USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 42
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(I) James G. Dorchester, grandfather of Edward G., was born in 1791, died in 1850, and was a cabinetmaker by occupation. He mar- ried Clarissa Backenstose, who was born in 1798, died in 1845.
(II) Preston J., son of James G. and Clarissa ( Backenstose) Dor- chester, was born in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in 1819, died in 1891. His school education was a scanty one, as he was the main support of the family and could spare but little time to devote to edu- cational matters. All his later success and prosperity he owed to his own unaided efforts, and at the time of his death he had amassed a competency. He was the organizer of the hardware firm of Underhill, Dorchester & Brother, which succeeded Prouty & Chew, who were the successors of Phineas Prouty, the oldest business of its kind in the county. Subsequently he conveyed his interests in this undertaking to his son, Edward G. Dorchester. He was a member of the Hook and Ladder Company of Geneva. He married, in 1845, Mary Ann Griffin, born in West Bloomfield, New York, 1820.
(III) Edward G., son of Preston J. and Mary Ann (Griffin) Dor- chester, was born in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in 1846. He
J. Burnett
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attended the public and high schools of his native city, and then spent one and a half years at Hobart College. His business career commenced in 1866, when he accepted a clerkship in the store of Underhill, Dor- chester & Brother, which he filled very capably for some years. He then spent considerable time in traveling throughout the south and west, returning to Geneva about 1885, and resuming his duties as a clerk in the same business in which he had previously been active. Later his father turned over his interests to him, and the business was continued under the new style of Dorchester & Rose, under which name it is carried on at the present time ( 1911). The establishment is a very fine one, equipped in the most modern manner, with an extensive line of goods, and is the largest store of its kind in Ontario county. Mr. Dor- chester is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a staunch Repub- lican and a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Dorchester is un- married.
KEYES.
Lewis W. Keyes, a prominent and popular lawyer in Geneva, was born in Geneva, Ontario county, New York. He was a student at Hobart College, from which he was graduated in 1887; Columbia College Law School, 1890; and was admitted to the bar in the same year. He imme- diately commenced the practice of his profession at Geneva, in partner- ship with Hon. D. B. Backenstose, who retired from the firm in 1902, and since that time Judge Keyes has been practicing independently, rep- resenting many corporations, and engaged in trial work in all courts. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. He is a member and trustee of Kanadasaga and University clubs.
BURNETT.
Jean La Rue Burnett, whose early death was greatly deplored. and whose career as a lawyer and statesman had shown much promise for the future, was a son of Perrine Burnett, a veteran of the civil war, son of Jonathan and Elizabeth ( Mead) Burnett. Perrine Burnett married Harriet E., daughter of Edwin and Eliza (Barto) Rowley. Edwin Rowley was a son of Judah Rowley, a pioneer of Ontario county.
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Jean La Rue Burnett was born in Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, January 10, 1871, died at Albany, New York, February 27, 1907. He was a student at the Union School and at Canandaigua Acad- emy, from which he was graduated in 1889. He then commenced reading law and later became a student in the law department of the University of Michigan, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1892. He was unusually gifted with journalistic and literary genius and was a contributor in both prose and verse to periodicals in all parts of the United States. He passed the examination of the supreme court of Michigan and was admitted to practice in January, 1892, and to the bar of New York, March 30, 1893. His political affiliations were with the Republican party, and he was one of the five organizers of the American Collegiate Republican League, which gained national reputation for the influence it exerted in the presidential campaign of 1892. He was honored by that organization by being selected as its toastmaster on the occasion of its first annual banquet, and the eloquence of his introductory address brought him so conspicuously to the notice of Governor Alger and Governor Mckinley that when the national campaign opened, upon the recommendation of these gentlemen, the state committee of New York appointed Mr. Burnett as one of its regular speakers, and his subsequent addresses gained for him a name as an orator of marked ability. He was chief clerk of the assembly revision committee, and in 1898 was elected member of assembly and was continuously re-elected to that office, which he held at the time of his death. The fact that Mr. Burnett was nine times nominated and elected with practical unanimity to the assembly, a record never before approached by a representative of Ontario county in that body, evidences better than words the esteem in which he was held by the people who knew him best.
Mr. Burnett married Margaret, daughter of John and Harriet A. (Jarvis) Gillette, of Canandaigua, New York. Two children: Mar- garet, born April 8, 1903; Jean Le Rue, February 26, 1907.
McDOWELL.
Ephraim McDowell, immigrant ancestor of the New Jersey family, was born in Londonderry, Ireland, of Scotch ancestry. He was one of the defenders of Londonderry at the time of the siege. He settled in Bed- minister, New Jersey, and married Margaret Irving.
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(I) John McDowell, believed to be a descendant of Ephraim Mc- Dowell, came to Yates county, New York, from New Jersey, in 1795, and settled in the town of Jerusalem on the west branch of Keuka Lake. He bought land of John Greig, agent of the Hornby estate, and lost a large part of it in the re-survey of the line of Steuben county, throwing most of his farm into Ontario county, instead of Steuben, where it had been located first. He left there in 1803 and lived for a time at the foot of Keuka Lake, where he was employed by Abraham Wagener. After living there about six years he settled on a farm later owned by James M. Lewis, where he died in 1814. Children : William, mentioned below ; Sarah, married David Hall; Esther, married Wallace Finch who lived near David Hall. Probably other children.
(II) William, son of John McDowell, was born about 1790. In 1825 he bought two hundred and fifty acres of land on lot 46 in Bar- rington one mile south of Warsaw, paying four dollars an acre. He was a prosperous and substantial farmer. He was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian church in Barrington. He married, in 1813. Doro- thea Decker. Children: William, lived at Barrington; John, mentioned below ; Matthew, lived at Barrington and Wayne, where he died: Catha- rine, married Henry Cronkright, of Tyrone; Elizabeth, married Jonathan Taylor, of Barrington; Nancy, married Caleb Hedges, of Bradford : Elsie, married Selah Crosby.
(IV) John (2), son of William McDowell, was born June, 1825, died April, 1909. He married Emilia, daughter of Peter H. Crosby. Her father was one of the leading citizens of Barrington, prominent in the Baptist church, filling many offices of trust, and as commissioner of high- ways laid out many of the original streets of the town. "His life has been one of industry and good example." Peter H. Crosby married Catherine, daughter of Joseph Finton, and they had Emilia, mentioned above, Alanson, Joseph F., Selah, Drusilla and Isaac Crosby. Nathan Crosby, father of Peter H. Crosby, came to Yates county from Putnam county, in 1812, and settled near the Crystal Spring in Sunderlin Hollow where he lived two years and then returned to Delaware county, return- ing a year later to Milo, where he lived three years and then to Barring- ton, then to Wayne, locating where his son Peter H. afterwards resided for many years, on land adjoining the farm of Joseph Finton; he died in 1825; children: Selah, Marian, Sarah, Esther, Abigail. Peter H. and Cyrus. Children of John and Emilia (Crosby ) McDowell; Kate, married Cyrus A. Lawrence; George, married Della Ovenshire; Peter,
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married Mary Playsted; Frank, married Delia Parker; Charles, men- tioned below.
(V) Charles, son of John (2) McDowell, was born September 6, 1855, at Barrington, Yates county, New York. His father was a farmer in Barrington and he spent his youth on the farm and in the district schools. Afterward he rented the farm of his father and conducted it for a number of years. In 1892 he removed to the town of Chapin, Ontario county, and bought his present farm, which is known as "Pleas- ant View." It is conveniently located near Chapin depot and the house and other buildings are on a slight elevation, commanding an excellent view of the beautiful country thereabouts. Mr. McDowell is an enter- prising and progressive farmer, making a specialty of his dairy and owning a fine herd of cattle. His personal attention is given to every detail of the work of his farm and he has fairly earned the success that has attended him. His genial, kindly ways have won for him the esteem and friendship of all who know him. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of Canandaigua Grange, No. 1062, Patrons of Husbandry.
He married, December 13, 1877, Fanny Stoutenberg, of Penn Yan, born at Cortwright, Delaware county, New York, January 16, 1860, daughter of Alfred B. and Marjorie (McLaury) Stoutenberg. She had a brother Julius and sisters Lillian and Marjorie Stoutenberg. Charles and Fanny McDowell had one child, John Alfred, born December 20, 1878, married Frances G. Bates, September 4, 1900, and they have one child, Jean Frances, born April 22, 1909.
CAMMETT.
The Cammett family, although limited in numbers, is composed of in- dustrious and thrifty people, the majority of whom are engaged in tilling the soil and all are useful. upright and eminently worthy citizens. They are the descendants of Johnson Cammett, a native of Vermont and a blacksmith by trade, who went from the Green Mountain State to Canan- daigua, New York, early in the last century. About the year 1829 he purchased a farm in Hopewell, New York, containing one hundred and fifty-six acres, and he resided there until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy years.
(II) Samuel, son of Johnson Cammett, was born in Canandaigua about the year 1826. When he was three years old his parents moved
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to Hopewell, and he grew to manhood in that town, taking kindly to the independent though strenuous life of a farmer, and deriving a comfortable living. He succeeded to the ownership of the homestead farm, and at the time of his death, which occurred September 6, 1906, he had resided there for a period of seventy-seven years. In politics he was a Democrat and served upon the board of supervisors for two terms. He married, July 2, 1867, Frances Barhite, sister of Judge John A. Barhite, of Rochester, New York. She was born September 15, 1845. Children : I. Watson. 2. Edward H., born October 25, 1872, is now residing at the homestead in Hopewell. 3. Frank, see forward. 4. Nellie, born June 13, 1878, married Burton McIvor, in December, 1905.
(III) Frank, third son of Samuel and Frances ( Barhite ) Cammett, was born in Hopewell, September 3, 1875. Having pursued the elemen- tary branches of study in the district school he entered the Canandaigua Union School and was graduated from that well-known institution. His agricultural training began at an early age, and he began the activities of life fully able to weather its vicissitudes and obtain the rewards of honest and determined effort. April 1, 1910, he purchased a desirable farın of one hundred acres in Geneva, and is now engaged in its culti- vation, looking forward with courage and optimism to a prosperous future. Politically he acts with the Republican party. For fourteen years he has been a member of Stanley Lodge, No. 434, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Gorham, New York; has been a member of the Patrons of Husbandry for six years; and in his religious faith he is a Methodist.
Mr. Cammett married, April 28, 1897, Katherine Esther Barber, born October 28, 1873, in Benton, Yates county, New York. Their children are: 1. Allen Watson, born April 25, 1899. 2. Clifford, Feb- ruary 19, 1903. 3. Arthur Franklin, October 4, 1905. Mrs. Katherine Esther Cammett is a daughter of William Barber, who was born at Hillsdale, Columbia county, New York, June 15, 1845, and followed the carpenter's trade in Benton. September 1, 1867, he married Carrie Pelton, born in Pultney, Steuben county, New York, June 4, 1849. Chil- dren : 1. Mary Cora, born September 27, 1869, married Benjamin Wil- loughby and has three children: Frank, Howard and Harold. 2. Lena, born July 28, 1871, married Floyd Walrath and has one daughter, Carrie. 3. Catherine Esther, now the wife of Frank Cammett as previously stated. 4. Minnie, born October 16, 1875, married William Schauble, September 12, 1897, and had two sons: George and Henry. 5. George, born September 22, 1877, married Marjorie Holden.
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MARSH.
The Marsh family probably came from the early settlers of this name in Massachusetts. Lieutenant Alexander Marsh came from Eng- land and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts, before May 3, 1654, when he was admitted a freeman of the colony. He owned a house and land in Boston. He died March 7, 1698, aged seventy.
George Marsh was a proprietor of Hingham as early as 1635 and was admitted a freeman, March 3, 1635-36, and was later a town officer. He died July 2, 1647.
John Marsh, a shoemaker by trade, came from England to Salem, Massachusetts, in the ship "Mary and John," sailing May 24, 1633. He died in 1674 and his descendants have been numerous. Another Marsh family located at Hartford, Connecticut. The relationship of these pio- neers is not known. From these immigrants practically all the American Marsh families are descended, however.
During the revolution the family was well represented in the Ameri- can army throughout New England and in New York. In 1790, when the first federal census was taken, the family was widely scattered and numerous. Stephen, Samuel and John Marsh were heads of families in Montgomery county. Samuel, Asa and John Marsh were heads of fami- lies living in 1790 at Whitestown, New York.
(I) Lewis Marsh, a native of Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence county, New York, was a descendant doubtless of the early settlers of Mont- gomery county. Children : William, Oscar, Henry, Lester, Hiram, Frederick and Mary.
(II) Frederick, son of Lewis Marsh, settled in the town of Hope- well, Ontario county, New York. He married Frances, daughter of John and Maria Wilson. Her parents also had Adelaide, Julia, Elizabeth, Helen, John and Robert Wilson. Children of Frederick and Frances Marsh : Lewis, born March 8, 1878; John N., mentioned below ; Robert, January 26, 1882; Herbert, July 18, 1891.
(III) John N., son of Frederick Marsh, was born in Hopewell, New York, February 28, 1880. He received his early education in the common schools. For several years he leased farms and in 1909 he bought "Spring Brook Farm" which he has since conducted. It is pleas- antly located in the town of Hopewell, a mile east of Chapin village and two miles north of the Rochester & Eastern electric railway station known as "Freshhour." Mr. Marsh is a progressive, up-to-date farmer, making a specialty of his dairy and owning a fine herd of graded Durham
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cows and using the most advanced methods of making high-grade butter. He is thorough, painstaking and industrious and his success is in evi- dence in his surroundings. His buildings are modern in construction and pleasing in design. Generous, kindly and hospitable, Mr. Marsh com- mands the confidence and esteem of his townsmen to an unusual degree. In politics he is a Republican. In religion a Methodist.
He married, February 20, 1900, Lillian, born April 16, 1883, daugh- ter of Samuel and Sarah ( Hubbard ) McMurray. Children: Florence S., born July 10, 1901 ; Ruth I., April 26, 1904; Clarence, May 15, 1907.
FRESHOUR.
The Freshour family is of German origin. The progenitor was edu- cated in Germany and England and came to this country before the last French and Indian war, in which he was a soldier. He also served in the revolution. In 1790 Maria Freshour, probably his widow, was the head of a family of four sons under sixteen and two females in Maryland. Adam Freshover, probably a son, had two sons under sixteen and five females in his family. The immigrant had three sons and three daugh- ters.
(II) John Freshour, son of the pioneer, settled in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1789. He married, in 1810, Mary Angleberger, of Fred- erick county, Maryland, and settled in Hopewell, New York, where he purchased one hundred and fifty acres of the Phelps and Gorham Pur- chase and added to it until he owned about six hundred acres. He died in 1859 and his wife in 1869. He was a Whig in politics and served as commissioner of highways. They had four sons and two daughters. Among the sons were: 1. George W., born at Hopewell, New York, June 6, 1823, married Leonora, daughter of Captain Failing. 2. John, mentioned below. 3. Alexander, resided in Gorham, New York.
(III) John (2), son of John ( 1) Freshour, was born about 1810. He married Catherine Dunkle. Among their children was George D .. mentioned below.
(IV) George D., son of John (2) Freshour, was born at Hopewell, New York, July 4, 1845. He married Mary E. Cutter, October 27, 1875. She was born at Morveth, Northumberland county, England, April 30, 1852, and came to America in 1869. They have one child. Charles D .. mentioned below.
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(V) Charles D., son of George D. Freshour, was born at Hopewell, New York, March 18, 1877. He was educated at home by a private tutor. After he completed his education he assisted his father in the management of the farm. In the spring of 1901 he bought of his father what was known as the Hillman Mill property, consisting of a saw mill, cider mill, grist mill and a dry house for evaporating apples. The prop- erty is located near the Rochester & Eastern trolley railroad station in the town of Hopewell, and the station has been named for Mr. Freshour. With this plant he has conducted a large and flourishing business, and also conducts a large farm in the vicinity. Of fine address and liberal education, successful in business, he has taken a position among the lead- ing and most influential men of the county. In politics he is a Republican. In religion he is a Methodist.
He married, November 27, 1900, Jennie A. Marshall, at Canan- daigua, daughter of Albert and Emily E. (Kellogg) Marshall. Her father was born at Canandaigua, New York, December 28, 1839, and was a soldier of the civil war. Her mother was born March 28, 1846, in Connecticut. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are: Albert L., Mary E., William W., Carrie L., Jennie A., Lyman K. and Eleanor K. Marshall. Mr. and Mrs. Freshour have no children.
HENRY.
David H. Henry, president of the Geneva Cutlery Company, and a member of the firm of Sears, Henry & Company, nurserymen, is the first member of his family to have settled in New York state. His father, Paul M. Henry, was a native of Bennington, Vermont, came to Geneva late in life, and died in 1887.
David H. Henry was born in Bennington, Vermont, 1848. He came to Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in 1865, and soon became interested in the nursery business, with which he is connected at the present time. The firm of Sears, Henry & Company consists of David H. Henry and A. H. Herendeen. The yearly plantings of seedlings, etc., amount to about two hundred and fifty thousand. The Geneva Cutlery Company, of which he is the president and one of the largest stock- holders, has Horace L. Henry as secretary and treasurer, and also mana- ger of the business, Dr. Charles D. Vail is vice-president, and Walter Althoff is the business superintendent. The plant was established in
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1901, with a capital of common and preferred stock amounting to sixty thousand dollars. They have about one hundred and fifty on their pay roll. They manufacture standard safety razors, turning out about fifteen hundred dozen per week, and are the largest manufacturers of this kind in the United States. Their weekly payroll amounts to from sixteen to twenty-two hundred dollars, exclusive of the salaries to the office help and the officials of the company. Mr. Henry is also one of the directors of the First National Bank of Geneva, president of the chamber of com- merce and a commissioner of the board of public works. He gives his political support to the Republican party, and is a member of the Presby- terian church. His fraternal affiliations are with Kanadasaga and Country clubs.
Mr. Henry married, 1871, Ella, daughter of Peter York; she was born in New York state in 1848.
GILLIS.
Robert Gillis and four brothers were soldiers in the revolution and three of them were killed. His brother Joseph survived the war.
(II) John D., son of Robert Gillis, was born in Hebron, Washing- ton county, New York, in 1776. He settled in Victor where he owned a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. He was a blacksmith by trade, and had a shop in which he followed this business until 1850. In politics he was a Democrat, in religion a Methodist. He died in May, 1873, nearly a hundred years old. His brother, James Gillis, was a member of congress, and father of James Gillis, of the United States navy. He married Mary Smith, who died in 1864. Children: Mar- garet ; Robert R .; Enos; Martha ; John S., mentioned below, and Rose Ann.
(III) John Smith, son of John D. Gillis, was born in Argyle, Washington county, New York, July 17, 1823, died October 10, 1896. He came with his parents to Victor, New York, in 1826. He was educated in the public schools, and always followed farming. He mar- ried, December 30, 1847, Sarah, daughter of William and Catherine (McKinley) Wells. Children: 1. William W., born November 20, 1848, graduated from Cornell College in 1874, became editor and pro- prietor of the Victor Herald, a weekly newspaper; he died April 10, 1898; married Harriet S. Bundy, of Rochester, and had one child. who
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died young. 2. Mary V., born in 1851, died in 1870. 3. Martha, born June 5, 1855, married Joseph Brace, of Shelby, Orleans county. 4. Alexander P., born October 16, 1856, married Julia Craft; children : Florence, born October 5, 1898; Mary, September 1, 1900; John C .. November 4, 1903; Stanley Wells, July 20, 1906; Charles Alexander. June 15, 1909. 5. John D., mentioned below.
William Wells, mentioned above, was born at Coxsackie, New York, in Greene county, April 16, 1799, married Catherine Mckinley, who was born June 6, 1799, and came in 1835 to Victor; children : Catherine, Peter, Sarah, Cornelia, John, William and Alexander Wells.
(IV) John D. (2), son of John Smith Gillis, was born in Victor, October 12, 1859. He attended the district schools of Victor village, and the Canandaigua Academy. During his boyhood and afterward until the year 1889 he worked with his father on the homestead. He and his brother, Alexander P., then took charge of the homestead and con- tinued until 1902 when the farm was divided. His brother had the house and the north part and he had the south part of the homestead. In the spring of 1910 he sold the farm to John H. Croft, and he now owns two farms east of Victor which occupy his time and attention. In politics he is a Democrat, and is serving his third year as trustee of the incorporated village of Victor. In religion he is a Methodist, and for twenty years he has been a steward of the church.
He married Margaret Cline, born January 2, 1861, in Rochester, New York. She had two half-sisters: Carrie, born February 13, 1873. married Henry LeRoy Betts, and had Henry LeRoy Betts Jr., Henry LeRoy Betts died in May 1905; Minnie, married - Dockstader. and has five children.
SPENGLER.
The late John Spengler, of Geneva, New York, came from Switzer- land, but the name is indicative of a German origin. In the battle for education and professional supremacy his son Dr. John Arthur Spengler has won a decided victory, and he is recognized as one of the leading exponents of the science of optics.
(I) John Spengler, born in Switzerland, 1832, emigrated to the United States when a young man and subsequently became a shoe mer- chant in Geneva, New York. He died at Reading, Pennsylvania, De- cember 20, 1907. He married in Rochester, New York, December 3, 1866, Elizabeth Von Huben, also a native of Switzerland, born in 1842.
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Children : 1. John Arthur, mentioned below. 2. Jennie Elizabeth, a resident of Geneva. 3. Rose E., born February 13, 1870, died June; 1875. 4. Frederick Albert, born June 17, 1872, died January, 1902; married, December 13, 1899, Lida Coleman, no children. 5. Dr. Frank Benjamin, a prominent physician of Baldwinsville, New York. 6. Mary Louise, born June 2, 1876, died September 22, 1900; married Vernon S. Stone, of Rochester; child, Marian Elizabeth Stone. 7. George Walter, born June 1, 1879, died in August, 1891.
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