USA > New York > Ontario County > A history of Ontario County, New York and its people, Volume II > Part 48
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Governor Markham's council and also of the proprietors' council. He was justice of the Upland county and subsequently in Chester county. Pennsylvania, presiding at the first court held in Pennsylvania under the proprietary government. He died in 1689, leaving a widow Prudence. Children : Prudence, married Henry Reynolds, November 10, 1678; Honor ; William, mentioned below ; Mary, married John Beals in 1682. (II) William (2), son of William (1) Clayton, was born about 1660, died in Chichester, Pennsylvania, about 1727. He married Eliza- beth Bezer, a widow. Children: William, died 1757, married Mary. daughter of Walter Marten, of Chichester, and had Mary, William, Lydia, Sarah, Moses, Prudence, Patience and David; Richard ; Rachel, married Thomas Howell ; Ambrose ; Thomas ; Abel; Elizabeth, born July 12, 1685 (not mentioned in her father's will), married Daniel Davis; Edward, mentioned below.
(III) Edward, son of William (2) Clayton, was born in Chichester, Pennsylvania, about 1690, died about 1760. He married, February 25, 1713, Anna, daughter of James Whitaker. He resided at Bradford on the southwest side of the village of Marshallton, Pennsylvania. The Friends Meeting House was built on part of his homestead. Children : John : Elizabeth ; Hannah, married Robert Green; William, born 1728, died April 16, 1814, married Abigail, daughter of Henry Woodward ; Sarah, married Isaac Spachman ; Susanna ; Joshua, mentioned below.
(IV) Joshua, son of Edward Clayton, was born about 1735 near Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools and learned the trade of millwright. He married, May 16, 1753, Martha, daughter of Aaron and Mary Baker, of West Marlborough, and they came to reside on her father's land. Children : Aaron, born April 2. 1754, married Sarah Bailey : Mary, married Enoch Speakman; Joshua, mentioned below ; Samuel, married Ann Speakman; Hannah, married Amos Speakman ; Jacob; Martha; Caleb; Rachel ; Susanna and Isaac.
(V) Joshua (2), son of Joshua ( I) Clayton, was born at West Marlborough, near Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was educated there in the public schools. He learned the trade of millwright and erected many saw mills and grist mills in various parts of Pennsylvania. He also followed farming. He married and among his children was William.
(VI) William (3), son of Joshua (2) Clayton, was born in Penn- sylvania, April 6, 1820. He was educated in the public schools and fol- lowed farming for an occupation. He came to New Salem, New York. with his parents when he was eighteen years old. He was a member of the Society of Friends at New Salem, and faithful and consistent to the
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religion of his ancestors. He married (first) Esther Hoag; (second) Ellen Kitley, of Canada. He died in 1893. Children of first wife: Mary Jane, Ella, Hattie, Susie. Children of second wife: Libby, Emily, Belle, Albert, Mattie, Joseph, mentioned below ; William, Lulu.
(VII) Joseph, son of William (3) Clayton, was born at New Salem, Ontario county, New York, May 25, 1853, and was educated there in the public schools and at a select school of the Friends. He worked on a farm until he was twenty years old. He learned the trade of tanner at Proctor, Pennsylvania. He then returned to Canandaigua and for two years conducted a dry goods store. In 1897 he came to the town of Phelps, Ontario county, and bought the Bigelow Planing Mill. After two years he sold out and removed to Marion, Indiana, where he engaged in the manufacture of oil cans for the Standard Oil Company. After two years he sold out and during the following ten years was in the real estate business at Marion, Indiana. Having sold his business he went to Oklahoma and for four years was in the oil business. Since 1905 he has been in the real estate business in Phelps and has also engaged in fruit growing. He is a member of the Friends Church and of the Maccabees.
He married Emma, daughter of John W. Hawley, of Canandaigua. They have one son, John Clayton, born February 27, 1893, now a student in the high school.
ROSE.
Among the men who by their own honorable exertions and moral attributes have carved out for themselves friends, affluence and position, and by the strength and force of their characters have overcome obstacles, must be mentioned that of Arthur Patrick Rose, whose life stands out preeminently for two things. One is his high ideals of public and private life, and the other is the sacrifice of time and money to charity, which he has practiced throughout his career.
Arthur Patrick Rose was born in the town of Savannah, Wayne county, New York, June 11, 1842, on the farm of his father, Charles A. Rose. At the age of three years he came to Geneva, New York, to reside with his uncle, Dr. Gavin L. Rose, who resided in the old Rose home- stead on North street, where Arthur P. Rose resided until 1907. He attended the Walnut Hill school, conducted by Thomas C. Reed on the present site of the home of the late William H. King, near Glenwood cemetery, after which he became a student at Hobart College, entering in the fall of 1859 and pursuing the regular classical course. In the follow-
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ing year he took the first sophomore prize in Latin and two years later was graduated as the valedictorian of the class of 1862, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During his college course he became a mem- ber of Sigma Phi fraternity and upon graduation he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. Three years after his graduation the college conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Throughout his life he has maintained an active interest in his alma mater. From 1871 to 1899 he was a trustee of the college, and from 1877 to 1885 was secre- tary of its board of trustees. During the years from 1865 to 1882 he served as treasurer of the Alumni Association, and when the Geneva Alumni Association of Hobart College was organized under the present administration of Dr. L. C. Stewardson, he became vice-president of this organization, serving during the years 1904-05. From time to time he has been a benefactor of the College Library.
After his graduation from college, Mr. Rose entered the law office of Folger & Mason and there pursued a course of study, being admitted to the bar in 1865, and shortly afterward formed a partnership with the late Angus McDonald, of which firm he was a member until Mr. McDonald removed to Rochester. On April 1, 1876, he formed a law partnership with the late Judge Francis O. Mason under the name of Mason & Rose, which connection continued until the death of Judge Mason, July 25, 1900. For a considerable period of time Judge Mason was the legal representative of the eastern branch of the Pulteney Estate and upon his death Mr. Rose succeeded him. In 1903 this important estate was finally closed and Mr. Rose rendered a final accounting.
In addition to his professional career Mr. Rose has been keenly inter- ested and an important factor in the conduct of public affairs, giving his allegiance to the principles and candidates of the Democratic party. At various times he has served on election boards in several capacities: in 1865 had a clerkship at Albany during the sessions of the legislature; early in the eighties he became interested in the civil service reform and when the Geneva Civil Service Reform Association was formed in 1883 he became secretary of the organization, holding the position over ten years, or until the civil service system came into general practice. While not a political position his first public office was trustee of school district No. I of Geneva, to which he was elected on December 27, 1890. After serving a full term of five years he was reelected, December 28, 1895, but on December 30, 1899, with one year to serve, he resigned and was suc- ceeded by R. G. Chase. In 1901 he was elected supervisor, and two years later was reelected, and while on the board served as chairman of the com-
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mittee of military affairs and on many other important committees, including those on equalization, surrogates' office, road damages, county clerk's office, printing, law and legislation. On September 22, 1905, he was nominated for the office of mayor by the Democratic city convention on a motion made by City Attorney W. Smith O'Brien, and in the fol- lowing election was elected, and two years later was reelected. His administration of the office was noted for economy and conservatism, and his mind was ever occupied with mighty projects for the advancement and welfare of the city of his adoption.
Mr. Rose has been one of the leading spirits in the founding and continuance of the City Hospital, the Young Men's Christian Association and Church Home, the three leading charitable institutions of the city. He was one of the signers on March 22, 1892, of the petition for the charter of the Medical and Surgical Hospital of Geneva which was the original name of the Geneva City Hospital, and he was also a signer of the petition of May 31, 1898, upon which its name was changed to its present title. Mr. Rose and his partner, Mr. Mason, gave the site on which the institution stands and throughout its history Mr. Rose has served on the board of trustees. Upon the death of Mr. Mason, Mr. Rose was made executor of his will. This has proven a means of making his relations even more intimate with the institution owing to the fact that Mr. Mason made liberal provision in his will for the maintenance of the hospital. He was also one of the signers of the certificate of incorporation of the Young Men's Christian Association, which was filed August 9. 1888. When the building was erected in 1894 he was secretary of the board of trustees, and after the building was destroyed by fire on Febru- ary 13, 1902, he took an active part in its reconstruction. He has served continuously as a member of both the board of trustees and as a director. When the Church Home for Aged Women was organized on April 27. 1878, Mr. Rose was one of the incorporators, but shortly resigned to make a place for another person on the board of trustees, but he retained his position as secretary of the board, which he has since filled.
Upon the organization of the Thirty-fourth Separate Company on January 21, 1880, Mr. Rose became one of the charter members and served a full enlistment of five years as a private. When the Veteran Association of Company B was organized in 1909 Mr. Rose was made president of the association. He took an active part in organizing the Black Diamond Hose Company on September 23, 1896, and became one of the charter members of the company. He had charge of the legal matters attending the incorporation of the company, and the purchase of
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the site for the hose house. He resigned from active service in 1907, but his name is still retained on the roll of the company as an honorary mem- ber. On June 28, 1900, he was elected a director of the Geneva National Bank and has since retained a seat on this board. He has served as pres- ident of the Geneva Bar Association and assisted in the organization of the Direct Nominations League of Geneva and the new society in the interest of centralizing the charities of the city.
Since early life Mr. Rose has been a communicant of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1871 he was elected a vestryman and served continuously until 1893, when he resigned, but served again in 1896 for one year. From time to time Mr. Rose has been a delegate from Trinity parish to diocesan council, and at the meeting of the council held in St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, in September, 1876, he was made one of the trustees of the parochial fund of the diocese.
CLARK.
Walter A. Clark, prominent in the commercial affairs of upper and central New York, is of the second generation of the Clark family to be identified and at the head of manufacturing interests.
Otis G. Clark was born in Vermont in 1816, died in Troy, New York, in 1900. He was a manufacturer of underwear, and for the last years of his life was conspicuously connected with the traction line of Troy, and one of its directors. He married Amelia S. Bardwell, born in Massachusetts, 1820, died in 1895. Children : Walter A., see forward ; Warren G., a resident of Troy. New York; J. W., a resident of Easton. Pennsylvania.
Walter A., son of Otis G. and Amelia S. ( Bardwell) Clark, was born in Troy, New York, 1846, and was educated in the common and high schools of that city. He established a business on his own account when he was but twenty-two years of age, commencing the manufacture of stoves in Troy, in association with Mr. Philips, the firm being known as Philips & Clark. This business was carried on successfully until 1885. when Mr. Clark removed to Geneva, New York, where the business was incorporated, and thenceforth carried on as the Philips & Clark Stove Company, with Mr. Clark as president and manager, an office he has now held for many years. The plant employs an average of two hundred and fifty men, the output is a very large one, and the sales are made principally in the Middle and Eastern states. Mr. Clark has always taken an active interest in the public affairs of his commun ty, has
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served as supervisor of the town for a period of two years, and one term as member of the assembly. He is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and of the following clubs: Kanadasaga, Genesee Valley, Rochester, Union League of New York.
Mr. Clark married, 1868, Eudora, born in Troy, New York, March 17, 1849, daughter of George H., a carpenter, and Laura G. (Wood) Phillips, and a sister of Lauretta, who married Mr. Van Huyck, and resides in Lee, Massachusetts. Children : Georgiana, born October -, 1870, was a student at Wellesley College, married Mr. Church, and resides in Cleveland, Ohio; Amelia S., born in 1872, attended the common schools and was educated under private tuition at home; Laura E., born in 1875, also attended Wellesley College.
SUTHERLAND.
Myron C. Sutherland, whose farm is a model of its size in Seneca. Ontario county, New York, has been connected with agricultural inter- ests all his life, and, by means of extensive traveling, has acquired the best methods in vogue throughout the length and breadth of the country.
James Sutherland, his father, was born in Ontario county, New York, in 1815, and died there in 1877. He married Elizabeth Clark, who was born in Ontario county in 1820. Children : Myron C., see forward. George W. and David C.
Myron C. Sutherland was born in Seneca, Ontario county, New York, April 25, 1836. He was educated in the district school, and at an early age assisted in the farm labors during the summer months, while attending school during the winter. In this manner he acquired a thorough knowledge of every detail connected with farm management and the best methods to be applied. In 1863 he commenced to farm inde- pendently, later purchasing a fine farm of sixty acres, about ten of which he devotes to the cultivation of fruit, and has been exceptionally success- ful in his line of production. He has made the journey to California twice, and on each occasion gave close attention to agricultural methods in other sections of the country, adopting, upon his return, those which seemed to be best suited to the conditions which prevail in his home sec- tion of the country. In this way he was enabled to make a number of innovations, which have proved so successful that they have found a num- ber of imitators among the farmers of his vicinity. His interest in the public affairs of his community has always been an active one, and his fel- low townsmen have honored him with the office of commissioner of high-
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ways for a period of three years. His political support is given to the Republican party.
Mr. Sutherland married, in 1862, Mary J. Crosier, who died in 1887. Children: 1. Frank C., born on the family homestead in 1868, was edu- cated at the district school, and Starkey Seminary, and now assists his father in the management of the farm; married Ella Barden. 2. George G., educated at Keuka College; farmer in Seneca, New York; married Mable Hall ; they have one son Merton. 3. Marvin J., educated at Cook Academy ; baker at Gorham, and engaged in buying and selling fruit ; married Harriett Forest.
WEBSTER.
John Webster, progenitor of this family, settled at Richmond, Rhode Island, soon after 1700, and as no relationship with the other families of this name has been established, it is presumed that he was from England. Children, born in Richmond: 1. John, who lived at Richmond. 2. James, mentioned below. 3. Hannah. 4. Elizabeth. And several others.
(II) James, son of John Webster, was born about 1720, in Rich- mond, Rhode Island. He married Hannah Woodmansee. Children, born at Richmond : Thankful, February 15, 1743; Margaret, December 10. 1744; Hannah, June 8, 1747; Stephen, March 17, 1750, settled at Tyringham, Massachusetts, and married Abigail Parks, a native of Voluntown, Connecticut ; Zerviah, December 4, 1752; James, September 4, 1755 ; Jonathan, mentioned below ; Daniel, November 7, 1761 ; Sarah, May 21, 1763; Elizabeth, September 25, 1767.
(III) Jonathan, son of James Webster, was born at Richmond, Rhode Island, April 2, 1758. After the close of the revolution he came to Tyringham, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He married Mary Children, born in Rhode Island. Elias, born August 21, 1781 (recorded at Tyringham) ; Hannah, June 13, 1784 ( recorded at Tyring- ham). Born in Tyringham: James, March 19, 1787; William, Feb- ruary 2, 1790 (twin) ; John, twin of William, mentioned below ; Thomas, June 2, 1792 ; Jesse, March 11, 1794.
(IV). John, son of Jonathan Webster, was born at Tyringham, Massachusetts, February 2, 1790. When a young man he located at Franklin, Delaware county, New York, and later removed to Parma, Monroe county, New York. He married Mary Webster. He died in
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1852 in Spencerport, Monroe county, New York ; his wife Mary died at Victor, New York, in 1866. Children : Freeman, John Riley, Sarah E., Otis A., mentioned below ; James Myron and Milo C.
(V) Otis A., son of John Webster, was born at Franklin, Dela- ware county, New York, December, 1828, died in Victor, New York, February, 1891. He was educated in the public schools, and followed farming for his occupation. He removed to North Amherst, Ohio, in 1854, and engaged in the manufacture of plows, also conducting a farm in that town. In 1873 he came to Victor, Ontario county, New York. and settled on a farm at the north end of Brace street, where he lived until his death. In politics he was a Republican. He married Cynthia S. Wattles, in North Amherst, Ohio, in 1854; she was born in Franklin, Delaware county, New York, July 17, 1832, and is now living at Victor, New York, daughter of Ansel F. Wattles, born at Franklin, New York. March 4, 1810, a shoemaker and farmer in his native town, and Susie ( Remington ) Wattles, born December 10, 1814, died January 8, 1853, married, in September, 1831. Mr. Wattles died May 15, 1885. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Webster: Milo Freeman, mentioned below, and a daughter and son who died in childhood.
(VI) Milo Freeman, son of Otis A. Webster, was born at North Amherst, Ohio, November 14, 1866. He attended the public schools of Victor, New York, graduated from Canandaigua Academy in 1883 and from the College of Agriculture of Cornell University in 1888. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity of that college. Since 1889 he has been engaged in farming and fire insurance at Victor, New York, where he has an excellent farm of seventy-five acres. In 1888-89 assist- ant to the secretary of the State Agricultural Society at Albany, New York. He is now secretary of the Tompkins County Co-operative Fire Insurance Company of Ithaca, New York, an office to which he was elected in 1910. From 1900 to 1904 he was secretary of the Baron Steuben County Fire Insurance Company. In religion he is a Presby- terian ; in politics a Republican.
He married, September 24, 1890, Harriet Amelia Woods, born at Bath, New York, November 19, 1870, daughter of Rev. Henry Clay and Mary M. (Seaver) Woods, of Byron, New York, who was married January 6, 1868, and had five children: Harriet Amelia Woods, men- tioned above; William Seaver Woods, born at Bath, August 13, 1872: Julia Grace Woods, born at Bergen, New York, April 9, 1877; John Henry Drury Woods, born at Buffalo, New York, March 30, 1879, died at Perry, New York, July 9, 1885; Mary Louise Woods, born at Som-
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erset, New York, February 27, 1884. Rev. Henry Clay Woods was in the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth New York Infantry Regiment in the civil war. William Watson Woods, father of Rev. Henry Clay Woods, married (first ) Harriet B. Drury, of Stafford, New York, June 8, 1843, and they had two children: Henry Clay, born August 9, 1844, men- tioned above, and Clarissa B. Woods, born August 30, 1846. Harriet B. Woods died January 20, 1863. William Watson Woods married ( second) October 22, 1863, Eleanor Blanchard and they had one child, Harriet La Verne, born February 27, 1866. William Watson Woods died May 4, 1869. He was a descendant of Nathaniel Woods, of Croton. Massachusetts.
Children of Milo F. and Harriet Amelia ( Woods) Webster: I. Mary Elmina, born at Victor, June 18, 1891, student at Cornell Uni- versity. 2. Ruth Henrietta, born at Corning, New York, December 29, 1892. 3. Otis Arnold, born at Victor, February 4, 1895. 4. Laura Cynthia, born at Victor, November 6, 1896. 5. Louise W. (twin), March 15, 1899. 6. Julia S., twin of Louise W. 7. Henry C., born at Victor, January 20, 1902. 8. Josephine, October 27, 1904. 9. John W. (twin), born at Victor, January 8, 1907. 10. Jean W., twin of John W.
MILLIKEN.
Charles F. Milliken, editor of the Ontario County Times, published at Canandaigua, New York, is the son of the late Nathan J. and Orline O. (Sutton ) Milliken, and comes of honored New England ancestry. He was born in Canandaigua, August 27. 1854, and was educated in the Canandaigua Academy. He married, at Canandaigua, June 18, 1895, Margaret Townley, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Hugh C. Townley : three children : Margaret F., born 1901 : Charlotte T., born 1904; Nathan T .. born 1906.
Mr. Milliken's life has been devoted to newspaper work, and he is now the editor and manager of the paper founded by his father in 1852. He was chairman of the Ontario County Republican Committee in the campaigns of 1887 and 1888: financial clerk of the State Senate in 1888 and 1889; an alternate delegate in the Republican National Convention of 1900. Mr. Milliken was appointed a member of the New York State Civil Service Commission in 1903, became president of that body in January, 1905, and served in that capacity until the inauguration of a Democratic State administration in 1911. He is president of the Clark
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Manor House, a home for old people of Ontario county, member of the executive committee of the Thompson Memorial Hospital in Canandai- gua, president of the Ontario County Historical Society, and president of the board of trustees of the First Congregational Church of Canandaigua. He is the author of "A History of Ontario County, New York, and Its People," published by the Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 191I.
SKINNER.
Dr. William Waddell Skinner, of Geneva, is a representative of a profession whose mission it is to inquire into the nature of the structure and physiological functions of the human body, that they may alleviate human suffering.
(I) Israel Skinner, grandfather of Dr. Skinner, was a native of Prattsburg, Steuben county, New York. He followed the occupations of farmer, tanner and harness maker, and thus was enabled to earn a com- fortable livelihood for his family and a competency for his old age. He married, at Canandaigua, New York, October 6, 1812, Betsy Maria Hayes, who bore him the following children : Maria Betsy, Emily, Emily, Holly, Henry Godfrey. Lemira, Edward Hayes, Edgar Beach, Eliza- beth E.
(II) Henry Godfrey Skinner, father of Dr. Skinner, was born at Prattsburg. Steuben county, New York, November 19, 1822. He was president and member of the Board of Education of the village of Pratts- burg for more than twenty years. His active life was one of success. attributable to those sterling qualities which he possessed-sound judg- ment, quick perception, activity and integrity. He married Mary Jane Waddell, born February 13, 1829, daughter of Samuel and Mary Wilson ( McNella) Waddell. Children : Holly James, Henry Godfrey Jr .. William Waddell, Maria Isabel, Margaret.
(III) William Waddell Skinner is a native of Marengo, Illinois. born January 14, 1860. His preliminary education was obtained in the public schools of Prattsburg, and later he attended the Buffalo University, graduating from the medical department in 1887. In 1880, prior to taking up the study of medicine, he served in the capacity of teacher in the schools of Prattsburg. After his graduation he entered upon the active practice of his chosen calling, locating in Geneva.
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