USA > California > Register of the California Society, Sons of the Revolution in the State of California, 1902 > Part 5
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After the close of his service in the Army, he removed to Hudson, Columbia County, New York, where he resided. He had six daughters and four sons born to him, viz :
Abigail, born May 2, 1764, who married Joseph Ross, of Milo, N. Y. ; finally removed, a widow, with her family, to Illinois.
Abigail Ross had seven children, Gensia, who married and died in Fishkill, N. Y .; Sally, who married Ira Kil- burn, and settled in Tioga County, Penn., and had five chil- dren; Ann, who married Judge Purple, of Peoria, Ills .; Harriet, who married Mr. Mann and afterward J. L. Bar- ton, of Buffalo, N. Y .; Wells, who married Miss Paris, of Baltimore. He finally settled in Napa Valley, California ; Adelaide who married Judge John C. Knox, of Pennsylvania, and Charles Lee, educated at West Point, who married Mary Wolcott, of Penn Yan, N. Y .; Joseph, Ossian M., Eliza, Nathan and Thomas, all of whom settled in the State of Illinois.
Nancy, born January 17, 1766, who married Hezekiah Keeler, of Hudson, N. Y., and settled at Waterloo, N. Y.
Mary, born February 4, 1768, who married, in 1792, Joshua Andrews, of Milo, N. Y. She died in 1831, at Penn Yan, N. Y.
Patience, Born February 8, 1770, who married Lewis Birdsall, who was three times Sheriff of Seneca County,
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New York. She died April 22, 1840. Lewis Birdsall, her husband, was a son of Col, Benjamin Birdsall, prominent in Revolutionary annals and the carly political history of New York.
Elizabeth, born July 4, 1772, who married Lambert Van Alstyne ; she died in Penn Yan, N. Y., in 1869, aged seventy-three ;
Thomas, Jr., born December 20, 1774, who married Asenath, daughter of Jacob Winants. He and his wife died in Michigan, well advanced in years.
Watey, born November 5, 1779, who married Jacob Chamberlain; they lived and died in Waterloo, N. Y.
James, born January 15, 1780, who married Sarah Smith, born August 3, 1784, daughter of Richard Smith, of Groton, Connecticut, who removed to Penn Yan, N. Y., in 1787. James died at Milo, N. Y., in 1868 ; Sarah died January 11, 1858, in her seventy-fourth year.
Joshua, born May 4, 1783, who married, March 2, 1809, Sophia, eldest daughter of Col. Perley Phillips, of Geneva, N. Y. She was born November 29, 1790, Joshua died December 29, 1842, in his sixtieth year. His wife died in 1853, aged sixty-two.
Sherman, born September 20, 1785, who married Rachel Seeley, and lived and died in Milo, N. Y., in 1830, aged forty-four.
James Lee, eighth child of Captain Thomas Lee, men- tioned above, and Sarah Smith, his wife, had the following children, viz :
Elizabeth A., who was born at Milo, N. Y., September 22, 1804, married Lorenzo Pratt, of Geneva. N, Y. She died January 11, 1880, at Binghampton, N. Y. They had three children, Sarah Jane, wife of Dr. T. S. Armstrong, of Oswego, N. Y .; Lucy, wife of Stephen Bedell, of Buf-
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falo, N. Y .; Chauncey B., of Binghampton, N. Y .; and Daniel S. who was born at Milo, N. Y., May 30, 1806, mar- ried Laura Gamby, removed to Brighton, Michigan, where he was a merchant. He died September 26, 1864. They had a son, George, and a daughter, Sophia, who was the wife of Hon. George W. Peck, formerly Secretary of State of Michigan, and Member of Congress.
Mary, who was born at Milo, N. Y., July 1, 1808, mar- ried John Clark, settled in Livingston County, N. Y .; aft- erwards removed, a widow, with her two sons, James and George, to Minnesota. She died October 21, 1879.
Avery Smith Lee, who was born at Milo, N. Y., Sep- tember 22, 1810, married Sarah Look, of Steuben County, N. Y .; removed to Michigan, where he was a merchant. He died June 14, 1844. They had four childred, Sarah J., Eliza, Victoria and Augusta. Sarah Jane, who was born at Milo., N. Y., September 12, 1812, married Robert Rob- erts, of Milo, N. Y. They had no children. She died at Penn Yan, N. Y., in 1894.
David Richard, who was born at Milo, N. Y., January 27, 1815, merchant and farmer, married, June 14, 1849, Elizabeth Northrum Wells, daughter of Isaac Titchenor Wells, and Charity Kenyon, his wife. He settled at East Groveland, Livingston Co., N. Y., in 1849, and died there March 11, 1886. His widow owns and resides upon the old homestead.
Susanna Wagner, who was born at Milo, N. Y., May 6, 1817, married Charles Sidway, and lived and died at Canandiagua, N. Y. They had five children, Mary J., George, John, Cornelia, and Kate.
James Barker, who was born at Milo, N. Y., April 17, 1819, removed to Brighton, Michigan, at the age of fifteen. He became a prosperous merchant, married in 1843, Saman-
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tha Chadwick, of Farmington, Michigan. He died Septem- ber, 1886. She died in June, 1891. Their children were Herbert, Charles S., Walter, W. O. and J. L., now of De- troit, Mich.
Russell Joshua, who was born at Milo, N. Y., May 26, 1821, married Elizabeth Clute, of Moscow, N. Y .; removed to Scranton, Iowa, where he died recently. Their children were Elizabeth, Sophia and George.
Sophia P., who was born at Milo, N. Y., June 20, 1823, married Mortimer Hopkins, of Penn Yan, N. Y., re- moved to San Francisco, Cal. Died recently at Alameda, Cal. Their children were Lucy, Jennie, and Morris H.
David Richard Lee, (sixth child of James and Sarah Smith Lee), and his wife Elizabeth N. above mentioned had four children born to them at East Groveland, Liv- ingston Co., N. Y., viz :
Bradner Wells Lee, born May 4, 1850;
Franklin Scott Lee, born February 2, 1852;
James Avery Lee, born July 31, 1860;
Charles Bedell Lee, born November 7, 1854; died Jant- ary 14, 1862.
Bradner Wells Lee is a lawyer engaged in the active practice of his profession at Los Angeles, Cal., where he removed in March, 1879. He was married in Philadelphia, Pa., October 16, 1883, to Helena Farrar, only child of the late Col. William Humphrey Farrar, a lawyer of Washing- ton, D. C., born at Lancaster, N. H., who was a son of Henry Farrar of Manchester, New Hampshire. They have two children, Bradner Wells Lee Jr., born January 20. 1886, and Kenyon Farrar Lee, born February 28, 1888.
In the Spring of 1790, Captain Thomas Lee, with his large family, together with a few of his friends, emigrated to Western New York, settling upon the western shore of
The See homestead, Milo, near Penn Han, 27. 11. Erected 1591 31 Captain Thomas Sec.
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Seneca Lake, in the then County of Ontario, in what is now the town of Milo, near the present village of Penn Yan, now in Yates County. He purchased a tract of three hundred acres of land, erecting thereon a log house and a flouring mill, near the falls of the outlet of Crooked Lake, or Lake Keuka. In the old family Bible is recorded this note or memorandum :
"July 4th 1790. I have this day completed my grist mill and have ground ten bushels of new rye
"July 5th I have this day ground ten bushels of wheat the same having been raised in the Immediate neighborhood the year previous (1789)."
The following spring he built a large residence upon another portion of his farm, in which he resided until his death, when it passed to his son, Dr. Joshua Lee, who later rebuilt it, and lived there until his death, and it continued for many years a prominent landmark. It was destroyed by fire a few years since. An illustration of this dwelling copied from a pencil sketch make in 1830, appears on an- other page.
Capt. Thomas Lee was one of the most prominent of the early pioneers of Western New York, and his name is frequently mentioned in the history of Yates County. He served as Supervisor of the town of Jerusalem in 1792, be- ing its first one. He died January 22, 1814, at the age of seventy-five, and his wife on October 14, 1833, at the age of ninety. Their remains are interred in the cemetery at Penn Yan, N. Y.
Their children all reared large families, resided in Yates County, N. Y., in the vicinity of Penn Yan, and the sons of Captain Thomas Lee became prominent in the early civil and military history of their State, and all acquired comfortable competences. Dr. Joshua became a distin- guished physician and surgeon, and was one of the most
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popular men of his day in Yates County. He was surgeon of the 103rd New York Regiment in the War of 1812. He was at the Battle of Queenstown, and was one of the first who crossed the river on that occasion in the discharge of his duties. He was a member of the New York Assembly for 1816, 1817, 1833, and a member of the Twenty-fourth United States Congress in 1835-1837. He was elected to the Assembly in 1817, defeating his brother, Thomas Jr., who was the opposing candidate.
Thomas Lee Jr. was a man of great force of character, and engaged in large business enterprises. He was a Colo- nel of the War of 1812, and also held many town and county offices, and served in the New York Assembly, 1816, finally emigrating, in 1822, to Detroit, in the Territory of Michi- gan, where he was a member of its first Constitutional Con- vention.
Sherman Lee was a Major in the war of 1812. James Lee was commissioned by Governor Morgan Lewis as an Ensign in the New York Militia, in 1805. This commission is now in the possession of his grandson, Bradner Wells Lee, of Los Angeles, Cal., and a copy of it is reproduced on another page.
Many of the descendants of Captain Thomas Lee and of his children have served with distinction in the civil and military departments of the Government. Among the no- table ones may be mentioned Charles L. Kilburn, who grad- uated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in July, 1842, served in the Mexican and Civil Wars, retired May 20, 1882, and since deceased; Commander Charles A. Babcock, of the Navy, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, who served in the Civil War, and died at New Orleans, La., July 1, 1876, while in command of the Monitor Canonicus; Dr. Lewis A. Birdsall, for nine
The People of the State of New-York, by the Grace of God Free and la, ouders : GREETING : 1
Me, autority today e confiden, as well in your L'audition, Carbet and patty, as in your The, and radimts so de ne peut at podjet liven, WAVE ofperated and conflict I , and by they. Bref is, Do appoint and a pirate you the paid
A Palace school Saber French Esquireis Chlaper Commandant_ 1
1 Dott are therefore to take the faid ber barry into , as charge and care, as bursigne thereof. and My to castige de Officers and & Idiots of that Company. - in arms, who are hereby commanded to day you as the is Land y are af too on and flow fuch Orders and Directions as you Shall from time to time resto pom car General and Commande in Chief of the Milites of war ped State, or any other your Superior Officer, according in the Freaks and Disiplin of War, in parfance of the Groft speed inga ; and for to doing, this Shall be your Commis. sise, for an! during war good plagiere, to be figment by war Council of Appointment. I'll Etstimony wheresf, We have could car Seat for Military Commissions to be heraents of. fixed : Witness our trafiy and willbeland Morgan Lewis __ Esquire, Governor of our faid State, funeral and Commander in Chief of all the Militia, and i Admiral of the Navy of the fame, by and with the advice and content of car faid Council of Appointment, at our city of Allery, the louth day of Chicl_ in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ice ?_ and in the twenty werthyear of our Independence 1 Passed the Starting's Ofice, the the day of June Ies. - Horgan Leurs. Se. Secretary.
Commission of James See, Ensian Ziem Hork Militia.
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years, (1824-1843) assistant surgeon in the Regular Army, and afterwards, by appointment of President Pierce, Su- perintendent of the United States Mint, San Francisco, California, whose daughter Sophia was the first wife of Governor and U. S. Senator Milton S. Latham, of Califor- nia; she died in September, 1867, and a beautiful monument erected to her memory by her husband stands in Laurel Hill Cemetery, San Francisco; Captain Egbert B. Birdsall, U. S. Army, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, September, 1818; Col. George Lee, son of Dr. Joshua Lee, who served in the Civil War, was appointed to the Regular Army in 1866, and was As- sistant Adjutant General on the staff of Maj. Gen. Phil. Sheridan, and also served on the staff of Gen. Winfield S. Hancock; Hon. Lewis W. Ross, who served in the Mexican War as Lieutenant in the 4th Illinois Volunteers, admitted to the Bar 1838, was a member of the Illinois Legislature, 1840-5, a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, 1861, Presidential Elector 1848, Delegate to Baltimore and Charleston Conventions, 1860, and was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth U. S. Congress from Illinois ; he was a brother of Gen. Leonard Fulton Ross, of Illinois, who served in the United States Army in the Mexican and Civil War with great distinction and gal- lantry; Commander William Kilburn, of the Navy, a grad- uate of the United States Naval Academy, was navigating officer of the cruiser San Francisco, and subsequently com- manded an auxiliary cruiser in Cuban waters in the Spanish War, now in active service, brother of Paris Kilburn, now President of the State Board of Harbor Commissioners, San Francisco; First Lieutenant Dana Willis Kilburn, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who served in the War with Spain, in the Cuban
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campaign, and subsequently in the Philippines, and now in active service; Dr. Jeremiah B. Andrews, who served as Assistant Surgeon in the 103rd New York Regiment in the War of 1812; Hon. Daniel S. Lee and Hon. James B. Lee, (sons of James Lee), who were members of the Legislature in the State of Michigan; Charles Lee, (son of Dr. Joshua), who was Supervisor of Milo in 1847, and sergeant-at-arms of the New York State Senate, 1852-3; Chauncey B. Pratt, who was a volunteer officer in the United States Army in the Civil War; Hon. Addison T. Knox, of Waterloo, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Seventh District, elected 1859; Hon. John Wesley Ross, LL. D., (son of Hon. Lewis W. Ross), admitted to the Bar 1866, member Illinois Legislature four years, lecturer in Law Department, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., President Board of Trustees of Public Schools, District of Columbia, two years; Postmaster Washington, D. C., 1888- 1890, Commissioner of the District of Columbia 1890, re- appointed 1894, again in 1897, and for a fourth term in 1900, serving as President of the Board from 1893 until 1898.
A complete genealogical record of the family might be here added, and many other descendants might be men- tioned who have achieved success, prominence and distinc- tion in business, political and professional careers in the la- ter generations of the family, but that would be extending this article beyond its legitimate scope.
Private BENJAMIN CUDDEBACK Great-grandfather of HOLDRIDGE OZRO COLLINS
ENJAMIN CUDDEBACK was the grandson of the Huguenot Jacques Caudebec, the first settler and pa- triarch of the Minisink Valley in Orange County, New York, whose wife was Margaret Provoost, granddaughter of David Provoost, one of the "Nine Men." His father, William Cuddeback,-the Dutch phonetic spelling of Cau- debec,-was a farmer in Deerpark. "He was a man of somewhat over six feet stature, coarse-boned, muscular and lean. He was strong and very nimble, and could outrun many young men after he was fifty years old. In the French war, after his hair had begun to turn gray, he outran a sol- dier who thought himself swift. He was very talkative and witty, and he never had his equal in this town for hu- morous discourse, and a display of wit properly and suita- bly applied. He was characterized as a wise man in his time. Argument was his hobby, and as there was much of it in his time in relation to the Scripture, he, although un- educated, became so versed therein that when among strang- ers he was often thought to be a well read man. He was a disbeliever in the superstitious notions which many people in his time had in relation to witchcraft, etc., and would often tell very laughable occurrences in respect thereto."
XXX " It was said that the three eldest sons of Jacques Caudebec, Benjamin, William and James, could carry 12 skippel wheat (9 bushels), by putting it into four three-
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skippel sacks, and, placing one under each arm and taking hold with each hand of the top of the others, could, on a barn floor, in this manner carry it from one end of the barn to the other."
He signed the "Articles of Association" in 1775, and he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Continental Army, to which he contributed liberally, and gave most of his sons as officers and privates, age preventing his own active par- ticipation. He died in 1778. His wife, Jacomyntjen Elting, was granddaughter of Jan Elting, the immigrant from Dren- the, Holland, and great-granddaughter of Cornelis Barents Slecht, one of the first three "Schepens".of Esopus, and of Louis Du Bois and Christian Deyo, two of the "Dusine" or twelve patentees of New Platz.
Benjamin, their youngest child, was born in Minisink on June 21, 1747. In 1767, he married Catrina Van Vliet, descended from Ariaen Gerretsen Van Vliet, a farmer, who came from Utrecht, Holland, in March, 1662, and Roeloff Swartwout, the first "Schout" of Esopus.
Like most of the early settlers, Benjamin was a farmer, upon lands in the Waghaghkemek patent, which had been granted to his grandfather, Jacques Caudebec. With his father he signed the Minisink "Articles of Association," in 1775, and he enlisted in the Company commanded by his brother, Captain Abraham Cuddeback, of Colonel William Allison's Regiment, Orange County Militia. He was en- gaged in nearly all of the battles and skirmishes fought in Orange County during the War of the Revolution. With his Company he was stationed at Fort Montgomery to pre- vent the enemy from breaking the chain stretched across the Hudson River. He crossed upon the logs used in float- ing the chain, and remained on guard until the capture of the Fort, October 6th, 1777, when he succeeded in making
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his escape. At the siege of Fort De Witt, where Captain Cuddeback was in command, "the enemy took a station on a hill, in woods within gunshot of the Fort, and fired sev- eral volleys against the wall of the house and picket fort. After a few volleys were fired, Benjamin Cuddeback, a brother of the Captain, challenged the enemy to show them- selves, and although they were out of sight, he, with a long Esopus gun, heavily loaded, returned some shots, whereby they became about as much exposed to his firing as the in- mates of the fort were to their firing."
At the close of the war, he returned to his farm, but with his agricultural labors he combined certain mercantile pursuits. In the History of Deerpark, by Peter E. Gu- maer, it is related that "after the war terminated, boards and other sawed timber were much wanted for building purposes within the present town of Deerpark, where the enemy had burned the buildings of the inhabitants, and these materials were not manufactured in this vicinity at that time. It became necessary to build saw-mills to fur- nish those articles, and three men, Captain Abraham Cud- deback, Benjamin Cuddeback and Captain Abraham West- fall, built a sawmill on a brook, at that time termed Bush- kill, at or near the present tanning establishment of Mr. O. B. Wheeler, near the bridge across the Neversink River on the Mount Hope and Lumberland turnpike. Near the Bush-kill saw-mill at that time was much pine timber, and that mill continued to do considerable business for several years, and the same, and a few other mills west of it, man- ufactured the greatest part of the boards formerly used for the buildings in Orange County."
By his thrift and energy, Benjamin Cuddeback acquired an ample competency for his family, and here, in the home of his youth, respected for his worth and honored for his
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patriotic services to his country, he passed his remaining years, dying at a ripe old age.
He left five sons and two daughters. His youngest child, Jemima Cuddeback, was born in Deerpark, August 10, 1783, and married April 26, 1801, Anthony Van Etten, Jr., the great-great-grandson of Jacob Jansen Van Etten, who emigrated from Etten, in North Brabant, Holland, in 1660, and married at Kingston on January 11, 1665, An- netje Ariaens.
In the list of his ancestors were Albert Heymans Roosa and Evert Pels, two of the first three "Schepens" of Eso- pus, the other being Cornelis Barents Slecht, and these three, with the "Schout" Roeloff Swartwout, formed the first Court of Justice in Ulster County. His father, An- thony Van Etten, Sr., was Vredrichter of Orange County, which office he held for many years and to the time of his death. He signed the "Articles of Association" at Mini- sink in 1775, and he was so zealous a patriot during the Revolution that he aroused the personal enmity of those in his neighborhood who favored the cause of England, and he was assassinated by Tories in the latter part of 1778, a few months before the birth of his son, Anthony Jr. He erected a substantial stone residence in which his widow, Annatje, daughter of Thomas Decker, lived until the invasion of the district in July, 1779, by Brandt, with his Indians and To- ries, when she was compelled to fly with her little ones, Anthony Jr. being but a month old. The house was dis- mantled, but not burned, and Annatje, returning, passed the remainder of her life in the home he had erected.
"His widow survived him many years. She was a short, strong woman, of good constitution, an affectionate mother and agreeable neighbor, sociable, and much addicted to humerous conversation."
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Anthony Van Etten, Jr., with his wife, Jemima Cud- deback, and their oldest child, in 1802 moved to Owasco, Cayuga County, New York, where he followed the avoca- tion of a farmer upon an estate of about five hundred acres. He served as First Sergeant of Captain Daniel Curtice's Company in Colonel Philetus Swift's New York Regiment, at Black Rock, New York, during the war of 1812, being subsequently commissioned a First Lieutenant. He died prematurely from ill-ness contracted during the war, leav- ing five daughters and four sons.
His youngest child, Ann Van Etten, wife of Ozro Col- lins of Connecticut, was mother of Holdridge Ozro Collins.
"Eendracht maakt Macht"
Captain IRA BEEBE Great great-grandfather of HOLDRIDGE OZRO COLLINS
RA BEEBE was descended from the earliest settlers of
New London, Connecticut. He was born at Lyme, July 20, 1735, the oldest child of Jonathan Beebe and Han- nah Lewis, his wife, daughter of William Lewis and Eliza- beth Borden, In 1745 the family moved to Waterbury, where the permanent home was established and where Ira grew to manhood. During the French and Indian War, in February, 1757, his father, Jonathan, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Company of the Tenth Regiment of Connecticut Colony, and in December, 1758, he was promoted to be First Lieutenant of Captain Amos Hitchcock's Company in the Second Connecticut Regi- ment, which formed a portion of the army organized to in- vade Canada via Crown Point. In the campaign of 1759, he distinguished himself in the fighting around Lake George, and attracted the attention of his commanding offi- cer, Colonel James Montressor, who mentions him several times in his journal.
Ira Beebe also served in the campaign of 1759, being a private in Captain Mead's Company, Third Connecticut Regiment. At the commencement of the troubles with England, Ira immediately placed himself on record as a zeal- ous advocate of the Colonies. He encouraged enlistments,
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assisted in the organization of companies, and in 1777 he was appointed a member of the Waterbury Executive Com- mittee, to provide supplies for the Connecticut troops in the Continental Army. The same year, he was commis- sioned First Lieutenant of Captain John Lewis' Company in the 10th Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Lieuten- ant-Colonel Jonathan Baldwin.
Before the Regiment was ready for marching, Lieuten- ant Beebe, then in command of his Company, was encamped at Salem, the original name of Naugatuck, recruiting and drilling his men. Bounties were paid for enlistments, and recruits were for good reasons permitted to purchase their discharge. An original document is extant showing one such transaction. It reads as follows, viz:
SALEM May the 10 1777
this Sertifies that Stephen Tomson Joel Terrill Sllas Lewis apear to go in the romes of Stephen Warner Enoc Scot Daniel Warner who have Excused them Selves by paying their money and giving notes I Shold be glad to have the money Sent by the barer to hire these men.
IRA BEEBE Leut
WATERBURY May 11th A D 1777
I the Subscriber the bearer of the within Certificate Recd. of the Treasure of the Town of Waterbury the Sum of fifteen Pounds Lawfull money to be Paid unto Stephen Tomson Joel Tirrel and Silas Lewis for engaging to join the Troops at New Haven.
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