the army
until 1864. At the expiration of his enlist-
meut Mr. Pettit aune to Brocton and locateil on
the farm he now owns, and begau agriculture
and grape culture which he has since pursued.

On September 20, 1864, he married Laura
Reynolds, a daughter of Richard Reyn(jlds, of
Portland. They have four children, two sons
and two daughters : Henry W., George R.,
Edith S. and Ruth H. They lost one infant,
Fred. R., who died February 20, 1870, aged
foiu- years and one month. Mrs. Pettit is a
refined and cultured lady who has a charming
and model home.

William W. Pettit is a republican, a gentle-
man of culture and is respected as oue of our
be.st citizens. He is a member of James A.
Hall Post, No. 292, G. A. R., and holds the
position of surgeon.

mlLLlAM K. MINEK. Like many
other citizens of Chautauqua county,
William R. Miner is a lineal descendant of an
old New England family. His parents were
Justin S. and Elvira (Newell) Miner. He was
born October 8, 1834. (Grandfather John
Miner was born in New England and came to
Otsego county. New York, shortly prior to the
war of 1812. He lived but a short time in the
county famous in literature and story, for he
was soon called upon to place himself upon his
country's altar. This he did with rare freedom

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

293

and self-sacrifice; liis enlistmeut was a sad fare-
well to friends and home ; lie never returned.
GrandfiUlier Samuel Newell was a native of
Massachusetts, and came to .Sheridan, Chautau-
qua county, New York, about 1810. Here he
pursued his occupation as conjoint farmer, stock-
rai.ser and di.stiller. In business affairs he was
a man of resources, energy and care, and, con-
.sequently, eminently successful. He married
Miss Sarah Ranney, by whom he had .seven
children. His political caste was that of the
old-line whigs, who.se principles he supported
with becoming ardor. He died in September
1854. The father of the subject, Justin S.
Miner, was born in the year 1809, in Otsego
county. New York, came to Chautauqua county,
when twenty years old, and died there at the
age of forty-six years. He was a farmer I>y oc-
cupation, owning a farm of .some one hundred
and twenty-eight acres in fine repair, and gave
his leisure time to the ])iiblic in the discharge of '
charitable and i)hilantlndpic duties. He was a ;
member of the Presbyterian church for many
years. His wife .still survives, hale and hearty,
at the advanced age of eighty years. ,

William R. Miner was the eldest of a family
of three boys and now resides on a portion of
the old home.stead. I

lie inarricd Lydia A. Gilford and has three
children : Justin P. (married to Miss Martha K. '
Mosley), a graduate of Harvard, cla.ss of '85, |
and at i)resent business manager of To-Day, i
published in Boston, Massachusetts ; Harley
G., and Mertie E., at home. \

William R. Miner is a member of the Meth-
odist Epi.scopal church, of which he is also
trustee, and belongs to the order A. O. U. W.
He is a good business man, keen, fore-sighted
and of good judgment, alwaj's ready to lend a
helping hand to those less fortunate, always
eager to ameliorate those weighted down by a
seemingly forced adversity. He is republican
in politics, and has .served six years succe.ssively,
as supervisor of the town of Sheridan. Henry
15

I N. (a brother of subject) was married to Alzina
Kilam,aud is at present engaged in farming in
the State of Indiana. His children are Nellie,
Bertha, Archie and Fanny. Herbert S.
I (another brother) was married to Su.san H.
j Ensign. He is also a farmer and resides in the
town of Sheridan. His chililren are Edward
H., Burton O., and J. Leslie.
[ The wife of subject was born February 24,
1839 and married December 30, 1857. Her
parents were natives of Rensselaer county, N. Y.,
and removed to the town of Pom fret, Chau-
tauqua county. Oliver P. Gifford, her father,
was born November 24, 1816, and learned the
trade of tanner, which occupation he followed
until his death. He was at one time an oHicer
iu the State militia, a whig in politics and a
member of the Baptist church. He died in
the town of Sheridan, February 14, 1852. The
maternal grandfather of subject's wife, Abram
Keech, was also a native of Rensselaer county,
and was born about 1772. His father was a
soldier of the Revolution and was killed at the
battle of Bennington, Vermont. At the time
of his death he held the rank of captain. Abram
came to Chautauqua county in 1834, and loca-
ted in the town of J\)mfret, shortly afterward re-
moving to the town of Hanover. He was a man
of fine military bearing, and was conimauder of
a company of State militia. His wife was Naomi
Taylor, by whom he had six daughters.

nLBKKT ,T. TIFFANY. One of those,

**■ who have expended a great deal of enei-gy
and is deeply interested in developing the prop-
erty about Falconer, and bringing it to the at-
tention of a class of desirable residents from
other places, is A. J. Tiffany, who is a son of
Jehial and Sophronia (Dnrkee) Tiffany, and
was born in the town of Ellicott, May 2], 1843.
He is a grandson of James Tiffany, who came
from Vermont to Genesee county, this State, in
1807, where he followed farming and mechani-
cal work of various kinds until he died.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Like many of the emigrants who came from the
" Green Mountain State," he belonged to the
Universalist church and was a very devout
man. New Hampshire furnished the other
grandfather, Silas Durkee, who also came to
Genesee county, where he died. Jehial Tiffany
was born at Randolph, Vermont, in 1798, and
passed his early boyiiood on his father's farm.
When the senior Tiffany removed in 1807, the
young son remained in his native State, mak-
ing it his home until 1818, and then he
came direct to Chautauqua county. The com-
mon schools of Vermont were the fountains
from which he drank his theoretical knowledge,
while constant rubbing against the rough edges
of an unsympathetic world taught him the
practical lessons of life. From 1818 until his
death in 1867, he was a continuous resident of
this county, with the exception of two years
spent at Randolph, Vermont. Shortly after
coming here, he secured one thousand acres of
land and began the business of changing the
standing timlier into manufactured lumber, for
which, at that time, there was quite a demand.
There was method in his work and while secur-
ing the logs for lumber, he also cleared the
land and made it arable. His work formed
quite a little settlement, which was known as
Tiffanyville. Jehial Tifiany was a prosperous
business man and builded his own fortune. He
remained single until twenty-nine years of age,
and while on a visit to his parents in Genesee
county, met Sophronia Durkee, whom he soon
afterward married. They had eight cliildren. His
first wife died in 1848 and he married a second
time to Charlotte Hopkins, in 1853. She bore
him two children. All are now dead except
Albert J., by first wife, and John H., a son by
the second. Jehial Tiffany affiliated with the
Republican party and was a member of the
Congregational church. While he was a push-
ing and energetic business man, all wrapped
up with the matters in hand, he was conservative
and close calculating, always seeing where he

was coming out, before going into a business
speculation.

Albert J. Tiffany was born and reared on the
old homestead. He passed an uneventfid boy-
hood and was educated in the common schools
and at Jamestown academy. Upon stepping
out into the arena of life, he began improving
some land which he owned near Falconer and
conducted a general real estate business. In
1874 he built a store in Falconer, and, with his
other duties, lias given it general supervision.

He married Coralyn Conic, a daughter of
Ephraim Conic, of Ellicott, on the 11th day of
January, 1871.

Mr. Tiffany belongs to the Republican
party, and is a member of Mount Moriah
Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., and of James-
town Commaudery, No. 61, of Jamestown.

jo YROX A. BARLOW, an active and suc-

■^^ cessful lawyer of Jamestown, is a son of
Rev. Abner and Polly (Strunk) Barlow, and
was born in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua
couuty. New York, August 10, 1835. His
grandfather, Daniel Barlow, was a native of
New England, and removed to Chautauqua
county, New York, in 1821, or '22. He
served in the army during the War of 1812.
He was a farmer. He married Elizabeth
French, and had seven children, three sons and
four daughters. One of these sons, Rev.
Abner Barlow, was born in New Hampshire in
1799, removed to Chautauqua county. New
York, and in 1836, removed to Wisconsin,
where he died May 8, 1881. He was a Con-
gregational minister, and in politics was, in
early manhood, a whig, but afler the disrup-
tion of that party in 1853, he joined the repub-
licans. He married Polly Strunk, a descen-
dant of one of the pioneer families of Chautau-
qua county. To their union were born eleven
children : La Fayette, a hotel keeper and far-
mer of Medford, Minnesota, who married
Maria Wheeler; Sophia, wife of Edmund

;S S.

OF CHAVTAUqVA COUNTY.

Aiidrus; Elizabeth, wife of Sylvester Giles,
who was postmaster in Galveston, Texas, and
died there of yellow fever during the late w'ar;
Mary, wife of Lauce Estes, a stock raiser in
California ; Margaret, wife of Henry Janes of
California ; Eunice, wife of David McNeal, a
fanner in W'isconsin ; Byron A.; Brainard, a
hotel keeper iu Chicago ; Henry, died in Colo-
rado ; Sylvester, who enlisted in ISGl in the
29tli regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and served
until the spring of I8G0. He accompanied the
Red River expedition and died from exposure.
Byron A. found him sick near Vicksburg, pro-
cured his discharge and brought him home,
where he died soon after ; and Frances, wife of
M. P. Struuk, a lawyer of Jamestown, now
deceased. Their mother, Polly Strunk Barlow,
was a descendant of Henry Strunk, who, with
his sister Katherine, emigi'ated in 1750, from
Lippe Detmold, in the north of Germany, to
Troy, New York, where they suffered from the
ravages of the British soldiers diu'ing the Rev-
olutionary war. Henry Strunk died in ITTo,
and three of his ten children removed to Elli-
cott in 1809. Jacob Strunk (maternal grand-
father) the eldest of these ten children, died in
Ellicott in 18."j6, leaving several children,
among whom was Polly Strunk, the wife of
Rev. Abiier Barlow.

Byron A. Barlow received his education at
Albion academy, at Albion, Wisconsin, from
which school he was graduated in 18G1, and
for three years was a teacher in the academy.
In the fall of 1863, he went into (he oil region
of Pennsylvania as a book-keeper for a tirni
dealing in oil, and afterward became a partner
in the firm. He remained there until 18G5,
when he removed to Jamestown and read law
with Cook & Ivockwood. He was admitted to
the bar in 1867, since which time he has pra<'-
ticed law in Jamestown. He married Roxanna
E. Crane, a daughter of Gerard and Sarah E.
Crane, of Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin. Mr. and
Mrs. Barlow have three surviving children :

Belle F., wife of Henry C. Marvin of James-
town ; Edith M., and Byron A., Jr. In poli-
tics, Mr. Barlow is a republican, and has served
as the city clerk of Jamestown for four terms.
He was also a member of the I)oard of educa-
tion for three years, and from 18()0 to 1863 he
was school commissioner for Dane county,
Wisconsin.

•JQ KliA 14. I.(>1M>, a gentleman who has l)e-

^^ come prominent not only in Chautauqua
county and the State of New York, but where-
ever the name of " Holstein cattle" is known,
as an importer and breeder of the black and
white beauties, as well as " French Coach" and
" Percheron" hor.ses, was born October 7, 18-10,
on the farm upon which he now resides, within
j the corporate limits of Sinclairviile, ('hautan-
qua county, New York, and is a son of Bela

B. and Polly (Hall) Lord, both of whom came
from Otsego county. New York. Bela B. Lord,
Sr., came to this county in 1819, purchased the

j tract of land, and cleai'e(l the farm upon which
j his son now resides. When he arrived the
country was almost in its virgin creation, and
where the prolific fields now feed the fattening
kiue, the tall monarchs of the forest then stood
in majestic grandeur, and many of them fell
beneath the blows of the axe which his strong
arm wielded. Bela B. Lord, Sr., was a son of
Sylvenus Lord, and was born in 1799 ; he died
on the 28th of November, 1874. Sylvenus
Lord, like Aaron Hall, was a descendant from
New England Yankees, who, in turn, traced
their ancestors to the Pilgrims.

Bela B. Lord was reared on his father's
farm, and educated at the country schools.
On March 11, 1862, he married Elizabeth

C. Kirlton, of Louisville, St. Lawrence county.
New York, with the understanding that they
should remain with her invalid, widowed
mother during her lifetime, which they did ;
and are still remembered by their ac(juaintances
there, as deserviny; their later successes for theij'

•298

B TOO R A PHY AND HISTORY

devotion to their aged and lielpless relative.
They have one son, Clarence J., who associated
himself with his father, and when tweuty-one
years of age was admitted to ])artnership.
Clarence J. Loi-d received a thorough business
education at Eastman's Business College, of
Poughkeepsie, New York, and is now cashier
of the Capital National Bank, of Olympia,
Washington. He returned to Sinclairville,
Chantancjua county. New York, for his bride; |
marrying September 3, 1890, Mary Elizabeth
Revnolds, only daughter of Henry and Helen
K. Reynolds, of Sinclairville.

In 1876, Mr. Lord returned to Chautauqua ;
county, and to gratify the wish of his mother,
purchased the old homestead, and in 1880, !
commenced the importation of Holstein cattle,
which, from the first, proved a \ery successful
venture. Year by year his business increased, ,
and in 1884 he ineludetl French Coach and
Perdieron horses in his importations, and at
the present time, the importing and breeding of
these horses, and the breeding of standard
bred trotting horses constitute the larger part
of his stock business, although the handling of
Holstein cattle will always remain with him a
pleasant special work.

Since 1880, Mr. Lord has made seven, and
his son nine trips to Europe, visiting Holland,
Germany, Scotland, England and France in the
interests of his business. Chautauqua county
is known far and near for the excellence of its
dairy products, and the " Sinclairville Stock
Farm," the home of B. B. Lord, h;is added
much to its reputation, both for dairy goods,
large milk and butter records and fine slock.
No finer horses and cattle can be found in
America than upon this farm, for Mr. Lord's
motto has always been to purchase only the
best, and he attributes all his success to this fact,
together with fair, honorable dealing. His
stables and herd are well represented at all the
promineut fairs, and win their share of the
prizes. At the International Fair held at .

Buffalo in 1889, every horse he enteral re-
ceived a prize.

Mrs. B. B. Lord is a woman of marked
ability, and has attained an eminence in the
Grange of the State of New York, which has
been reached by no other of her sex. Mr. and
Mrs. Lord have been identified with the move-
ment for fifteen years, and are enthusiastic on
behalf of the Order of Patrons of Husliandry.
Mrs. Lord (Elizabeth C. Kirlton) was selected
Master of Chautauqua County Pomona Grange
(fifth degree) in 1890, and is the first woman to
achieve that distinction. She is also Master of
Sinclairville Grange, and has several times rep-
resented her district at the State Grange, being
an able advocate and active representative ;
has filled nearly all offices in grange work in
the county, being at the present time a member
of the Executive Committee of the County
Pomona Grange ; was for two years an officer
of the State Grange, filling the office of Flora
(sixth degree). She is an intelligent parlia-
mentarian with a fund of practical knowledge
of important subjects and ready tact, which in-
tuitively reads human character aright ; quali-
ties that, supported by a firm devotion to the
best interests of (he organization, render her an
able delegate, whose assistance is counted of
great value. Mrs. Lord has risen to this prom-
inence becau.se her abilities fitted her to execute
its duties, and her elevation is only the proper
recognition of her personal value. B. B. Lord
and son attribute much of their success in life
to the able advice and earnest co-operation of
this devoted wife and mother.

^HARLKS H. STERLIXO, a son of Henry
^^ and Cordelia A. (Clark) Sterling, was born
at Atkin.son, Piscataquis county, Maine, August
10, 1847, and has made his home in Silver
Creek since 1872. Ephraim Sterling (grand-
father), of Scotch desct^nt, was a native of New
England, and followed the sea iu various posi-
tions for many years. Having reached the rank

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

of captain he made a few profitable trips and
then ijuiit a boat of his own. While making
his first trip in this vessel it foundered, drown-
ing himself and oldest son. Henry Sterling
(father) was born in Kittery, Maine, in 1820,
but came to Fredouia, this county, in 1857 and
engaged in the manufacture of agricultural im-
plements and foundry work wiiich he continued
for ten years. In 1869 he moved to Westville,
Chariton county, Missouri, where he followed
farming until June, 1876, when he died. Mr.
Sterling was a consistent member of the Metii-
odist Episcopal church, and a democrat, but a
modest, unassuming and uprigiit mau. He
married Cordelia A. Clark, of Maine, in 1844,
and had six ciiildreu. Tlie Sterling family is
still living in Scotland ; Lord Sterling being a
branch of tlie tree from which they sprang,
]\Irs. Sterling is still living and enjoying good
health. She is sixty-six years of age, and makes
her home with a married daughter, Mrs. M. F.
Ives, of soutiieru Illinois, and is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church.

Charles H. Sterling lived in New England
until eleven years old and then came with his
father to Chautauqua county. He received his
education in the public schools and clerked three
years in a store at Fredouia. The ensuing two
years were spent learning carriage painting, and
in 1868 he went to Iowa where he spent three
years employed at carpenter work. In 1871 he
returned to Fredouia and in 1872 came to Sil-
ver Creek and took a position in Howes & Bab-
cock's Grain Cleaning Machine Factory. He
was emj)loyed in the wood- working department
until 1884, and then resigned to accept a place
with G. S. Cranson, who was developing a de-
vice for scouring grain. Since that date Mr.
Sterling has been foreman of the Grain Clean-
ing Machinery Factory for the firm of Huntley,
Cranson & Hammond, doing, principally, de-
signing and drafting.

On November 18, 1872, he married Alice G.
Fuller, a daughter of Benjamin Fuller, of Sil-

ver Creek. This lady died February 22, 1877,
leaving a sou— Royal L., now fifteen years of
age. On February IS, 18.S0, Mr. Sterling mar-
ried for his .second \\\L; Flora Hall, daughter
of S. R. Hall, of I'errysburg, Cattaraugus
county, New York, with whom he has since
happily lived.

C. H. Sterling is a member of tiie Presby-
terian church ; of Lodge No. 10, A. O. U. W.;
and is a republican, now serving as a member of
the school board. He occupied the position of
vice-president of the cemetery board but the
press of his other business compelled him to re-
sign. He is plain spoken and not churlish, but
posses.ses suavity of manner and is a j)ieasaut
man to meet. He is a skillful workman and
possesses such originality of mechanical ideas
that he is a valuable man in the position he oo-
cujjies. His wife is active in all the enterprises
usually engaged iu by ladies' .societies, and
has achieved more than local renown as an artist.
In addition to this her literary efforts possess
nuich merit.

A>'HARL,ES R. COLBUKN, a successful
^^ farmer and grape culturist, of the town
of Westfield, is a son of Zeuas and Statira
(Gunu) Colburn, and was born at the village of
Westfield, in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua
county, New York, February 3, 1833. Zeuas
Colburn was born in Connecticut in 1800, came
to the town of Westfield in 1821, and died at
Westfield, October, 1874. He was a carpenter
by trade and \vorked in various parts of the
county, after which he purchased the farm now
owned by the subject of this sketch, aud upon
which lie resided for two years, when he removed
to W&stfield, but still cultivated his farm and
worked some at his trade. He was an active
member of the Methodist Episcopal church ; a
strong democrat politically, and held several
of his town and village offices. Mr. Colburn
was twice married. His first wife was Statira
Gunn, of Chenango county, who died in 1844,

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

ageil forty-three years; <Tud in 1854 he wedded
for his second wife Sophia Hough, of Westfield,
who survived hitu until October, 1889.

Charles R. Colbiirn grew to manhood at
Westfield, where he received his education in
the common schools. He commenced life for
himself as a farmer on the homestead farm
which he now owns. He has been engaged for
several years in the culture of the vine, and h;is
a very fine vineyard of thirty acres. He also
raises .some stock and grain, and owns a half
interest in his father's property at Westfield.
Mr. Colburn is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, a prohibitionist in politics
and asul)stautial and reliable citizen of his town.
He is a member of Summit Lodge, No. 219,
Free and Accepte<l Masons, of Westfield.

On April 16, 1863, Charles R. Colburn united
in marriage with Celestia Peck, of the town of
Portland, and they have one child, a son, Frank
B., who is assisting his father. Mrs. Celestia
Colburn is a daughter of A.sael Peck.

♦^KWITT (J. .IlLLSOX. Su(X'essfuHarmers
*^ are, as a rule, intelligent and thoughtful
people. An exceptionally bright and entertain-
ing example of to what condition a fitrmer may
rise is the gentleman now under consideration.
Dewitt G. Jillson is a son of Philander and
Elizal)eth (Crim) Jillson, and was born on the
farm where he now resides, in Westfield, Chau-
tauqua county. New York, November 19, 1849.
Philander Jillson was a native of Herkimer
county, N. Y., and was born in 1811. Twenty-
eight years later, haviug been married to Eliza-
beth Crim, he came to Chautauqua county, and
settled on the spot where his son now lives, and
clearing from the .soil the brush and briars he
made in their stead fertile fields, and on the site
of" tall pine trees he reared buildings — a hou.se,
barn and granary. Being of a pushing dispo-
sition and having a good business mind, from a
small beginning he became one of the most
extensive and prosperous farmers in that section.

When he died, in 1873, his estate was valuable
and the |)roperty extensive. His wife, a gentle
Christian lady, and a member of the Methodist
E]tiscopal church, was Elizal)eth Crim, whom
he married in 1839, and by whom he had seven
children. She dial in 1880, aged sixty-two
years.

Dewitt G. Jillson was reared a farmer. His
education was secured at the public .schools and
the Westfield academy. Completing his course
of instruction he returned to the farm, and has
since made it the well-spring from which he has
drawn a competence. He now owns the part of
his father's farm containing the old homestead,
and an additional piece, making a total of one
hundred and fifty acres, located three miles
southwest of Westfield. Supplementary to his
farming, Mr. Jillson has a magnificent grape
orchard which is a .source of much profit.

On May 27, 1872, he married Lidie Hoitink,
a daughter of Jonas Hoitink, of Clymer. Mrs.
JilKson is a kind and entertaining woman, a
model housekeeper and a suj)erb cook. She is
a fitting companion fir her luisl)and, and together
they have a happy and beautiful home.

D. (i. JilLson is a member of three .societies:
liodge No. 219, Free and Accepted IMasous ;
Lodge No. 3, Ancient Order of United Work-
men, and the Grange. He is a hospitable enter-
tainer, a social comjjanion, and the friend of
every one who deserves his friendship.

^OLONKL ELTAL FOOTE CARPENTER,

^^ the subject of this sketch was born in
Jamestown, Chautau(pia county, N. Y., May
8, 1826, and died May 18,1864, near Bermuda
Hundred, Va.

He was the third son of William and Nancy
(Blake) Carpenter. William Carpenter was
born in the city of London, England, and
when a boy was bound out to service, ou a
British man of war. While serving in the
British navy, his ship was wrecked upon the
coast of Guinea. With the destruction of his

COL. ELIAL FOOTE CARPENTER.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

vessel, his sea life ended and he came to
America, going to the State of Maine, where he
married.

The Blakes were natives of New England
for many years. When the present site of the
prosperous city of Jamestown was a dense
forest, William and iiis wife moved to what
was soon after called Dexterville, but now
within the limits of the city. Here he resided
until his death, which occurred in 1869, while
on a visit to his daughter in Oil City, Pa. Mr-
Carpenter is described as a small, but stout
man, a good story teller and a great favorite
with (he children. For many years preceding
his death, he was a devoted member of the
Methodist church of Jamestown. He helped
to build the first steam-boat on Chautauqua
lake, and for some time acted as Captain. He
was the father of twelve children, all of svhom
are dead except three, viz : Mary Ann Tanner,
Emeline Follmer and Laura Stock.

Elial Foote Carpenter was reared in James-
town and educated in her public schools. Soon
after leaving school, he went upon a visit to his
sister Mary Ann, who resided in Kentucky,
and for two years was engaged as the manager
of a large tobacco plantation ; but the cruel
and inhuman treatment expected by his em-
ployer to be shown toward the slaves was more
than his nature could bear, and although offered
large pay, he resigned his position and returned
to Jamestown, where he engaged in the lumber
business, buying along the Allegheny River and
its tributaries and rafting to Pittsburg, Cin-
cinnati and Louisville. He subsequently be-
came engaged in the manufacturing of axes at
Jamestown, and the breaking out of the war,
found him in the oil field of Pennsylvania and
one of the then most successful operators. Lay-
ing aside the private pursuits of a citizen, he
enlisted August 16, 1861, in the 49th N. Y.,
Vol. Inf. and was elected 2nd Lieut., Co. K.
at its organization. Subsequently, in April,
1862, he was commissioned 1st Lieut. He

participated in the battles on the peninsula
under McClellan, and after the battle of Malvern
Hill, he was promoted to be major of the 112th
N. Y., Vols., a new regiment then being re-
cruited in Chautauqua county. He was con-
stantly on duty with this regiment, and was
promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel, January
11, 1863. He was in command of the regi-
ment after its transfer to the Army of the
James from May 5th to May 16, 1864. He
was in action May 8th, at Walthal Junction,
and at the battle of Proctor's Creek was mor-
tally wounded and died at night. He was a
brave man and greatly loved by the men of Iris
command.

Rev. \V. L. Hyde, chaplain of the 112th
Regt. in his History of the Regt., says of him.
"Often have we seen him during a hard day's
marching, dismount from his horse and place
some weary, foot-sore soldier upon him, and
then take the gun of another who was hardly
able to drag himself along, and then march
most of the day with his men. The result was,
his men loved and trusted him."

Carpenter Post G. A. R., of Mayville, N.
Y., is named in memory of the Colonel. In
politics, he was an active worker in the Repub-
lican party, and with himself and wife who
survive him, were devoted members of the
Methodist church at Jamestown.

July 3, 1848, he married Julia A. daughter
of John and Phebe (Wood) Jeffords. Three
children were born to Col. and Mrs. Carpenter:
Belle E. wife of T. E. Grandin ; Franc C. wife
of F. A. Brightman ; and AddieJ. wife of W.
P. Frink. The two former reside in James-
town, and the latter in Lewis Run, Pa.

TTiUAAX^l WALLACE HUNTLEY, in-
^-■^-^ ventor and manufacturer of wheat,
corn and buckwheat cleaning machinery, and
one of the most active and successful business
men of Silver Creek, is a son of Charles and
Polly (Davison) Huntley, and was born one

304

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

mile east of the village of Silver Creek, in the
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, N. Y.
Feb. 5, 1831. His ancestors are of New Eng-
land origin, and among those sons of Connec-
ticut who went west before the middle of the
present century, was Beth Huntley, the paternal
grandfather of W. W. Huntley. He first set-
tled in Michigan, but subsequently removed to
Iowa, where he died in 18(J0. One of the sons
born to him in Ids native city of New Haven
was Charles Huntley (father) who learned the
trade of ship-builder and came in 1829 to
Silver Creek, where he followed boat a,nd ship
work until 1855, when he wcut to Sheboygan,
Wisconsin. Ten years later he removed to a
farm, purchased for him by the subject of this
sketch, in iMichigan, upon which he died in
October, 1890, aged eighty-two years. Charles
Huntley was industrious, and, though a good
workman, yet never was very successful as a
business man. He married Polly Davison, a
native of Rutledge, Vermont, and a daughter of
Henry Davison, who, at sixteen years of age,
was present at Burgoyue's surrender, with his j
father Col. Daniel Davison, one of the bravest I
of the " Green Mountain Boys," who then
commanded a regiment of State militia, and
served throughout the llevulutionary war.
Col. Davison (maternal great-grandfather) cap-
tureil a pair of large iron steelyards at Bur-
goyne's surrender, which have descended down
through his family until they are now in the
possession of the subject of this sketch.

W. W. Huntley was reared on the farm of
his grandfather, Henry Davison, until the
death of the latter in 1840. He receival his
education in the schools of Silver Creek, which
he attended for a few years in the winter
seasons, while the summers were spent on the
lakes and in the ship-yards. He worked at
carriage building for one year and then was en-
gaged [at blacksmithing at intervals, besides
working on houses, railroad bridges and mills.
In 1853 he and liis elder brother, Albert, pur-

chased a small sailing vessel with the intention
of permanently engaging in the transportation
of freight on the lakes, but the low freight
rates of that year cost them all tiiat they had
invested in their vessel, and so disgusted them
tiiat they left the lakes. This apparent ill-for-
tune was the controlling circumstiuice tliat
drove Mr. Huntley from an obscure life on the
lakes and shaped his subsequent well-known
career as a manufacturer. In 1858 he com-
menced working for K. Montgomery & Co.,
who were the first parties to establish the man-
ufacturing of smut machines in Silver Creek,
and while working for the first named firm he
also built patterns for W. R. Greenleaf, an en-
gine builder of Silver Creek. In 1861 Mr.
Huntley invented his bran duster, known all
over the world as the Excelsior, and in 1862
sold one half interest in the patent, when ob-
tained, to Alphcus Babcock for the amount of
ijfSO.OO, or the cost of obtaining it. This E.x-
celsior Bran Duster was manufactured by Jlr.
Huntley in the shops of E. Montgomery & Co.,
at Silver Creek, until the close of the year 1865,
when the firm of Howes, Babcock & Co., took
possession by purchase from E. IMontgomery
& Co., January 1, 1866, Mr. Alpheus Bab-
cock, Huntley's partner in the manufacture,
being one of the members of the purchasing
firm. Mr. Huntley continued manufacturing
in the same shops until 18()8, when he built
new shops of his own, which are known now as
the Excelsior Works, and owned by Aug.
Heine. In 1S69, Mr. Alpheus Babcock sold
his interest in the i)atent to I^rank Swift, who
in 1870 sold the same to A. P. Holcomb.
Very soon after this, Mr. Huntley commenced
to construct a Miildlings Purifier, which proved
a great success, and has been one of the original
machines to work out the manufacture of new
process flour, known all over the world as the
very best brand ever produced from wheat, and
for this result the world is indebted to Mr.
Huntley as mucii, if not more than any other

A>^^\

y/^-^Mi^ c

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

307

man living. Messrs. Huntley & Hoicomb in 1 872
sold one-third interest in the Excelsior Worlcs,
and jiatents to Aug. Heine, when the firm
became Huntley, Hoicomb & Heine, which
firm continued until 1882, doing a large busi-
ness in the manufacture of Bran Dusters, S]x-
celsior Middlings Purifier and the importation
and selling of the Excelsior Bolting Cloth, at
which time Mr. Huntley sold his interest of
one-third to Hoicomb & Heine. About one
and one-half years after this, Mr. Heine bought
out Mr. Hoicomb, and now owns and conducts
the shojis alone, and still manufactures the Ex-
celsior Bran Duster, together with other mill-
ing specialities. In 1883, Mr. Huntley bought
of Mr. Heine the entire stock and business of
imjwrting the Excelsior Bolting Cloth, and as-
sociated with himself in the business, Mr. C.
G. Hammond, and these gentlemen now con-
duct the business under the firm name of
Huntley & Hammond, and they have estab-
lished a branch house in Minneapolis, Minn.,
besides having stocks to sell from in St. Louis,
Missouri ; Portland, Oregon ; and in the provin-
ces of Canada, and do a yearly business of over
$100,000. In 18(51 and 1862 Mr. Huntley as-
sisted Mr. Alpheus Babcock in the remodeling
of his smut machine, and they together brought
out the best smut machine on the market at
that time. In 1863 Mr. Huntley assisted
Messrs. E. Montgomery & (V)., in the remodel-
ing of their smut machine, in which instance it
was largely improved by them. In 1863 Mr.
S. Howes returned from the seat of war on the
Potomac, and, late in the .season, became associa-
ted with Mr. Alpheus Babcock in the manuu-
facture of the Babcock smut machine, the firm
being known as Howes, Babcock tt Co., Mr.
Norman Babcock, a brother of Alpheus becom-
ing a partner at the same time Mr. Howes was
admitted. In 1864, a purchase of the Mont-
gomery shops and the patents was consummated
by Howes, Babcock & Co., they taking posses- j
sion on the first day of January, 1866, at which I

time Alpheus and Norman Babcock together
with Mr. Huntley, combined the best elements
of the Babcock Smutter and the Montgomery
Smuttcr together in one machine, and the
firm of How&s, Babcock <t Co., called it the
Eureka Smut Machine.
j Mr. Huntley was granted i)y tiie Patent Of-
I fice, at diflferent dates, two j)atents on the Ex-
' celsior Bran Duster, four patents on the Mid-
I dlings Purifier, one patent on a sieve, one pat-
ent on a machine for testing rotating parts (or
bodies) and two |)atcnts for improvements on
smut machines and one on a ship's rudder.

Mr. Huntley has never had any political as-
pirations, but has beeu since 1860, a strong
supporter of the political party that saved the
nation from disruption by the Rebellion, and is
a strong protectionist in his views. He has
served six years as one of the village trustees,
and two consecutive years as president of the
village of Silver Creek ; during which two
years there were a steam fire engine and hose-
cart bought for -the village. Mr. Huntley,
being president at the time, organized a fire de-
l)artment, which has since proven one of the
finest fire departments in western New York.
In honor to Mr. Huntley, the Hose Company
assumed the name of "Huntley Hose No. 1."
In 1886, Messrs. Huntley & Hammond pur-
chased one-lialf interest in the business of man-
ufacturing buckwheat machines, from G. S.
Cransou & Son, and, by the retirement of G. S.
Cran.son, now own two-thirds of the immense
factory, which is now one of the largest of its
kind in the world, and known as the Monitor
Works, the business being conducted by the
firm of Huntley, Crauson & Hammond. At
the time of pfirchase by Huntley & Hammond,
these works were only employing eight men,
but under the new firm their orders began to
increase, and they were compelled to enlarge
their works, and added to the different kinds of
grain cleaning and buckwheat machinery which
they manufactured, until now they employ a

308

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

force of 80 meu, pay $G0,000 yearly iu wages
aud send out over 1,500 machines per year,
and their yearly sales amount to over |1 50,000.
Many of their machines have either been in-
vented or improved by Mr. Huntley, and they
now manufacture the following patented ma-
chines: Cransou's Wheat Scouring, Polishing
and Separating Machines ; Cransou's Buck-
wheat Scouring, P'olishing and Sejiarating Ma-
chines ; Cransou's Corn Scouring, Polishing
and Separating Machines ; Cransou's Roller
Buckwheat Shucker ; Monitor Dustless Receiv-
ing and Elevator Separator ; Monitor Dustless
Milling Separator ; Monitor Dustless Malt and
Barley Separator ; Monitor Malt and Barley
Scourer ; Monitor Oat Scourer ; Diamond Dust-
less Coru Sheller antl Separator ; and Diamond
Corn Sheller. Mr. Huntley receives orders for
his machines from all parts of the United States
and from England, Australia and New Zealand.

On November 24, 1854, he unittcl in mar-
riage with ]SIary Chapman, of Onondaga
county, New York.

W. W. Huntley has been identified with the
progress of Silver Creek since 1848. He is
fully imbued with the New England spirit of
enterprise, which has infused itself so largely
and with such beneficial results into the social
aud business life of New York aud the great
West.

^HAUNCEV (i. TATXOTT. A farmer,
^^ aud one of the national guards who or-
ganized a company and helped to repel Lee at
Gettysburg, is Chauncey G. Talcott, who is a
.son of William D. and Persis Brandgee (Gage)
Talcott, and was born iu Silver Creek, Chau-
tauqua county. New Yt)rk, October (J, 1834.
Until the coming of William D. Talcott to Sil-
ver Creek iu 1831, the family had lived iu Con-
necticut since l(j.']2, that being the date when an
Englishman named John Talcott landed at Bos-
ton, Mass., and then went to Hartford, Conn.
He soon after acquired a large tract of land.

One of the patentees named in the charter of
Charles the First, granted to Connecticut, 16(V2,
and it was the foundation of the wealth owned by
later members of the older family. The Tal-
cott mountains w'ere named for a member of the
family, probably for Gov. Joseph Talcott, who
was one of the early governoi's of the colony —
from 1724 to 1741. David Talcott was our
subject's grandfather and he spent his life iu his
native State. His son, William D. Talcott
(father), was born in Glastonberry, Connecticut,
on March .3, 1811, where he lived until he at-
tained his twentieth year. In 1831 he set out
for Buffalo but after reaching it remained only
a short time and then went to Jamestown, this
county. A few months later he went to Silver
Creek, arriving November 2d, where he bought
a home and resided until lie died December 15,
1 880. By trade he was a harness maker and
saddler, which he followed at this place until
1839 when he began lumbering, siiip building,
etc., continuing this business until 1876. Wil-
liam D. Talcott was a man of magnetic influ-
ence; with good judgment and rare perspica-
city, and conducted his business in a systematic
manner. Politically he trained with the demo-
crats, and held the offices of superintendent of
highways, school trustee and supervisor of the
town of Hanover. He was a liberal contributor
to the cause of Christianity, and iu 1856 be-
came a member of the Presbyterian church.
Five years later he was created an eliler of his
church, the duties of which he filled with honor
and Christian humility until he was called to
join the great congregation above. Sabbath-
school work especially was the recipient of his
attention and generosity. In 1 833, he married
Persis Braudgee Gage, a native of Wiufield,
Madison county, this State, where she was born
in 1814, but when three years of age her pa-
rents, Asa and Nancy (Brace) Gage, brought her
to Silver Creek. Mrs. Talcott died August 7,
1878. They were the parents of .seven children,
six sons aud one daughter : Chauncey G., Wal-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

lace W. ami William S. reside in Silver Creek ;
Asa G. , lives in Biiffalu; Walter makes his
home at Sandusky, Ohio ; and INIrs. Elizabeth
(Talcott) Harroiin, of New York city. Mrs.
Taleott was a woman possessing rare motherly
characteristics and erijoyed the peace of a genu-
ine Christian spirit. She was a devoted mem-
ber of the Presbyterian church at Silver Creek,
New York, and her body is laid away to rest in
Glenwood cemetery, Silver Creek. Coming
from the renowned English family of CJage, the
best blood of that country flowed in her veins.
Viscount Gage, an old Irisli nobleman, belonged
to the same family and she was closely con-
nected with our own Kevolutionary hero, Gen-
eral (iage.

Chauncey G. Talcott was reared at Silver
Creek and after graduation in the public schools
he was sent to the Brockport ( 'ollegiate Insti-
tute, and later, in 185(5, he graduated from Bry-
ant & Stratton's business college, at Buffalo.
Being thus fitted by education as well as natural
endowments for business, he walked out in life
and began as an accountant for a lumber firm in
Toledo, Ohio, but after a stay lasting one year
he went into his father's service, keeping the ac-
counts of his large lumber and lake transporta-
tion business. In the fall of 1858 he entered
into partnership with his uncle, John H. Tal-
cott, the firm name being Talcott & CJo.,- and
their business in wool and tauniug. The part-
nership continued for twenty years and was dis-
solved in 1878 by mutual consent. Since that
time Mr. Talcott has been engaged in farming
and dealing in live stock and real estate. The
beautiful home where he resides is but a small
portion of his [)roperty holdings. In 1859 he
organized a company of national guards and
was made its first lieutenant. In 1863, when
the Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania,
Mr. Talcott was commissioned captain of the
company and took it to Gettysburg, but after
the rebel army was repulsed they returned liome,
having seen about one month's active service.

On December 7, 1858, he married Maria L.
Lee, a daughter of Oliver Lee, of Silver Creek,
who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and one
of the earliest settlers in thistowu. They have
an adopted daughter: Helen M. Abell, a
daughter of William H. and Eliza (Lee) Abell.

Chauncey G. Talcott is a tiieuiber of the
Presbyterian church and serves it in the ca[)a-
city of an elder. For four years he was super-
intendent of its Sabbath-school. He is a dem-
ocrat and has held some of the responsible offices
in the gift of the town. When Sylvan Lodge,
No. 757, F. and A. M. was chartered, Mr. Tal-
cott was a member of it and was elected the first
secretary. He is a gentleman of more than or-
dinary busine.ss acumen, of undoubted integrity,
genial, warm-hearted and generous.

TTi llAAA^I flIAKTIN, the head of one of

^^^ the largest and most important busi-
nesses in Dunkirk, and at present the political
head of the municipality, was born in the city
of Exeter, England, on the first day of March,
1848, and is a son of George and (Jrace (H(jw-
ard) Martin.

William Martin was brought to this country
in early childhood and in youth learned the
machinist's trade. He was educated at the East
Greenwich Seminary, Rhode Island, and from
thence engaged in theological study and in 1871
came to Dunkirk and filled the pulpit of the
First ]\Iethodist church of that city. He en-
gaged in the ministry of that denomination for
twelve years and for two years labored in the
Presbyterian cause.

In 1872 he married Frances Helen Cary,
daughter of David E. Cary, and their union
has been blessed with four children : Sarah ;
Cary; (irace; and Howard. In the latter part
of 1872 Mr. Martin left Dunkirk and returned
in 1882 to develop the present immen.se business
which he now directs. About this time an ani-
mated discussion arose regarding the feasibility
of replacing the car stove for heating railway

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

trains, and Mr. Martin believed he could solve
the problem. He executed a model and induced
the officials of the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley
and Pittsburg railroad to allow him the privi-
lege of equipping a train, and by experience per-
fect the system. The first model worked well,
and in May, 1882, they applied for a patent
antl formed a stock company with an authorized
capital of two hundred thousand dollars. He
associated with him Frank E. Shaw of Sinclair-
ville, and Charles A. Clute, then assistant su-
perintendent of the D., A. V. & P. R. R.
Their system was rapidly improved and in May,
1884, the " Bee Line" was equipped and to-day
about five thousand engines and cars are operat-
ing this mode of heating. The out put of 1888
showed about five hundred thousand dollars and
some seventy-five people are employed in their
beautiful buildings, recently erected at the cor-
ner of Third and Dove streets. This invention
ranks with the Westinghouse brake for safety,
and with George M. Pullman's famous palace
cars for comfort and convenience. The deadly
car-.stove is displaced by this contrivance, which,
in case of a wreck, automatically shuts off the
steam and prevents the horrors of burning in
flames or scalding by steam.

TTJILLIASI H. ARNOLD. One of the

^^^ very oldest of Portland's successful
agriculturists and grape growers, and one
who has exceeded by eight years, man's quoted
allotment of three-score years and ten, all of
which have been spent within the boundaries
of old Chautauqua, is the venerable gentleman
whose name appears above. William H. Ar-
nold is a son of Elisha and Patience (Patter)
Arnold, and was born February 7, 1813, in
the little State of Rhode Island. His father,
Elisha Arnold, was born in Rhode Island, in
1778 and came from Rhode Island to Portland
town the year William was born. His occupa-
tion was distilling and he followed this busi-
ness in Westfield until able to secure one of his

own. In those days the business was not over-
crowded, and he operated his still with profit
for a number of years. He married Patience
Potter, of Rhode Island, and reared a family
of seven sons and five daughters, of whom
our subject is the only one now living.
Mr. Arnold was a uuiversalist and affiliated
with the whigs. He was learned in the law
and was a member of the Constitutional Com-
mittee appointed to alter the constitution of the
State. He filled several of the local offices
in his county and was a prominent man, re-
spected and esteemed. He died in 1841, aged
sixty-three years. Mrs. Arnold was a native
of Rhode Island. She died in 1854, aged sev-
enty-five years.

William H. Arnold was brought to Chau-
tauqua county an infont in his mother's arms.
The educational facilities at that time were
meager, and farm work was more plentiful than
school books. He, however, managed to secure
sufficient knowledge to make a successful busi-
ness farmer, as is attested by the value of his
property to-day. Mr. Arnold has always been
a farmer and the old homestead which he now
owns, built, and for many years occupied by
his father, contains one hundred and twenty-
five acres of tillable land. In addition to this
valuable property, he is the possessor of an-
other of two hundred and forty-nine acres in
Chautauqua town, where particular attention is
given to live stock, in which he deals, and to
grape culture.

On December .3, 1840, he married Mary L.
Spurr, a daughter of Amos Spurr, of Portland.
They reared three sons and five daughters :
Eliza, married L. H. Kendall, of Buifalo ;
Sarah, wedded Warren Dickson and lives in
Wilkinsburg, Pa.; Mattie, is the wife of Ver-
non Kent, a resident of Westfield; William, is
a citizen of Chautauqua town and is married to
Etta Hardonburg ; Chester, removed to Dun-
kirk, married Nettie Burnell and is engaged in
railroad work ; Redmond, Mary and Agnes,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

W. H. Arnold has voted with the Republi-
can party since it came into existence, but has
refrained from entering active political life.
He is now far advanced in years, but is one of
the most highly respected and honored citizens
of the county.

*s>

tJ ARVEV BEMIS is a son of Stephen and

{ -*■ Clarissa (Huntley) Beniis, and was born
at Moscow, Livingston county, New York, Sep-
tember 15, 1814. Stephen Bemis wtis a native
of Connecticut. From there he moved to Liv-
ingston couuty, thence to Genesee county, N.
Y., and in February, 1825, he came to Chau-
tauqua county and located in the town of Cly-
mer, aud engaged in farming until his death,
which occurred in December, 1847, after he had
passed the age of seventy-four years. Mrs.
Bemis was a native of Vermont, a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in
1859. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bemis were of
English descent, and they reared a family of
eight children, seven sons and one daughter.

Harvey Bemis was a boy of eleven years
when his father came to this county. He was
reared on the farm and educated in the public
schools, which M'ere equal to any of the country
schools of that day. Farming has been his
life-long occupation, and to-day he owns seventy-
two acres of very fine land lying on the Nettle
Hill road, two miles east of Westfield. Grape
culture receives a portion of his attention, and
in the spring of the year, for sixty-five years
past, he says, he has helped to make maple-sugar
and syrup.

On May 8, 1837, he married Melissa Ann, a
daughter of Nathaniel Dowley, who lived in
Greenfield, Pa. By her he has three chil-
dren, one son and two daughters : Emma,
wifeof Perry Saunders, who lives in Wisconsin;
Mary is the wife of Charles E. Flitner, who lives
in St. Paul ; and Alton is an attorney-at-law in
Cleveland, Ohio.

Harvey Bemis is a venerable and respected

old gentleman, who has the esteem of his neigh-
bors and acquaintances.

JESSE WARR, an adopted son of the United
'^ States, who bore arms in her defense when
her misguided sons sought to rend asunder her
time-honored institutions, is a son of John and
Jane (Mould) Wan-, and was born in Ailsbury,
England, near the palace of the Duke of Buck-
ingham, June 1, 18-28. For generations the
Warrs had acknowledged allegiance to the
sovereign of Great Britain, and James Mould,
the maternal grandfather, was in the service of
the duke above mentioned. John Warr was
born at Glancutt, E]ngland, and came to America
in IS'.j'.i and settled in Durhamviile, Oneida
county, this State, and soon after moved into
the city of Utica, where he made his home until
his death in 1 852. He attained the age of sixtv-
seven years. When he' identified himself with
American political institutions, Mr. Warr became
attached to the Democratic party ; his trade was
harness-making, an employment that he followed
in the mother country, and for many years in
his new home. While in England's militarv
service he belonged to the cavalry, and was
skilled in the manual of arms in that branch of
the service. Jane Mould was born at Bnckino--
ham, England, and died in Utica, New York,
when eighty-two years old. She was a very
religious lady, and was thoroughly conversant
with the Bible, whicli was her constant com-
panion.

Jesse Warr came with his parents to America
when only five years old, and the passage being
made in a sailing vessel, it was long and tedious.
He was reared principally in Utica, and secured
his education at the public schools of that city,
and after leaving school he learned shoemaking.
During the month of August, 1862, Mr. WaiT
enlisted in Company A, 112th Regiment, New
York Volunteers, as a private, and served two
years and two months, when he was discharged
on account of disability. He participated in

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

many of the principal fights of his regiment,
and conducted himself in such a manner as to
win the respect of his comrades. Jamestown
first knew him in the fall of 1859, when he
came here and established a home, where, with
the exception of the time spent in the array, he
has lived ever since, and found employment at
his trade until 1S77, whoii, having a natural
taste for floriculture, he o])ened a green-house
and took front rank while he followed it. He
is now retired from business and owns some
valuable city property.

In 1851 he married Helen T. Osborn, of
Utica, New York, and is now the father of three
children : Mrs. Anna M. Wilcox lives in Jamef-
towu ; Mrs. Mary E. Kice resides here ; and
Emily L., who is superintendent of the training-
school for nurses in the hospital at St. Louis,
Missouri.

Jesse Warr is a member of the Presl)yterian
church, is a republican and belongs to James
M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R. Mrs.
Helen T. Warr is a member of the same church
and is one of the active members of the Woman's
Relief Corps, No. 73, attached to James M.
Brown Post, G. A. R., and also belongs to the
Royal Templars of Temperaiic(^ Her father,
Henry W. Osborn, was in the War of 1812,
where he served with credit. He was of German
descent, a native of Albany, New York, and
(lied in Utica, this State, in 1882, aged ninety-

SAMVKL CAI.DWKIvL. It is said of
Samuel Caldwell that when a young man
he could do a bigger day's chopping, out-jum|)
or throw down any man in the district. He
stands six feet tall and to-day, although sixty-
nine years of age is still active, strong and vig-
orous. Samuel Caldwell is the sou of Samuel,
Sr., and Nancy (Coman) Caldwell, and was born
in Salem, Washington county. New York, March
17, 1822. James Caldwell (grandfather) came
from Londonderry, Scotland, and served in the

Revolutionary war. At the battle of Bunker
Hill he was twice wounded but recovered and
died in Arlington, Vt. His wife was Mary
Clyde, a Scotch lady, who was remarkable for
her historical knowledge. She was possessed of
a fine memory, an inveterate reader and a keen
olxserver which made her of more than ordinary
interest. She lived to an advanced age and re-
tained lier marvelous memory until the time of
her deatii. She was also renowned for her skill
in accouclienicnt cases. Samuel Caldwell, Sr.,
was born iu Arlington, Beuningtou county, Vt ,
in 1795, and removed from there to Washington
county, this State, in 1812. Twenty years later
he came to Portland town, arriving May 17,
1832. He was a lifelong farmer and lived in
this town until his death in 1878, when he was
eighty- three years of age. Many anecdotes are
told of Mr. Caldwell. He was of striking ap-
pearance, six feet and two inches ; straight as an
arrow and weighing but two hundred and forty-
five pounds, was perfectly proportioned. He
was renowned for his great strength and many
would be champions for wrestling honors fell
before him. Mr. Caldwell had the reputation
of being the best and neatest former iu the town.
He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church and officiated in the capacities of class-
leader and steward. He married Nancy Coman,
who was born in Warren county, N. Y., in 1799.
They reared a family of twelve children, nine
of whom are still living, five sons and four
daughters. Mrs. Caldwell was a gentle Chris-
tian woman, a consistent member of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church and died iu 1884, aged
eighty-five years.

Samuel Caldwell came to Portland with his
father and was reared on the farm and educated
in the public schools. When a young man he
learned the carpenter trade but never pursued it
steadily, diuging instead to the farm. Mr.
Caldwell is now the owner of a good farm,
which he secured by hard work and pays con-
siderable attention to grape culture.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

On Christmas day, 1843, lie wedded Jane
Ann Springstead, of Portland, who died two
and one-third years later (April 21, ]84(j), leav-
ing him two sons — Dewitt and Isaac W. The
first-named dieil an infant and Isaac W. resides
with his father. Mr. Caldwell married for his
second wife Martha Ann Wilbur, of Portland,
in 1848, and she died in 18(J8, leaving two
daughters — Ellen E. and Martha J. Ellen E.
is the wife of M. W. Brown, a Portland farmer,
and Martha J. married L. A. Bigelow, similarly
employed in the same town. In November,
1889, Mr. Caldwell re-married, this time to
Mrs. Louisa (Wilbur) Smart, who came from
the town of Chautauqua.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church and Lodge No. 3li, Equitable Aid Union.
Politically he is an uncomprouiisiug democrat
and has filled the office of road commissioner
for two years.

jA ATHAN BKOWN. One of the oldest ot

\ Jamestown's citizens, and in his active

days the leading and most enterprising business
man of that .section, who took the manufactured
wares of that city's early factories down the
Ohio and Mississi])pi rivers and exchanged tiiem
for casii, is Nathan Brown. He is a sou of the
late Nathan, Sr. and Levia (Smith) Brown, and
was born in Eaton, Madison county, New
York, November 19, 1812. The family is of
English extraction in both branches ; the pa-
ternal grandfather, Joseph Brown, was a native
of Boston and was born about the middle of
the eighteenth century. Following the sea for
many years, he rose to the rank of captain of a
merchant vessel, plying between Boston and
Liverpool, prior to the Revolutionary war, and
he was lost at sea during a west bound voyage.
He married a Miss Jones and had three ddl-
dren, Nathan Brown, Sr. being the youngest. '
Samuel Pomeroy Smith, the maternal graud-
father, was of English Puritan stock and a
native of New London, Conneoticut. He mar-

ried Rebecca Armstrong and emigrated to
Onondaga county, this State, and settled at
Avhat was then Ceddesl)urg, now Syracuse. His
union gave the worlil ten children, five sons and
five daughters. The mother of Nathan Brown
was born in 1786. Nathan Brown, Sr. was
born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 30, 1782
and went to Madison county about 18(J6 ; later,
in 1822 he came to Chautauqua county and
bought a piece of land of the Holland Laud
Company, in the town of Ellington, and followed
farming so successfully that lie became one of
the largest land owners of his neighborhood.
Mr. Brown possessed a superior education for
his day, and it enabled him to reach a pinnacle,
which, without it, would never have been at-
tained. Politically he was a whig, without
ambitious aspirations. In 1808 he married
Levia Smith, and became the tather of nine
children, two of whom died in infaucv ; all are
now dead except Nelson, the twin brother of
subject, who lives in Ellington, this county, and
has retired from business ; Daphne, living in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, the widow of a Mr.
Waterman ; Albro S., late mayor of the city of
Viiieland, N. J., a practicing lawyer for twenty
years at that place, died December l(j, 1890.

Nathan Brown was i-eared and passed his
early life in the uneventful manner usual with
country boys. In 1823 he first came to James-
town, but did not begin a permanent residence
until 1832, when he engaged in manufacturing
pails, and followed that line of business until
1843, when he commenced ruiming store-boat
cargoes of building materials down the Alle-
gheny, Ohioand Mississippi rivers andsellingat
the larger towns. He enlarged his business until
its scope included agricultural implements,
doors, sash and everything manufactured at
Jamestown.

Augu.st 17, 1841, he married Caroline E.
Le Fevre, a daughter of Daniel and Henrietta
L. (Colsou) Le Fevre, who was born in Mead-
ville, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1822. Her

314

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

father was of French extraction and took a
prominent part in the politics of the Keystone
State and served at Harrisburg in the Legisla-
ture ; he was a prominent Mason, having at- !
tained the degree of Royal Arch Mason. The
mother of subject, is still living with her (laugh-
ter, at Jamestown. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are
the parents of children as follows: Henry
LeFevre, born May 30, 1842, married N.
Alcesta Fisher, March 27, 1865 and now lives
iu Jamestown. He entered the Unitetl States
army in Co. B, 72nd regiment, N. Y. Infantry,
in 1861 ; he re-enlisted, and served during tlie
entire war. Jieon G., was born July 18, 1844^
and married Lucy Hayes, January 31, 1870;
lie now resides at Huntingdon, W. Va. He
enlisted September 12, 1862, in Co. F, 112th
regiment, and served to the close of the war
Amelia Marvin was born May 15, 1848, and
married Theodore W. McClintock, a .son of the
late Dr. James McClintock, of the Philadelphia
College of Medicine. Theodore W. McClin-
tock was born May 28, 1846 and was the
author of" The Analysis of Zell's Encyclopedia,"
a work of extensive circulation, consisting of
an outline of universal history. He died May
12, 1889. Charles N., was born October 21,
1851, and married Alice Ross, January 13,
1881. He is engaged in manufacturing plush
at Jame.stown, the firm name being the "James-
town Plush Mills Com})any." George B. W.
was born September 15, 1853, and married
Blanche A. White, July 20, 1884. He resides
at Titusville, Pa., and conducts a pharmacy,
being a giaduate of the Philadelphia School of
Pharmacy in the class of 1878.

Nathan Brown spent forty-four years in bus-
iness and did not retire until 1885, after pass-
ing three-score and ten j'cars of age. During
his career he took one hundred and fifty-four
store boats down the river, the aggregate value
of the cargoes being over half a million dollars,
and mast of it was manufactured articles made
in Chautauqua county. With the advent of

the railroads in the South and other conditions
arising soon after the close of the war, the busi-
ness l>ecame unremunerative ; prices and profits
being much smaller than before. Since 1885
Mr. Brown has led a retired life. He is a re-
publican in politics and has been a member of
the Presbyterian church since 1836 ; he is the
oldest male member in the Presbyterian church of
Jamestown; Mr. Brown also out-ranks all
others in term of membership in Lodge No.
221, I. O. (). F., at Jamestown, having been
continuous tor over forty years. For some
years past he has devoted much time, as a recre-
ation, to writing the local history of James-
town and its environments, and so well is lie
posted, that he is considered authority upon
local historical matters.

Nathan Brown's has been a life well spent ;
public confidence rests with him implicitly, and
it may be truthfully said " he is a good man,"
an assertion to which posterity may point with
pride. Mr.s. Brown came to this county in
1827, with an uncle, Augustus Colson, who
married a niece of Andrew Ellicott, named Sarah
Kennedy, after whose family the village bear-
ing that title was named. Mrs. Brown lived iu
Kennedy but a short time and then went to
Buffalo, where her young ladyhood was passed
and she remained until her marriage. Since
that time she has lived continuously in the
same home, in Jamestown.

HOMER J. SKINNER is a leading farmer
of the town of Portland, and owns a
property eighty-four acres in extent, two and
one-half miles from the village. He is a son
of David and Betsy (Hill) Skinner, and was
born in Portland, ('liantau(|ua county, New
York, June 6, 1821).

Homer J. Skinner traces his ancestry to the
Emerald Isle ; his father, David Skinner, was
born in Chenango county, in 1803, and came to
Portland when sixteen years of age, located in
this town, began to farm, and has followed it

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

uninterruptedly for seveuty-two years. The
old gentleman still lives, aged eighty-eight
years, is a prosperous farmer enjoying fair
health, and is now haj)py in the association of
his grandchildren of the fifth generation. On
account of his advanced age, as would be ex-
pected, he is not actively engaged, but is a mem-
ber of the Metliodist church at l\)rtland, and
belongs to the Democratic party, as do all of his
sons. On December 25, 1825, David Skinner
married Betsy Hill, who was born August 14,
1803, and having borne her husband five chil-
dren, four sons and one daughter, died in the
faith of the Methodist church, December 22,
1836. He then married for his second wife,
Mary Williams, who is still living, and is the
mother of three cliildi'en, two sons and one
daughter.

Homer J. Skinner was reared on the old
farm, and secured a district school education.
He, like his father, has made farming his life
work, and is now the proprietor of a fine vine-
yard twenty acres in extent.

On October 20, 1851, he married Martha
Fuller, a daughter of Michael Fuller, of Port-
land, and they have one son, Norman Lester,
who is united in mairiage with Fanny Secord,
of Erie, Penua., on the 2d day of August,
1888, and now lives with his father.

Homer J. Skinner is a member of the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, a demo-
crat, good citizen and a prosperous farmer.

TJ N1>KU.S M. Hr YCK was one of the earliest
-**■ settlers of the town of Arkwright, having
located here in 1820. The follo^ving sjiring he
built a log-house, which was soon occupied by
his family consisting of his wife and sons, Shad-
rach and Oscar. When Mr. Huyck ar-
rived there were no neighbors near him but so
rapidly did new arrivals come in, that they
erected a log school-house in time for a term in
the winter of 1827 ; and a few years subsequently
a large and comfortable frame I)uilding was
16

erected. The "Abbey school," as it was called,
prospered, became a popular institution and
many men, who afterward became ])rominent
and useful, received an education within its
walls. Our subject was a successful teacher and
to him in a large measure was due the credit fia-
this successful school-house. He filled the oflice
of commissioner of schools and for a number of
terms was justice of the peace. He had four
children born in this town: Elijah and Avery
and two daughters, Tamar and Hester, three of
whom went west. The youngest sou Avery en-
tered the Union Array and served three years,
passing through several battles without injur}'.

T ^KVI BALDWIN was a prominent man in

■'■^ the town of Arkwright, Chautauqua
county. He was a son of Isaac and Parthena
Baldwin, and was born in Pawlet, Vermont,
January 26, 1802. When ten years of age lie
accompanied his fiither to this county and they
at first made their home in the town of Sheridan,
where he remained until after his marriage with
Eliza Ann Putnam, which occiu'red October 23,
1831, and he then moved into this town and
made himself a home. His first wife died No-
vember 10, 1863, having borne him three sons :
Oliver T., who went to California about the
time he reached manhood, married Nancy
Wright ; L. Courtney, who married Amoret
Saunders and settled in this town, and Orville
D., who married Eglantine Dawley, and for
many years conducted a drug-store in Fredonia.
For his second wife Levi Baldwin married
Eleanor B. Phelps on March 26, 186G.

Levi Baldwin was quite active iu political
matters and for eight years held the office of
supervisor, was justice of the peace for several
terms, and town superintendent of schools.
The duties of all of which he discharged with
fidelity and to the satisfaction of his fellow-
citizens.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

O'IMEON CIjINTON was well known to the
*^ early citizens of Arkwriglit town, having
for many years followed the profession of sur-
veying, and thereby coming in contact with
most of the early settlers. He was born in
Saratoga connty, this State, on the third day of
February, 1779, and went from there to Otsego
connty, from whence he came to Chautauqua
and settled iu the town of Arkwriglit in 1813.
Being a bright and intelligent man and of a
companionable disposition, he attained consider-
able prominence in the nortiieast portion of the
county and about 1825 it is said that he made
the first survey and plot of the village of Dun-
kirk ; he performed a similar service for Sin-
clairville some years later. Mr. Clinton kept
the first tavern in the town of Arkwriglit and
was also the first postmaster, holding the posi-
tion for twenty years; politically he was a whig
and was town-clerk and justice of the peace for
several terms. In 1859, during a thunder
shower, he and an only son were iu a barn and
upon leaving the building, when just iu the act
of closing the door, he was struck by lightning
and killed. The son was prostrated but soon
recovered. Simeon Clinton had a family con-
sisting of a son already mentioned and five
daughters. The last of the latter being triplets,
all of them are now dead. A grandson of Mr.
Clinton, Charles Cole, a son of INIilton Cole,
has been town-clerk of Arkwright, a highly
respectable man.

^Kl^N .ST(>I>I)ARD. A prominent agri-
^^ culturist of the town of Busti, who was
born in the "Green IMountain State," but who
has been identified with Chautauqua county
since his early manhood, is the gentleman whose
name heads this sketch. He is a son of Alvin
and Rena (Hall) Stoddard and was born at West
Brattleboro, Windliam county, Vermont, July
18th, 1818. The Stoddard family are of Eng-
lish descent, and our subject's grandfather, Jacob
Stoddard, achieved distinction by serving on

General Washington's body guard during the
Revolutionary war. Until his enlistment he
was a farmer in his native State and at the close
of hostilities returned there and died in 1812;
his wife drew a Revolutionary widow's jiension
until her death. Alvin Stoddard was a native
of the same State and by trade was a miller and
mill-wright. When a young man he was em-
ployed as a school teacher, and, having acquired
a superior education, was offered a professorship
in Yale College, which he declined. He was a
deacon in the Baptist church and died when
fifty-eight years of age. He married Rena Hall,
a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, of French
extraction ; she, too, was a member of the Bap-
tist church and died on April 5, 1853, aged
sixty-three years.

Oren Stoddard was reared near tlie scene of
his birth and was educated in the common .schools
of his native State until nineteen years of age,
when, failing health compelling him to leave
the rigorous climate of Vermont, he came to
Chautauqua county and remained three years,
and although he returned home at the end of
that time, the salubrity of the climate and the
natural beauty of Chautauqua county caused him
to come back almost immediately and he has re-
sided here ever since. He learned the carpenter
and joiner's trade and followed it for some time
in connection with his farming. In 1841 he
moved upon the farm where he now lives and
has resided there since without interruption — an
unbroken period of fifty years.

In 1842 he married Catherine M. Smith, a
daughter of William Smith of the town of
Busti, this county, and they were blessed with a
family of five children, two sons and three
daughters : Rena is the wife of Charles H.
Johnson, a prominent manufacturer of this
town; Eugene died when eight years and nine
months old; Ella married H. E. Davis and re-
sides at Warren, Pa. ; Cooley died aged twenty-
two years and four months; and May Belle is
unmarried and at home. Mr. Stoddard owns a

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

317

fine farm of well-improved lautl, and his resi-
dence is a nice brick lioiise.

The grape product requires a large number of
baskets in which to market it; to supply this
demand Mr. Stoddard is engaged in manufac-
turing grape baskets, ii business which he has
conducted in connection with his farming for
the past twenty-five years. Politically he is a
republican and has held the honorable position
of president of the Chautauqua County Agri-
cultural Society in the year 1882. He was his
party's candidate for tiie Assembly at one time,
but was not elected. Mr. Stoddard has always
taken an active part in politics and is recognized
as a very influential man. He is an intelligent
and educated gentleman, fond of company and
an excellent entertainer.

y^R. KAYM(>NI> M. KVARTS, a skillful
^"^ physician of the younger school, and a
graduate of Howard University, of Washington,
D. C, is a sou of Charles H. and Lucy (Kellogg)
Evarts and was born August 27th, 1859, at
Leon, Cattai-augus county, New York. The
Evarts family have risen to prominence, a citable
example being the Hon. William M. Evarts,
Ex-United States Senator from the Empire
State. For some generations they were homo-
geneous to New England, the paternal great-
grandfather, Rinaldo Evarts, being a native of
Connecticut. He entered the ministry of the
Methodist Episcopal church and after coming to
New York State was for a number of years
presiding elder of the Erie Conference. Rinaldo
Evarts married Eliza Morlcy, a descendant of
one of the most distinguished New England
families. They had six children, three sons
and three daughters. The maternal grandfather.
Captain Galord Kellogg, was born in the eastern
part of New York ; he followed farming and
earned his military title by several years service
in the New York State militia. Early in life
he emigrated to Cattaraugus county, where he
establishe<l fir himself a name and reputation

second to none. Politically he was a whig and
republican and he married Rosanna Warner,
who bore him three sons and two daughters.
Charles H. Evarts was born in eastern New
York about 1823. He has always been identi-
fied with agricultural work and now lives in
Chautauqua county. Politically he is a repub-
lican but is not desirous of political distinction,
although he takes an active interest in the aifaii's
of his party. He married Lucy Kellogg, who
is yet living, aged fifty-eight years, and they
have had six children, four sons and two daugh-
ters: Julia is dead; Raymond M.; George, who
lives at Irving, New York, and is engaged as a
traveling salesman for a Saratoga wholesale drug
house; Estella is dead ; Grant lives at Collins,
Erie county, New York ; and < 'Jiailes, who is
dead.

Dr. Raymond M. F^varts married Annie Tully,
a native of Cortland county, this State, on the
Gth day of February, 1884, and they have three
children: Ruby T., Lucy and Cora Ruth.

Raymond M. p]varts was educated at the
common and more advanced .schools of the lo-
calities in which he lived, and \vlnii twenty
years of age he entered the office of l>r. A. A.
Hubbell, then located at Leon, New York, but
now jirofessor of diseases of the eye and ear at
Niagara University, Buffalo. After the usual
term of reading, our subject matricidated at the
Buffalo College of Physicians and Sin-geonsand
took one course of lectures. He then went to
Howard University, Washington, I). C, where
he took his graduating course in the medical de-
partment of that institution, and received his
diploma March 7th, 1882. He first located for
practice at Pine Valley, Cattaraugus county,
where he remained one year and three months,
and July 23d, 1883, came to Irving, Chautauqua
county, where he has ever since resided. Dr.
Evarts is a member of both the Chautauqua
County Medical society and the Lake Erie
Medical society, and in politics is a republican,
besides being a member of the Knights of the

BIOGRAPHY AND IHSTOBY

Maccabees. He is an interested student of
arclucolcigy and has in his possession an extensive
and valuable collection of historical relics, both
of the stone or Indian age and the early French
explorations.

Dr. Evarts is a skillful physician, is thorough-
ly familiar with his profession, because he loves
it, and upon the appearance of every new and
valuable treatment of pi-actical value, he ac-
quaints himself with it at once.

HENRY R. CAKE, sheriff of Chautauqua
county, and loan commissioner by ap-
pointment of the governor of New York, in
1873, for four years, is a son of Gardiner and
Lucy (Cutting) Case, and was born in the town
of French Creek. Chautauqua county, New
York, April 28, 1839. While a large stream
of pioneer settlers came direct into Chautauqua
coiuity from Mas.sachusetts, the parent colony
of New England, an indirect stream of consid-
erable size came from the Bay State through the
minor colonies of New Hampshire, Connecticut
and Vermont, in which it had been arrested in
its westward course for a generation in the
lives of the fathers, but moved forward in the
adventurous spirit of the sons who crossed the
confines of eastern civilization and made homes
for themselves in the vicinity of the great
lakes. Among the families of Elnglish descent
in Massachusetts, who nioved to Vermont, were
the Cases and Cuttings, and of the next gener-
ation, which was born in the Green Mountain
State, Rev. Joseph Case and David Cutting,
the grandfathers of Sheriff Ca.se, became early
settlers in Chautauqua county, where they con-
tinued to reside until they died. Rev. Joseph
Case was a minister of the Baptist church, and
served as a soldier in the war of 1812, while
David Cutting was a farmer, and served like-
wise in the second War for Independence.
Gardiner Case (father) was born on his father's
Massacliusetts farm, and served on tiie Canad-
ian frontier in the war in which his father, and

afterwards father-in-law were soldiers. Some
time after i)eace had been ratified between Great
Britain and the United States, he cametoChau-
tau(pia county, where he settled in the town of
French Creek, in which he was a resident until
his death, February 20, 18G0, at seventy-one
years of age. His wife was Lucy Cutting, who
was born in Vermont, April 7, 17fll), and passed
from earth in April, 1871. To Gardiner and
Lucy Case were born in their western home,
four sons and two daughters : Luther H., a car-
penter of Brocton, who owns and operates a
vineyard ; Homer, a farmer of Bremer county,
Iowa; Joseph, a justice of the peace in iMou-
tana ; Darwin, who is engaged in farming in
the town of Ripley ; Henry R. ; Ziba, widow of
Eli N. Brown ; and Lucy, wife of P. N.
Cross, now of tiie town of French Creek, l>ut
formerly a merchant of ('orry, Pa.

Henry R. Case was reared on a farm, attenil-
ed the common .schools of his town, and en-
gaged in farming as his first business in life.
In 18G1 the oil fields of Venango county. Pa.,
attracted his attention as oflFering superior ad-
vantages to investors, and as being far more
profitable than investments in farming could
possibly be at that time. He leased jiropertv
in that county, and for four years was engaged
as an oil producer. During the early part of
that time he was seriously burned and lost the
sight of one of his eyes at a fiowing well, which
caught fire and Inirned nineteen others to death.
These injuries which he received prevented his
entering the late war, and when he quii operat-
ing in oil in 18G5, he embarked in the feed and
grocery business at Pioneer, on Oil Creek,
which he followed for about five years. He
then became a member of the mercantile firm
of Cross & Case, at Corry, Pa., which lasted
for eight years. In 1878 he returned to French
Creek, where he has been engaged in the lumber
and shingle manufacturing business ever since.
In November, 1888, he was elected by the Re-
publican jiarty as sheriff of C'liautauqua conn-

7^/f^^

my>^

OF CHAVTArqUA COUNTY.

ty, and assumed charge of that office January
1, 1880. Previous to tliis lie had sorve-1 for
nine years as supervisor of Freneii Creek, ami
in 187."5, was appointed as a loan couiuiissioner
by the governor of New Yurh.

January 1,18<J1, he married Marv Iliil)l)ar(i,
daughter of Jonas Ij. lliiijljard, of this county.
In 18(}'2 Mrs. Case died, and on Decead)er 25,
18()(j, Mr. Case tuiited in marriage with Susan-
na Hubbard, a sister to his former wife.

H. K. Case has always been identified with
the Republican party, which has always re-
ceived his undivided and active support. His
time has chiefly been devoted to his various
business enterprises. In addition to lumbering
he is largely interested in dairying, and owns a
large cheese factory. He also owns a valuable
stock farm of nine hundred acres, which is till-
able and well adaj)ted to grazing. He is a
member of Columbus Lodge, No. 1(14, F. &
A. M., at Columbus, and Clymer Lodge, No.
•)\, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of
Clymer, N. Y. Sheriff Case has always been
diligent, energetic and active in every business
enterprise in which he has been engaged. As
a business man he has been successful, as a citi-
zen he has liberal ideas as to ])ublic affairs, and
as a sheriff he is prompt and ftiitliful in the dis-
charge of every duty of that important olHce.

TAV WINCIM, the proprietor an<l manager

^ of the Clymer butter and cheese factories,
is a son of John S. and Sarah (Suhulster)
Winch, and was born in the town of Marilla,
Erie county. New York, November 3, 18(J7.
The Winches and Schulsters are both of Eng-
lish ancestry. Tlie paternal grandfather of Jay
Winch was William Winch, who was a soldier
of the war of 1812, and died in Erie county ;
while his maternal grandfather, Mr. Schulster,
was a resident for some years of Wyoming
county, in which he died. John S. Winch
(father) was born in the State of New Jersey,
and in 1835 removed to Erie county, where lie

died in 18fj!». He was a former by occupation,
a lepubliifin In politics, and a ]iresbyterian in
religious I'aitli. He served as suinu'visor of his
town for a number of years, married Sarah
Schulster, and reared a family of five sons and
(liree daughters. The sons are Martin, Frank,
Alfred, Andrew and Jay, and all reside in Wy-
oming county, New Y'ork, except the last
named one.

Jay Winch was reared on the tiirni, olitained
a good academic education at Franklinville,
Cattaraugus county, and commenced life for
himself as a clerk in a store of East Aurora,
Erie county, New Y''ork. After some time
spent at the latter place he received an advan-
tageous offer and went to Charleston, the me-
tropolis of South Carolina, where he was a
clerk for eighteen months in a large store.
From Charleston he returned to his native
State where he was employed as a clerk in a
mercantile establishment of Warsaw until 188G,
when he went to Sherman, wliert^ he occupied a
position for five years in the employ of Mr. Ed-
mund's butter and cheese factories. During the
time spent in the factory office he learned all
the details of the successful manufiicture of but-
ter and cheese, and in the spring of 1890 he
came to Clymer where he established his pres-
ent butter and cheese factories, the one at
Clymer, and the other at North Clymer. The
Clymer factory has an annual output of ninety
thousand pounds of butter, while the North
Clymer factory turns out sixty thousand pounds
per year. Mr. Winch makes a very fine arti-
cle of butter which finds a market in the larger
cities of the United States.

In politics Jay Winch is rather independent
and supports the man or the measure more than
the party or the nominee. In religious matters
he is a presbyterian, and has been a member of
the church of that denomination at East Au-
rora for several years. Mr. Winch's present
enterprise has added much to the business pros-
perity of his village, and from its present pros-

BIOGBAPHY AND HISTORY

peroiis condition promises to be an assuretl suc-
cess in the future.

SARDIUS FltlSBEE, a descendant from an
old New England family, and one of the
substantial, wide-awake merchants of Ellington,
is a son of James and Eunice (Harris) Frisbee,
and was born at DeWittvilIe,Cliautau(iua county,
on the twenty-fourth day of September, 1839.
Subject's father came from the State of Vermont,
of wdiich he was a native, to the county of
Chautauqua, New York, when but a mere boy,
being accompanied by his mother. He learned
the trade of briekmaker and mast)n and moulded
the brick for the first county buildings in Chau-
tau(iua county — the old jail and court-house.
At this time he was resident at DeWittville, but
shortly afterwards moved into the town of
Ellery, where he engaged in fl\rmiug. From
Ellery he again removed to Ellington where he
lived eight years; he died in 1881, at the age
of seventy-one years. In the year 1853 he
made a pilgrimage to California, and there pur-
sued the business of brick-making for about a
year, when he again i-eturned to the east. On
his way back, which was by steamship, via the
Isthmus of Panama, he suffered the horrors of
shipwreck, but was finally succored and safely
landed at New York. James Frisbee was a man
of great energy antl force of character, somewhat
set in his ways, but kindly withal. Both he
and his wife were members of the Christian
cUurch at DeWittville, and regarded as con-
scientious in life and conduct. His wife is still
living at P]llington, in her seventieth year.
James Frisbee was an ardent, hearty supporter
of the Republican party.

Sardius Frisbee was brought up in Chau-
tauqua county, on the shore of the famous lake
of that name, and passed his youth in a com
l)aratively uneventful way. He passed through
the common schools and also attended the
academies at Mayville and Ellington. Upon
leaving the academy he taught school for two

yeare, after which he engaged in farming for
.some six years, and finally, in 18(39, purchased
his present business stand. From this date,
merchandising in its various forms has been his
constant occupation. He has a fine general and
miscellaneous store, embracing the largest stock
of goods in the towu of Ellington, which he
has successfully and with profit conducted ever
since his embarkation.

In 18();2 Mr. Frisbee was joined in marriage
to Miss Lavantia M., daughter of Horatio N.
Barnes, of the town of Ellington. She died in
1872 leaving one child, Cora L., who died at
the age of fifteen years. His second wife was
Miss Amelia Benedict, daughter of John Bene-
dict, of Ellington, who died in 1884, leaving
two children, both sous, John B. and James H.,
both of whom are still living. Mr. Frisbee
was married a third time, in January, 1887, to
Mrs. Francelia D. Shannon {nef Hunt) of Leon,
Cattaraugus county, New York. By this last
union there has been no issue. Mrs. Frisbee had
by her first husband a daughter, Inez E. Shan-
non, who is a graduate of the New England
Conservatory of Music, and at present has charge
of the music department of Pcddie institute, at
Highstown, New- Jersey.

Mr. Frisbee is a member ot tiie Congregational
church at Ellington, and in that church holds
the office of treasurer. In jwlitical ati'airs he is
an adherent of the Republican party, and held
the position of jiostmaster for a number of years.
He is also a member of the A. O. U. W., and
present supervisor for the town of Ellington.
Mr. Frisbee is a man of sterling worth, exem-
plary habits and conscientious conduct.

JA3IES COCHRANE, who for eighty years
was a resident and fiirmer of the town of
Ripley, living in the village, was a son of Alex-
ander and Nancy (Martin) Cochrane, and was
born in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county,
N.Y., April 4, 1811, and died May 14, 1891.
His paternal grandfather, Hugh Cochrane, was

OF CHAUTAUQUA VOUNTl'.

a native of Ireland, where he lived and died,
the scene being Woodgrange, County Down.
He belonged to the peasant class in which he
was a rejjrcsentative man. He married Nancy
Beatty and reared a family of eleven children ;
but three are mentioned : Alexander, Kolicrt
and Hugii. The maternal grandfather was John
Martin, also a native of Ireland, where he passed
his life and died. The three brothers mentioned
above all came to America and settled in Ripley,
Chautauqua county, New York. Robert was
twice married, had thirteen children, and died
iu October, 1854. Hugh married Saraii Ncsbit
before he left Ireland, and reared eigiit children ;
he died early in 1854.

Alexander Cochrane was a protestant, or what
is known as a Scotch-Irishman. He was the
first settler in Ripley town, having bought his
farm in October of 1804. Some authorities
state that he entered the town in 1802, which
may be correct. His is the first name that
appears on the Hollaud Land Company's books
as a purchaser in this town, He took a tract of
three hundred acres and built a house, in which
his entire family of thirteen children were born.
Politically he was a whig, and an elder in the
Presbyterian church. Alexander Cochrane was
born at Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland,
where he married Nancy Martin shortly before
leaving for America. Their children were:
John, Nancy, the wife of W. A. Robinson ;
Hugh, Alexander, Robert, William, Samuel,
Margaret, who married Jediah Loomis; James,
Martin, Andrew, David and Eleanor. The
number of his grandchildren reached sixty-four.
All of the above-mentioned are dead except I
Eleanor, who married a IMr. Dickson. Alex-
ander Cochrane died in lS5(i at Rijiiev, New
York, aged ninety years.

James Cochrane was reared on his father's \
large farm. He married Nancy Johnston, a
daughter of John Johnston, who was a native
of Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland, brought '
his f\imily to Westfield, this county, and died

in 1852. James Cochrane and his wife reared
nine children : Joseph A. resides in Rochester,
New York ; Elizabeth A. lives in Eureka, Kan-
sas ; Francis Johnston resides on a portion of
the old farm ; Catherine is living in Eureka,
Kansas ; Mary E. is living in the old home, so
long made bright by her kind parents ; Sarah
A. married Alexander Cochrane, who lives on
a farm in East Ripley ; Julia Etta died in 1878,
aged twenty-three years ; James Alexander owns
the east part of the farm that belonged to his
grandfather and lives upon it; and Charles F.,
who resides on a portion of the flirm fijrmerly
owned by his father.

Farming was the steady employment of James
Cochrane all his life, until he bought the prop-
erty where he died in Ripley village, and moved
there in 1887. Mrs. Cochrar.e died May 9, 1891,
only five days before her husljand.

HEXKY REYNOLDS. Prominent iu the
business circles of Sinclairville is the
well-known hardware merchant mentioned
above, who has conducted his present establish-
ment since 1870. Henry Reynolds is a son of
Abraham and Elizabeth (Smale) Reynold.s, and
was born in the suburbs of tlie village where he
now lives on the 2d day of April, 1827. His
parents were natives of " merry old England,"
and his father, Abraham Reynolds, was a baker
in the city of London. They left that metrop-
olis of the world and came to the wilderness of
the Empire State in 1819, and settled on what
is now his farm near Sinclairville. Two of his
daughters are yet living in England, and one
son, George S., left houie in 1849 and has not
been heard of since 1850. Abraham Reynolds
.secured a farm and made a fine property of it.
He died in 1853, aged seventy years.

Henry Reynolds was reared on the farm and
followed that occupation until twenty-four years
of age, securing a common school education at
the district schools. At the age of twenty-four
lie entered the service of Alonzo Langworthv,

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

a dry-goods dealer at Sinclairville, and remained
with liim six months and then accepted like
employment with C. J. Allen and staid there
two years. The succeeding two years were de-
voted to John Dewey, and in 1860 he took a
trip to his father's native land, but re-crossed
the water in the spring of ISlil, and again went
back during the latter part of the same year and
staid there one year. During the fall of 1862
he came to Sinclairville, and iu 1863, '64 and
'65 was supervisor of the town. During his
term of office he speculated some iu real estate
at Dunkirk. Tlie present business of Mr. Rey-
nolds was inaugurated in 1870, iu partnership
with Richard Reed, and has been conducted
with constantly increasing success ever since.
Henry Reynolds inherited the old homestead
and now owns it and other farms.

In 1867 he married Mrs. Helen (Kimball)
Richmond, a daughter of Dr. Josej)h E. Kim-
ball, for many years a prominent physician of
the town of Ellicott. Two children have come
from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds :
Elizabeth M. and Elliott K. Henry Reynolds
stands high iu the estimation of his acquaint-
ances as a man of integrity and honor.

T» >-l':SLEY 3I1L,SPAW. Among the promi-
•""^ neut business men and progressive citi-
zens of western New York, Wesley INIilspaw
stands iu the front rank. He is a sou of Jere-
miah and Margaret (Waggoner) Milspaw, and
was born in the town of Townsend, Huron
county, Ohio, February 2.">, 1823. His grand-
father, George Waggoner, was a native of New
Jereey, and at the outbreak of the Revolution-
ary war, without a thought of self, placed him-
self at the service of the country which gave
him l)irth. He served in that memorable strug-
gle through seven years of hardship, privation,
battle and National darkness with unswerving
patriotism, and, strange to remark, without hav-
ing received a single wound. Another fact
showing the strange and somewhat remarkable

workings of fortune, was that his death occurred
in the country against which in early life he bad
risked his lifij. When he died he was seventy-
eight years of age. The father of our subject
was born in Orange county. New York, but
soon became a resident of the State of Ohio,
whither his father remo%'ed. In 1827 he re-
turned to New York State and located iu what
is now known as Cherry Creek, Ciiautauqua
county. Here he resided for a period of three
years, after which he went to Canada and re-
mained a couple of years, thence returning to
Ellington, where he died in 1852, at the age of
seventy-two years. By trade Mr. Milspaw \\as
a tailor, having served a long apprenticeship in
that business in New York city. He was
regarded as a very skillful and artistic workman
in his line, but his abilities as a manager were
ratlier mediocre. He was in religion a commu-
nicant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
in his political views a stanch democrat. The
Milspaw family is of French extraction, though
on the maternal side was of German origin.
Subject's mother was a native of New Jersey,
au entiinsiastic churchwomau, and during their
I residence in Canada devoted much time to teach-
' iug and Christianizing the Indians. She was a
woman of rare gifts, sincere and devoted to the
cause of truth and religion and, above all, filled
with unbounded enthusiasm and energy. Her
missionary efforts bore fruitful results, and she
lived to enjoy the benedictions which arise from
a life of devotion and good works. Her death
occurred in 1842, wiien at tiie age of fifty-eight
years.

Wesley Milspaw was reared principally in
Chautauqua county, educated in the common
schools, and upon leaving took up trading and
peddling for some time. He was a poor boy
who was comj)elled to make his own way in life,
so that all his spare time had to be turned toward
making a livelihood. When a young man he
cut wood at eighteen cents per coi'd and worked
in the hay fields at fifty cents per day. After

OF CH.iUTAUQUA COUNTY.

accumulating a little money and establishiug a ' learning and ability in the profession of the law.

credit, he engaged in the lumber business and He is a citizen of New York Htate and Cliau-

farmiiig, finally embarking iu commission busi- tanqua county by adoption only, but has become

ness for eastern firms. For the past ten years peculiarly and firmly wedded to its interests

Mr. Milspaw has been engaged in the oil busi- and fortunes. Mr. Towne was born in the

ness and is now the lessee of twenty-nine flowing Granite State, village of Keene, November 7

wells, for whicii he has been offered one hundred 1S54, and is a son of Andrew H. and Caroline

thousand dollar.-s. He also owns and ojjerates a (Spring) Towne. Five generations of Townes

large agricultural house iu Elllington, where is Jiave been native to the State of New Hamii-

kept a large variety of farming implements,
buggies and wagons, grass seeds, etc. Besides
these interests, a couple of farms and other
properties claim his attention.

Wesley Milspaw was luiited in marriage, on
December 24, 1843, to Angeline, daughter of
Mrs. Almira C'heeseman, of Ellingt(m, N. Y.
To them have been born five children, three
sous and two daughters : Charles L., Willis M.,
Luella, Alice and Francis. Luella is married
to Clinton Conet, of Conewango, Cattaraugus
county ; Alice is married to George Wells, of
Warren, Pennsylvania, while the sons are resi-
dents and large farmers of the town of Ellington.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church (and has been for forty-eight years), in 1
which he is steward and trustee. Politically he
is a republican, and iu 1864-65 was highwav

shire, and have lived in the immediate vicinity
of Keene. The grandparent of the subject,
David Towne, was one of the daring patriots
and valiant soldiers who, under the incompara-
ble leadership of Ethan Allen, captured Fort
Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary war.
He was also one of the famous "Green Moun-
tain Boys" who won such a decisive and over-
whelming victory at Bennington, Vermont.
Andrew H. Towne (father of subject) is a
resident of Frankliuville, Cattaraugus county,
New York, and has been engaged in agricul-
tural and viticultural pursuits the major part of
his life. His wife, who was a native of Grafton,
Vermont, died iu 1888.

George E. Towne passed his childhood in
New Hampshire, and removed to Cattaraugus
county, N. Y., at the age of thirteen. He

commissioner, during which term of service he : entered the Ten Broeck academy at Franklin-
built twenty-five bridges. Mr. Milsi)aw is a | ville, graduating in 1875. In the si)ring ibl-
remarkably well-preserved man for his age, lowing his graduation he wended his way acro.s.s
which he attributes largely to his abstemious the continent to the Pacific coa.st, where he

habits and regard for the laws of health. His
entire career has been no less remarkable ; start-
ing in life without a dollar, he has gradually

hazarded his fortunes for about a year in the
golden State of California. In 1876 he returned
to the east, and began to read law with a cousin,

ascended the scale of success until now he pos- Hon. Alfred Spring, of Fraiddinville, tl
sesses all the material wealth that one could \ present surrogate of Cattaraugus coimty, and

reasonably desire. His life is one worthy of
study and indicates what can be done by perse-
verance, courage and energy.

the next year accepted the principalship of the
schools at Eittle Valley, Cattaraugus county,
which position he held a year, and then resumed
® his law studies. He was admitted to practice

HON. OEOKGE E. TOWNE is a man who in all the courts of the State of New York at
has been i)rominently identified with the Rochester in 1879, but began the actual prac-
public and political affairs of Chautaucpui tice of his profession iu Cattaraugus, New York,
county, and is also an advocate of recognized In 1880 he removed to Silver Creek, where he

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

continued liis practice until 1888, wlieu he
became a candidate for, and was elected to, the
New York Legislature. His course, while at the
State capital, so (wnipletely met with the apprcj-
l)ation of his constituents, and was so com-
mendable in its efforts to secure the political,
economic, industrial and reciprocal rights secured
to the citizens of the C'ommonwealth of New
York under its constitution and a republican
form of government, that at the termination of
his first term of service, he was enthusiastically
returned. While in the Legislature Mr. Towne
was a mendKi- of the judiciary committee, and
also chairman of the committee on claims. He
was recognized as one of the leaders of the
House on the republican side, and gained an
enviable reputation as a speaker, a logical and
persuasive I'easouer and a man of broad and
thorough acquaintance with public questions.
Mr. Towne has a pleasing address, is uniformly
genial and courteous, and as a lawyer, as a
representative of the ])eople, as a citizen, enjoys
the confidence and high esteem of his fellow-men.
On June 18, 1883, he was united in marriage
to Miss Uertha Smith, of Frauklinville, and
has three children: Frank, five years of age ;
Hazel ; and one still in iuiaucy. Mr. Towne is
half owner of thirty acres of grape land and has
twenty acres under cultivation.

/>OVEKNOI{ KEUBKN K. KENTON.

^^ Among the men of prominence who re-
ceived their birth and were reared within the
borders of the Empire State, none liave had a
more honorable or glorious career than Reuben
E. Fenton, who was the youngest son of George
W. and Elsie (Owen) Fenton, and was born in
the town of Carroll, Chautauqua connty, New
York, .July 4, 1819.

His father, George W. Fenton, was a native
of New Hampshire, and entered the M'orld in
1773, a son of Roswell Fenton, who shortly
after the date mentioned removed with his
family to the State of New York. George W.

Fenton was full of life and ambition, and in
1804 he started through the trackless forest, and
jiushed onward until he reached old Fort
Du (^uesne, where the city of Pittsburg now
stands. He engaged in trade with the settlers
and Lidians along the All(!gheny river, con-
tinuing the mercantile business until 1806, but
in the summer of the last named year he went
tip to Warren, Penna., and during the winter of
180(}-7, he taught the first school in that now
thriving and populous borough. He married
Elsie Owen, who was born in Warren county.
Pa., in 1790, and with her moved up into
Chautauqua county, where he followed farming
until his death, which occurred March 3, 1860.
He was a very intelligent man, and possessed a
superior education, a profound mind and excel-
lent judgment ; all of these qualities seem to
have been handed down to his youngest .son —
Reuben E. George W. and Elsie Fenton
reared a family of five children : Roswell O.,
who married Leanora Atkins ; George W., .Jr.,
married Mctta Howard ; ^\'illiam H. H., mar-
ried Catherine Ivlmunds ; John I''., nuirried
Maria Woodward ; and lieuben E.

Reuben E. l^enton received his early educa-
tion at a pioneer .school in his native town, and
when fifteen years of age, was sent to Gary's
academy, an institution of learning located six
miles north of Cincinnati, Ohio, but after
remaining there two years, he returned to
Chautauqua county, and completed his educa-
tion at the Fredonia academy. The following
two years were spent in studying law, Joseph
Waite, of Jamestown, being his preceptor, but
suffering from poor health, he was compelled to
abandon study, and engaged in the huuber
business along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers,
meeting with very satisfactory success. Quoting
from a eulogy delivered by the Hon. Chauncey
M. Depevv — " It is easier for a man of ability
to get on in a new country and with fresh sur-
roundings, than in the neighborhood where he
was born. Where every one has known him

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

from cliildliood he is often haiidicappeil by tlie
uuforgottci) frivolities of youth, aiul reaches
middle life before he has outgrown the feeling
that he is still a boy, while, as a new settler, he
starts at onee at the level of his ascertained
abilities. It is the peculiar distinction of iNIr.
Fenton that he overcame tiiese prejudices betbre
he was of age; that he became the choice of his
fellow-citizens for positions of trust as soon as
he attained his majority, and passing his life at
his birth-place, he earned, at a period when
most young men are unknown, tiie confidence
of the people among wlioni he had grown up,
and carried it witii him to liis grave. Tiiis
proud career was not lielpetl Ijy accident, or
luck, or wealth, or family, or powerful friends.
He was, in its best sense, both the architect and
builder of his own fortunes." For seven years
(1846-52) he was supervisor of the town of
Carroll, and from the last niimcil date his long-
continued jironiotion to places of trust was
frequent and notic^eable. In 1852, when but
thirty-three years of age, he was elected to the
United States Congress ; two years later, being
a candidate for le-eleetion, he was defeated by
the candidate of the American party, an organi-
zation which has passed down into history, and
is now known as the " Old Kuow-Nothing
party," at that time in the zenith of its power.
Reuben E. Fenton was originally a democrat,
and was elected to Congress as such in 1852,
but the great question wdiich destroyed the
Whig, and divided the Democratic party, met
him at the outset of his Congressional career ;
when Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska
bill, which had for its purpose the repealing of
that section of the Missouri Compromise which
forever prohibited slavery in the new territories,
the young Congressman was at once obliged to
choose between his conscience and his party, but
without hesitation or faltering he threw his whole
energies to the support of the former, and his
first speech was made in support of the inviola-
ble preservation of that compact so solemnly

made in 1820. It was the firs,t speech made
against the impending crime, and emanating
from a memlter of the party then dominant, its
clear notes rallied about him a determined band
of democratic representatives, and from that
day he was one of the leaders in the formation
and afterwards in the eondui^t of the liepul)licaii
[)arty, and Reuben E. Fenton was unanimously
elected presiding ofticer of the new party at the
first State convention held in New York. From
this time on until his death he co-operated witii
the Rei)ul)lican party, and by them was elected
to Congress in ]S5i>, and at each succeeding
election until 18()4. In the latter year he was
pitted against Horatio Seymour in the guber-
natorial contest of the Empire State. The
radical element of the Republican i)ar(y de-
nounced President Lincoln as being too slow
and conservative. Iforafio Seymour, in the
democratic National convention, in one of the
nio.st able and masterly speeches declared that
our martyred president's administration had
been a .series of costly and bloody mistakes, and
under his guidance the war had been a failure.
Horatio Seymour was one of the most brilliant
and attractive of New York's democratic states-
men ; his life was pure, his character unblem-
ished, and his personal magnetism made him
the idol of his party, and a most dangerous
op))onent. To meet this emergency, Reuben E.
Fenton was nominated by the republican con-
vention. The wisdom of the choice was speedily
apparent. Mr. Fenton's abilities as an organ-
izer were felt in every election district, and
when the returns showed the State carried for
Lincoln, and Fenton leading the presidential
vote by some thousands, the new governor
became at once a figure of National importance.
Within four days after his inauguration he
raised the last of New York's quota of troops,
and sent them to the front with the.se stirring
remarks : " Having resolutely determined to go
thus far in the .struggle, we shall not falter nor
hesitate when the Rebellion reels under our

328

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

heavy blows, when victory, upon all the methoils
of human caloulation, is so near. Believing
ourselves to be inspired by the same lofty senti-
ments of patriotism which animated our fathers
in founding our free institutions, let us continue
to imitate their bright example of courage,
endurance and faithfulness to principle, and in
maintaining them. Let us be faithful and per-
severe. Let there be a rally of the people in
every city, village and town." He was amiable
and conciliatory, but as unyielding of ])rini:iples
as the massive boulders to tiie falling raindrops;
he possessed the tact of satisfying applicants
and petitioners without granting their re(|uests,
w'here such would jeopardize or be prejudicial
to the public service. At the close of his first
term he was re-elected, and filled a second term.
So profoundly impres.sed was his party, that
when it met in Syracuse in LSG8 to elect dele-
gates for the National Convention at Chicago,
those elected were unanimously instructed to
present his name for Vice-President, and for
five ballots in that memorable contest he stood
next to Schuyler Colfax in the vote. The fol-
lowing year the Legislature of the State of
New York elected liim United States Senator,
and he held that honorable position for six
years, his term expiring March 3, 1875. After
his retirement from the Senate, Governor Fen-
ton was never again a candidate for office, but
President Hayes sent him abroad in 1878 as
chairman of the Commission to the Interna-
tional Monetary Convention to fix the ratio of
value between gold and silver, and provide for
their common use. It was about this time that
his health had become impaired, and continued
to grow wor.se until his sudden death while sit-
ting at his office desk in Jamestown, on August
25, 1885. The news, when given to the world,
was met w'ith man}' sorrowing expressions, and
when the Legislature met in the s[)ring of 188G,
resolutions of condolence were passed by both
the Senate and House, and a joint resolution
was introduced as follows :

"That a committee of tliree be appointed on
the ])art of the Senate, and a like committee on
the part of the Assembly, to select an orator
and to name a day for the delivery of an ora-
tion on the life and character of the late Hon-
orable Reuben Pj. Feuton, and to make all
needful j)reparation3 therefor."

The resolution was unanimously agi'ced to,
and the Honorable Messrs. Vedder, Fassett,
aud Parker were appointed by the Senate, and
the Honorable Messrs. Batcheller, Cheney and
Haggerty were appointed to represent the As-
sembly. These gentlemen met in joint com-
mittee, and decided to ask the Honorable
Chauncey M. Depew to deliver the oration,
and April 27, 1887, wa.s selected as the date for
its delivery. The ceremonies were held in the
Assembly hall, at the State capitol in Albany,
and with bowed heads and subdued emotions,
the multitude listened to the words of Mr.
De])ew, which though grand and ehxjuent, but
feebly expressed the virtues and greatness of
Reuben E. Fenton.

In 18.''>8, Reuben E, Fenton was married to
Jane Frew, who was born in 1820, and died
two years after her marriage, leaving one child,
a daughter. In 1844, Mr. Fenton married
Elizabeth Scudder, a daughter of Joel Scudder,
and born at Victor, Ontario county, this State,
in 1824. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had three chil-
dren : Josephine, who was born in the town of
Carroll, Chautauqua county, April 15, 1845,
now Mrs. Frank ]%. Clifford, of Jamestown ;
Jeannette, born November 2, 1848, now Mrs.
Albert Gilbert, Jr., of Jamestown ; and Reu-
ben Earle, who was born in Jamestown, June
12, 18(i5.

It is univei'.sally conceded that as a political
organizer Reuben E. Fenton ranked with the
best and, with the possible exception of Martin
Van Bureu, excelled them all; as a business
man he ranked with Folger, and as a statesman
he was the peer of Seward. His nature was
gentle, tender and affectionate, and his judgment

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

was tleep and profound. ]\Iany of New York's
sous have risen to disti notion, but none have
embodied in tiieir ciiaracter so many qualities
tiiat lead to success.

"prOKNE E. 1)E VOK, tiie present efficient

'~^ and accommodating postmaster at Elling-
ton, New York, is a sou of Dr. David G. and
Maiy T. ((jrinnell) De Voe, and was born in
the town of Napoli, Cattaraugus county. New
York, September 1 5tli, 1 842. His father, a na-
tive of Homer, Cortland county, New York,
migrated into Cattaraugus county in 18.32, and
in 1849 to Ellington, Chautauqua county, where
he continued to reside up to his death in 1857,
at the age of fifty-two years. Dr. De Voe was
a graduate of the Syracuse Medical College and
also of the Eclectic Medical College of Cincin-
nati, Ohio. Being the first practitioner of an
eclectic school to locate in the town of Ellington,
he naturally met with considerable opposition.
His was a new school of medicine to the people
of Ellington, he was received with a great deal
of skepticism and was forced to live down the
opposition and successfully demonstrate the
scientific wisdom and natural reason of his theory
and practice. This required hard work and un-
remitting application, and though complete suc-
cess followed, yet it was at the expense of his
health and mainly superinduced his death. Prior
to his death he enjoyed a large and varied prac-
tice, was a careful student in the various branches
of his profession, as well as in collateral subjects, |
and ranked high in the councils of the medical
fraternity. He was a man of sterling qualities,
and, at his death, was mourned by all who
knew him. The grandfather of our subject was '
a sturdy tiller of the soil, a New Englunder by
birth and a Revolutionary patriot and soldier.
He was of French descent and died at Homer,
Cortland county. New York, at the age of eighty-
two years. Subject's mother was born at Ca-
naan, Columbia county, New York, and died in
1889, at the age of eighty years.

Eugene E. Do Voe passed his early life mainly
within the county of Chautauqua, received his
education in the district schools and the academy
at Ellington, and has all his life been an in-
structor in instrumental music, piano and organ,
and conducting music. His field of labor
has been in western New York and western
Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was a musician in
the 64th regiment New York A'olunteers for a
period of three months and in the 1 Ilth Penn-
sylvania Volunteers for six months. In 1890
subject received the appointment as postmaster
of Ellington, which position he now holds.
Among the other official positions which have
been acceptably filled by Mr. De Voe is that of
town assessor, which office lie held for six years.
He has served on the board of education quite a
long time and in other offices of local import-
ance.

On October l;]th, 1870, Eugene E. De Voe
was united in marriage to Miss Ophelia, daugh-
ter of Hiram Terry, of the town of Ellington.
To them have been born three children, all
daughters: Bertha E., Marna M. and Ina Belle.

E. E. De Voe is a thorough republican, be-
lieving firmly in having fixed political views as
the projjer basis for wielding the right of .suf-
frage. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. As
a thorough musician, a skilled performer and
teacher, IMr. De Voe has a high standing in his
profession. He is a close student and has given
much time to thestudy of harmony, instrument-
ation and general technique of music.

HON. JOHN S. LAMIJEUT, judge of the
Siii)reme Court of New York for the
Eighth Judicial District, is one of that class of
self-made men who build their own " monuments
of fortune and reputation." He was born at
Johnsonville, Rensselaer county, New York
February 4, 1851, and is a son of Peter and
Mary (Morey) Lambert. The Lambert family
as the name would indicate is of English origin.
Peter Lambert was born and roared in England

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

where he remained until 1841, when he came to
this State and settled at Johnsonville. He was
trained to agricultural pursuits in his native
land and has followed farming ever since he be-
came a resident of Joiinsonville. He is an ac-
tive democrat and married Mary IMorcy, w ho is
a native of Ireland.

John S. Lambert was reared <>n his fiither's
farm and like most of farmers' sons prior to
18C0, enjoyed but limited educational advant-
ages. After a brief attendance at the common
schools he entered Greenwich academy, from
which educational institution he was graduated
at seventeen years of age. Leaving the latter
academy he worked on a farm for a few mouths
and came, in 1870, to Chautauqua county, where
he spent the ensuing two years as a laborer on a
farm. At the end of that time he became a
clerk at Mayville, in the office of Charles G.
Mapes, then surrogate of Chautauqua county.
During the two years he was with Mr. Mapes
he turned his attention to jurisprudence for
which he always had a decided preference, and
so far improved his leisure moments as to secure
considerable knowledge of the elementary prin-
cijiles of tiie common law. In 1874 he came
to Fredonia, wiiere he read law with Morris &
Russel for three years, and was then, in the fall
of 1877, admitted as a counselor-at-law in the
courts of the State of New York. In 1878 he
became a partner with Morris & Russel in the
practice of law, and three years later was elected
county judge. At the expiration of his six year
term, in 1888, he was re-elected as county judge
and had served two years ujion his second term
when (1890) he was nominated by his party as
their candidate for a justice of the Supreme
Court of New York, for the Eighth Judicial
District, composed of the counties of Allegany,
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Eric, Genesee, Niag-
ara, Orleans and Wyoming.

Judge Lambert took his seat upon the bench
on January 1st, 1890, for a term of fourteen
years and to succeed Judge Barker of Fredonia.

The judges of the Eighth Judicial District were
ap])ointcd by the governor from 1823 to 1847,
since which year they have been elected by the
people, and the judges from Chautauqua county
who presided over this district have been : John
Birdsall, aj)p()inted 1826; and Richard P. Mar-
vin, elected 1849, 1855 and 1865; George
P.arker, elected 1868, 1875and 188.3; and John
S. Lambert, elected in 1890.

Judge Lambert has always been a republican
in politics, but has many warm personal friends
iu the ranks of all the other political parties.
He is sociable but dignified, yet courteous and
pleasant to all whom he meets. At the bar he
was recognized as an able and successful lawyer
and on tlie bench he has presided with ability
and impartiality. To his own ability, energy
and efforts he owes his success in life, while his
fidelity and zeal in behalf of any cause wiiich
he espoused has won him the respect and confi-
dence of flic itublic.

CHAKLKS IJ. STl KDEVAXT officiates
as sl4Vtion agent for the Erie railway at
Kennedy, and by his courteous and obliging
manner has become popular with the traveling
public and highly esteemed by the company
wiiich he serves. He was born on the 28th of
December, 1844, near the city of Erie, Penn-
sylvania, and is a son of Ascl (). and Sarah
(Hall) Sturdevant.

Levi Sturdevant, the paternal grandfither,
was a native of Connecticut, and was born
about 1765. He emigrated from his native
State to Onondaga county. New York, in 1790,
and about thirty-five years later again moved,
this time to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where
he died after having spent his entire life farm-
ing. He married and reared a family of nine
children, — five sons and four daughters. John
C. Hall, who was the maternal grandfiither of
subject, -was a native of Onondaga county, born
about 1770, and died in Lafayette, the same
county, when sixty-five years of age. He fol-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

lowed fanning, and married a Miss Conkliiig
in 1790; she bore iiiin eight children, — one
son and seven daughters. He l)el()iiged to the
Wliig party, and was a member of the Metli-
odist Episcopal chureh.

Asel O. Stnrdevant was born at Fabins,
Onondaga count}', January 6, 1812, and spent
his childhood and you(h on a farm. Later in
life he purchased a pro])erty, and conducted
farming in connection with some mechanical
work. He married Sarali Hall on January 1,
1833, who bore him nine children : Chandler
D., dead ; John W., dead ; Clarissa A., married
William Briggs, of Union City, Pa.; Henry
C, killed at White Oak Swamp, Va., June 30,
1862, a member Company I, Gl.st N. Y. Vols.;
Guy H., died in Andersonville, Cla., Sept. 4,
18()4, a corporal Company I, 1,5th N. Y. Cav. ;
Charles B. ; Orlando J., resides at Jamestown ;
Harriet A. is the wife (if George Ames, of
Jamestown, and S. Jeaiinette, who also lives at
tiie last-named city with her husband, Alonzo
L. Moore. A.sel O. Stnrdevant voted with the
Republican party, was a member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church, and belonged to Clem-
ent Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Union City, Pa. He
was of a modest and retiring dis])osition, and
assiduously attended to his personal affairs, and
died at Jamestown, N. Y., April Id, 1888, at
seventy-five years of age.

Charles B. Stnrdevant, although born in the
Keystone State, spent his early days at Trux-
ton and Fabins, New York. He attended the
public schools, and worked upon his father's
farm until 18(J2, and then went back to Penn-
sylvania and worked on a farm until 18()3,
when he joined Company I, 15th New York
Cavalry, commanded by Col. R. M. Richard-
son, and was assigned to service in the Army
of Northern Virginia. Col. J. J. Coppinger '
succeeded Col. Richardson in command of this
regiment, and it operated in the Sheuandoaii
and parallel valleys. Mr. Stnrdevant served
twenty-three months as a private and corporal.

I The regiment, was attached to the Second Brig-
: ade, Third Cavalry Division, which was suc-
cessively under (ienerals Hunter, Sigel, Sheri-
dan and Custer, and was frequently engaged
during 1864. Early the following year they
left Shenandoah valley, and marched to White
House Landing, where they combined with
General Grant's army, and moved towards
Petersburg via City Point. From this time on,
Mr. Sturdevant was in all the cavalry eno-ace-
ments up to Lee's surrender in 1865. He did
special service in the adjutant general's office at
brigade and division headquarters, and was
discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, August 9,
1865. Following his discharge, he came to
Union City, Pennsylvania, and began railroad-
ing in 1806-67 as Ixiggage master; then from
1868 to 1873 as agent at Stamburg, Cattarau-
gus county, and since the latter date — a jjcriod
of eighteen years— he has been stationed here
in Kennedy, where he is station agent tor the
N. Y., L. E. and W. Railway.

The day before Christmas, 1867, lie was
married to Sarah Agnew, a daughter of Andrew
Agnew, of Union City, Pa., and they have had
two children. The elder, born in 18(i!), died
when three years of age, and Clara B., now
married to Rev. W. A. Heath, a Methodist
minister stationed at Sugar Grove, Pa. They
have two children, — Mabel Arline, born De-
cember 26, 1889, and Charles Vincent, born
June 14, 1891. Rev. W. A. Heath was born
at Brockport, N. Y., in 1864, and received his
theological education at Wesleyan University.
His first charge was at Russell, Pa., Erie Con-
ference.

Charles B. Sturdevant identifies himself with
the Republican party, and is prominent in the
Methodist church, taking an active part in its
affairs. For seven years he sat in the Board
of Education, and is connected with Kennedy
Lodge, No. 86, A. O. U. W., the Royal Tem-
plars of Temperance and H. C. Sturdevant
Post, No. 282, G. A. R., being especially ac-

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

tive in the latter. He is president of Ciiau-
tanqua County Veteran Union and G. A. R.
of Western New York and Northwestern Penn-
svlvania for 1891.

\AA\y\ L. SMITH, a leading luer-
cliant and tlie present postmaster of
Portland, was Ixirn in Mercer eonnty, Penn-
sylvania, December 20, 1850, and is a son of
George and Mary (Henderson) Smith. His
paternal grandfather, George Smith, Sr., was of
English descent and removed from his native
county of Trumbull, Ohio, to Mercer county
where he died in 18G4, aged eighty-one years.
He was a farmer and veterinary surgeon, and
one of the sons born to him in his Mercer
county home was George Smith, the father of
William L. Smith. Geo. Smith learned the
trades of carpenter and cabinet maker, which
he followed until September, 18G5, when he
came to the town of Portland and engaged in
farming. Within the last few years he has re-
tired from active life and resides at Portland,
although he still retains the supervision of bis
farm, on which is a good vineyard and several
acres of small fruits. Mr. Smith was born in
1824, and is a republican in politics. He is a
member of the Congregational church, the
Knights of Honor, and the Ciiantauqua Mutual
Insurance Order. He married Mary Hender-
son, a native of Crawford county, Pennsylva-
nia, who was a member of the Congregational
church and died in 1886, when in the sixty-
fourth year of her age.

William Ij. Smith was reared in his native
county until he was fifteen years of age, when
he came to Chautauqua county with his father.
He received his education in the common
schools of Pennsylvania and New York and
the Fredonia State Normal school. Leaving
school, he learned blacksmithing and carriage-
making, which he followed successfully at
Portland from 1873 to 1883. In the fall of
the latter ve;ir he formed a general mercantile

partnership with G. D. Conner, under the firm
name of Conner & Smith, which firm continued
eighteen months, when Mr. Conner sold his in-
terest to Mr. Smith's father and the firm name
then changed to W. L. Smith tV: Co. On April
30, 188U, IVIr. Smith purchased his father's in-
terest and since tliat time lias conducted a very
successful and remunerative business. His
genei-al mercantile establishment is on Main
street and is conveniently arranged for the large
business which he does. He carries a widely
varied and carcfidly selected stock of dry -goods,
groceries, notions, clothing, shoes, hardware and
lime, feed and everything else to be found in a
first-class store. His stock, which is the largest
in Portland, is worth over eight thousand
dollars, and has been enlarged from year to
year to meet the demands of a constantly in-
creasing patronage.

On Jaimary 24, 1874, Mr. Smith married
Hattie Springstead, daughter of Benjamin
Springstead now of Missouri. To their union
have been born two ciiildren, Julia Leona and
Herbert G.

W^. L. Smith is a member of the Knights
of Pythias Lodge, No. 284, Knigiitsof Honor
Lodge, No. 461, Knights of Maccabees Lodge,
No. 38. He has been active in political atfairs,
as well as in business circles, and has been an
earnest worker for several years in tiie
interests of the Republican party of his
town and county. He has served as constable,
collector and justice of the peace of the town of
Portland and on May 21, 1889 was appointed
by President Harrison, postmaster of the vil-
lage of Portland, which position he has filled
faithfully and efficiently ever since.

CHAKLES BLOOD, now serving his fifth
consecutive term as coroner of Chautauqua
county and whose embalming board and fluid
are used by tlie leading undertakers of the
United States, was born in the city of Ottawa,
Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada,

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

October 30, 1 835, and is a son of William and
Harriet (Burpee) Blood. The Blood family is
of Irish descent, and one branch of it settled in
Vermont, where, of its descendants, one was
William Blood, who was born in 1811. He
removed in early life to Ottawa, Canada, where
he resided for some years and afterwards in
1852 settled at Lockport, New York, which he
made his place of residence until his death in
1876 at sixty-five years of ajje. He was a re-
publican and in early life had met with the sad
loss of his wife, who died in Ottawa in 1841.
Mr. Blood was engaged during the greater part
of his life in the manufacture of chairs in the
cities of Ottawa, Canada, and Buffalo and Lock-
port, New York.

Charles Blood was reared, until he was si.x
years of age, in Ottawa, when his parents re-
moved to Buffalo, N. Y., where he resided until
1852, when he went with the family to Lock-
port, N. Y. At the latter place he learned the
trade of upholsterer and in 1858 came to Dun-
kirk where he embarked in the furniture Inisi-
ness, to which he added undertaking in 186(5.
His success as an undertaker and funeral
director was so complete, that he soon disposed
of his furniture business and has given his at-
tention ever since to undertaking. A leading
paper says :

" He is not only one of the leading under-
takers of New York but is a thoroughly repre-
sentative man of the most generous impulses and
genial qualities."

He is one of the nineteen undertakers who
signed the call to organize the New York State
Undertakers' Association, which owes much of
its effectiveness to his efforts. One of the most
important events of Mr. Blood's life is his in-
vention and patenting of the " Folding Em-
balming Board." It is undoubtedly one of the
most convenient and scientific contrivances for
handling the dead which has ever been intro-
duced in the United States and has received the
commendation of every undertaker who has ex-
17

amined it, as attested by the many flattering
letters in the possession of its manufacturer. In
addition to the invention of his popular em-
balming board,, he has compounded an " An-
tiseptic Embalming Fluid," which has met with
marked success wherever it has been used. It
is injected into the arterial circulation. These
two inventions are not only sold in all parts of
the United States but also in many foreign
countries.

He is a republican in politics; has been
elected five times as one of the coroners of
Chautauqua county, and is a member of St.
John's Protestant Episcopal church. He is a
Past Master of Irondequoit Lodge, No. 301,
Free and Accepted IMasons, and a member of
Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191 Royal Arch Masons,
Dunkirk Council, No. 26, Royal and Select
Mastei's and Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40,
Knight Templars.

On November 30, 1860, he married Emily
DeWitt, daughter of Alvin DeWitt of Dun-
kirk. They have two children : Thompson H.
and Myrtle.

In speaking of Mr. Blood, a history of Dun-
kirk city pays him the following well merited
tribute as a public official :

" One of the enterprising and successful cit-
izens of this place is Charles Blood, who is
serving on his fourth (now fifth) three years'
term as coroner, in which position he has made
a very acceptable officer, his former promptness
and efficiency causing him to be elected by a
flattering vote."

He has been the I'ecipient of many favorable
press notices, one of which said :

" For twenty-four years Mr. Blood has been
a successful undertaker. His experience in this
line is of great service to him as coroner and
has enabled him to save an expense to the
county in many ways. As an embalmer he has
no superior and when the body of an unknown
person has come under his charge, he has always
embalmed the remains free of charge and kept

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

them for several weeks, while he made every
effort for their identification. Often friends
from distant States have identified the remains
from a photograph taken several days after the
body had been embalmed."

Charles Blood is a man of energy and busi-
ness capacity, as is attested by the flourishing
condition of his undertaking trade.

"T^LISHA H. FAY, of the town of Portland,

-'"^ who has been actively and successfully
engaged for some years in fruit and grape cul-
ture, is a son of Lincoln and Sophrona (Peck)
Fay, and was born on the farm on which he
now resides, in the town of Portland, Chautauqua
county. New York, June 27th, 1844. Among
the early settled families of Portland were five
Fay families, four of whom were founded by
Elijah, Elisha, Nathaniel and Hollis Fay, sons
of Nathaniel Fay, Sr., who never cametoChau-
tauqua county. Elisha Fay, the second sou and
grandfather of Elislia H. Fay, who was born at
Farmingham, Massachusetts, June 2d, 1783,
came in June, 1806, to Portland, where he pur-
chased lot 25 from the Holland Land Company.
He served in the war of 1812, was at Buffalo and
Black Rock while out, and died in 1881, aged
ninety-eight years and nine months. He was
an early member of the Methodist Ejiiscopal
church, and at the time of his death was the
oldest settler in the town of Portland. In 1806
he married Sophia Nichols, of Massachusetts,
who died in 1850. Their children were Lin-
coln, Eddie, Charles and Otis N. The eldest
son, Lincoln, (father) was born in 1807 and died
in INIay, 1881. He followed farming and fruit
growing. He was one of the pioneer fruit-
growers of Chautauqua county, and, with a
Mr. Moss, of Fredonia, NewYork, purchased a
dozen of Concord grape-vines, from which have
originated thousands of acres of vines, in the
town of Portland and Chautauqua County. Lin-
coln Fay was the originator of " Fay's Prolific
Currant," which is now well and favorably

known all over the United States and Canada,
and many parts of Europe. He was one of the
first abolitionists in the county, had served for
many years as a trustee and class-leader in the
Methodist Episcopal church, and owned one
iiundrcd and forty acres of well-improved land.
He married Sophrona Peck, daughter of Ashel
Peck, a native of Connecticut and an early resi-
dent of Portland, where he was an industrious
farmer and an active local preacher of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church. Mrs. Fay is a Metii-
odist, resides on the home farm, and is now in
the seventy -fifth year of her age.

Elisha H. Fay was reared ia.his native town,
received his education in the common schools,
and has always followed farming. He now
owns the old Fay homestead that was pur-
chased from the Holland Land Company, and
has one hundred and thirty-three acres of land
in the edge of the village of Portland, where he
is engaged in farming and fruit-growing. At
the present time he is planting out a large vine-
yard on his Portland farm, where his neat and
tasteful residence is heated by steam, supplied
with hot and cold water, provided throughout
with telephone connections and lighted by natural
gas from wells on his land. He is a republican
in politics, has served as supervisor (two years)
and assessor (one year) of his town, and is a
pleasant and courteous' gentleman. Mr. Fay
has been general manager of the Chautauqua
Grape Growers' Association, and is a member
of a natural gas company, \vhich is now en-
gaged in drilling wells at Brocton.

May 5th, 1868, Mr. Fay married Ada
Dodge, daughter of Walter Dodge, of this
county. Mr. and INIrs. Fay have two children :
M. Birdina and Maxwell L.

/^APT. JAMES BUTLER, of Brocton, who
^^ has owned and commanded nearly fifty
vessels on the " Great Lakes," was born at Then-
ford, in Northamptonshire, England, November
25, 1817, and is a son of Joseph and Ann

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

(Batcbelor) Butler. His parents were natives
of Northamptonshire and united at an early age
with the Methodist Episcopal church. They
were an honest, hard-working couple, and came
in 1832 to Ashtabula county, Ohio, when the
cholera was raging in that section of country.
Jo.seph Butler was a shepherd in England, but
after coming to the United States be followed
farming until his death, which occurred April
11, 1855, at the age of seventy-one years and
three months. Mrs. Butler was a kind Christian
woman, and jjassed from the scenes of this life
at Geneva, Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1878, at
the ripe old age of ninety-five years.

James Butler, at fifteen years of age, came
with his parents to Ohio, and on September 1,
1833, went to Lake Erie, where he resolved
upon a sailor's life for himself and embarked
as a hand on a small schooner called the " Par-
rot," on which he remained until it was laid up
for the winter. The next sjjring he was oflered
a berth on the " Parrot " which some unaccount-
able impulse caused him to decline, and as the
vessel sank when three hours out from harbor
with all on board, he thinks it was a providen-
tial interposition that caused him not to go on
board. He then worked his way to Detroit,
where he spent his last ten cents for a loaf of
bread and some cheese, upon which he managed
to live for ten days, while a workshop afforded
him a sleeping place. At the end of this time
he went on board a steam-vessel and worked his
way to Buffalo where he soon obtained the posi-
tion of chief cook on a schooner at twelve dollars
per month. In six mouths he obtained a pro-
motion, and was successively promoted until he
became captain, which position he held on differ-
ent vessels for seventeen years. After forty
years of active service on the lakes, during which
time he never lost a vessel or a sailor, he came
in 187(j to Brocton, where he built and now
occupies one of the finest brick residences of
that village. Of late years Capt. Butler has
turned his attention to grape-growing at Brocton,

where he has a very fine vineyard. He has
owned twenty-three vessels, including everything
from a scow to a brig. In 1861 he built the
bark "A. P. Nichols" (named for his Bufflilo
attorney), and in the succeeding year the " Red
White and Blue." They were said to be the
fastest vessels then on Lake Erie, and the latter-
named one was pronounced when it was launched
to be the lai'gest and finest vessel on Lake Erie.
He was also a sliip merchant for some years in
Buffalo. He has wrought out for himself the
success of his life, and the commendable ambi-
tion of the poor boy has been more than realized
in the position of the respected and influential
citizen.

On June 12, 187G, Captain Butler united in
marriage with Mrs. Sarah (Skinner) Maloney,
of Brocton, and they went on a bridal trip to
the old world, where tliey visited England and
many other countries of Europe. They have
one cliild, a daughter named Annie M.

Captain Butler is a republican politically, has
been for fourteen years a trustee and steward of
the JSIethodist Episcopal church, and is one of
the substantial citizens of Brocton.

nALPH A. HALL,, a member of the bank-
ing firm of Dean & Hall, of Brocton,
was born at Sedgwick, Hancock county, Maine,
June 5, 1844, and is a son of Dr. James A. and
Caroline (Hei'rick) Hall. Of the early settlers
of the town of Portland one was Ahira Hall,
the paternal grandfather of the subject of this
sketch, and who came from his native State ot
Connecticut in 1818. He was a lawyer, served
as justice of tiie peace for some years and man-
aged his farm until his death in 1856, at eighty-
two years of age. He was an ardent methodist
in religious faith, and all of his thirteen children
were members of the M. E. church. His son,
Dr. James A. Hall, was born in Connecticut in
1815, and died April 8, 1865, at Brocton. He
was a graduate of Bowdoin college, read medi-
cine, and located at Brocton in 1844, and shortly

BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY

afterwards graduated from the medical depart-
ment of Bovvdoiu college. He served during
the late civil war as surgeon of the 49ch regiment,
Maine V^ols., was a methodist and republican.
He had a large practice, and married Caroline
Herrick, of Brooklin, Maine, who was born in
1823, and is a consistent member of the ]Mctho-
dist Episcopal church.

Ralph A. Hall was reared principally at
Brocton. He received his education in the
public schools and Fredonia academy, and then
obtained a situation as a clerk in a mercantile
house at Sherman where he remained for three
years. He then (1870) engaged in the hardware
business at Brocton, in which he continued until
1881, when he became a traveling .salesman for
a wholesale hardware house in Buffalo. Three
years later he left the road and became a mem-
ber of the present banking firm of Dean & Hall,
of Brocton. They are conservative and safe as
financiers, and the management of their bank is
based upon correct and economical financial
principles.

In 1870 ]Mr. Hall married Mary J., daughter
of Mark Haight, of Brocton. They have one
child, a daughter named Eva H.

In addition to his investment in the banking-
business Mr. Hall owns a good grape farm and
is interested in a land syndicate which is known
as the " Brocton Land and Improvement Com-
pany." He is a republican, and a member and
trustee of the Brocton M. E. church. He is a
member of Castle Hall, No. '284, Knights of
Pythias, which was organized February 151,
18(34 ; Brocton Council, No. 18, Royal Templars
of Temperance, organized in 1877, and Brocton
Lodge, No. 8, Ancient Order of United Work-
men, the oldest order of its kind in the United
States, having been established at Meadville,
Pa,, October 28, 1868.

HI:k:>I<>X J. 1>EAX, M.D., a resident
physician for the last thirty-four years
of Brocton, is a son of Rev. Robert and Aman-

da (Stebbins) Dean, and was born in the town
of Royalton, Niagara county, New York, July
8, 1832. The Deans are of English national-
ity and were resident in eastern New York dur-
ing the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Rev. Robert Dean, tlie father of Dr. Dean, was
born in Putnam county, in 1799, and died in
Niagara county, in February, 187G. He was
an ordained minister of the Baptist church,
following farming for some years in Niagara
county and was an old-line whig and republi-
can in politics. His wife, a native of the town
of Conway, Massachusetts, and a member of
the Baptist church, died- in Niagara county in
1872, aged sixty-two years.

Hermon J. Dean grew to manhood in his
native town, received his early education in the
public schools of Niagara county aud com-
menced the study of medicine in 1854. After
completing the required course of reading he
entered Miami Medical college, of Cincinnati,
Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1857.
In the same year he came to Brocton, where he
has had a large and remunerative practice until
the present time. Dr. Dean is a member of
the Chautauqua County Medical society, was one
of the founders of the New York State Medical
association and takes a deep interest in the
progress of his profession.

On October 30, 18(51, Dr. Dean married
Eda T. Fay, a daughter of Lincoln Fay, a son
of Elisha Fay, one of the earliest .settlers and
substantial citizens of the town of Portland.

Dr. H. J. Deau is a republican politically
and has held the office of supervisor of the
town of Portland for five terms in succession.
He Is a member of Brocton Lodge, No. 8,
Ancient Order of United Workmen. Dr.
Deau is also interested in the material develop-
ment and financial prcsperity of his village.
He is a stockholder in the Brocton Land and
Improvement company and has been for several
years a member of the banking-house of Dean
ct Hall, which they founded to advance the

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

business interests of their village and section of
the county. This bank has fully realized the
expectations of its founders, and has been of
great benefit to the business interests of the
town of Portland and surrounding towns.

/^KOKGi: F. HURLBURT. There is more

^^ genius necessary to properly and success-
fully conduct a hotel, than, probably any other
business, as the work brings the proprietor in
direct contact with characters and dispositions
seldom found and not often displayed outside of
the home or at the hotel. Mine host, Hurl-
burt, of the popular Dunkirk hotel bearing his
name, seems to be possessed of this characteris-
tic in a large degree. George F. Hurlburt was
born in Forestville, Chautauqua county. New
York, September 13, 1860, and is a son of
John F. and Anna Maria (Griswold) Hurlburt.
John Hurlburt (paternal grandfather) was one
of the Chautauqua county pioneers. He came
from New Jersey and settled at Forestville in
1840. He was a wagon-maker by trade and
carried on this business in Forestville, at the
time of his death which occurred in 1858.
John F. Hurlburt (father) was a native of
Forestville and for many years carried oo a
large carriage and wagon factory there. After
cjuitting this business he opened a hotel in the
same town, which he conducted until 1870,
when he moved to the oil district and continued
the same occupation there until 1882 when he
died, aged fifty-six years. Mr. Hurlburt was
a member of the Baptist church, the Masonic
fraternity and of the Republican party, being
an active and energetic worker in the latter, and
very popular among his friends and acquaint-
ances. He married Anna Maria Griswold, a
native of Westmoreland, Oneida county, New
York, in 1854, by whom he had three children.
She resides with her son, is a member of the
Baptist church and is actively engaged in the
church work, although she has reached the age
of fiftv-nine.

George F. Hurlburt spent his first ten years
in Chautauqua county and went with his father
when he moved to Petroleum Centre, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1870. His education was acquired at
the public schools and then he went to Buffalo,
securing employment in the large cracker works
of George Mudgridge & Son, which place he
retained until 1880, when he resigned to join
his father in the hotel business at Knapp's
Creek, Pennsylvania, where they remained for
two years and then went to Farnsworth where
the father died in 1882. In 1884, G. F. Hurl-
burt came to Dunkirk and opened the Hurl-
burt House at the time of the Congressional
convention of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus
counties and entertained one hundred and fifty
guests. He continued proprietor of this house
until 1886 when he went to Youngstown, Ohio,
and with G. 11. Baker opened the Todd House,
a building containing one hundred and fifty
rooms, and elegant in all its appointments.
Under the new management it developed into
a big success and was run for a year when they
sold out on a good offer. Negotiations were
then commenced for the Sherman House of
Jamestown, but the j)roprietors flunked and
Mr. Hurlburt was in a fair way to secure the
Brazell House at Buffalo, just at the time of
the disastrous fire resulting in the loss of life.
He then went to Kansas City, Missouri, and
engaged in the real estate business making con-
siderable money, finally trading some property
there for a hotel in Chicago, which he ran on
the European plan for one year. The Arling-
ton Hotel at Erie, had passed through many
vicissitudes, many of which were depressing.
Mr. Hurlburt took charge of it in 1888 and
])iaced it on a footing equal to the best, but the
owners sold it and he went to Van Buren Point
and conducted a summer resort for the season.
But his greatest triumph is the Hurlburt House
in Dunkirk, with which he has been connected
since 1881) and which is now said to be the best
hotel between Buffalo and Cleveland. The

338

BIOGRAPHY ASI) HISTORY

table is the equal of the best, the service is
without a superior, every convenience is in use
for the comfort of the guests and last but far
from least, is the genial-mannered proprietor
who circulates amongst his guests and makes
each feel that he is at home.

In 1886 he married Etta Vaudevort, one of
the most charming and noble young ladies of
Dunkirk.

TAMES C. WAT.KKK, a son of Clark and

^^ Esther (Caldwell) Walker, was boru in
Brocton, Chautauqua county, New York, August
29, 1842. Deacon Joseph Walker (great-grand-
father) was born February 10, 1739, and died
December 15, 1813, in Massachusetts. Samuel
Walker (grandfather) was a native of Massa-
chusetts, being born in 1773. In 1828 he came
to Brocton and engaged in farming, a vocatiim
which he pursued for man}' years. For many
years he was a consistent member of the Pres-
byterian church, and died in 1843 consoled in
its faith. Clark Walker was born at Hopkin-
tou, iSIass., in 1813, and came to Chaut^iuqua
county with his father when fifteen years of age.
He settled in Portland, which has been his home
ever since. When a young man he learned the
carpenter's and joiner's trade and employed him-
self thereby for some time, but since 1860 farm-
ing has been his chief vocation. Now in his
seventy-eighth year, he personally superintends
the workings of his farm and vineyard. For
sixty years he has been identified with the
Brocton Baptist church, in which he is a deacon.
Since the organization of the llepublican party
he has affiliated witii it, but he is a strong tem-
perance man and his sympathies lean towards
that class of legislation. Mr. Walker has filled
town offices, but has never entered politics at
large. In 1837 he married Esther Caldwell, a
daughter of Samuel Caldwell, and, although of
Scotch-Irish extraction, has for some generations
been identified with American history. Her
mother, Mary Clyde, was a prominent woman

on account of her mental attainments and skill
in medicine. Mrs. Walker is a sister of Samuel
Caldwell, whose sketch appears elsewhere. They
had .seven children.

James C. Walker was reared on the farm and
educated in the public schools and Westfield
academy. Upon leaving the academy he taught
school for a iev; years and then returned to the
farm, where he has resided ever since. His fine
place, forty acres in extent, has a vineyard upon
it from which a good yield of luscious fruit is
secured.

In 1870 he wedtled Lydia Tiukham, a daugh-
ter of Jacob Tinkham, who lived in the town of
Pomfret. They have two children, one .son and
one daughter: Benjamin, aged seventeen, and
Jessie N., a child of five.

/^RANGE A. F.VRGO for many years was
^^ a leading farmer of Poland town, this
county, and stood foremost in the ranks of the
breeders of high grade stock. Strict attention
to the details of his business enabled him to
accumulate a competency, and for some years
past he has been retired from active work and
is living opulently at Kennedy. Orange A.
Fargo is a sou of Samuel and Elizabeth B.
(Ambler) Fargo and he began life in the village
of Attica, Genesee county. New York on the
eighth day of May, 1827. His blood is a dif-
fusion of Frcin'h and Cymric, the father's
ancestors having been natives of Wales. Both
grandfathers, Fargo and Ambler, were born,
reared and died in the State of Vermont, where
Samuel Fargo, subject's father, was born.
Samuel Fargo came to Chautauqua county
about 1829. He was brought up on a farm
but received an excellent education, through
the assistance of his parents, coupled with his
own exertions, and after leaving school as a
student, he taught for some time, studying
theoretical medicine and qualifying him.self for
a physician at the same time. He practiced in
(Genesee county and then came to this county.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

339

Gerry town, and made his home and practiced
in the " Vermont settlement." He followed
the profession until a few years before his
death, when advancing age compelled hira to
relinquish its arduous duties. He married
Elizabeth B. Ambler and had ten children, six
of them are living : Ariel W. is a farmer in the
town of Westfield; Eveline married Leonard
Barton and lives at Elko, Cattaraugus county ;
Clarissa is the wife of John Helmick; Maria
A. lives with her husband, David Ostrander at
Gerry ; Mary T. married Henry Starr, and
lives at Gerry ; and Orange A. Samuel Fargo
was originally a democrat but when the slavery
question disturbed the country and divided
households with its bitter intensity, he joined
his sympathies with the republicans and became
an ultra-abolitionist.

During his whole life his energies were
bent toward bettering the common schools
of his locality and for a long time he held
the office of school trustee. It is safe to
say that never before or since has the office
been occupied by a more zealous incumbent or
one more anxious to elevate the standard of liis
charge. He had a firm belief in the existence
of a Supreme Ruler of the universe, an adher-
ent of tiie sect devoted to the study of scientific
morals, but was not connected with any church.
His integrity was never questioned and his honor
never imputed. Mr. Fargo was a widely read
man antl a devoted student of the Bible. He
died when fifty-eigiit years of age.

Orange A. Fargo came with his parents to
Gerry town when only two years of age and
spent his childhood and youth on the farm.
Having secured a good education, he began
lumbering and followed it for many years, but
in 1860 he entered agriculture and began to
breed fine stock. The best strains of blood
were secured for his stud, although he bred
for results rather than pedigree. Much of the
fine stock now scattered throughout Chautauqua
county were originally from his stables, and to

Mr. Fargo is much credit due for the improve-
ment.

He married ]\Iary L. Tucker, a daughter of
David Tucker, of the town of Poland, July 24,
1847. They reared a family of eight children,
all of whom, excepting two that have died, are
well-to-do, educated and representative people of
the localities in which they live. licroy is an
agriculturist in Cattaraugus county ; Addison
A. tills the soil in the town of Ellington ; Fred
A. farms in Poland ; Irwin, same residence and
occupation ; Victor H. farms in Cattaraugus
county ; and Elmer E. resides in Brocton, New
York.

Orange A. Fargo is a republican of a most
pronounced character, is a great reader and
keeps himself informed upon public matters.
Having been successful in business and laid by
a snug fortune, he can lay back and contemplate
the outside world with complacency.

FERNANDO COKTEZ HASKIN. Among
the many American citizens who trace
back their lineage to Celtic Scotland is Fer-
nando Cortez Haskin, the subject of our sketch.
He is a son of Enoch and Mary (Wadsworth)
Haskin and was born in Pittston, New York,
on July 5, 1817. Elkanah Haskin, from
whom the American stock by that name sprang,
was born in Scotland about the year 1700,
came to Connecticut in early life and settled in
Norwich. Here he pursued the vocation of
broadcloth weaver, reared his family and died
at the age of eighty years. His family in-
cluded seven children, one of whom, Enoch
Sr., was the great-grandfather of our subject,
and was born May 5, 1740, in Norwich, Con-
necticut. True to his religious training and
environment, he was a strong adherent of the
Presbytei'ian church and sought to inculcate its
doctrines and dogmas by his life and example.
Enoch Sr., was twice married ; by his first
wife he had one daughter, Rachel ; by his
second wife he had several children, among

BIOGBArHY ANT) HISTORY

wliom was Enoch Jr., suhjeet's grandfatlier,
boru July 23, 1765. Animated and fired witli
enthusiasm for his country's independence in
its moments of deepest gloom, our boyish
patriot threw his life, his soul, his all into tiie
struggle for liberty. He did all that a boy
could in behalf of his native land, endured tiie
privations, the sufferings, the dangers and the
vicissitudes of war. Upon one occasion he was
stunned by a cannon-shot and thrown into the
ditch, but abnost miraculously resuscitated and
lived to see the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. Reward was made for his gallant
services by a pension. Subsequent to the Rev-
olution he married Miss Lydia Ackley, who
bore him a family of seven children. He was
thoroughly democratic in his views of State ;
conscientious in conduct, and an active member
of the Presbyterian church. He died in Ohio.
The father of our subject was born near Breed-
port, Vermont, in 1788, and in 1818 came to
the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county, New
York, where he lived until his death in 1868.
He was reared upon a farm and subsequently
purchased a farm of his own in Sheridan town,
which he cultivated simultaneously with other
branches of business. Later he went into the
hotel business, and as proof of his carefulness
and integrity in the sale of liquors, has on file
some thirty-one liceuses granted by the excise
committee. He is an enthusiastic democrat in
political creed, but a very notable attestation of
his popularity irrespective of party is the fact
that he lacked but twenty-one votes in the race
for the office of sheriff in a strong republican
district. His union in marriage was blest with
eight children, four boys and four girls ; two
of the former and three of the latter are still
living.

Fernando C. Haskin was married to Sarah
A. Keech, a daughter of Abram Keech of the
town of Hanover. Three children were born
to them : George ; Susan who now lives in
Winona, Minnesota; and Mary, married to

George Cranston, a postal clerk on the Penn-
sylvania Railroad.

Mr. Haskin received the customary common
school education of this day, and being reared
on a farm, has followed farming ever since,
with the exception of eight years spent in the
lumber business. He has acquired a com-
fortable home, is regarded as an honest, upright
citizen and a good neiglibor ; is a democrat in
politics, both by heredity and principle and is
fully alive to the National issues of the day.

TEDKDIAH M. JOHNSON, a very suc-

cessful farmer and grape-grower of the

town of Ripley, was born in the town of Nor-
wich, Chenango county, New York, May 3,
1845, and is a son of Homer and Roxanna
(Skinner) Johnson. The Johuson family is of
English descent and settled at an early day in
southern New England, from which Dr. Jona-
than Johnson, the paternal grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, came to Chenango
county, New York, shortly after the year 1791.
He read medicine for four years under a pre-
ceptor in his native State of Connecticut, re-
ceived a diploma which is dated April 3, 1791,
and after removing to Chenango county, his
pioneer practice soon extended into adjoining
counties. As his county developed Dr. John-
sou grew in wealth, medical repute and personal
influence and at his death owned several mills,
stores and valuable farms, aggregating a value
of one hundred thousand dollars. He married
Hannah Graves, who lived to be ninety-six
years of age. Tiiey had four sous and one
daughter. One of the sons was Homer John-
son (father) who was boru October 31, 1803, in
Chenango county, where he died May 9, 1872.
He was a carpenter by trade, a farmer by occu-
pation, a whig and republican in politics and a
member and trustee of the Baptist church. He
married Roxanna Skinner, who was born Feb-
ruary 14, 1806. Their family consisted of five
sons and five daughters, of whom six are

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

liviug : John, a farmer of Ripley (see sketch);
Mary, widow of Orin Warner and wife of
Thomas W. Hall, of Norwich, N. Y. ; Jona-
tlian Darwin ; Abie, married to Ashel Holcomb,
of l^ipley ; Emily, who married a Mr.
Cartland Hall and afterwards Melvin Slater, of
Norwich, N. Y. ; and Jedediah M. Those
deceased are: Hannah M., born March 23,
1827, died October 10, 186- ; Harriet A.,
born June 25, 1848, died April 19, 18G4 ;
George H., born July 8, 1834, died May
7, 1886 — he was a carpenter by trade and for
many years was boss carpenter of a large gang
of workmen, laying out the work for the others
to do; and Charles H., born August 16, 1837,
died December 3, 1880; he was a Baptist
preacher of pronounced ability and during his
itinerancy built two churches of that denomina-
tion and was the means of the conversion of
many souls. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of
Daniel Skinner (maternal grandfather) who was
a native of Connecticut and a resident of Che-
nango county, where he followed farming and
married Hannah Skinner, by whom he had
nine children.

Jedediah M. Johnson grew to manhood in
his native town, where he attended the common
schools and Norwich academy. He commenced
life for himself as a farmer and in 1869 came
to the productive lake farm in the town of
Eipley, on which he now resides and on which
he erected his present substantial residence,
good barns and first-class out-buildings. He is '
a republican in politics, served five years in the
State Militia, in which he refused a lieutenancy,
and is a member of the Baptist church.

September 17, 1867, Mr. Johnson married
Annie M., daugiiter of Hiram A. Burton, of
Brocton, and a member of the Baptist church.
To tiieir union have been born oue son and two
daughters: Harriet A., born August 6, 1868;
Hiram B., January 10, 1872 ; and Emily L.
B., who was born March 8, 1879, and died
April 18, 1887.

On his lake shore farm of eighty-two and a
half acres of land he has a vineyard of twenty-
five acres, which, during the grape season of
1890, produced the large yield of twenty-one
thousand baskets, or one hundred tons of
grapes. Since 1869 Mr. Johnson has been
dealing continuously in apples, peaches, plums,
pears and various other kinds of fruits. He
handles large quantities of fruit and has been
very successful in farming and the cultivation
of the vine. He takes great interest in all agri-
cultural pursuits and is a member of Ripley
Grange, No. 68, Patrons of Husbandry.

He has twenty-five acres of young grapes
which go on wires next year, which makes
fifty acres in the ground now.

HIRAM BUBCH, a substantial farmer of
Portland and a Union soldier of the late
civil war, is a son of Oliver W. and Mary S.
(Tower) Burch, and was born on the farm on
which he now resides, in the town of Portland,
Chautauqua county. New York, December 15,
1831. In the town of Wells, Rutland county,
Vermont, in the year 1766, was born to Jona-
than and Eunice Burch, a son, who, in accord-
ance with a time-honored custom of New Eng-
land, was given his father's name, Jonathan.
This Jonathan Burch, Jr., the grandfather of
Hiram Burch, at twenty years of age (1786)
married Sally Hosford and settled in Herki-
mer county, where, after a residence of a few
years, he removed to Chenango county. He
served and was a major in the war of 1812.
In January, 1813, he settled on lot 62, twp. 4,
in the town of Portland, and his farm is now
owned by the subject of this sketch. He died
in 1838 and his wife passed away in 1845,
aged sixty years. They had five sons and five
daughters : Eunice, wife of Heman Ely ; Olive,
who married Zeri Yale; Jonathan, who mar-
ried Maria Yale; Powell G., who married
Lovina Palmer; Polly, wife of Jared Taylor;
Sally, who married Erastus Cole; Oliver W.

342

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

married Mary S. Tower ; Chaimcy, who married
Nancy Cole; Stephen S. ; and jNIatilda, who
died at eighteen years of" age. Of the sons,
Oliver W. (father) was born in Herkimer
county, and about 1825 purchased his father's
farm, on which he resided until his death, in
1883, at the ripe old age of eighty-twt) years.
On March 8, 1825, he married* Mary Sprague
Tower, daughter of John and Lucy (Munson)
Tower, of Oneida county. The Towers were
descendants of one who came over in the "May-
flower." To Oliver W. and Mary S. Burcii
were born six sous and three daughters: Lucy,
Olive, Hattie, Walter, who served in the 49th
New Yoi-k, for ten months, and was discharged
on account of typhoid fever ; Newell, served
about two and a half years as a member of the
154th New York — was captured at Gettysburg
and held prisoner for twenty-one months at
Belle Isle and Andersonville ; Rollin, a soldier
in the 7th Iowa, and a prisoner for two months —
he then re-enlisted and served fo the close of the
war ; Hiram, was in Iowa at the breaking out
of the rebellion ; Horace and Ransom. After Mrs.
O. W. Burch's death, March 2, 1851, at forty-
three years of age, Mr. Burch married, on No-
vember 30, 1884, Arminda Sunderlin, who still
survives.

Oliver W. Burch, although young, remem-
bered well the excitement caused by the British
burning Buffalo.

Hiram Burch was reared on the homestead
farm and received his education in the common
schools. He has followed farming ever since
leaving school, and is now engaged to some
extent in the culture of the vine. He owns
the homestead farm of ninety-seven acres,
which is located three miles northeast of West-
field. In 1861 Mr. Burch enlisted in Co. I,
9th regiment, Iowa volunteers, but soon caught
a cold that settled in his eyes and caused his
discharge from the service, after being in about
four months.

On March 17, 1870, he married Louisa,

daughter of Frederick Miller. They have one
child, a sou, Clarence G., now in his twenty-
first year.

Hiram Burch is a republican in politics and
a strong advocate of the temperance cause. On
Thursday, August 22, 1889, there was a re-
union of the children of O. W. and INIary S.
Burch at the old homestead farm. All of the
nine children were present, of whom the eldest
was sixty-two years of age, and the youngest
over forty-two years. At this re-union Rev.
Knight read an interesting history of the Burch
family from 1700 to 1890, which was carefully
prepared by one of the children. One of its
concluding sentences was : '' But as our feet
diverge from this home of our childhood, as we
again go forth into the world, let us not forget
the duties we owe in all charity and love to one
another."

T . KWIS B. BIXBY is a son of Horace S.
''^ and Julia E. (Hanchett) Bixby, and was

born April 2, 1864, in Hartfield, Chautauqua
county. New York. The name of Bixby is of
Danish origin, but the original family lived so
long in Boxford, Suffolk county, England, and'
iutermarrietl so much with the inhabitants
thereabout that the Danish characteristics were
well nigh lost. The first one of the family to
emigrate to America, and from whom the
American Bixbys all descended, was Joseph
Bixby, who came from England in 1636, and
settled in Ipswich, near Salem, Massachusetts,
eleven years later (1647). In 1660 he removed
to what w-as then Rowley village, now Box-
ford, being incorporated in the latter place
through his efforts. In 1647 Joseph Bixby
was married to Sarah (Wyatt) Heard, who was
the maternal American ancestor of the Bixbys.
The fiimily has been remarkable for its jMCty
and energy, and many of those born in this cen-
tury have been educated men of high standing.
The earlier ones had to struggle with the In-
dians, and became well ac(juaiuted with all the

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

hardships of pioneer life. During the late civil
war New England alone furnished ten com-
missioned officers in the Union army from the
Bixby family. The great-great-great-grand-
father of Lewis B. Bixby was Samuel Bixby,
wiio was a son of Benjamin Bixbv, and was
born in Lopsfield, Massachusetts, January 2,
1689, and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, in
1718. He had a son, Solomon, who was born
in that part of Sutton now Milbury, Massaciiu-
setts, and settled in Barre, Massachusetts. His
wife's name was Esther, but fartiier nothing is
remembered of her. Solomon Bixby was the
great-great-grandfatiier of L. B. Bixby. . He
had three sous and five daughters ; one of the
sons, Joel, being the great-grandfather of L. B.
Bixby, and was born in Barre, Massachusetts,
November 15, 17G8, and had two cliildren, one
of whom, Solomon, born March 5, 1808, at
Worcester, Massachusetts, and died in May-
ville, New York, April 5, 1881, was the grand-
father of L. B. Bixby. He owned and operated
a machine-shop and foundry, first at Hartfield,
this county, and then at Mayviile. In polities
he was a republican. He had a family of six
children, two sons and four daughters, the eld-
est of whom was Horace (father). He was
born October 20, 1835, at Worcester, Massa-
chusetts, and was married November 21, 1801,
to Julia Hanchett, a daughter of Joseph Han-
chett, by whom he had four children, two sons
and two daughters : Lewis B., Georgianna, born
October 20, 1865, at Hartfield (dead); William,
born at Mayviile, April 16, 1870, died January
15, 1885; and Millie, born at Mayviile, De-
cember 26, 1876.

Lewis B. Bixby was educated in the Union
school, at Mayviile, and then took a college
preparatory course, but did not enter college.
He entered the Brush Electric Works, at Cleve-
land, Ohio, and learned the trade of electrical
engineering, remaining with them four months
in the shops, and tiien went into the field, set-
ting up their lamps. His next engagement

was with the Buckeye Mower and Reaper
Works, at Akron, Ohio, where he had charge
of the electric lighting. Returning to Mayviile
in 1883, he engaged in the machine-shop with
his father, where they do a general repair busi-
ness, and has remained there since. During
the summer he furnishes the electric lighting for
the Chautauqua Association grounds at the
lake. They also handle pipe and supj>lics, and
have a factory, twenty-five by fifty feet, two
stories on Water street. In politics he is a
republican, and is at present excise conjmis-
siouer of the town of Chautauqua. In religion
he is a member of the Baptist Church, of J\Iay-
vilie. Lodge, 284, I. O. O. F., and of Lodge
No. 825, K. of H., at Mayviile.

Lewis B. Bixby was married September 16,
1884, to Alice M. Belden, a daughter of N. D.
Belden, of Mayviile, and has two children :
Emma T., born July 8, 1885, and Harry E.,
born April 8, 189; I.

O^MITH H, BBOWXELL, of Ellery town, is

^•^ a son of Peter R. and Rhoda (Putnam)
Brownell, and was born in the town where he
now resides, June 4, 1835. The paternal grand-
parents were Joshua and Elizabeth (Reasoner)
Brownell. Joshua Brownell was a native of
the Empire State and was born on Long Island,
near New York city, and arose to a position of
prominence. About 1812 he moved to and set-
tled near Elmira, this State, and engaged in
cattle dealing, buying and shipping large num-
bers to the New York and Philadelphia markets.
Politically he was a whig and devoted admirer
of DeWitt Clinton, whom he ardently supported
when he was a candidate for governor. His
wife, Elizabeth Reasoner, bore him nine chil-
dren and he died in Chemung county in 1822.
Peter R. Brownell was born in Dutchess county
April 20, 1806, and came to Chautauqua county
during his youth. He began life as a fiirm
laborer, working by the mouth, until twenty-
eight years of age, when lie bought a farm in

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

the towu of Ellery, which he lived upon for
thirty-six jears. In 1870 he moved into James-
town, and, being wealthy, he has retired from
business and is quietly enjoying his declining
years. He married Rhoda Putnam, who bore
him three children, of whom our subject is the
eldest ; Mary Ann and Bessie M. For a second
wife he married Mrs. Mary Van Dusen. Po-
litically he is a republican and is a member of
tiie Methodist Episcopal church.

Smith H. Brownell spent the first seventeen
years of his life on his father's farm and then
engaged in the mercantile business in the town
of Ellery, continuing it with fair success for ten
years, but ill health compelled him to abandon
the confining duties of the store and he returned
to the farm, upon which he has since lived,
nearly thirty years. His residence is beautifully
situated on the shore of Lake Chautauqua, and
is admirably adapted to keeping summer board-
ers. During the season his house was filled with
pleasure and health-seekers, they being attracted
thither by the superior accommodations and
home-like comforts found there. Many expres-
sions of regret were heard when Mr. Brownell
decided last season to discontinue the business.
His farm consists of one hundred and ninety-
seven acres kept in a high state of fertilitv.

On the 4tli of June, 1858, he married Mary
A. Strong, a daughter of Siley Strong, of Ellery ;
she became the mother of three children — two
SODS, George W., born July 4, 1859, and Perry
R., born August 8, 1871 ; and one daughter —
Adeline S., born July 29, 1862. Mrs. Brow-
nell died November 8, 1883, aged forty-three
years. George W. Brownell married Jennie
Norton, of Bemus Point, February 6, 1885,
and is now located in Dakota ; Adeline S. is the
wife of Charles C. Aniler, and resides in the
same State; Perry R. is unmarried and lives at
home. For his second wife Mr. Brownell took
Minerva Dunn, a daughter of Daniel Dunn, of
Sugar Grove, Pa., whom he married November
20. 1884.

Politically he is a republican and takes an
active interest in party matters. He is now
holding the office of justice of the peace for the
town of Ellery, having first been elected to fill
an unexpired term, but in the spring of 1891
he was re-elected. Smith H. Brownell is of a
modest, retiring disposition, but possesses an
open frank character that makes friends. He
is a member of Bemus Point Lodge, No. 585,
I. O. O. F., and belongs to the Grange Associa-
tion. While not a member of any religious de-
nomination he attends and contributes liberally
to the Methodist Episcopal church and is looked
upon as one of its warm friends.

JOSEPH APPLEYARD was born Novem-
'^^ ber 22, 1834, at a place about one mile
west of Haworth — the home of the gifted
Bronte family — Yorkshire, England. On the
maternal side of his father's family, his ances-
tors belonged to the sturdy old Cromwell stock,
whose niece married Archbisliop Tillotson, who
in his time did so much to frame public opinion,
lifting up the English clergy, and, by wise
counsel, influencing Queen Anne to a marked
degree, during her reign. On his father's side
he claims connection with the valued craftsmen
imported into England from the Netherlands,
on account of their skill in the manipulation of
wool, now known as worsted goods. For gen-
erations back these commodities were manufac-
tured in the homes of the peasants and so satis-
fied were they with the profession that each
member of the family was inducted inio its
mysteries, following the footsteps of their sire
with a regularity and precision almost without
exception. When the subject of this history
entered life, the most conspicuous pieces of fur-
niture in the home were a number of hand-
looms, and the first and last notes of his daily
life were those created by the sonorous noise of
the flying shuttle, driven by manual force across
the web and on the dexterit}- of which depeud-
otl both the comfort and necessaries of life.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT i'.

347

Put to work, first to wind the yarn on the
spools for the filling, then advanced to the
loom while yet not in his teens, he became an
expert, so that when by the introduction of
steam, weaving became centralized in factories,
a practical knowledge had been obtained which
made it easy to adapt himself to the new con-
dition of things. From the position of weaver
to that of overseer was a laudable desire which
his ambition soon made possible, and by the
realization of which, he acquired a qualification
to maintain a distinguished relation to some of
tiie leading maniil'acturers of the Bradford
trade.

In 1872, through iiis brother, he concluded
an engagement with Hall, Broadhead & Turner
to take the management of the weaving depart-
ment in the enterprise to be established in
Jamestown, New York, and in the summer of
the following year took up his residence in that
city, and set up the requisite machinery, produc-
ing the first piece of alpaca ever made in that
new industry, and which has given to James-
town such a world-wide re])utatiou. After
three years of hard service he severed his con-
nection with the firm — they iiaving discarded
their obligation made by ilr. Turner — and en-
gaged with the firm of William Broadhead &
Sons, the senior member of which only a short
time before, having also withdrawn from the
first mentioned firm. In 1876 he began the
Broadhead Mills, wiiich stand as a monument
of persevering energy and practical skill. With
an indomitable will and an assiduous applica-
tion, an integrity and devotion rarely paral-
leled, for sixteen years he has faithfully striven
to keep up to the times and still merits the con-
fidence of ail who know him. Politically he is
a republican, though an unswerving advocate
of temperance ; in religious sentiment he is a
Methodist and is sustaining the position of trus-
tee to the First Methodist Episcopal church in
Jamestown. Previous to coming to America
he joined tlie Odd Fellows and now is a mem-

ber of the Sous of St. George — a .secret society
organized for beneficial purposes to its metnber-
ship — and has served as its treasurer' for nine
years ; Mr. Appleyard is also a proryinent mem-
ber of the Jamestown Permanent Loan and In-
vestment Association.

In 1800 he married Mary, the eldest daugli-
ter of John and Jane Ogdeu of Keighley, York-
shire, England, and to them have been born one
.son and three daughters : the sou and one daugh-
ter died previous to their coming to the United
States; of the others, Sara, a noted vocalist,
and Ada M., a distinguished artist and decora-
tor of china, now live with their parents at No.
39 Center street, Jamestown, New York.

nKV. CHALON BURGKSS, pastor of the
Presl)yterian church of Silver Creek, is a
son of Dr. Jacob and Mary (Tyler) Burgess,
and was born at Silver Creek, in the town of
Hanover, Chautauqua county, New York, June
24, 1817. Tiie Burgess family of America,
trace their lineage through Thomas Burgess,
who was one of the Pilgrim fathers, who came
over in 1630 and settled at Sandwich or Cape
Cod. One of his descendants was Dr. Jacob
Burgess, who was a native of Lanesboro, Berk-
shire county, Massachusetts, where he read
medicine, and from which county he came to
Silver Creek, in 1811. He was the fir-st phy-
sician of Silver Creek and his field of practice
was not confined within the limits of the coun-
ty, while in many instances he had no road and
travelled tiirough the woods by blazed trees.
He also practiced among the Indians and after
forty years of continuous practice, died at Sil-
ver Creek, April 1.5, 1855, aged eighty year.s.
He was a liberal democrat and a well informed
man, who kept acquainted with all scientific
matters and pursuits.

Chalon Burgess received his early education
in the common schools of Silver Creek, after
which he attended Fredonia academy and then
entered Hamilton college, from which he was

348

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

graduated in 1844. After graduation, he was
employed for nine months in teaching one
of the public schools of Buffalo, New York,
and at the end of that time became principal of
the schools of Nunda, in Livingston county,
which position he held for eighteen months.
He then entered the Theological seminary of
Auburn, New York, from which he was gradu-
ated in 1849 and immediately commenced his
ministerial labors. On account of ill health he
declined some important work oifei-ed him and
assumed charge of the Cougi'egational church
at Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, where his
ministry extended over a period of eleven years.
From Little Valley he was called to the Pres-
byterian church of Panama, over which his
pastorate extended for iifteen years, lacking
three months. While there he also had charge
of the Congregational church of Ashville for
five years. In November, 1875, he became
pastor of the Presbyterian church of Silver
Creek, with which he has faithfully labored
ever since until his recent resignation. May 1,
1891. During his efficient pastorate the church
has increased from a membership of one hun-
dred and forty-four to two hundred and thirty-
seven.

June 2, 1853, Rev. Mr. Burgess married
Emma J., daughter of Rev. Charles Johnston,
of Ovid, Seneca county. New Y^ork. They had
three children : Edward S.. professor of Botany
and Natural Sciences in the Washington City
high school ; Theodore C, professor of Greek
and Latin in Fredonia Normal school ; and
Sarah Julia, now attending Wellesley college.

Rev. Chalon Burgess is a logical and pleas-
ing speaker, a courteous gentleman and a deci-
ded prohibitionist in political opinion. He is
the author of several published sermons, one of
which was delivered on the death of Abraham
Lincoln and told with power and pathos the
story of the martyr, whose achievements and
tragic death have made a figure, the like of
which has never been equaled in history.

From the New York Evangelist we quote ;
" Buffalo Presbytery has furnished two striking
exceptions to the proverb ' A prophet is not
without honor, save in his own country and in
his own house.' The exceptions are the late
Rev. Dr. Grosvenor W. Heacock, who, born
and reared in Buffalo, became one of the most
honored and beloved ministers the city ever
had, and the Rev. Chalon Burgess, who, born
and reared in Silver Creek, has just closed in
that village a most useful and honorable pas-
torate."

From the local paper : " After forty years of
service in the Lord's vineyard, he seeks retire-
ment in a community which honors and respects
him as a profound scholar, a keen thinker, an
upright Christian, a citizen of whom all are
proud."

T^LIAS H. JEXXIER was a farmer of the
-*"^ town of Busti, prominent on account of
his intellectual power and long connection with
educational work. He was a son of Stephen
and Betsey Jenuier, and was born in Essex
county. New Y'^ork, in 1826, and came to Chau-
tauqua county with his father when only eight
years of age, and lived in the town of Har-
mony, where they stayed a short time, and then
went to Belvidere, Illinois, where the ensuing
seven years were spent. In 1841, when only
fifteen years of age, ]Mr. Jennier, who had de-
veloped marked aptitude for study, returned to
this county and adopted the profession of school
teaching, and in the years following taught in
nearly all the principal schools of the county.
Some of this county's men, whose names are
written highest on the scroll of fame, received
their instruction from him. He was the clerk
of the board of supervisors for twenty-six
years, and served upon the board for a long
time. Politically he was a republican, took a
great interest and kept well posted in political
matters, as well as the general news of the day.
In 1844 he married Louisa Pier, a daughter

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

of Abram Pier, a resident of Busti, now de-
ceased. By their union four children were born
to them. Mr. Jennier was a gentle husband
and a kind father, and was happiest when enter-
taining a company of his friends. In connec-
tion with his other work he operated a farm,
and belonged to the Grange and the Knights
of Honor.

Elias H. Jennier died in 1883, leaving a sor-
rowing family to mourn his loss. His wife now
resides on the old homestead, two miles from
Jamestown, and has re-married to Smith
Homer, whom she knew in.youth. Mr. Homer
spent thirty-eight years on the Pacific coast, and
saw much of the life of the '49ers and others of
the early adventurers, who were drawn thither
by the visions of Golconda's wealth. He is
now happily located with his wife at their
pleasant home.

^KORGK L. SKIXNER is one of the most

^^ substantial and prosperous farmers in the
town of Portland, and has reached this condi-
tion of affluence by his own exertions, industry
and good management. He is a son of David
and Mary (Williams) Skinner, and was born in
the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New
York, September 30, 1840. Being now in his
fifty-first year and having lived temperately,
he is in the prime of life. David Skinner
came to Chautauqua county from Chenango,
where he was born in 1802, and settled in the
town of Portland. During the past seventy
years he has been a farmer, and still lives upon
the beautiful place whic