USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
(III) Charles Harris, son of Dr. Jonathan (2) and Mary Ann (Harris) Burt, was born in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, January 16, 1857, and is now living in that place. After graduating from the high school in Phelps and the Canandaigua Academy, he became a cer- tified accountant and soon became recognized as an expert in his busi- ness in that part of the country. In 1896 he became one of the incorpo- rators of the Zenith Foundry Company, and in 1907 was placed in charge of the company's office. In September, 1910 he resigned this position, owing to his election by the creditors of the W. B. Hotchkiss Bank, as their trustee in bankruptcy to wind up the affairs of that insti- tution. Mr. Burt is a member and past master of Sincerity Lodge. No. 200, Free and Accepted Masons, of Phelps, New York; of Geneva
224
ONTARIO COUNTY.
Chapter, No. 36, Royal Arch Masons; of Geneva Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar; and of Damascus Temple of Rochester, of the An- cient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In 1889 he was district deputy grand master for the thirty-first district. He mar- ried, in 1886, Ina, daughter of F. D. Vanderhoof. Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Burt took up their residence for a while in New York City, where Mrs. Burt entered the Women's Medical Col- lege and New York Infirmary, from which she graduated in 1893 with the degree of M. D. They then returned to Phelps, where Mrs. Burt has since built up for herself a large and lucrative practice, and has for some time been serving as health officer of the village, she being one of two women who ever held the office in the state of New York. Child : Mae Armeda, born March 27, 1888; graduated cum laude, from Elmira College in June, 1910.
WELLS.
Henri E. Wells, a veteran of the civil war and for the past twenty- five years a resident of Geneva, has had a varied experience both in business life and the public service, and although minus an arm, sacri- ficed in defending the cause of the Union, he nevertheless succeeded in accumulating a competency which enabled him to retire form active business pursuits at a comparatively early age. His immediate all - cestors were among the pioneer settlers of what is now the middle west.
Samuel Wells was born in Suffolk county, England. He was a well known musician who traveled extensively both in this country and abroad, and for a number of years was engaged in the book and music business in . Portsmouth and Newark, Ohio. His death occurred in 1879. He married Emma Rand. Children: I. Samuel Sylvester, born in England; married a niece of General Benjamin W. Brice, U. S. A., died leaving a widow and five children. 2. Joshua Rand, died in 1906; was married and had ten children. 3. Frederick I., born in Newark, Ohio, in 1840; married and has a family of ten children. 4. Henri E., see forward. 5. Arthur E., born in Newark. Ohio, in 1845; is married and has four children. 6. Mary, born in Portsmouth, Ohio; married D. W. Hunt, and has five children. 7. Sophia J., born in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1847; married Frank Wells and has three sons. 8. Lillian A., born in Binghamton, New York, in 1849; married Henry
225
ONTARIO COUNTY.
Wells and has one child. 9. Ella Louise, born in Binghamton, New York, in 1851 ; died young.
Henri E. Wells, son of Samuel and Emma (Rand) Wells, was born in Newark, Ohio, September 14, 1843. He acquired his educa- tion in the public schools, and when eighteen years old he enlisted at Moline, Illinois, in the Nineteenth Regiment Illinois Infantry, recruited for service in the civil war, and commanded by Colonel Turchin, a Russian. He served with ability in the quartermaster's department, later was thrown on the battlefield and participated in the battles of Stone River and Nashville, Tennessee, and having received a severe wound in the first-named engagement necessitating the amputation of his arm, he was honorably discharged in 1863. Returning to Moline, Illinois, he engaged in business. He was elected town collector, and in 1869 was appointed postmaster at Moline by President Grant, serv- ing in that capacity with credit to himself and satisfaction to his fellow- townsmen until 1877. In the latter year he removed to Tampa, Florida, and purchasing an orange grove he conducted it successfully some nine years. Returning north in 1886, he established his residence in Geneva, New York, and retired permanently from business. In politics he is an Independent Republican. He attends the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Wells was married (first), June 14, 1871, in Binghamton, New York, to Miss Anna M. Crosby ; she died April 3, 1888. He mar- ried (second) at Tampa, Florida, May 1, 1890, Miss Josephine A. Many. Children: 1. Lillian Anna, born June 21, 1872, in Moline, Illinois; graduated from the State Normal School at Brockport, New York, and since 1901 has been a missionary in Japan. 2. William Crosby, born August 4, 1873; is married and has two children: Henry and Florence. 3. Florence Lydia, born in Tampa, March 24, 1881 ; is also a graduate of the State Normal School at Brockport, and went as a missionary to Japan in 1906.
OSGOOD.
The name of Osgood, like that of Osborne and several other sur- names beginning with Os, is of Saxon origin. "Os" (signifying deity) combined with good, became at an early date a surname of considerable prominence in England, numerically and otherwise. Ancestors of the American Osgoods resided in Hampshire prior to the colonization of New England. Peter Osgood of Nether Wallup was assessed there in
226
ONTARIO COUNTY.
1522, and three of his descendants, John, Christopher and William Osgood, transplanted the name in America a few years after the estab- lishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The posterity of these immigrants is numerous and widely distributed. Lemuel Osgood, who was the fifth generation in descent from John, settled in Cabot, Ver- mont, going there from Barre, Massachusetts, by way of Claremont, New Hampshire, and the Osgoods of Manchester, New York, a sketch of whom follows, are undoubtedly of this branch of the family.
Elihu Osgood, a native of Barre, Vermont, went to Ontario county very early in the last century, and locating in the then newly-settled town of Manchester, he found employment with Mr. Peirce, one of the early proprietors. A year after his arrival he purchased a farm, which he brought to a good state of fertility, and this property has ever since been known as the Osgood homestead. He married Amy LaMunion and had a family of eleven children.
Burrus Osgood, son of Elihu and Amy (LaMunion) Osgood, was born in Manchester, June 27, 1818. He owned a farm and obtained good results as a reward for his labor, using much of his leisure time for the benefit of his fellow-townsmen. He served with marked ability in many positions of responsibility and trust, invariably discharging his duties in an upright and satisfactory manner, and owing to the im- plicit confidence inspired by his sterling integrity, he was frequently called upon to act as executor and trustee of estates, a business which absorbed much of his attention for more than fifty years. Mr. Osgood died September 20, 1901. He married (first) Maria Jane West, who died without issue, and in 1847 he married (second) Sarah Peirce, daughter of Ezra and Eliza (Gurley) Peirce. Children : Carlos Peirce, see forward; Addie E., born January 6, 1859, married (first) Joseph Clark ; married ( second) Frank Short.
Carlos Peirce, son of Burrus and Sarah ( Peirce) Osgood, was born at the family homestead in Manchester, March II, 1857. His studies in the public schools were supplemented by a course at the Canandaigua Academy, and graduating from that institution, he taught school for some time. At the age of twenty-one he went to Iowa, and jointly with W. H. Wilson, who had accompanied him thither, he as- sumed the management of a large tract of wild land owned by parties in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also engaged in farming on an ex- tensive scale. In the spring of 1883 he went to the then territory of Dakota, where he engaged extensively in the raising of wheat, and in company with others founded the town of Newark, located some forty
227
ONTARIO COUNTY.
miles from the nearest postoffice. In addition to his farming interests he conducted a profitable real estate, loan and mortgage business, and was the first justice of the peace elected in Marshall county. In 1889 he returned to the homestead farm in Manchester, which he carried on for some three years, and for the succeeding ten years he acted as district agent for the Travelers' Insurance Company, covering five counties. For the past eight years Mr. Osgood has been prominently identified with the independent telephone movement in western New York. In 1902 he established a line in Manchester and Shortsville, with a toll line to Clifton Springs, connecting with the independent line in that locality, and encouraged by the success attending his first venture in this direction, in the following year he organized and incorporated the Red Jacket Telephone Company, turning over to that corporation his lines already established and becoming its president and general mana- ger. The Red Jacket company is now in the full tide of prosperity and its success is mainly due to the ability and sound judgment of its pro- moter. He is a Master Mason and a member of Canandaigua Lodge No. 394.
Mr. Osgood was married January 22, 1889, to Miss Daisy D. Allen, born in West Waterville, Maine, June 10, 1868, daughter of Stephen Allen. They have had two children: I. Joseph Clark, born in January, 1890; died the same year. 2. Carlos Allen, born August 6, 1894 ; died September 13, 1895.
BLOSSOM.
William, son of Joseph Blossom, the first member of this family of whom we have definite information, was born in Amsterdam, New York, and was probably a descendant of the Cape Cod, Massachusetts, family. A number of Blossoms are mentioned in the records of Barn- stable and Sandwich, and the name is associated with Wells, Vermont, through a descendant of the Cape Cod Blossoms. William, son of Jo- seph Blossom, was in Manchester, New York, before 1837. He had been educated for the Presbyterian ministry, but did not enter it. He engaged in farming in the town of Seneca township, and in 1847 he came to Port Gibson, where for a time he ran a general store and en- gaged in the wholesale egg and butter business. He married (first) Magdalen Post, and (second) Polly, daughter of Eli Benham. Chil-
228
ONTARIO COUNTY.
dren, all by second marriage: Joseph, referred to below; Delanie ; Magdalen; Eli; Henry ; Samuel.
(II) Joseph, son of William and Polly (Benham) Blossom, was born in the town of Seneca, Ontario county, New York, April 8, 1837, and is now living at Port Gibson. He was brought by his father to Port Gibson, when he was ten years of age, and received his education in the public schools of Seneca and Port Gibson. He then for a number of years acted as clerk in his father's store, and for the last two years of his minority bought goods for a New York firm. In 1860 he en- gaged in boating on the Erie canal and afterwards took up farming and speculating. He has been a notary public for three years and was at one time a trustee for the public schools of Port Gibson, during which period he had charge of the building of the new school house and of the town hall. He is still engaged in farming. Mr. Blossom is a mem- ber of the Maccabees. He married Ellen, daughter of Youngs Corwin. Children : I. Eudora, married Frederick Floodman; she left two chil- dren, Edna and Georgia; died May 31, 1901. 2. Georgia, died January 20, 1879. 3. Frank. 4. Caroline, married Frederick Lehr; one child, Dorothy B. 5. E. Louisa, married Harris Allerton; no children. 6. Laurel. Mrs. Blossom is a member of the Maccabees and is commander of the local hive in Port Gibson.
LYON.
William Lyon, the founder of this family, was a mason and a na- tive of Holland, who emigrated to America in the first half of the nine- teenth century. He died in Williamson, New York, aged seventy- eight years. He married Jane Rosencran, who died in Manchester, New York, aged eighty-two years. Children: Jacob; Kate; Will- iam, referred to below.
William (2), son of William (1) and Jane (Rosencran) Lyon, was born in Rochester, New York, February 4, 1861, and is now living in1 Port Gibson, New York. He was taken from Rochester to Williamson, while yet a young child, by his parents, and received his education in the latter place, afterwards engaging in farming. In 1888 he removed to Port Gib- son, and after spending four years in farming there, he engaged in the business of fruit evaporation and has since built himself up quite a pros- perous business, handling and disposing of annually from ten to twelve
229
ONTARIO COUNTY.
thousand bushels of fruit. He married, in 1886, Mary, daughter of John and Mary Cramer. Children: Glenn W., born November 7, 1888, an electrician, living in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Nevada, born October 28, 1894; Kenneth J., born September 18, 1896.
KIRTLAND.
Daniel Kirtland, the first member of this family of whom we have definite information, was a native of Durham, Greene county, New York. Owing to confusion in the existing records and paucity of dates, it is un- certain whether this Daniel is the Daniel Sr., who married Lovisa Lord, and is the great-grandfather of Caroline Kirtland, or his son, Daniel Jr., who married Huldah Stevens. The family belongs to the border clans of Scotland and is found in Durham, Yorkshire and Cheshire, England, whence members of it emigrated in early days to Durham, Woodbury and Wallingford, Connecticut. About 1784, a number of families from these Connecticut towns, settled in what was then Freehold, Greene county, New York, naming their settlement New Durham, and in 1805, incorporating under the name of Durham. It is thought that the Kirtlands were among these settlers. In the census of 1810 there were four families, a total of twenty-one persons of the name of Kirtland of record. Children of Daniel Kirtland : Daniel P .; Eliza M .; Frederick W .; Julia A .; Caroline A .; Horace B .; Dorrance L., mentioned below.
Dorrance L., son of Daniel and Huldah (Stevens) Kirtland, was born in Durham, Greene county, New York, December 16, 1818, died in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, August 11, 1885. He received his education in the public schools and at the high school in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He came to Phelps in 1839, and after working on a farm there for a short while, returned east, where he remained until 1842. He then came to the western part of the town of Phelps, where he bought a farm on which he lived for seven years, when he settled on his final location near Oaks Corners. He was a trustee and the treas- urer of the church at Oaks Corners for many years and one of its most generous supporters. He married Victoria, daughter of Colonel Asahel Bannister, who died September 13, 1881. Children: Irving W .; Caro- line M. ; Daniel Pratt ; Orlando B .; Mary B.
*
230
ONTARIO COUNTY.
DIXON.
The late John Boynton Dixon, of Geneva, an expert tile and brick- maker, and the inventor of valuable improvements in the manufacture of clay products, belonged to an English family which for upwards of a century was identified with that business, both in England and America. His grandfather, James Dixon, a gallant soldier in the British army, holding the rank of sergeant, had the honor of serving under the renowned Duke of Wellington, and participated in the famous battle of Waterloo, which decided the fate of Europe and effectually terminated the imperial aspirations of the greatest military dictator of modern times. The sabre which he carried in that memorable struggle is now in the possession of his grandson's widow.
Upon his retirement from the army Sergeant James Dixon re- turned to his home in Rellington, England, and engaged in the manu- facture of tile and brick. Physically strong and active, he nearly rounded out a full century, dying at the unusually advanced age of ninety-nine years. His wife, who is now only known to her descendants in this country as Dame Dixon, was a woman of excellent character and superior intellectual attainments, who conducted a school for girls in Rellington. She lived to be eighty years old.
(II) John, son of Sergeant James Dixon, and the father of John Boynton Dixon, was born in Rellington the latter part of the eighteenth century, and died in early manhood when his son John B. was an in- fant. He married Hannah -, born in Rellington in 1790, died in 1880, a nonagenarian. Left with the care of an infant by the un- timely death of her husband, she subsequently became the wife of a Mr. Clark. The children of her second union are: I. James, who resides in Canada, married and has four children. 2. George, a resi- dent of Canada, married and has three children. 3. Richard, who also resides in Canada, four children. 4. Anna, married a Mr. Sergeant, ten children. 5. Bessie, who is residing in Manitoba and has a family.
(III) John Boynton, only child of John and Hannah Dixon, was born in Rellington, England, February 3, 1812, died in Geneva, New York, March 4, 1890. He was reared and educated in his native town, where he also served an apprenticeship at tile and brick-making with his grandfather, and in 1832 he engaged in that business for himself at Leeds, England, remaining in that city about twenty years. Arriv- ing in New York in 1851, he proceeded to select a suitable place in which to locate, and being favorably impressed with the inducements offered
John B. Dixon
231
ONTARIO COUNTY.
at Geneva he established a tile and brick yard in that town. This in- dustrial enterprise proved successful from the start, and its promoter built up an extensive and profitable business. Mr. Dixon introduced the manufacture of drain tile, and through his efforts the farmers in Western New York became convinced that by its use their lands could be made to yield larger and better crops. He also introduced numerous improvements in tile-making and was the inventor of the "Down Draft Inside Flue" tile kiln, which is now extensively used in the burn- ing process of all clay products. He was frequently consulted as an expert in matters relative to his business, and in 1870 he was employed to establish a tile brick plant at Anderson, South Carolina, for Senator Creighton. In addition to his regular business he was quite largely interested in the production of nursery stock. In his religious faith he was an Episcopalian and attended Trinity church. Politically he was a Republican.
Mr. Dixon married (second) in 1867, Mrs. Nancy Tyler (nee Slarrow). Children: 1. John Boynton, born September 28. 1868, died at the age of one year. 2. Katherine Elizabeth, born April 2, 1870. 3. A. Clark, born December 20, 1871, married Nora L. Catch- pole. January 18, 1899: children : John B., born August 22, 1905; Dorothy Clark, born in Corning, New York, August 10, 1908. 4. James B., born July 15, 1875. Mr. Dixon had a step-daughter Frances, who became the wife of Charles Scott. She died in 1868, leaving six children, five of whom were reared and educated by Mr. and Mrs. Dixon.
Mrs. Nancy Dixon was born in Geneva, January 10, 1831. Her father was Sidney Slarrow, a native of Dutchess county, New York, who settled in Geneva when a young man and learned the carpenter's trade with John R. Morrison, of that town, where he died in 1846.
Her mother, Ann ( Taylor) Slarrow, who was born in Seneca, New York, died in 1835. when Mrs. Dixon was but four years old, and she was reared and educated by Mrs. John M. Woods, of Seneca, who in every way proved equal to her self-imposed task. Mrs. Woods, who lived to the good old age of ninety years, was sincerely loved by all who knew her, and Mrs. Dixon holds her in the most affectionate re- membrance. Nancy Slarrow married for her first husband William C. Tyler, a native of Massachusetts, who fought for the preservation of the Union in the civil war and was killed in the battle of Cold Harbor, in June, 1864. The children of this marriage are: I. Mary May Tyler, born May 5, 1852, died November 2, 1856. 2. Amanda Jane,
232
ONTARIO COUNTY.
born April 28, 1854, married William Frautz, of Geneva; children : Nellie E. Frautz, now Mrs. R. Winton, of Lodi, New York, and has two children; Nancy Dixon Frautz, died January 9, 1910; Mary Frautz, now Mrs. Winfred Turk, of Geneva, one son, Henry, who died in infancy; William Henry Frautz, born July 8, 1890; Catherine Frautz, born April 2, 1893. 3. Nellie Tyler, born in 1861, married John Beard, June 1880, and have two children : Thomas and Sylvia.
TURNBULL. .
William R. Turnbull, assessor of Seneca township, Ontario county, New York, is a member of a family which was among the pioneer settlers of the county, and the various generations of which have been closely identified with its agricultural interests. Thoroughly convers- ant with the details of farming and sheep raising, honorable and high- minded in all the different phases of life, he occupies an enviable posi- tion among his fellow townsmen, who willingly accord to him a place in their first ranks.
Adam Turnbull, grandfather of the above mentioned, came to Seneca township in 1801, and settled on the farm which is still in the possession of the family. At that time the land was in a wild and uncultivated condition, and Mr. Turnbull was an important factor in introducing measures which tended to the general improvement of the community.
Alexander, son of Adam Turnbull, was born on the homestead in 1818, and died there in 1895. He married Elizabeth Burrell, who died in 1901. Children : Mary J. ; William R., see forward ; Thomas E. ; Margaret Elizabeth, married John McCartney, and resides in Rochester, New York.
William R., son of Alexander and Elizabeth ( Burrell) Turnbull, was born on the family homestead in Seneca township, Ontario county, New York, December 5, 1857. He was educated in the district school, and after being graduated from this, spent two years in the old Can- andaigua Academy, and left it excellently equipped for business as well as farming life. Until his marriage he, his brother and his father worked hand-in-hand in making the homestead farm as productive as conditions would permit ; upon his marriage, however, one hundred acres of this land were set out for his special portion, and he devoted
233
ONTARIO COUNTY.
his time and attention exclusively to that part of the homestead. In addition to farming he devoted a considerable part of his time and land to sheep raising, and in this branch of industry has met with re- markable success. From time to time he has enlarged his output in various directions, and the annual revenue from his farm is a constantly increasing one. He is one of the most progressive farmers in his sec- tion of the country, examining carefully every new device and invention that is placed on the market in the interests of land cultivation and its kindred branches, and when he has given them a fair trial or has seen them amply demonstrated he is ready to install them. He has had a beautiful house built upon his land, fitted with all modern improve- ments, such as steam heat, acetylene light, etc., in which he and his family are surrounded by all the influences of a refined home life. His fraternal associations are with the Order of Maccabees, while his po- litical views are those of the Republican party. He and his family are members of No. 9 Presbyterian church.
Mr. Turnbull married, February 21, 1889, Margaret E., born in Seneca, New York, October 24, 1868, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George O. Rippey, a farmer, who was born in 1826, and died in 1907. Joseph Rippey, grandfather of Mrs. Turnbull, was a native of Pennsylvania, and when a young man, settled in Seneca township, Ontario county, New York, where he resided all his life. He married Smith, and they had the following children: Carrie; George O .; Elizabeth ; Amy: John; Cornelia. By a second marriage with Eleanor Scoon he had Ella, who lives in California. The family were Presbyterians. The children of George O. Rippey and wife were: John B .; Margaret E., mentioned above; child, died in infancy. Children of William R. and Margaret E. (Rippey ) Turnbull : 1. Wilson R., born May II, 1892; was graduated from public schools in 1907, and from Penn Yan High School in 1910; is now a student in the Agricultural Department, of Cornell University. 2. Howard, born June 4, 1893; is a student at Penn Yan High School, from which he will graduate in the class of 1911 ; is a fine musician, especially as a performer on the piano. 3. Mac B., born September 22, 1904.
STOUTENBURG.
Pieter Stoutenburg, the founder of this family, who died March 9. 1698-99, was one of the early Dutch immigrants in New Amsterdam.
1
234
ONTARIO COUNTY.
now New York. He arrived probably before 1649. He was a school- master. The marriage connections of his family and the offices held by them, show that his family was one of good standing, and he had a house and a large garden on the east side of Broadway, just north of Wall street. He is stated to have been aged eighty-six at his death. His name is sometimes spelled Stoutenburgh. He married, the banns being recorded in New York, July 25, 1649, Aefje van Tienhoven, a near relative, perhaps a sister of Cornelis van Tienhoven, the secretary and treasurer of the colony. Children: I. Engeltje, baptized August 20, 1651. 2. Engeltje, baptized January 5, 1653; married, banns re- corded February 10, 1671, Willem Waldron. 3. Child, baptized De- cember 13, 1654. 4. Jannetie, baptized August 30, 1656, married, August 13, 1679, Albertus Ringo. 5. Wijntie, baptized May 8, 1658. 6. Tobias, referred to below. 7. Wijntie, baptized October 15, 1662, married (first), November 3, 1680, Gerrit Corneliszen van Echtsveen and (second), May 25, 1693, Evert Bijvanck. 8. Lucas, baptized Jan- uary 10, 1666. 9. Isaac, baptized September 26, 1668, married, July 2, 1690, Neeltje Uijttenbogaert.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.