USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 38
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Mr. Coye has among other heirlooms an old wooden mortar and pestle brought from Connecticut by his ancestors, more than a century old. He married, February 10, 1880, at Cohocton, New York, Georgia J. Clapp, born in Bath, England, 1860, and came to this country in Sep- tember, 1869. Her father, Charles C. Clapp, followed the sea for twenty- six years. Her mother was Emily J. (Tennant ) Clapp. Children : I. Nathan C., born July 16, 1881 ; married Hattie Granby, May 16, 1909; was educated in the public schools and the Rochester Business University. 2. Elma E., born November 13, 1882: married George Demorist. 3. Earl R., born May 12, 1884, and have two children : Winifred J., born February 8, 1907, and Grace, born September 9, 1908. 4. Winifred L., born May 27, 1889. 5. Herbert E., November 16, 1892.
BELL.
According to tradition the ancestry of this Bell family is Dutch. Frederick and Anna Mary Bell, the first settlers of the family, and probably the immigrant ancestors, came among the earliest settlers to the town of Herkimer and each had a hundred acres of land on the north side of the river in the Burnetsfield grant, in what was afterward Herki- mer village. The family was never very numerous in the town. Before the revolution they followed farming as a rule. One of the family was killed by Brant and his Indians in the attack on the Henderson patent in
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July, 1778, "an aged man," and also his son. This may have been Frederick. From another source we learn that a Philip Bell was killed during the revolution. He was of this family and either son or grandson of Frederick.
The records are not in such shape that the family can be traced in all the details. Jacob and George H. Bell fought in the revolution and were afterward pensioned; Frederick and William, of Tryon county regiments, also fought in the revolution. Herkimer was then in Tryon county. In 1790 the heads of this family, according to the first federal census, at Herkimer, were Jacob, Philip, Thomas and William. George Henry must have been omitted or his name is misspelled.
(II) Captain George Henry Bell, believed to be son of Frederick Bell, married a sister of General Herkimer and was a man of considerable note in the revolution. He was well educated and wrote a neat, compact hand with much rapidity, we are told in an account of him in the old history of the Mohawk Valley. Although not among the officers of the militia appointed in 1775, he commanded a company at the battle of Oriskany and was wounded. In later years he was pensioned for this service. He remained on the field with General Herkimer until the battle was over and he took charge of the escort of the wounded commander, who was borne on a litter for thirty miles. Captain Bell brought a gun from Oriskany, taken in a hand-to-hand fight with a British officer whom he killed. The gun was kept as a memento by his family for some gen- erations. He served in Colonel Peter Bellinger's regiment from Tryon county and also in the Fourth Regiment in the revolution. (See pp. 182 and 271, "New York in the Revolution"). During and after the war he was a justice of the peace. His first commission was dated February 2, 1778, and others were dated July 8, 1784, and in 1790. He lived on the patent granted his father and on account of Indians he had a palisade of pickets about his stone house. We are told that his son Joseph was killed in the service and that Nicholas was also in the revolution and was killed and scalped by the Indians and Tories about a mile from his father's house on the road over to Fort Hill. Nicholas had a son, Colonel Joost Bell, and Captain George Henry Bell had two daughters, one of whom married Henry I. Walrad, the other Peter Wagener.
There was a Frederick Bell in Colonel Samuel Campbell's regiment, the First Tryon County.
(III) Henry Bell, descendant of Frederick Bell, was born in Herki- mer, New York, about 1775-80. He married Mary Doxtader and they came to the town of Phelps in Ontario county to make their home, build-
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ing a log house and clearing a large farm. Children: Jonas, William, Elizabeth, who married Oliver Yager.
(IV) Jonas, son of Henry Bell, was born about 1810. He was a farmer at Phelps and a man of property and influence. He married Miranda Lucas. Children : Harris, William, mentioned below; George; Charles; Elizabeth, married Edwin A. Steves, who was born in Manchester, New York, in 1840, a musician in the Thirty-third New York Regiment of Volunteer Infantry in the civil war, and they had one daughter, Emma May Steves, now deceased ; Alice; Adelaide.
(V) William, son of Jonas Bell, was born in Phelps, New York, August 21, 1845, and was educated there in the public schools. At the age of eighteen he became a traveling salesman and followed that busi- ness for a number of years. He finally located in his native town and since has followed farming with exceptional success. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of Wide-Awake Grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry.
He married, September, 1871, Ann Eliza Bishop, born in Man- chester Centre, daughter of William and Eleanor Bishop. Children, born at Phelps: Carrie Louise, August 26, 1873: Mary Elizabeth, November 17, 1874, died October, 1875; William Spencer, July 27, 1876, attended public school, then Dr. Kellogg's University, Battle Creek, Michigan, and from there went to the Chicago University where he graduated in 1900 as a minister of the Brethren church. He preached first at Waterloo, Iowa, then at Sterling, Illinois, six years, then was in charge at Johnstown, Pennsylvania; now at Sunnyside, Washington.
STRYKER.
Winfield S. Stryker, a prosperous farmer of Phelps, Ontario county, New York, is a member of a family which has for many years been identified with the history of the state of New York in various ways. Notably and foremost, the members of this family were ardent patriots, ever ready to lay down their lives in defense of the country in which they lived.
(I) James I. Stryker, grandfather of Winfield S. Stryker, was a farmer, also engaging in business as a tanner and currier and following the trade of a harnessmaker. He lived for many years at Sand Beach, and took a prominent part in the affairs of his day. He and his family
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were members of the Dutch Reformed church, but later became identi- fied with the Presbyterian denomination. He married Anna M. Freese, and they were the parents of the following children: Daniel P., died March 23, 1844, aged thirty-eight; Adam F., also a tanner and currier, born April 26, 1808, died August 3, 1884; Henry, died in Portland, Oregon, one of the first settlers there; John, mentioned below; Lydia C., died June 6, 1888, aged seventy-three; Charlotte, deceased; Abram, also deceased ; James M., one of the pioneers of Chicago. James I. Stryker died December 14, 1825, aged forty-five years, and his widow survived him many years, passing away March 14, 1862, at the advanced age of eighty.
(II) John, son of James I. and Anna M. (Freese) Stryker, was born at Sand Beach, Owasca Lake, New York, April 17, 1810, died in 1882. He lived on the farm which had been in his possession for many years, and which he kept in a fine state of cultivation. His interest in public affairs was an active and beneficial one, and he bore his share bravely in the military life of the country, serving as a captain in the New York state militia. He married Maria Garritson, who died in 1869, and they had children : Winfield S., mentioned below ; Ellen F., who mar- ried John Salisbury ; Anna V., married Charles Peck : Sarah A., married George Case, both deceased.
(III) Winfield S., son of John and Maria (Garritson) Stryker, was born in Cayuga county, New York, August 28, 1847. He was edu- cated in the public schools, and at an early age, under the able supervision and direction of his father, became initiated into the details of farm man agement and cultivation. Later he removed to Oaks Corners, where he was engaged in farming for a period of seven years, and subsequenti:' removed to Phelps, where he purchased the farm on which he is living at the present time. He is progressive in his methods, ready to adopt any new idea which seems practical, and the farm is very successfully managed. The buildings are amply large for the purposes for which. they were designed, and they are kept in the finest condition. A con- siderable portion of the acreage is devoted to the growing of fruit of various kinds, and this is a profitable enterprise. He is a Republican in politics and has served as school director. He is a member of Wide Awake Grange, No. 747, Patrons of Husbandry, of Phelps, New York. The family attend the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Stryker married Harriet J., daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Benson) Case, and they had children : Winfield C .; Arthur J .; Flora
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E., married, November 18, 1908, James H. Weston, of Oaks Corners, New York, and they have one child, John S., born January 20, 1910; Clara H., died August 2, 1903 ; Olive E .; John H .; Daniel : Harold E. and Elmer E., twins.
DE GRAW.
F. Allen De Graw, who has a well established law practice in Clifton Springs, New York, traces his ancestry to France, as his name indicates. The family settled in 1618, in Holland, seeking there a refuge from the persecutions of their native land. They only remained in Holland two years. Two brothers and their families came to America in 1620 and settled at Flatbush, Long Island, and from there one branch went to New York state, one to New Jersey and one remained on Long Island. The name was originally de Grasse.
Arthur H., son of John Hall De Graw, was born in the town of Wayne, and followed the occupation of farming. He served as a justice of sessions for one term, and as a justice of the peace for many years. He supported Republican principles.
F. Allen, son of Arthur H. De Graw, was born in the town of Wayne, Steuben county, New York, June 7, 1875. His preparatory education was acquired in the Haveling Free Academy, Bath, New York, from which he was graduated in 1893, and he then became a student at the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated June 4, 1897.
He removed to Hammondsport, New York, where he practiced law from March, 1898, until June, 1900, when he established him- self in Wayland, New York, where he remained until September, 1903. He then went to Clifton Springs, New York, where he opened offices and has acquired a large and lucrative practice. He has been an earnest and active worker in the interests of the Republican party. His religious affiliations are with the Episcopal church, and he is a member of Erbana Lodge, No. 459, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hammondsport, New York.
Mr. De Graw married, at Hammondsport, New York, September 4, 1900, Flora Deane, a native of that place, who was born October 13, 1882. Children : Carl Beverly, born October 24, 1901, Lawrence Kenilworth, born November 28, 1907, and Alice Louise, born July 27, 1910.
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GILLETTE.
John Gillette, a well known lawyer of Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, is one of that class of citizens, who, undemonstra- tive and unassuming, nevertheless form the character and mold the society of the community in which they live, by their force of charac- ter and honorable and unremitting efforts for advancement and im- provement in every direction. He is the son of John Gillette and Mar- gret Eaton. John Gillette was at one time a farmer, a native of Kinder- hook, New York, who lived for a time in Albany, New York, and removed to Wayne county, New York, about the time of the construction of the Erie canal.
John Gillette (2) was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, November 18, 1838. He was a student at the Palmyra Classical School, from which he was graduated, and then commenced the reading of law in the office and under the preceptorship of Judge McLouth, of Palmyra, being admitted to the bar in June, 1864. He removed to Canandaigua in the fall of the same year, and immediately opened an office and estab- lished himself in the practice of the profession, with which he has been sucessfully identified to the present time. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party, to which he has given strong support.
Mr. Gillette married, 1865, Harriet A., daughter of William F. Jarvis and Harriet Maxon, of Palmyra, New York. Children: Mar- garet, married Assemblyman J. L. Burnett, of Canandaigua, who died in April, 1907; George W., a lawyer who formerly was engaged in practice in Buffalo, New York, and is now connected with a manufac- turing plant in Columbus, Ohio.
COLMEY.
Hon. John Colmey was born in Stillwater, Saratoga county, New York, August 2, 1858, and when three years of age removed with his parents to Victor, Ontario county, New York. During his early years he assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm, attending the district school winters. Possessed of an active mind and a strong determination to better his condition, at fifteen years of age he left the farm and obtained in the village of Victor a place where he could do
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chores for his board and attend the village school. By close application Mr. Colmey was able to graduate from the Victor high school in the year 1878 and at once commenced his legal studies in the offices of Henry O. Chesebro and E. M. Morse in Canandaigua, New York. Two years later he passed the necessary examination, and was ad- mitted to practice law in October, 1880. Mr. Colmey had now achieved the success for which he had been striving so long and in the face of numerous obstacles which had rendered the pathway unusually rugged and difficult to travel. The price he paid for this success was a heavy one, that of impaired health. and for a period of two years he was compelled to seek outdoor employment. In the fall of the year 1882 he had so far regained his health as to be able to open a law office in Victor, where he successfully practiced law for the next six years.
In the spring of the year 1882, he was elected a justice of the peace of the town of Victor. So efficient were his services in this office that when he was named for re-election in 1886, there was no opposing candidate nominated. During the years 1886 and 1887 he was elected justice of sessions, and in 1888 he was elected to represent the town of Victor in the board of supervisors, succeeding himself the following year, the term at that time being for one year only. He removed to Canandaigua in 1888, associated himself in a partnership with Hon. Maynard N. Vlement, which continued in force until Governor Flower, in 1892, appointed Mr. Colmey surrogate, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Oliver Armstrong. Mr. Colmey served one year and then declined renomination for the office, which was tendered him. He resumed the practice of law, this time independently, and has so con- tinued to the present time (1911). His practice is a large and lucra- tive one, he has been entrusted with the conduct of numerous import- ant cases and the higher courts have given him many favorable decisions, as well as the lower ones. He is considered one of the ablest attorneys in that section of the state of New York. During the years 1890 and 1891 he served as village attorney of the village of Canandaigua, and two years later was appointed by Comptroller Campbell as corporation tax commis- sioner, with headquarters at Buffalo. This very important office carried with it the responsibility of collecting a large amount of back corpora- tion tax throughout central and western New York, and Mr. Colmey held it for one year, when he retired. Upon his retirement he was highly complimented by Comptroller Roberts, a member of the Repub- lican party, for the efficient manner in which the duties of the office had been discharged while under his control. In 1904 Mr. Colmey
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HomerDuyder.
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was appointed by General Cunneen one of three commissioners to inspect and report upon the constitutionality of all legislative bills, thus enabling him to study in a most thorough and practical manner legislative methods. Mr. Colmey has always taken an active interest in political affairs. For twelve years he was chairman of the Demo- cratic county committee of Ontario county and has often represented his party at county and state conventions.
While a staunch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, Mr. Colmey is exceedingly liberal-minded in all his opinions, and in numerous cases this has been evinced by the fact of the support given him by the Republican papers in his campaigns for state senator and member of congress. As a public speaker he has achieved an enviable reputation. His remarks are clear and convincing, and judic- iously interspersed with humorous anecdotes which never fail to leave his audience in a cheerful and contented frame of mind. As a judge his decisions have invariably been rendered with the utmost intelli- gence and conscientiousness, and few men have studied more closely the public questions of the hour. Mr. Colmey is a loving husband and a devoted father, holding firmly the idea that happy homes make a happy and prosperous country.
SNYDER.
Homer Eugene Snyder, postmaster of Victor, Ontario county, New York, and prominently identified with the commercial interests of the county, is the son of Martin V. B. Snyder, a native of Victor, who was engaged in farming for many years, and is now living in retire- ment in the village in the town in which he was born. He married Hattie Warren, and had nine children, all of whom are living at the present time : Hattie M., Charles H., Marion J., Homer Eugene ( see forward). Lena A., Lillian J., Josiah E., Cora V. and Ira M.
Homer Eugene Snyder was born in Victor, Ontario county, New York, July 22, 1872. He attended the district school of Victor, and the Rochester Business University. His first step in his business career was as a commercial traveler, continuing in this line for a period of ten years, the greater number of which were spent in the employ of the Empire Drill Company. He was in full charge of the exhibit of this company at the Pan-American Exhibition in 1901. For some time he prospected in the province of Ontario, Canada, with the view of open-
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ing a branch of the Empire Drill Company. He was in charge of the agricultural store of Weaver, Palmer & Richmond, in Rochester, New York, holding the office of manager, 1905-06, which position he resigned January 5, 1907, to accept the position of postmaster of his home town, to which he had been appointed by the President, entering upon the active discharge of his duties the same day (January 5, 1907), and has been in office continuously since that time. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party, and he served as secre- tary of the county committee for many years. He has also served as chief of the Victor Fire Department, and as fire marshal of the vil- lage, and on the board of health. Mr. Snyder was one of the organizers of the Locke Insulator Manufacturing Company, of which he is one of the stockholders ; he also took an active interest in the establishing of the Victor Preserving Company. He has been a leading factor in introducing many improvements in Victor, and it was through his continuous efforts that Victor has one of the up-to-date electric lighting systems, and also one of the best fire departments.
He is connected with the following organizations: Milnor Lodge, No. 139, Free and Accepted Masons of Victor ; Victor Tent, No. 426, Knights of the Maccabees; Rochester Lodge, No. 24, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Lalla Rooke Grotto, No. 3, M. O. V. P. E. R., of Rochester; the National Association of Postmasters; the New York State Association of Postmasters; Empire State Implement Men's Club, and Red Jacket Club of Canandaigua. Mr. Snyder is unmarried.
NEWLAND.
Dr. Frank Herrick Newland, one of the rising young physicians of Clifton Springs, whose practice is an unusually large one for the time it has been in existence, is a son of Fred H. and Elivy (Crandall) Newland.
Dr. Newland was born in East Bloomfield, New York, December 13, 1873. He attended the schools at Clifton Springs, Cook Academy at Montour Falls, New York, and Colgate University. He then became a student at the Homoeopathic Medical College, in Cleveland, Ohio, from which he was graduated in the class of 1902 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He immediately established himself in practice in July of that year at Clifton Springs, and has been very successful
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in his choice of a profession. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. His fraternal associations are with the following organizations : Sincerity Lodge, No. 200, Free and Accepted Masons, of Phelps; Newark Chapter, No. 117, Royal Arch Masons; Zenobia Conmmandery, No. 41, Knights Templar, of Palmyra, New York; Cilfton Springs Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Dr. Newland married at Clifton Springs, January 19, 1904, Maud B., born in Clifton Springs, daughter of Frank and Sarah ( Peachey ) Van Dyne, the former steward of the Sanatarium for the past twenty-five years. Child, Paul Van Dyne, born August 8, 1907.
VANDER BEEK.
Charles Abraham Vander Beek is of Holland ancestry, and a son of John and Mary E. Vander Beek. He was born near Rochester, New York, and chose the medical profession as his life work. In 1889 he was graduated from the medical department of New York (City) University, and served an interneship in the Monroe County Hospital. For several years he was engaged as assistant physician in Brigham Hall Hospital in Canandaigua, and since then Dr. Vander Beek has been in practice in Rochester, New York.
BALDWIN.
Burt Baldwin, cashier of the Ontario National Bank of Clifton Springs, New York, while young in years, has gained an amount and diversity of experience in his business career which is frequently not attained in a life time by others. He is energetic, versatile, and has a remarkable amount of executive ability, which has enabled him to think and act quickly as occasion demanded. His family has been settled in America many generations, his grandfather having been a farmer in the state of Pennsylvania.
(II) Vincent, son of George Baldwin, was born in the town of Chemung, Pennsylvania, August 3, 1836, died in 1905. He was suc- cessfully engaged in the hotel business for many years. He married Mary Kennedy, who was born in Troy, Pennsylvania.
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(III) Burt, son of Vincent and Mary ( Kennedy) Baldwin, was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1873. His elemen- tary education was acquired in the public schools of his native town- ship, and he then attended in succession the Mansfield Military School and the Genesee Western Seminary, from which latter institution he was garduated in 1893. In 1905 he came to Clifton Springs, Ontario county, New York, where he was engaged in the coal business and occupied with agricultural matters. Three years later he sold these interests in order to accept the position of cashier of the Ontario National Bank, as above mentioned. He has been prominently identi- fied with the public interests of the community in which he lives, and served as president of the village of Clifton Springs for a term of three years. His fraternal affiliations are with Sincerity Lodge, No. 200, Free and Accepted Masons; Newark Chapter, No. 117, Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Baldwin is a man of a frank and winning manner, quick in arriving at a decision, and modest and unassuming in his demeanor.
Mr. Baldwin married, December 27, 1904, Eunice May, daughter of Truman B. Fox, of Clifton Springs, and they have one son : Truman Vincent.
TITUS.
All who bear the name of Titus in America are descended from an ancient and honorable English family. The name is mentioned in various historical works of recognized authority, including Hume's and Macaulay's Histories of England, Burke's "Dictionary of Landed Gentry," the book of "Family Crests" (Washburn's London), Chaun- cey's "Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire," Granger's "Biographical History of England," the "Harlein Manuscripts," etc. The immi- grant ancestor of the American branch of this family was supposedly a son of Silas Titus Sr., of Hertfordshire, and if this supposition is correct he was a brother of Colonel Silas Titus, who served the Royal cause with distinction during the civil war in England, and was the author of a famous pamphlet entitled "Killing no Murder."
(I) Silas Titus Sr., who died November 24, 1637, married Con- stancia - , who died October 22, 1667. Children: Colonel Silas, Stephen and perhaps Robert.
(II) Robert Titus, the immigrant ancestor of those of the name hereafter mentioned, was born in 1600, probably in St. Catherines
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Parish, near Stansted' Abbotts, Hertfordshire, England. He sailed from London, April 3, 1635, and the following entry relative to his migration is to be found in the passenger lists preserved in the public record office, London: "Theis under written names are to be trans- ported to New England, embarked in ye Hopewell, Mr. Wm. Burdick. The p'ties have brought certificates from the minister and justice of the peace that they are no subsedy men, they have taken oath of all and supremacie. Robert Titus, Husbandman, of St. Catherine's (aged) 36, Hannah Titus, uxor 35. Jo Titus 8, Edmond Titus 5."
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