USA > New York > Chenango County > Oxford > Annals of Oxford, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and early pioneers > Part 3
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Henry Tracy Balcom, just mentioned, has a son of the same name who is an only child and is the sixth in line of descent in this country to bear the name of Henry-be- longing at the same time to the ninth generation in America.
Samuel Farnham Balcom, son of Henry and Mary, mar- ried Margaret Gammon in 1874. They had no children. He spent his youth in Oxford, enlisted in the Civil war and served in the army with credit. He spent several years as proprietor of a grain elevator at Lamar, Missouri, and engaged later in sheep raising in the Blue mountains in Eastern Oregon; where, in the winter of 1884, an inci- dent occurred that is one of many which shows the dangers and hardships the pioneers had to contend with: He had occasion to visit a railroad town some twenty-five miles away, and owing to an accident his horse was unable to make the return trip. Starting home on snow shoes, he headed for a hunter's cabin some twelve miles away. Hav- ing the misfortune about noon to break one of the snow shoes and being encumbered with a heavy bundle of mail and some necessary articles, he found his strength giving out as night overtook him. Stopping ata large tree to rest he fell asleep and was awakened by the howling of wolves. Having no firearms except a heavy revolver, he decided not to attack the wolves until absolutely necessary. Having
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some two miles further to go he kept in open timber as much as possible, where the moonlight made things almost as bright as day. He stumbled on, the howling wolves getting bolder all the time. When within half a mile of the hunter's cabin the pack of hounds, some half dozen in number, hearing the wolves, came to the rescue. Ordinari- ly the dogs, with little better dispositon than a wolf, would have been almost as great a terror, but in this in- stance they were very welcome, and Mr. Balcom soon found himself enjoying cold venison and warm blankets. A few years subsequently, he moved to Eureka, Cal., making that his permanent residence, thus spanning the continent and one half the globe by completing the western journey begun by his forefather Henry in leaving England and continued by his ancestors, Henry and Francis.
Stephen Francis Balcom, son of Stephen and Margaret, is the first of his line of descent, of seven generations in America, to bear more than one given name. He has prac- ticed civil engineering, being located at Indianapolis, Ind., of late years; and has incidentally given attention to genealogical research with the result that three divisions of the Balcom family in America have been traced. They number some six hundred families, and are scattered over the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Stephen Francis Balcom was married to Eliza Hall in 1880.
Children of Stephen Francis and Eliza :
LUCY, born July 9, 1881.
ETHELWYN, born Feb'y 27, 1883.
MARY, born Dec. 11, 1884, died Dec. 17, 1891.
HENRY CLARKE, born Feb'y 2, 1887.
William Arthur Balcom, son of Stephen and Margaret, has engaged in civil engineering work-mining surveying and engineering, irrigation ditch construction, and in rail-
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road construction and maintenance, during the last twen- ty-five years in Colorado. He was married in 1888 to Edna Wildman who died in 1893. They had no children. The following account of a trip taken by him in the snow across the mountains in Colorado, is a fit companion to the one related of his cousin, Samuel Farnham Balcom, in Ore- gon. The trip was taken to ascertain for the Union Pacific Railway Co., the probable cost of opening a road for stage and freight teams over Alpine Pass, Cottonwood Pass and across Taylor's Range. The two passes were crossed on snow-shoes at an altitude of over 12,000 feet, without un- usual incident, but the crossing of Taylor's Range, which was a much longer journey and with no ranches or camps on the line, was a much more difficult task. The first night after crossing Cottonwood Pass was spent at a deserted log cabin. He and the guide tore up some of the floor and made a fire which soon brought down the snow from the dilapidated roof in a shower, making their quarters too uncomfortable for much sleep. The second night was spent at another log cabin, but in this instance they took the precaution to make the fire outside the open door. They then found that the heat was so scant that they could stay away from the fire hardly long enough to get a short nap. After a breakfast on hardtack, and melted snow for water, they resumed the journey at 4 o'clock a. m., as usual. On approaching the summit of the range that day about noontime, they found a barrier in their way in the form of a comb of snow which overhung the crest of the ridge. There being no way to surmount it they walked along under the overhanging mass for a mile looking for a break; it being the last of April when the snow gives way at such places, forming a snow slide. They heard several such slides go thundering down the mountains, and were liable to be caught in one at any moment. They final- ly found a break, an opening some twenty-five feet wide,
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and so steep that it was almost impossible to climb. By perseverance and cutting foot holds in the snow or crust, they reached the top. Coasting on the down grade, where in places they left a trail the width of their person, made up for lost time, and evening found them at their destina- tion, half starved, worn out and with faces scorched, swoll- en and blistered by the hot sun's rays reflected from the snow.
William G. Balcom, son of William and Selinda, grew to manhood in Oxford. While in school he printed a min- ature school paper and continued its publication for quite a period, encouraged by his cousin, Miss Lucy A. Balcom, a well known writer in THE OXFORD TIMES and other peri- odicals of that day. The experience obtained in the mer- cantile business with his father, led him to continue in the same and he engaged later in that line at Eau Claire, Wis. He married Ida A. Dorwin at Eau Claire, in 1888.
Children of William Gurdon and Ida :
CALLIE, born February 24, 1889.
WILLIAM DORWIN, born April 3, 1895.
Ward V. Balcom, son of William and Selinda, spent his early days in Oxford, where he attended school and ac- quired a liking for railroad work. He engaged in the same at various places in the Eastern states, as telegraph opera- tor, agent, etc. In 1889 he married Stella A. Arnold of Fitchburg, Mass.
Children of Ward VanDerLyn and Stella :
FRED ARNOLD, born March 15, 1890.
WARD IRVING, born Aug. 11, 1891, died Sep't 3, 1891. HELEN VANDERLYN, born Nov. 24, 1892.
Col. Samuel Balcom, son of Henry and Keziah, came to Oxford about the year 1791. He was associated with his brother Francis, in the construction of two bridges over the Susquehanna river, and in other jobs of carpenter
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work. Early one summer's evening, Samuel was walking by the river bank and heard a soft, sweet voice singing :
"The day is past and gone The evening shades appear ; Oh, may we all remember well The night of death draws near."
He listened amazed, entranced, and for a moment thought the voice was not that of earth, and looked toward the sky, but in a turn in the river bank where ran wild pink and white flowers, that made the sunset air sweet from their breathing blossoms, he saw Polly Knapp. She was vainly trying to catch at a spray of blossoms that hung temptingly beyond her reach. He startled her by an offer of help.
"Can I do that for you?"
She turned round, her face bright with surprise.
"Thank you, sir. I do want that branch very much."
In a moment Samuel held the spray out to her, neatly trimmed by his hunting knife. She took it blushingly, and thanked him.
"Good evening," said he, passing on.
"Good bye," was the reply, as she looped the spray in her hair with skillful fingers.
Golden were the months that year. Samuel became very regular in his evening walks, and somehow they man- aged to meet at one particular spot where tall trees shaded the river bank and from which the distant hills could be seen in perfect beauty. Thus began the acquaintance of Samuel Balcom and Polly Knapp, the adopted daughter of Elijah Blackman, which terminated in their marriage in 1799. For upwards of thirty years they were consistent members of the Oxford Baptist church, and of which he was one of its founders. Mr. Balcom spent a greater part of his life as a farmer, lumberman and millwright. He also held several offices, and in 1840 represented Chenango
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county in the Electoral college as a Harrison elector. Mrs. Balcom died October 7, 1852, aged 72 years.
Miss Lucy A. Balcom, of Oxford, was authority for the following interesting incident in the life of Mrs. Samuel Balcom : "One summer day Polly Knapp, Sally Balcom, Elizabeth Bartle and Betsey Loomis took possession of a canoe and went sailing on the beautiful Chenango, and it is related that they were not all together again until some forty years later when by chance as elderly matrons they met at the home of Miss Lucy Balcom's father and re- counted their experiences on that early excursion."
In the course of years Samuel Balcom built a stone house on his farm, some two miles from Oxford, now the Will- cox stone house farm, a portion of it being devoted to the use of his mother and sister Leafa.
Children of Samuel and Polly :
LYMAN, born Nov. 29, 1800, died May 19, 1887.
ELIZA, born Nov. 19, 1802, married Wm. Pearsall, of Apalachin, N. Y.
LUKE, born Nov. 29, 1804, killed in 1842, by a falling tree in Erwin, N. Y.
FAYETTE, born July 12, 1807, married Calvin Cole. BENJAMIN F., born Jan'y 10, 1810, died Dec. 20, 1879. HARRIET, born Feb'y 15, 1812, married Wm. Rhodes. URI T., born May 17, 1815, died Nov. 1, 1893. RANSOM R., born April 16, 1818, died Jan'y 6, 1879. GEORGE F., born Feb'y 6, 1823, died Dec. 21, 1879.
Lyman Balcom, son of Samuel and Polly, married in 1820 Clarissa Hollenbeck of Greene, who died in 1881. At an early age he was put in charge of timber lands belong- ing to his father at Painted Post, Steuben county. Later on, in selecting a homestead he chose low lands between the two streams whose confluence forms the Chemung river,
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and was one of the first of those in that section to adopt a plan of drainage that gave him soil with an inexhaus- tible store of fertility. He was Associate Judge of the County Court from 1840 to 1846, and also represented the second district of Steuben county in the Legislature in 1867. Later in life he devoted much time to agriculture and stock raising.
Children of Lyman and Clarissa :
MARY E., born June 4 1821, married L. Hamilton. SAMUEL, born Dec. 13, 1822, died Sep't 23, 1890. MARGARET, born Feb'y 21, 1825, married J. Sailor. CHARLES, born Jan. 31, 1827.
SUSAN F., born March 3, 1829, married R. O. Smith. JANE C., born April 3, 1837, married W. S. Hodgman.
Benjamin F. Balcom, son of Samuel and Polly, married Eliza Ann Root in 1829. He was associated with his father in timber lands and the lumber business in Steuben county during the early years of his life. He made the town of Campbell, in that county, his home until 1857, when he removed to Corning. He became interested in church work and for years served as elder in the Baptist church, hold- ing pastorates in Campbell, Corning, Bath and other towns. In 1879 Mr. Balcom and his wife celebrated their golden wedding. The occasion was given additional notice by the newspapers because of a journey through the snow made by their son Luke at a time when railroad trains were snow bound. Luke Balcom left home in Oconto, Wis., on the morning of Jannary 2, 1879, and because of delays by snow did not leave Milwaukee until afternoon on the following day. Leaving there they had two, and at times four locomotives on the run to Chicago. He ar- rived at Niagara Falls on the night of January 4, and found that his train was the seventh to arrive since any had gone forward. Finding on the following day that no
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attempt would be made to run trains, and realizing that if he was to be present at the golden wedding on the evening of January 8 he must start out and walk. He decided to undertake it, which he did that afternoon, reaching Lock- port, nineteen miles, by night. He made twenty-five miles the next day, with no dinner, remaining over night at Al- bion. The next day, the 7th, he found the Erie canal tow- path fairly good walking and reached Brockport at noon, and 5:30 p. m. found him in Rochester and at the home of his wife's mother, looking like a genuine tramp as she expressed it, having made thirty miles that day. He made ready for the final tramp on the 8th, but found that the first train after the blockade would start for Corning that morning, and boarding it reached home at noon on the eventful day. Before the close of the year Mr. Balcom again made the trip from Wisconsin, but under very dif- ferent circumstances, having been called by the death of his father which occurred December 20, 1879.
Children of Benjamin F. and Eliza :
BENJAMIN, born May 14, 1830. JOHN, born April 17, 1832, died in 1832. CAROLINE, born May 4, 1835, died in 1839. JAMES, born September 5, 1838. LUKE, born May 8, 1842. MARK, born November 4, 1847.
Uri Balcom, son of Samuel and Polly, spent his youth in Oxford, and at an early age began rafting timber down the Susquehanna river. In 1841 he married Jane Elizabeth Besley, at Campbelltown, N. Y., and in 1891 they celebrat- ed their golden wedding while spending the summer at Pittsfield, Mass. He began the lumber business at Ocon- to, Wis., in 1856. During the Civil war he raised a com- pany of soldiers and his services were so meritorious that he held the rank of colonel at its close. He continued the
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lumber business in Oconto up to within a few years of his death, although he made his headquarters in Chicago sub- sequently to 1868. He died November 1, 1893. They had no children, but adopted a niece who became the wife of W. C. D. Grannis of Chicago.
Ransom Balcom, son of Samuel and Polly, spent the first thirty-five years of his life in Oxford. He attended pub- lic school and the Academy, studied law with Judge Mc- Koon and always took great pleasure in referring to his legal studies under "Count " VanDerLyn. He was ad- mitted to the Bar in the Common Pleas and Superior Court about 1841. He was elected to represent Chenango coun- ty in the Assembly in 1846. In 1853 he removed to Bing- hamton where he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1855. He was twice re-elected, serving in that office about twenty-one years. Failing health prevented his completing the last term, and his death occurred January 6, 1879. His native village, towards which he always turn- ed with tender recollections, received back with pride the mortal remains which he by his expressed wish consigned to its guardianship.
In 1884 Judge Balcom married Susan Farnham, of Ox- ford, who, after the death of her husband, held a position in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C., until her death on January 4, 1900. She was the daughter of George Farnham ; her mother dying in her infancy she was brought up by her grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Farnham.
Children of Ransom and Susan : LILLA E., born September 2, 1847. FRED N., born October 26, 1851.
George Balcom, son of Samuel and Polly, grew to man- hood in Oxford, married Florinda Keech of Preston, in
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1842, at which place he made his home for a number of years. At thirty years of age he was converted and enter- ed the Baptist ministry. He was gifted with a fine voice which he used to great advantage in the way of speaking and singing at evangelistic meetings. The greater portion of his life was spent in special work of this nature and in organizing churches throughout New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and many of the western states. In 1870 he pur- chased a farm at Kawker City, Kan., where a portion of his family continued to reside after his death in 1879.
Children of George and Florinda :
WARD, born May 29, 1846.
CLARK, born December 15, 1847.
FLORA, born September 27, 1849. ELLIE, born May 27, 1861, died in 1861.
CORA, born March 6, 1863.
GEORGE E., born July 3, 1866.
Family record of Samuel Balcom (son of Lyman and and Clarissa) and Mrs. Sarah Lynn Foote; who were mar- ried August 15, 1866 :
LILLIAN LYNN, born September 5, 1868.
LYMAN HUNNEWELL, born December 4, 1869.
Mrs. Foote was a daughter of Henry Balcom, and married L. B. Foote in 1848. They had a daughter, Mary Banks, who has taken the name of Mary B. F. Balcom.
Family record of Benjamin (son of Benjamin F. and Eliza) and Melvina E. Dunkle, who were married Novem- ber 16, 1859 :
SAMUEL, born September 15, 1865.
ELIZA, born September 25, 1869. URI, born January 16, 1877.
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Family record of John (son of Benjamin F. and Eliza) and Rhoda A. Carpenter, who were married in 1854 :
ROSE, born April 26, 1856
JENNIE, born September 9, 1858.
FRANK, born January 10, 1861.
HARRY and HATTIE, twins, born October 7, 1862.
JESSIE, born January 23, 1867.
FRED and JOHN, twins, born September 22, 1870.
BENJAMIN, born November 17, 1872.
Luke, son of Benjamin F. and Eliza, married Mary A. Cheswell in 1867. They have one son, Edward Taylor.
Family record of Mark M. (son of Benjamin F. and Eliza) and Anna M. Campbell, who were married October 21, 1868 :
DEAN C., born August 7, 1869.
CLARENCE G., born June 7, 1872.
PETE C., born September 12, 1874.
Family record of George E. (son of George F. and Flor- inda) and Nettie O. Roke, who were married February 18, 1885:
MABEL F., born November 30, 1887.
NINA M., born September 25, 1890.
The death of Miss Lucy A. Balcom in 1901, left but one of the name in Oxford, viz: Mr. Wm. Balcom, who sur- vived her but a year, and thus the strong hand of Time scatters all families, particularly in America, to the four winds. In closing this account of the family it is proper to give special mention to Miss Lucy A. Balcom. As noted in THE OXFORD TIMES of April 10, 1901, the old files of this paper with hardly a week's exception show contribu- tions from her ready pen. She wrote the ode for the Jubilee celebration of Oxford Academy in 1854. Many of her townsmen, at home and abroad, were often made aware of her memory on the receipt of a pleasant reminder in
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verse of the day of their birth, a day they themselves might have forgotten. She was one of the first to organize the Aid Society that prepared clothing and articles of food and comfort which were sent to the soldiers in the field and hospital from time to time during the War of the Re- bellion. The following copy of a letter recites one of the many instances referred to :
The Ladies' Mount Vernon Association of the Union.
New York City P. O., Station D., April 15th, 1859.
To Mrs. H. L. Miller, Miss Lucy A. Balcom, Mrs. W. B. Race, Jr., Miss Helen Lobdell, Mrs. Rome, Miss Susan E. Tracy, Committee of Mt. V. L. Association.
LADIES :- Permit me in behalf of the Association, to thank you for the liberal contribution, which the town of Oxford has made, through you to the Mount Vernon Fund-embracing, among its contributors, the pupils of the Academy, and the children of the District Schools.
In this aid, which your citizens have given to preserve this spot sacred to Washington's memory, we feel they have helped to secure what he would value the most, as a tribute to his memory-almost the only thing we can imagine him willing to accept as a personal monument. May it tend to keep him personally before us! with his noble, unselfish, christian devotion to his country-his honest, upright, faithful discharge of duty.
Accept my thanks for the prompt assistance you have given me and be- lieve me,
Yours respectfully, MARY MORRIS HAMILTON,
These kindly acts and goodly offices to individuals and organizations were continued for years, until age enfeebled the body and impaired the brilliant mind.
Nearly all of the Balcom name whose early lives were spent in Oxford, have passed over to the great majority, but their descendants are glad and proud to have their line of descent appear and know how intimately they are thus associated with the history of Oxford, for it was verily the nesting place of a branch of the family that, because of its numbers at least, bids fair to take some considerable part in the active life of the age, and although they are no long- er represented at Oxford, they cherish the thought that they are descendants of sturdy men who looked upon themselves as "citizens of a no mean city."
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He is in my opinion, the noblest who has raised himself by his own merit to a higher station .- CICERO.
Loomis Family.
JOSEPH LOOMIS, born in Braintree, England, about 1590, died in Windsor, Ct., November 25, 1658. He was among the passengers on the "Susan and Ellen " from London to New England, September 19, 1635, and in 1639 took up land situated upon "The Island," so called, in Windsor, Ct., which has continued in the ownership and possession of his descendants from that day to this. He built his house fearless of what might befall, and it is be- lieved to be the oldest homestead now standing in the United States. The place also has an added interest by reason of the fact that there is an available fund of $1,- 600,000 set aside to be used in converting it into an edu- cational institute where girls and boys between the ages of twelve and twenty will be taught in all departments of learning. The fund represents the combined estates of the last five lineal descendants of Joseph Loomis, emi- grant ancestor of the name in America. The coat of arms of the family bears the motto in Latin, "Do Not Yield to Evils."
BENAIAH LOOMIS, a native of Egremont, Mass., was born July 15, 1752; married (1) Rachel Patterson; mar- ried (2) Mrs. Prudence Corbin. He came to Oxford about the year 1790 and settled on the west side of the river, near the south line of the town, where he died March 8, 1838. His wife, Rachel, died about 1815. Her father, an Irishman, was a tinsmith and first brought tin into Amer- ica. His descent from Joseph Loomis, the first of the
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name in America, is: Joseph, born in 1590; Deacon John, born in 1622; Sergeant Daniel, born in 1657; Josiah, born in 1684; Josiah 2d, born in 1737; Benaiah, born in 1752. Benaiah Loomis was a soldier of the Revolution, and died soon after receiving his pension papers.
Children of Benaiah and Rachel (Patterson) Loomis :
ELIZABETH, born July 15, 1772, died in 1863; married Philip Bartle.
CATHERINE, born March 29, 1774, died in 1856; mar- ried Peter Rorapaugh.
EDWARD, born February 2, 1777; married Mary Smith. He was the first settler in East Smithville. In 1800 he cut the first road in Smithville, from Oxford to the Flats, for which he received fifty acres of land, on which he built a log house and moved to with his wife. Mr. Loomis resided on this farm till within three years of his death, when he returned to Oxford and resided with his son Daniel on Clinton street. June 21, 1869, he was found dead in bed, having reached the age of 92 years. His wife died in 1850. Children :
VINCENT, born Oct. 4, 1799, died November 27, 1864 in Smithville, N. Y. Married (1) Mary Williams; married (2) Cynthia Moore; mar- ried (3) Mrs. Lucy (Willcox) Hamilton. Child by first wife: Daniel, married Laura Hodges. Children by second wife: Betsey, married William Adams, Polly, married - Norris; Henry, born in 1832; Married (1) Caroline Landers; married (2) Mrs. Sarah (Bliven) Lewis. [Children of Henry and Caroline (Landers) Loomis: Allie, married Frederick Dibble ; Burdett H., unmarried; Millard C., married Grace Brown. All residents of Oxford]. Child by third wife: Jane, married Melvin Hotchkiss. ELEANOR, born May 2, 1801, was the first white child born in Smithville, married Daniel Williams. DANIEL, died March 9, 1896, in Homer, N. Y., aged 86. Married (I) - Cline; married (2) Mrs. Diantha --. Children by first. wife: Vinson, married Betsey Stewart; Warren, married (1) Huldah Bartle; married (2) Phebe Lewis. [Child by first wife, Perry A.]: Lucy M., Clark Edward, Betsie M., married Samuel Cline. [Child, Mary, married D. D. Newton of Homer]. Ransom, Floyd, married Fanny Nelson. LAVINA, married Charles Stratton. HANNAH,
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married Gates Willcox. LOIS, married Jonathan Bennett. RACH- EL, married Charles Williams. ABIGAIL, married Joel Webb. ELLEN, married Thurston Willcox. BENAIAH, married Christ- mas day, 1839, Sarah A., daughter of Squire and Nancy (Whitten- hall) Hamilton, who died June 28, 1905, in Smithville, aged 85. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in 1904 by a fam- ily gathering. Children: Alexander, unmarried; Edward B, mar- ried (1) Josephine Lewis; married (2) Louise Walworth; Sarah, mar- ried Arvine S. Lewis; Emeline, married (1) Adelbert Flagg; mar- ried (2) John Hanford of Greene; Ward, died in infancy; Mary Ver- nett, married Clark L. Webb. BETSEY, married George Starkey.
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