USA > New York > Allegany County > A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York > Part 49
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ENOS W. BARNES. *
Enos W. Barnes was born at Rock Stream, Yates Co., N. Y., March 4, 1836. His father, Dr. Enos Barnes, was an able physician and a prominent citizen in that section of the state. In 1839 the family removed to Geneva, N. Y., at the foot of Seneca lake. There, in a kind of amphibious boyhood, he was educated and graduated by " the people's college " the common school, and the mimic life of boyhood's sports. In that boy world the races of the rival miniature yachts were as eagerly contested as the international races of the Valkyrie and the Defender in the larger sphere to-day. When Mr. Barnes was seventeen he made up his mind to become a printer, and, shouldering his little pack, he tramped over the snowy hills to Bath, where he entered the printing office of The Steuben Farmer's Advocate, a Democratic news- paper, and put his foot on the first round of the ladder which he climbed to the top.
In 1856 he became the local editor of the Bath Courier, and in 1864 became an equal partner with Henry H. Hull in the publication of that paper. In
* By Rev. F. W. Beecher.
:
Enos H. Barup
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WELLSVILLE.
1875 Mr. Barnes came to Wellsville to assume the ownership and manage- ment of The Allegany County Reporter. In 1880 he started the Wellsville Daily Reporter, which was successful from the start and was successively enlarged and improved, and is still published by his sons. For a year in 1886 and 1887 Mr. Barnes also conducted the Columbus Telegram, a family paper at Colum- bus, O., when his failing health compelled its sale. There were other prom- ising plans in the editorial line that were cut short by the repressing hand of a fatal illness, which in less than two months ended his life's career and his ambitious hopes. Mr. Barnes filled several public offices honorably to himself and usefully to the public. While a citizen of Bath he held for four years the offices of assistant assessor and deputy collector of U. S. internal revenue. For something over a year he filled the responsible position of special U. S. pension examiner, resigning the office in 1883. In 1886 Gov. David B. Hill appointed Mr. Barnes one of the three prison labor reform commissioners of the state. Very largely the work of this commission, which was very laborious, fell into his hands. Its report was written entirely by him, and is a very valuable public document.
Mr. Barnes was a man of marked and conspicuous ability in his chosen field of life's endeavor. He displayed from the very outset of his career a genius for editorial and newspaper work. He was always a recognized power in local and state affairs of public interest. He was always a Republi- can, but did not hesitate upon fit occasion to sink partisan interests to those of the public-spirited citizen. He was a leader, an independent thinker, and with the courage of his convictions did not hesitate to declare them. His paper was always, scrupulously and of indomitable purpose, a clean one morally. Nothing could appear in his columns that would soil the purity of the family or dim the lustre of the church. He was a trenchant political fighter and skilled in the use of the rapier of the most galling satire. Those who felt the keen blade of his wit winced, and sometimes complained. But he never cherished a grudge, or refused an offered reconciliation, or rejected the extended hand of friendship. His affection for his friends was true, generous, and unconquerable. He was always eager to serve their interests to the full extent of his ability and opportunity. He never betrayed a trust and the one fault of men that most angered him was treachery. Socially Mr. Barnes was a charming companion. With strong idiosyncracies he was at once witty, merry and genial, and with an inexhaustible fund of anecdote. Those who judged him alone from his political writing, and as a strong con- testant in political strife, formed but the most imperfect idea of the man, losing the knowledge of the kind, generous companion and friend in private life.
In 1864 Mr. Barnes, then twenty-seven years of age, was most happily married to Miss Sarah Hurd of Bath. * In that ideal home life never a cloud of suspicion arose, nor was a word spoken other than a loving one.
* Mrs. Barnes was daughter of Reuben S. and Emily (Osmun) Hurd, of Hurd's Corners, (Rock Stream), Ytes county.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
He truly lived for his wife and his children, and they will always have a most satisfying memory of him as a most faithful and loving husband and father. Mr. Barnes left three children, two sons and one daughter. The sons still successfully carry on the business of publishing the Daily and Semi-Weekly Reporter, the running of a well-appointed printing office, and other financial schemes to fill up time. Mrs. Barnes is still interested in the paper and gives much of her time to editorial supervision and writing, and the talented daughter helps everybody, all round, where her help is most needed.
ORVILLE P. TAYLOR.
Orville P. Taylor was born at Leesville, Campbell Co., Va., Sept. 15, 1838, and died in Wellsville Nov. 17, 1883. When sixteen he made his home with an aunt and received his education at Genesee Seminary near Attica gradu- ating in 1858. The same year railway contractors of Richmond, Va., sent him to superintend the construction of the first railroad in the Empire of Brazil, known as " Dom Pedro's Railway." On his outward passage the ves- sel was wrecked, and for 22 days Mr. Taylor with others clung to the water- logged hull before it was cast on shore on the island of St. Thomas. In Brazil he acquired the warm friendship of the Emperor and was frequently entertained and consulted by him. He narrowly escaped death from a severe attack of yellow fever which debilitated him through life. Returning north in 1860, in January, 1861, he married, at Canaseraga, Cornelia, daughter of Chauncey F. and Harriet S. Clark, and granddaughter of Stephen and Ann Mundy, prominent pioneers of the town of Burns, A loyal Southerner he took his bride to his Virginia home and cast in his lot with his state and the Southern Confederacy as a soldier until the end of the Civil War. "He was brave, daring and gallant, possessed that determined resistance that so long prolonged the war against the crushing odds of superior force and wealth," and was wounded in the first battle of Manassas. Accepting un- complainingly the result of the war he came to Canaseraga in 1865 and en- gaged in the manufacture of cigars. In 1870 he made his home in Wellsville and extensively increased his business. His life from this time is historic. To him belongs the just credit of the development of the. Allegany oil field. The Bradford Era, a most competent authority, thus outlines his connection with this industry:
There are few people in the oil regions who do not know Mr. Taylor as the " father of the Allegany field," and the stories of the trials and discouragements of his first efforts in this direc- tion are familiar to almost every one. It seems as if a dispensation had selected him to pave the way to this field of wealth. It has been said by those who are familiar with the defeats which characterized his first efforts in Alma, that not one man in a million would continue in a fixed purpose in the face of so many discouragements as he did. The stories of his trials and subsequent triumphs would read like fiction. Many believe that without his remarkable pluck and indomitable will, which no defeat could swerve, the Allegany field with its wealth of oil would be unknown to day. True it is that no one can dispute his claim to be the founder of this producing section which stands next to Bradford in point of importance as an oil field. Mr.
OP. Taylor
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WELLSVILLE.
Taylor first became interested in ventures in Alma during the year 1877. His first venture was on lot 26 Alma. At a depth of 1,015 feet, they encountered a thin stratum of rock-about 6 feet in all-which contained some gas and a showing of oil. The rest of the company were discouraged with the result of this venture, but Mr. Taylor believed that this was a conclusive evidence of a producing rock in Allegany county. He next became interested in what has since been known as the Pikeville well on lot 118 Alma. It was finished in November, 1878. The bit cut through twenty feet of sand and Mr. Taylor thought it might have made a two barrel producer. The Wykoff well was drilled in the winter of 1878-9. The bit cut through a hard close sand and proved the third failure in the list. The first of Mr. Taylor's ventures which bore any omens of encouragement was at the Triangle well No. I. It was completed in June, 1879. This well has an interesting history. After a series of experiments it was pronounced a failure, although it proved the correctness of Mr. Taylor's belief that an oil bearing rock under- laid the rugged surface of Allegany, and his faith that a producing field would be opened here grew stronger, while the Triangle well No. I gave him a point to work from. The Brimmer Brook well was drilled during the succeeding autumn. It was the dryest of all Mr. Taylor's previous experiments. The Triangle well No. 2, which was Mr. Taylor's next experiment, was a better well than No. I, and gave the owner his first foothold in this field. Then followed No. 3, a hundred rods southwest of No. 2. This was regarded as the first paying well in Allegany field. It was finished about the 4th day of July, 1880. During the same summer the Campbel 1 well No. 1, on lot 7, Bolivar, in which Mr. Taylor was interested, was finished, and about the same time Mr. Taylor finished a dry hole on the Williams farm, lot 27, Bolivar. The latter was as dry as a well could be, though afterwards paying wells were obtained within a stone's throw. Only those acquainted with Mr. Taylor during his first ventures in Allegany county, know the discouragements under which he labored. One dry hole succeeded another, and the expense of wildcatting exhausted his bank account and drained his pocket book. After the completion of his second or third failure, outside capital was slow coming in, and Mr. Taylor's zeal and con- tinued faith in the field was regared as an evidence of fanaticism rather than a praiseworthy zeal. Monied men withdrew their support from his wildcat schemes and his friends laughed at what they regarded as his crazy ideas. It is related that at one time after his credit had run quite low, a committee of his neighbors called upon him. and earnestly petitioned him to dis- continue his more than useless drilling in Alma and return to his legitimate business. They urged him in the interest of his family to " try and earn an honest living." Before the old Triangle well No. 2 was finished the drillers refused to work any longer without a payment of their past indebtedness. Being unable to meet his obligations, he was compelled to take hold of the temper screw himself. He and his son Charlie, who was nothing more than a boy, made a screw themselves and drilled the well through the sand. Mr. Taylor in speaking of his early struggles in this part of the field said no one took any interest in his work, and he seldom had any company but the chipmunks and robins. The Triangle wells Nos. 1, 2 and 3 however were small, the Campbell well No. I was pronounced a failure, and the Williams well on 37, Bolivar, being dry, Mr. Taylor had not apparently scored much of a triumph at the close of the year 1880, although he had fully demonstrated the fact that oil existed in Allegany county. The completion of the old Richburg well in the spring of 1881 opened a new era in the history of the Allegany field, and Mr. Taylor's prosperity dates from this time. During the Cherry Grove excitement Mr. Taylor took an interest in that field with the common result. Mr. Taylor's pre- dictions for the Allegany field have been more than realized.
The Buffalo Express in an article on the Allegany oil field says :
No. I Triangle was the first flowing well in Allegany county. It produced 10 barrels a day for some weeks. No attempt was made to save the oil. It was allowed to pour out on the derrick floor. Taylor passed through some of the bitterest experiences of his life while drilling the Triangle well. He was distrusted by all except a few tried friends. Just before the
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HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
Triangle well was completed the jars broke. The nearest point to get them repaired was Brad- ford. Taylor was totally out of funds and could not borrow or secure the loan of a dollar, and went home, for once, completely disheartened. His wife inquired the cause of his despondency, and when informed, to his great surprise, she offered to advance him the money needed. She had sold her gold watch, rings and jewelry to buy the necessaries of life, but her faith in his venture was great enough to ignore hunger. From the moment the well was finished Taylor's star was in the ascendant, and everybody was glad to acknowledge him as a friend.
Mr. Taylor possessed the Southern characteristics of courtesy, ease and gentleness of manner. He was of medium size, with dark, piercing eyes, and full dark-colored beard, and he possessed a personal magnetism and charm of conversation that carried conviction to his listeners. He was a deep thinker and had strong and convincing proofs to support his theories. He was an ardent Freemason, holding membership in Wellsville Chapter and St. John's Commandery of Olean. He was at all times ready to help a friend, and no deserving person ever went from him unaided. He was a kind husband and father, and more than all other places enjoyed the atmos- phere of his home. He had three children, Charles O., William O. and Annie B. (Mrs. Grant Duke). One of Mr. Taylor's staunchest friends was the gifted Enos W. Barnes. In an obituary written for the Wellsville Reporter, Mr. Barnes said: "To him belongs the credit of the development of the Allegany oil fields. It required just his persistent pluck and perseverance, and he triumphed where a thousand others would have failed. The faithful wife never for once forsook him. In an hour when business men and friends shook their heads and refused further aid, her heroic devotion won for her a name not to be forgotten and ever to be admired and emulated. In the midst of his struggles with the fortunes and fatigues of oil developments, Mr. Taylor was elected president of the village of Wellsville and gave close and competent attention to the duties. In 1881 he ran as Democratic nomi- nee for member of assembly. He ran 479 ahead of his ticket, and came out of the contest with marked credit. Death has drawn down the curtain upon an eventful and busy life. He will be missed and mourned in a truthful and conspicuous sense. A genial disposition, even when the horizon of business and speculation was gloomy and full of apprehension, won for him a hearti- ness of respect and appreciation which will live green in long years to come."
THE MCEWEN BROTHERS.
Successful manufacturers are public benefactors, and merit the grati- tude and praise of their countrymen. The nation that produces the most in proportion to its numbers will be the most prosperous and powerful. The United States possesses all the natural advantages for this desirable résult, and it is wise patriotism to turn them to the best account and develop industries which will give employment to many and advance the places where they are located. The McEwen Bros., in building up their large works in Wellsville, have not only laid the foundations of their individual prosperity, but also have increased the wealth and importance of Wellsville and furnished the support of many families. Their importance demands
John H16 Ecura
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an account of the men identified with the development of the business. Duncan McEwen, born June 1, 1822, in Commerie, Perthshire, in the High- lands of Scotland, learned both the machinist and millwright trades in Glas- gow, and later worked in Belfast, Ireland, where, April 14, 1846, he married Susan, daughter of John and Mary (Campbell) Ewing. From Belfast he was called to Liverpool, England, and was foreman or superintendent of one of the large government ship yards. Thinking that America would afford better advantages to build up a business of his own. Mr. McEwen concluded to emigrate thither in 1849, and brought his little family over in one of the first steamships constructed for ocean traffic, making the trip in the then wonderfully short time of 18 days, and arrived at New York April 21, 1849. He soon made his home in Cold Spring, opposite West Point on the Hudson, where he worked in the large manufactory where Mr. Campbell made sugar mills for the Southern market. The climate causing him severe attacks of fever and ague. he soon removed to Caledonia, in Monroe county, where he established a shop to make threshing machines. His health again failing, by the advice of his physician, he sought the clear bracing air of Allegany, removed to Angelica in 1853, and May 10, 1854, made his home in Wellsville. Here, in an humble way, he established the original nucleus of the present magnificent business in a portion of the small cabinet shop of W. H. Coats, "a lathe and a drilling machine " comprising his plant. By 1858-9 his business had so increased that he purchased the site of the present works, erected there a small building, and in connection with a little foundry and repairing machine shop, put in the first woolcarding machinery of the town. He battled with many difficulties. His lack of means and the demands of a growing family caused him to devote more time to exhausting labor than his enfeebled constitution could bear and he had not placed the works on a self- sustaining basis when his death occurred Feb. 16, 1864. His children were Jennette (dec.), born in Liverpool, John, born in New York City, William R., born in Mumfordville, N. Y., Mary A. (Mrs. V. D. Godfrey of Bradford, Pa.) born in Mumfordville, March 13, 1852, James H. born in Angelica July 1, 1853 (he has a large engine manufactory at Ridgway, Pa.), Ella (Mrs. Harry W. Breckenridge), born in Wellsville Oct. 21, 1855, Duncan S. born July 6, 1857, Charles S. born May 5, 1859, died an infant. Mr. McEwen was a social friendly man who had many friends. He was naturally a Presbyterian and a Republican. Mrs. McEwen survives him and enjoys the prosperity which has come to her children, largely as the result of her teachings and faithful admonitions. Mr. McEwen's sons inherited his probity of character, his thorough manner of doing work, his industry and his perseverance. For a time after his death there was no one of the family to carry on the business, John, his oldest son, being only fourteen, and the shop was rented for a few years. John worked at different places during this period, saving his small earnings. William, the next son, at the same time learned the machin- ists trade at the Dunkirk Iron Works. By 1868 conditions were right for their engaging in business for themselves, and the brothers formed the firm
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HISTORY OF ALLEGANY COUNTY, N. Y.
of McEwen Bros. There was a mortgage on the property covering nearly its value, but the young men were courageous and determined to make a success. They were ready and anxious to produce at a fair price whatever the people wanted in their line, made good honest work, gave steady atten- tion to their business and it was not long before they were well established and prosperous. As public needs demanded they added different branches of manufacturing and employed more men, and by the time their plant was burned, Oct. 14, 1876, they had commenced making engines and boilers from their own designs. A substantial brick building was at once built on the site of the burned shop into which was placed the finest and latest machin- ery. From that time, when they employed 25 men and did a yearly busi- ness of $50,000, there has been a steady and solid increase. They now have about 60 workmen who manufacture annually goods amounting to at least $125,000, consisting of engines, boilers, mill and general machinery. They make a specialty of fitting out tanneries, and have made and placed the machinery in all of the tanneries built within a radius of 150 miles of Wells- ville for the last 25 years, among them being the largest in the world, the enormous one at Costello, Pa., which has a capacity of 1,200 sides a day. They have also fitted many tanneries in various parts of the South. This great success has been most largely due to the keen business faculties and energetic force of John McEwen who has ever stood at the head of the firm and whose practical common sense and financial ability have been most pro- nounced. After the death of William, Oct. 14, 1886, Duncan, a younger brother, was admitted to the firm. He is the general superintendent of the works.
John McEwen, son of Duncan and Susan (Ewing) McEwen, was born in New York City April 21, 1849, married Oct. 30, 1879, Emma, daughter of Harvey and Caroline (Torrey) Alger. Their children are Fanny, William R. and Harvey A. While the most of his time has been devoted to his ex- tensive manufacturing business, Mr. McEwen has been a wide-awake and public spirited citizen, and many matters of local and political importance have been aided by his counsels and active assistance. One example is shown in the building of the W. C. & P. C. R. R. This was started many years ago as a narrow-guage road, eight miles were graded and labor sus- pended. In 1889 and '90 it was rumored that Hornellsville capitalists were planning a road into the same section that this road was designed to reach. To avoid this great blow to Wellsville it was deemed best to intersect the pro- posed road at Genesee. Mr. McEwen took hold of the matter with his accus- tomed energy, personally circulated the paper for subscriptions to the stock, which came in liberally, was elected president and general manager by the new company, and gave his personal attention to the building, equipping and operating the road, which was completed to Genesee in the fall of 1890, and to Perryville, Pa., the next season. This road was a success, paid good div- idends, and, when sold in 1895, realized a handsome profit to the stockhold- ers. Mr. McEwen signed every check ever issued in payment of claims
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against the road and the brilliant result of his administration demonstrates his signal financial ability. In political circles he is a leading factor in the Republican party of Allegany, and if he would consent to leave his multi- farious business affairs, would be given high official place. This he has so far refused to do, only accepting the honor of representing this district as a delegate to the National Republican Convention held in Minneapolis in 1892. He is yet a young man and his many friends trust that he may yet recon- sider his decision in regard to taking office. He is a Knight Templar Mason of St. Johns Commandery, Olean, and an attendant of the Baptist church. He is a modest. unassuming man, who does all things coming to him in a straightforward manner, and by his rectitude and winning person- ality gains many friends.
William R. McEwen, second son of Duncan and Susan (Ewing) McEwen was born in Mumfordville, N. Y., May 30, 1850. As stated above he was one of the organizers of the present firm, and perfect harmony at all times existed between the brothers. He was extremely popular, and, as the responsibility of the business did not rest so heavily on him as on John, he had more time to devote to public matters. He was an active Republican, held various offices, and in 1885 and 1886 was chosen member of assembly from Allegany county. His majority in the last election was a phenomenal one, showing the immense popularity of the man. He did good work in the legislature, served on important committees, and was both years chairman of the committee on trade and manufactures. While attending to his official duties at Albany he contracted typhoid fever, and died from its effects Oct. 14, 1886. By his death Wellsville and Allegany county lost one of its most valuable citizens and Freemasonry an honored Knight Templar.
Duncan S. McEwen was born in Wellsville July 6, 1857, married Jennie Rice, and has been a member of the firm of McEwen Bros. since 1887. He gives his personal attention to the superintendence of the various mechanical processes carried on in this great establishment. He is a Republican in politics.
WILLIAM DUKE.
The name Duke carries in itself the evidence of noble origin, as it takes us back to the invasion and conquest of England by William, Duke of Nor- mandy, and shows it to be of knightly Norman French origin. The handing down in the family for so many generations of the given name William may tell of close connection with William the Conqueror. This first Norman king of England divided the lands of England among his dukes and knights and they became the aristocracy of that country. We have not access to the English records by which to trace William Duke of Allegany back to the Conquest, but search among them cannot fail to show the family line. This family perhaps descends through a younger branch for some generations. Landed proprietors we know them to have been as late as 1836, for there is preserved in the family a bill rendered February 23d of that year by John Dunnicliff, Esq., for numerous legal services concerning landed property in
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