USA > New York > Oneida County > Steuben > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 24
USA > New York > Oneida County > Remsen > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 24
USA > New York > Oneida County > Trenton > A narrative history of Remsen, New York, including parts of the adjoining townships of Steuben and Trenton, 1789-1898 > Part 24
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early the following year (1806) returned here with his family. Later he built upon his purchase a stone house and framed barn. The site of the location of his dwelling was marked until very recent years by a poplar tree and a few apple trees, at the foot of Pen-yr- allt, just north of the private way leading to Pen-yr- allt farm. Subsequently he added to his purchase another small adjoining farm, located east of the creek. The Second Baptist Church of Steuben (Capel Isaf) was organized in 1803, with twelve members, and upon his settlement here these had been reduced by death and removals to seven. He was installed as pastor shortly after his arrival, and continued in the office uninterruptedly for fifteen years.
Mr. Jones' august and dignified bearing, coupled with the circumstance of his always wearing a long black robe when he administered the rite of baptism, won for him the title of "Priest," and he was generally known here as "Priest Jones." When the rite of baptism was to be solemnized, services were frequently held at his house instead of at the church, in Steuben; or, as often happened, the assemblage being larger than the house could accommodate comfortably with- in hearing of the speaker's voice, a pulpit and seats would be arranged in the barn. After the service, a procession usually formed and marched to the accus- tomed baptismal place, several rods distant, singing hymns as they advanced, the singers going before, followed by the black-robed "priest," his candidates for immersion, and the remainder of the congregation. It presented a solemn and impressive spectacle, and the effect produced by the Welsh choral voices in the open air was marvelously inspiriting.
Whenever a young couple of restricted means would call at his home to be joined in wedlock, it was the
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custom of these good people always to provide a wed- ding supper-simple and unostentatious perhaps, but the best the house afforded. For twenty-two years subsequent to his retirement as pastor, Mr. Jones continued steadily in ministerial work here, preach- ing in surrounding districts and at intervals supplying the pulpit of his old church, administering the ordi- nances, and officiating at marriages and funerals up to about two months prior to his death, which occurred December 9, 1843. His wife died November 6, 1838. They are buried in Prospect Cemetery, where members of five generations of their descendants lie, and where, through the munificent gifts and an endowment fund provided by their grandson, Thomas C. Jenkins, of Pittsburg, Pa., these grounds have been greatly ex- tended and beautified.
David R. Jones, son of Rev. Richard Jones, was born in Cardigan City, South Wales, and came to Remsen with his father's family in 1806. He pur- chased of "Stephen Buffington, July 13, 1820, one- half of Lot 32, of the Service Patent," lying a mile or more east of Remsen village on the State road, and which later was known as the Hugh Francis farm. Mr. Jones married Susan Thomas, and their children were Thomas D., a celebrated sculptor; Benjamin; Jeanette, who married John Williams; Ann, who mar- ried a Mr. Booth; Phoebe, who also married a man named Booth; David; Hiram; and Richard. In 1839 Mr. Jones removed with his family to Granville, Licking county, Ohio, where he died in 1852, aged sixty-five years.
Rev. Thomas Z. R. Jones, son of Richard and Mary (George) Jones, was born at Great Valley, Pa., July 23, 1803. He received his education in the schools of Remsen and Trenton, and at Steuben Academy.
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He taught school in Remsen village and in various country districts, and when a young man was appointed a justice of the peace for the town of Trenton. His first wife was Eliza, daughter of William James, of South Trenton, by whom he had one daughter, Mary. At an early day, having been licensed to preach, he went to the Territory of Michigan, where he taught school and preached to the people in the sparse set- tlements of that new country. Returning to the east again, he was ordained and sent as a missionary to the same Territory. He died at Kalamazoo, Mich., July 2, 1876. The following concerning him is taken from the minutes of the Baptist Convention of the State of Michigan, for 1876 :-
"In 1835 Rev. Thomas Z. R. Jones, son of Rev. Richard Jones, came to Michigan Territory to take up his work. Years before he had visited it and marked it with his eye. He took the right wing of the little army of invasion that was strung along the River St. Claire; and back into the woods whither a settler had pushed, he preached in the wilderness and sought the sheep. There he nursed his sick, and alone and destitute buried the members of his young family. The church at China was a visible result of his efforts, and much seed for other results were sown. The missionary spirit thrusting him on, he reached the spiritual solitude between Jackson and Kalamazoo, and struck in on its eastern edge. Spring Arbor, Concord, Albion, Marengo, and Marshall, in turn responded to his work; and he saw the churches in each planted and getting growth, and watered by gracious revivals. Then he struck through to Grand Rapids, and was one of the first and best master- builders on the Baptist foundation there. The wife of his youth had followed her dead where privations
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come no more. With his little daughter, Mary, afterwards taken from him, and at length with his . second faithful helpmate, he went to Kalamazoo, whence he has gone to and fro in his agency services, with occasional short pastorates so mixed in as not to break up his home-where so many youth of Kalama- zoo College have been succored-and has there steadily dwelt. All older Michigan is a checker-board, where his wheels have worn the marks, seeking supplies for the domestic mission and educational works; foster- ing also all the interests of our societies for evangeli- zation, foreign as well as home. His sympathies were broad as human want, his contributions constant and liberal; his business habits painstaking and just, and his heart sincere. It is forty-one years of good and faithful work in Michigan, and we believe was so pronounced upon as he appeared where we must all so soon appear."
Thomas D. Jones, the sculptor, spent his youth and early manhood here, before the artistic cunning of his hand had revealed itself. He was taught the tanner's trade by Mather Beecher, with whom he lived for several years. With increasing years the bud of his genius began to unfold, and he longed for books and for time and opportunity to study them. He went with his father to Ohio, and there worked for a time as a stone mason on the Ohio canal, where many of the locks and aqueducts still bear his name. He taught school winters, and in 1841 went to Cin- cinnati to live, where began his real life work. Be- ginning as a marble cutter, after a year or two he commenced his art work in marble. In 1842 his first efforts in busts were produced, and then followed the numerous creations of his genius and skill, pronounced by judges to be some of the most beautiful produced
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in the United States. Among them may be men- tioned the Lincoln and Soldiers Monument in the rotunda of the capitol, at Columbus, for which he received $10,000; and a bust of Chief Justice Chase, executed under orders from Congress for the Supreme Court of the United States, at Washington, D. C. One has said of him: "Mr. Jones numbered his per- sonal friends by the thousand; many of them were the noblest, brightest and best of our nation's hon- ored sons. He had a large acquaintance with the actors and actresses of his day, and found a warm welcome to the hearths and homes of Clay, Corwin and Lincoln. He was a poet by nature, and no friend left his presence without feeling the fire of his poetic heart."
THOMAS BURCHARD (or Birchard), was born at Roxbury, England, in 1595. He sailed from En- gland in the ship "Freelove," and landed at Boston in 1635. He is said to have been a man of wealth and to have removed early to Hartford, Conn. He died at Saybrook, Conn., in 1657. He was the pro- genitor of all the Burchards of New England. His children were Elizabeth, Mary, Susan, and John. The latter was the first county clerk of New London, Conn., and married Christy Andrews, their children being James, Abigal, Thomas, John, Joseph, Mary, and Daniel. James Burchard, son of the preceding, married Elizabeth Beckwith, March 17, 1697. Chil- dren: Elizabeth, James, Sarah, Matthew, John, Phoe- be, Sarah II., and Rebecca. John, son of James Burch- ard, married Mary Baldwin in 1727. He died at Granby, Mass., in 1778. His children were John, Elias, Mary, and Jesse. John married Anna Barker, in 1759. Children: Anna, who married Perez Hitch- cock; Jabez, born May 16, 1765; Mary, born 1769;
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and Jonathan, who married Beulah Ely. He died in 1839. The children of Jonathan were Ely, born in 1788, died at Clinton, N. Y., in 1866; Letitia, born 1790, never married; Horatio, born in 1792, died at Beloit, Wis., 1850; Jesse, born May 17, 1795, died in 1816; Louisa, born in 1802, married Walter Morgan, died in 1875; Nathan, born December 3, 1804, died July 13, 1880; and Mary Ann who married William Fellows, and died in 1842.
Jabez, son of John and Anna (Barker) Burchard, was born at Bozrah, Conn., May 16, 1765, and mar- ried Lucina, daughter of David Barton, born in Granby, Mass., April, 1760. Their children were born as follows: Cynthia, May 22, 1787, married Eli Burr; Seneca Barton II., October 18, 1790, married Caro- line Chapin, of Springfield, Mass .; Theodore, March 14, 1793, married Sophia, daughter of Zalmon Root, of Remsen; Sylvester, July 6, 1795; Roxana, October 26, 1797, married Heman Ferry, of Remsen; Jabez, November 24, 1799, married Lucy Munger, of Marsh- all, N. Y., resided in Steuben and Remsen, removed to Cattaraugus county, thence to Fox Lake, Wis .; Horace, September 19, 1801, married Susan, daughter of Judge Thomas H. Hamilton, of Steuben, resided in Remsen for some years, then removed to Vernon, thence to Hamilton, N. Y., in the early '40s .; John, March 5, 1804; Lucina, October 8, 1805, married Ichabod Miller, of Marshall, N. Y .; Hannah, March 28, 1808, married Thomas Broughton White, son of Broughton White, of Remsen, removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where she died; Charles Austin, born January 1, 1810, married Martha Pitcher, of Martinsburg, N. Y., resided in Remsen until 1839, when they removed to Hamilton, N. Y., and later to Beaver Dam, Wis., where he died; and Samuel Dickinson, born September 6, 1811.
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Jabez Burchard came from Massachusetts about 1806, and purchased of the executors of Baron Steu- ben a farm near Sixty Acres. Mr. Burchard was a blacksmith, and did especially fine work in that line. About 1824 he removed to Remsen village, and be- came a partner with his son Sylvester in the foundry and blacksmithing business. He removed to Hamil- ton, N. Y., in 1839, and died there January 2, 1844. His wife survived him about ten years.
Sylvester, son of Jabez and Lucina (Barton) Burch- ard, was born in Massachusetts July 6, 1795, and came to Steuben with his father's family about the year 1806. He married first, Spiddy Nash, of Massachu- setts, July 5, 1817. She died October 5, 1818, and on November 27, 1819, he married Sophia E. Bogue, daughter of Rev. Publius V. Bogue, of Saquoit, or Paris Hill, N. Y. She died January 14, 1822, and on November 29, he married Anna, daughter of John Platt, of Remsen. In 1822 or 1823, Sylvester Burch- ard came to Remsen and rented a blacksmith shop of William Platt, which stood on the north corner of the turnpike and the road leading to Prospect, opposite the Platt house. He established the first and the second foundries ever built here. Shortly after taking up his residence in Remsen, he purchased a strip of land between the turnpike and the creek, south of the road to Prospect, and which extended along the highway and the creek for some distance south of the present corporation line. He built a shop on the south corner of the turnpike and the Prospect road, where he carried on blacksmithing, and later he en- larged it and engaged in the manufacture of plows. He also purchased a strip of land east of the creek, between the falls and the Prospect road. Here he built his blast furnaces and foundry. Much of this
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land is now occupied by the R. W. & O. railroad right of way. In 1825-1826 he built the large framed house south of his shop, which for many years was the home of the late Rowland Anthony. Mr. Burch- ard sold all this property with the foundry to John Perry, of Utica, in 1835, and then built the large framed house on the Prospect road east of the railroad, lately owned by Deacon Hugh Hughes. He continued to reside in Remsen until March, 1838, when he moved upon a farm he had purchased at Hamilton, N. Y., where he carried on dairy farming very successfully until his death, December 30, 1851. He served in the war of 1812.
Samuel Dickinson Burchard, D. D., was born in Steuben, September 6, 1811, the son of Jabez and Lucina (Barton) Burchard. After a common school education supplemented by attendance at academies, he began to teach, but was checked in this pursuit by an attack of asthma. With the hope of benefit- ing his health, he removed to Kentucky when eighteen years of age, and remained there as a student at Cen- ter College. He was graduated in 1836, and almost immediately after began to lecture, without pay, on religious subjects, temperance, and in opposition to slavery, meantime supporting himself by the work of his hands, and thus became known throughout the state. The young philanthropist removed to Dan- ville, Ky., during the first visitation of cholera in that section, and which proved fatal to many persons of all classes. He nursed the sick and buried the dead, when most of the theological students residing there had fled in terror. After a course of theology at Danville, Mr. Burchard received a license to preach, granted him by the Transylvania Presbytery, in 1838.
He was very popular and received many calls, of
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which he preferred one to New York city, because it gave him the advantages afforded by Union Theo- logical Seminary. His installation as pastor took place May 1, 1839. Dr. Burchard completed a pas- torate there of more than forty years duration. In 1861 he was appointed chaplain of the American Church, in Paris, France; and in 1866 was made chan- cellor of Ingraham University. He did not permit these honors to interfere with his relations to his peo- ple, by whom he stood loyal notwithstanding many other flattering calls. After leaving the pastorate, Dr. Burchard accepted the presidency of Rutgers Female College. His honorary title of Master of Arts, was conferred by Center College, Kentucky, where he graduated; and that of Doctor of Divinity by Madi- son (now Colgate) University. He was a frequent con- tributor to periodicals, and published two books, one of which was republished in England. During the civil war he strongly denounced rebellion. He married Agnes M. Leeds, of New York city, in 1847, and five children were born to them. Mrs. Burchard died in April, 1883, and the doctor followed her September 25, 1891.
WILLIAM PRICHARD (Y Glyn), a native of Carnarvonshire, came from Wales to Philadelphia in 1800, and resided there and at Trenton, N. J., for about six years before he came to Steuben. The first gathering or "Big Meeting," of the Welsh Congre- gational Association of New York ever held in these parts was in session in Capel Ucha' on the day that the family arrived here, in 1806. Mr. Prichard mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of William Williams, and their children were Ann, the first wife of Humphrey P. Jones, born in 1802; Elizabeth, born in 1804, mar- ried Owen Williams (Bryn Gola); Mary, who married
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Richard Davis; William, Jr., born June 26, 1808, died June 25, 1889, married Jane Williams, of Nefyn, Carnarvonshire, who died August 30, 1884, aged seventy-eight years; David, who married Mary, daugh- ter of William I. Lewis, Sr .; Griffith, who married first, Ann, daughter of Matthew Williams, and second a widow Jones; Catherine, who married Thomas O. Roberts; Richard, who married Eliza Howell; Gwen, who married John D. Griffiths; and John, who died at the age of seven years. Mr. Prichard died in March, 1854, aged seventy-five years.
DANIEL THOMAS settled in Steuben in 1806. He was a stone-cutter, and helped construct the fine bridges that span the Schuylkill river at Philadelphia. He was the father of the late Thomas D. Thomas; Mary, wife of William Griffiths (Llanllawen); and Catherine, wife of William H. Thomas.
ASA LEACH, from Belchertown, Mass., came to Remsen in 1806. His wife was Miriam Allen, a grand- daughter of Ethan Allen, of revolutionary fame. While the war of 1812-1815 was in progress, Mrs. Leach carried her silver spoons into the woods and buried them, fearing the enemy might invade this region and loot the dwellings of the inhabitants. About 1820 Mr. Leach removed with his family to Boonville.
JOHN MAC DONALD, who was a pioneer stone- cutter and stone-mason here, was of Scotch blood, and portrayed in his life and character many of the sturdy traits of his race. He located very early on a small place just west of the Herbert L. Davis farm, at the top of the hill. Here he built a log house, on the south side of the highway before the course of the
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road just at that point was changed to avoid the steeper grade over the top of the hill. The house was built with a door of sufficient width to admit a yoke of oxen, and great logs two feet or more in diameter and eight feet long were hauled into the house by oxen and rolled into the mammoth fire-place, to serve as back logs for a huge fire. These logs would last in their position against the back of the chimney some times six or eight days. He was a man of good heart and generous impulses, and was especially kind to itinerant and needy workmen of his trade who hap- pened this way, always taking them in and providing them with work. He had a large family of whom we have been unable to get a complete record; but among his children were John, Jr., Alexander, Jerothman, Julia, James (who became a prominent contractor on various public works), and Mary, who married and lived in Gloversville. Another daughter married Joseph Owens, of Boonville, and was the mother of Ephraim, Philip and John Owens, all of them active men of fine business ability. Mr. MacDonald died September 9, 1824, and was buried with Masonic rites in a cemetery about a mile and a half south of Remsen, between the highway and the R. W. & O. railroad, all traces of which are now nearly obliterated.
HEMAN FERRY, son of Noah and Hannah (Mon- tague) Ferry, was born in Granby, Mass., August 4, 1786. About 1808 he came to Steuben, where an uncle, Rev. Joseph Montague, had preceded him, and where he engaged in teaching school. He was a young man of quick perceptions and clear foresight, and it was not long before he succeeded to the proprietor- ship of the first store established in Remsen. This was about 1811. He is reported to have been a man
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affable and obliging in manner, enterprising and hon- orable in business, and a public-spirited citizen. He was active in the first religious organization of the village, serving for several years as superintendent of its Sunday school. It is regretted that a more com- plete account cannot be given of the life of one who was so important a factor in the early days of Rem- sen's history. About 1840 he removed with his family to Utica, where, in partnership with his eldest son, he engaged in banking. He was one of the few mer- chants of Remsen who retired with a competency be- fore business misfortunes or utter bankruptcy over- took them. On March 13, 1814, he married Roxana, daughter of Jabez Burchard, of Steuben. Their children were Lucina Ann, born June 10, 1815, died April 18, 1832; William Henry, born April 10, 1819; and James Harvey, born January 24, 1823. Mrs. Ferry died January 19, 1844, and Mr. Ferry died March 31, 1856. Shortly after his death the sons removed to Chicago, and became active and promi- nent in the business affairs of that city.
REV. WILLIAM MONTAGUE FERRY was born in Granby, Hampshire county, Mass., September 8, 1796. At fifteen years of age he was a slight, frail youth, not physically adapted to the rugged toil of a farmer's life; he became ambitious to pursue a col- legiate course, and to obtain a thorough education. His father's limited means forbade a hope for his as- sistance to forward this ambition; nor could he win his father's consent to his purpose until he offered and promised that under no circumstances would he so- licit aid from any one, or from any benevolent society, but would rely upon his own personal endeavor. His first employment with an education in view was here
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in Remsen. His older brother, Heman Ferry, who was settled in mercantile business in this village, offered him a place in his store as clerk, and he remained here for three years. At eighteen, he accepted an offer of a place as tutor from his uncle, Joseph Montague, Sr., who was teaching a female seminary at Kinder- hook, N. Y. He taught there one year then went to Plainfield, Mass., where he prepared for college. While pursuing his preparatory studies, he took charge of the Sanderson Academy, at Ashfield, thus providing for needed expenses. At twenty-one he was ready to enter upon his collegiate course. An incident, to illustrate his character, as well as to show his finan- cial condition at this time, may not be amiss. After determining upon the place for continuing his studies, he visited the old homestead in Massachusetts, and solicited his eldest brother to take him and his books to Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. With his one horse and wagon, this brother made the then long journey, kindly giving the student the needed help. In crossing a defective bridge near Schenectady, the horse's leg was broken, and another horse must be bought to fill the place. The young student in- sisted that as the journey was made for his sake, he must bear the loss. The older brother not knowing the extent of his funds, yielded, and the sixty dol- lars, necessary to buy a horse, was all he had, save a single sixpence; and this was the amount with which he began his first term in college. He found in a leading professor in Union College, one to whom he could state his condition and purpose, who offered him employment, which he filled at intervals, thus paying his own way through his college course. He entered the sophomore class and graduated in his twenty-fourth year. He pursued a course of theo-
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logical study two years at New Brunswick, N. J., and was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of New York, in 1822. He then offered his services as a missionary to the United Foreign Missionary So- ciety, expecting to be sent to a foreign field; but while awaiting the necessary preliminaries for this purpose, he was appointed to explore among the Indian tribes of the northwest; which exploration resulted in the establisment of the Mackinaw Mission, on the Island of Mackinac. He remained at Mackinaw a year in laying the foundation for this important mission; and returning to Massachusetts, he was married at Ashfield, to Amanda, eldest daughter of Thomas White, and with his wife returned to Mackinaw in 1823. On November 2, 1834, he moved his family to the east shore of Lake Michigan and with two others laid out a village and called it Grand Haven. His was the first white family to settle in that county. He was a shrewd financier and became interested in mercan- tile enterprises and lumbering, thus laying the founda- tion for a fortune, which popular rumor placed among the millions. He died December 30, 1867. In his will he left $150,000 to various charitable, educational and religious societies. His son, Thomas White Ferry, was four times elected to Congress, twice elected United States Senator, and was acting Vice-President of the United States during the Hayes-Tilden contest in 1876-1877.
GRIFFITH I. JONES, familiarly called "Guto Jack," was one of several who came from Wales with their families and settled here in 1808. His farm was at Pen-y-bont (Bridge End), at the top of the hill north of the intersection of the road leading past Pen-y-caerau to Fairchild Corners, and that which
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branches east from the turnpike near the Phelps place. His house was located on the west side of the road, at the top of the hill. In the spring or summer of 1836, having heard that there was a Welsh estate in chan- cery in England, to a part of which he was entitled, he took ship for Liverpool accompanied by his son- in-law, William Evans, a son of John Evans (Boon), of Trenton. They reached their destination duly, and Mr. Evans remained in Wales with his father- in-law for many weeks; but realizing that they might be detained there indefinitely if they accomplished the purpose of their journey thither, he urged Mr. Jones to return. The latter, however, reluctant to forego the prospective inheritance, declined to return. But having left a family of eight young children at home, Mr. Evans decided to take passage in a vessel then about to sail for New York, and which chanced to be the ill-fated "Mexico," Captain Winslow, which was wrecked off the coast of Long Island on the night of January 2, 1837.
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