Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county, Part 10

Author: Dilley, Butler F; Edson, Obed, 1832-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Gresham
Number of Pages: 740

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was a miller by trade, and ran a mill in Eng- ing school he was employed for some time as a ! land, but after coming to Chautauqua county was engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1870. He came into what is Mina, when it had but few settlers, and only seven ycars after its first settlement had been made by Alex. Findley. James Ottaway settled on lot fourteen, in the eastern part of the town, and reared a family of nine sons and two daughters : James, William, Charles, Edmund, Joseph, Henry, Horace, John E., Susan, Ann and Horatio. The seventh son, John E. Otta- way (father), was born in 1827, and now owns the home farn of two hundred and thirty acres, which his father purchased in 1823, and lived upon until his death. John E. Ottaway has always been engaged in farming, and married Sarah Boorman, daughter of Benjamin Boor- man, who came about 1823 to Chautauqua county, and was a farmer by occupation.

Arthur B. Ottaway spent his boyhood days on the farm. Leaving the public schools, lie spent one year at Sherman academy, and then entered Westfield academy, where he remained two years, and from which, at the end of that time, he was graduated in 1875. After gradua- ting, he entered the office of William Russell as a law student, and upon the completion of his legal studies was admitted to the bar of the Su- preme Court in 1879.

After his admission to the bar he entered upon the active practice of his profession, and three years later, in 1882, was elected district attorney of Chautauqua county. At the end of his term of office, in 1885, he resumed the prac- tice of his profession at Westfield, where he has remained ever since. He is a republican in politics, stands well in his profession, and en- joys a good practice.

J AMES H. MINTON, ex-deputy-sheriff and coroner of Chautauqua county, and the proprietor of the well-known " Minton House," of Westfield, is a son of James and Theodosia

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

(Reeves) Minton, and was born in Anburn, Cayuga county, New York, January 3, 1816. He traces his paternal ancestry back to liis grandfather, Stephen Minton, who was, in all probability, a native of New Jersey, and whose son, James Minton (father), was born in 1783. James Minton was a stone-mason by trade, and assisted in building the old State penitentiary at Auburn. He was an excellent mechanic and died in 1826, aged forty-three years. He mar- ried Theodosia Reeves, who was a native of Connectient, and whose father, Israel Reeves, the first jailer of the prison at Auburn, served in the Revolutionary war, and experienced all the hardships of being a British prisoner of war for several months. Their eldest daughter, Emily C. (now eighty-two years of age), married Lewis Pullman, and three of her sons are : George M. Pullman, inventor of the " Pullman Palace Car," and Revs. James Minton and Royal Henry Pullman, distinguished ministers of the Universalist church. Another daughter, Han- nah M. Da Lee, resides in Illinois. Mrs. Theo- dosia Minton survived her husband until 1856, when she passed away, in the sixty-sixth year of her age.

James H. Minton, at fourteen years of age came with his mother to Brocton, this county, where he attended school for some time, cut cord-wood and assisted his mother in maintain- ing her family. At eighteen years of age he commenced to work with Lewis Pullman at the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed for ten years. He then erccted a hotel building and store-room at Brocton, where he kept hotel for twenty years, and was engaged for fourteen years of the time in the mercantile business with his brother, William L., who was postmaster of that village for seven years. During the late civil war he served as a revenue assessor, and was also deputy marshal of Westfield. He was coroner of Chautauqua county for fifteen years, and in 1875 held the inquest on the twenty-two dead bodies which were recovered from the rail-

road disaster at " Prospect," and officiated in the same capacity at the inquisition held on the bodies of the seven people killed by the explo- sion on Chautauqua lake of the old steamboat Chautauqua. In 1884 he served as deputy- sheriff under Sheriff L. T. Harrington.

In 1836 he married Sarah W. Lake, daughter of Nicholas and Eunice (Houghton) Lake, of Erie county. Mr. and Mrs. Minton are the parents of five children : Maria A., William L., who is in the real estate and hotel business ; John C., of Burlington, Iowa ; James V., drug- gist, of Westfield, and Waldo L.

In political affairs he supports the Republican party, and in every position of trust and respon- sibility which he has ever occupied, lie has always faithfully performed his duty. He is one of the old and well-respected citizens of southwestern New York, and his hotel is well arranged and specially fitted up for the accom- modation, convenience and comfort of his numer- ous guests.

W ILLIAM FRIES ENDRESS, the origi- nator and president of the Endress Fuel and Building Supply Company, of Jamestown, New York, was born at Dansville, Livingston county, New York, August 2, 1855, and is the only child of Judge Isaac Lewis and Helen Elizabeth (Edwards) Endress. William Fries Endress is descended from the German family of Endress Im Hof, which was the name given in the latter part of the fifteenth century to a branch of the Franconian family of Im Hof, a His noble family of Swabia, now Bavaria. great-grandfather, John Zacharia Endress, was educated at the university of Tübingen (now Würtemberg), and at Geneva under Voltaire. He came to America in 1766, settled in Phila- delphia and was an officer in the Continental army during the war for Independence, in the course of which much of his property was burned by the British. His son, Christian Frederi Lewis Endress, was educated at the University

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

of Pennsylvania, and became a Lutheran min- ister. He had charge, for many years, of the Lutheran Church at Lancaster, Pa., then one of the largest and wealthiest parishes in the country. His son, the late Judge Isaac Lewis Endress, the father of the subject of the present sketch, was born in 1810, educated at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa., and practiced law, first at Rochester and after 1832 at Dansville, New York. He was appointed judge of Livingston county by Gov. William H. Seward in 1840 ; was a promi- nent member of the State Constitutional Con- vention of 1868 ; was several times a presiden- tial elector, and delegate to the national nomi- nating conventions, and at the time of his death in 1869 was a member of the Republican State committee. He was married in 1849 to Helen Elizabeth Edwards, whose father was a direct descendant of Pierpont Edwards, a brother of Jonathan Edwards, the distinguished Puritan divine, and whose mother was a Fitzhugh, of the well-known family of Virginia. The only son of this marriage was the subject of this sketch.

William Frics Endress received his early education at the Dansville seminary, and in 1872 entered the Pennsylvania military academy at Chester, Pa., in preparation for the United States naval service. The following year he secured his commission as cadet midshipman and entered the United States naval academy at Annapolis, Md., where he remained until Decem- ber, 1876, when continued ill health obliged him to resign. For the next year he gave his atten- tion almost entirely to the recovery of his health, merely occupying a part of his time as instructor and commandant of the military battalion at Dansville Seminary. In the fall of 1877 he entered the sophomore class of Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute at Troy, and was gradnated in June, 1879, with the degree of civil engineer, being the fourth in the direct line of his family ancestry who have been college-bred men. Soon after graduating he became a resident of James- town and. entered the coal business, which he

rapidly developed into a wholesale business of some magnitude and of which, under the name of the Endress Fuel and Building Supply Com- pany, he is still at the head at the date of this writing, 1891. During 1883 he owned and managed a bituminous coal mine at Hilliards, Butler county, Pa., and shipped coal to James- town, Buffalo and the east. As chairman of the railway committee in 1886, he was instru- mental in bringing the Chautauqua Lake rail- road to Jamestown. In 1887 he organized the Jamestown Electric Light and Power Company, installed its plant and managed its affairs for the first year of its operations. During 1889 and 1890 he was located at Havana, Cuba, and was engaged in organizing companies and putting into operation electric light plants in the prin- cipal cities of the "Queen of the Antilles." Returning to Jamestown on January 1, 1891, he again took the active management of his present extensive and important coal and build- ing interests.

On August 27, 1879, Mr. Endress united in marriage with Dora Elizabeth Willey, of Ger- man and Puritan descent, and a resident of Dansville, N. Y., and on July 7, 1880, was blessed with a son, named after his father and great- grandmother, William FitzHugh Endress. By priority of birth this boy became the child of the "Class of 1879" of the R. P. I. In recognition of this fact he was presented with the class cup, a beautifully chased silver cup, lined with gold and emblazoned with devices emblematical of the various branches of engineer- ing science.

LOF LUNDQUIST, the proprietor of a fine clothing and gents' furnishing store at No. 112 Main street, Jamestown, is a son of Samuel and Brita (Belling) Lundquist, and was born in Sweden, October 21, 1841. His parents were also natives of Sweden, and reared a family of six sons and three daughters, but none of them excepting Olof ever came to America.

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Olof Lundquist received his education in the schools of his native land. While still in the mother country he had learned the hatter's trade and upon arriving in the United States settled at Boston where he followed this calling, remain- . ing only one year. After this he went to Illi- nois, which at that time was considered pretty far west, and visited various parts, finally com- ing back and locating at Jamestown, which he considered the most advantageous business open- ing he had seen, and commenced the manufac- ture of silk hats. This occupation he continues in a lesser degree at present, but is principally engaged with his fine store where he now has a large patronage from first-class customers. Mr. Lundquist is the owner of valuable real estate in the city, No. 211 Prendergast avenue belong- ing to him.

On the 16th of October, 1868, before emi- grating to America, he married Anna C. Anderson, and with her made the long journey in 1869. Their marriage has been blest" with eight children, of whom five are living : Ellen B., O. Samuel, A. Cecelia, Arvid N. and Rob- ert, while those dead are : John, Joseph and Robert.

In politics Mr. Lundquist adheres to the principles of the Republican party, and while not a politician, is sufficiently interested in the elections to desire the best men obtainable. He is a member of the Swedish Mission church besides being connected with the Swedish Tein- perance and Benevolent Society of Jamestown, which have for their purpose the relief of all unfortunates of that nationality.

D ANIEL GRISWOLD, president of the Chantauqua County National Bank, and a member of the lumbering firm of Griswold & Townsend, is a son of Daniel, Sr., and Mary (Hills) Griswold, and was born in what was then Genesee (now Wyoming) county, New York, February 18, 1830. His paternal grand- father, Daniel Griswold, was a descendant of

the Connecticut Griswold family, but lived in Washington county, this State, where he died of small-pox in 1795, while his maternal grand- father, Moses Hills, was a native and life-long resident of Massachusetts. His father, Daniel Griswold, Sr., was born in Washington county, September 28, 1788, and went in early life to Bennington, Vt., where he was engaged for a time in manufacturing. He then removed to Genesee county, this State, and about 1831 or 1832 came to the town of Poland and settled on lot 24, on the Ellington town line. He fol- lowed farming and lumbering until his death in 1854. He was an old-line whig and held sev- eral town offices. In Burlington, Vt., on May 25, 1815, he married Mary Hills, who was born at Upton, Mass., November 25, 1795, and died in the town of Poland, September 24, 1844. After her death he married a Mrs. Bentley. By his first wife he had two sons and four daughters : Mary L., Hiram H., Sarah, Fanny, Alvira and Daniel.

Daniel Griswold was fourteen years of age when his mother died, and soon after her death commenced life for himself. He had obtained a good common school education, and working for some time on a farm he engaged in the bus- iness of buying up at Jamestown, scythe snaths, window-sashes, doors and other manufactured articles. He loaded his purchases during the winter on " Yankee notion boats," which in the spring he ran down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and by the time of his arrival at Mem- phis, Tennessee, had generally disposed of his cargoes at the different towns along the rivers. He was very successfully engaged in this line of business until the late war broke ont, when he disposed of his last cargo to the Union army. He then turned his attention to lumbering, which he has followed with his usual good suc- cess until the present time. He is now a men- ber of the well-known lumbering firm of Gris- wold & Townsend, of Kiantone. He is a re- publican in politics, was a supervisor of the

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

town of Poland from 1865 to 1869, was super- visor of the town of Ellicott for two years (1884-1885), and supervisor one year (1886) of the south side of the city of Jamestown, N. Y., and is now a member of the board of public works of Jamestown. In 1881 Mr. Griswold became a director of the Chautauqua County National Bank, of which he was elected pres- ident, May 8, 1890. He succeeded Robert Newland, who had served in that capacity for many years. He removed from the town of Poland in 1871, to Salamanca, Cattaraugus county, and two years later came to Jamestown where he has resided ever since.

On November 18, 1868, he married Martha Townsend, daughter of the late John Town- send, of the town of Carroll. They have two children living : Martha Townsend and Harry, They had three children who died : Grace, Hugh and Daniel T. Mrs. Griswold is a lincal descendant of the old Townsend family of Eng- land. Three members of this family, who were brothers, came from Rumney Marsh to New England. A descendant of one of these broth- ers was Rev. Jonathan Townsend (the great- great-grandfather of Mrs. Griswold), who was pastor of the Congregationalist church at Need-

ham, Mass., from March 23, 1719, until his death September 30, 1762. He was a graduate of Harvard college and married Mary, daughter of Capt. Gregory Sugars, of Boston, by whom he had seven children, one of whom, Samuel, was born in Needham May 15, 1729, and died in Tyringham, Mass., September 11, 1822. He was married to Ruth Tolman in 1757. One of their eight children was William Townsend (grandfather), who was born December 11, 1765, and married Rhoda Hall, by whom he had four sons and one daughter. One of their sons was John Townsend (the father of Mrs. Griswold), who was born January 28, 1796, came to near Kennedy in 1817, and afterwards purchased a farm in Carroll on which he died in 1860. He was a whig and republican, fol-

lowed farming and lumbering and married Adelia Hitchcock, who was born May 4, 1810, a member of the old Hitchcock family which came into the county about 1817, by whom he had four sons and six daughters. Two of the sons died early in life and one of the daughters is Mrs. Martha T. Griswold.

W ILLIAM PRENDERGAST BEMUS, M. D., a descendant of one of the early pioneer families of southern Chautauqua county, was a successful physician of Jamestown for nearly forty years. He was the fifth son and seventh child of Lieutenant Charles and Relepha (Boyd) Bemus, and was born at Bemus Point, Chautauqua county, New York, October 4, 1827. The Bemus family settled at an early day in Saratoga county, at Bemus Heights, which were named after the family, and on which Arnold and Morgan defeated Burgoyne, and prevented the British conquest of New England and New York. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather, Major Jotham Bemus, was reared at Bemus Heights and served as an officer in the Revolutionary war, and died at Pittstown, Rensselaer county. His son, William Bemus, was born at Bemus Heights, February 25, 1762, and removed in early life to Pittstown, where, on January 29, 1782, he married Polly, daughter of William Prendergast, Sr. In 1805 he accompanied his father-in-law and the families of the latter's sons and daughters, twenty-nine persons in all, in their removal to Tennessee, and came back with them to Chautauqua county, where he settled in 1806 at Bemus Point (which was named for him), on Lake Chautauqua, in the town of Ellery. He died January 2, 1830, aged sixty-eight years, and his wife, who was born March 13, 1760, passed away July 11, 1845, at eighty-five years of age. Their chil- dren were : Dr. Daniel, Elizabeth Silsby, Try- phena Griffith, William Thomas, Lieutenant Charles, Mehitabel Hazeltine and James. Lieu- tenant Charles Bemus (father) was born at Pitts-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

town, August 31, 1791, and died at Bemus Point, October 10, 1861. He served as a first lieutenant in the war of 1812, and was a spec- tator at the burning of Buffalo. On February 28, 1811, he married Relepha Boyd, who was born July 20, 1790, and died January 2, 1843. They were the parents of ten children : James, Ellen Smiley, Matthew, Daniel, Jane Copp, John, Dr. William P., Mehitabel P. Strong, Dr. E. M. and George H., a lawyer.

William P. Bemus obtained a good high school education at Fredonia, and also received instruction under private tutors of ability and qualification. He then read medicine with Dr. Oberlin college, and was graduated from the Berkshire medical institute, of Springfield, Mass. After graduation he opened an office at Ashville, New York, but soon removed to Jamestown, where he practiced his profession successfully and continuously for forty-two years. He held a prominent position in the ranks of his profession, was a liberal and sympathetic physician and his " free practice " was large, as he rendered his services to all who asked them

OHN B. BENSON, a son of Bernhard and Anna C. (Anderson) Benson, was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, March 4, 1866. His paternal grandfather, John Benson, was a native of Gottenburg, Sweden, where he was a re- spected and prosperous farmer and owner of of him. He stood high with the people, whose about three hundred and seventy acres of land. confidence he enjoyed to the fullest extent. He never went to law during his lifetime to collect any account for medical services rendered by him. He was an ardent democrat in politics, He also served for a time in the Swedish army. His wife was Louise Ornan, of Sweden ; they had six children, three boys and three girls. The maternal grandfather of John B. Benson served as president of the Cleveland democratic also lived and died in Sweden. Bernhard Ben- club, and although always active in the interests of his party, yet never aspired to, nor would accept of, any political office. He was secretary of the board of pensions at Jamestown, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church of that city, which was organized in 1853.

In 1855 he married Helen O. Norton, dangh- ter of Squire Morris Norton, of Ashville, New York. They had two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter, Helen, is the wife of Frederick E. Hatch, who is engaged in the drug and book business ; and Dr. Morris N., the son, was graduated from Rutgers college, New Jersey,

in 1885, read medicine with his father, and entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York city, from which leading medical institation he was graduated in 1888. He then took a full post-graduate course, after which he became a partner with his father, and since the death of the latter, in 1890, has continued suc- cessfully in the practice of his profession in Jamestown until the present time. . Mrs. Bemus died Marchi 7, 1874. On June 3, 1875, the doctor married Sarah E., daughter of Abram C. and Sarah M. Prather. Sarah E. Prather was born in Venango county, Pa.

Dr. William Prendergast Bemus was active Shanahan, of Warren, Pa., attended lectures at in his professional labors until bis summons

came to lay down the cares of earthly life. He sank to sleep on September 19, 1890, and his remains were interred in Lake View cemetery.

- son (father) was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, September 8, 1832 ; he came to America about 1868, and lived about six months in Fredonia, this county, after which he came to Jamestown. He was a carver and furniture maker in Swed- en and also followed that trade here. He is a republican in politics, and an active member of the Methodist church. His wife was Anna C. Anderson, and they are the parents of four chil- dren : John B., Anna C., Frederic C. and Jen- nie F. Anna married William Peterson, a mechanic of Jamestown ; Frederic lives in Jamestown ; Jennie is still a child at home.

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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

John B. Benson received his education in the common schools of Jamestown, this county, but was obliged to leave school at an early age. However, he has since devoted much of his time to study and has thus gained a great deal of general information. He learned the trade of piano finishing, but when seventeen years of age, he placed himself under the instructions of a tutor, preparatory to becoming an actor. At the age of nineteen he went on the stage and played for four years-first with F. C. Bangs, then with Thomas W. Keene, both of whom presented plays of the highest order, such as " Hamlet," " Othello," "Richard III," etc., in all of which Mr. Benson took heavy parts, giving entire satisfaction. When about to re- tire from the stage, he appeared at Jamestown in the play of " Damon and Pythias," in the performance of which he was sustained by Mr. Kecne's entire company. The play was given on three nights before highly appreciative aud- iences ; the third performance was by special request. Since leaving the profession, Mr. Ben- son has devoted very little time to theatrical pursuits, but frequently recites on special oeca- sions or at social gatherings in Jamestown, where his ability and merit are fully appreci- ated. He left the stage to engage in the manu- facture of desks in Jamestown, and still con- tinues in that business. He manufactures all kinds of office desks in the factories on Steel street and West First street. Mr. Benson is a Republican in politics, also a member of the "Knights of Pythias." On June 27, 1889, he was married to Ida L. Maplestone, a daughter of Page Maplestone, of Shippenville, Pa.

S SAMUEL KIDDER, of Kiantone, lives upon the farm originally bought and cleared by his father in 1816, and which has never been out of the family. He was born where he now lives on October 12, 1825, in what was then Carroll, Chautauqua county, New York, and is a son of Ezbai and Louisa

(Sherman) Kidder. The Kidders were orig- inally from Dudley, Mass., Samuel Kidder (grandfather) being born and reared there, and afterwards moving into Vermont, where he died in January, 1805. By occupation a farmer, he married Zilpha Bacon and became the father of four sons and three daughters. Noah Sherman (maternal grandfather) was a native of Wards- boro, Vermont, and married Laura Hubbard, of Brimfield, Massachusetts. Both himself and wife died many years ago. Their children all came to the " Holland Purchase" " when the country was new," as local custom termed it. Ezbai Kidder (father) was born in Dudley, Mass., in 1787, and was carried to Wardsboro in infancy where he spent several busy years helping his widowed mother rear a large family. He came to this county in 1813, but soon after went to Vermont, and again returned to this county and settled in Carroll, now Kiantone, in 1816. He married Louisa Sherman in 1824, and had four children, one son and three daughters, one daughter (Mrs. Mitchell) now residing at Busti ; two are dead. A carpenter by trade, he conducted building in connection with his farming, and many of the old frame houses and barns of the towns of Carroll and Kiantone are specimens of his skill. The farm mentioned at the opening of our sketch was one hundred acres of a plot known as the Blowers' Lot, having been located by and bought from a Mr. Blowers, one of the first settlers of James- town. Originally a whig, he afterwards be- came a republican, and at the first town meet- ing held March 6, 1826, was elected commis- sioner of highways. In 1838 he was supervis- or of Carroll town, and at the formation of Kiantone, the election being held February 21, 1854, he was made the first supervisor of the new town. Mr. Kidder was a member of the Congregational church at Jamestown, and died in 1879, aged ninety-two years and three months, Mrs. Kidder passing away November 14, 1867.

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Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county, Part 10

Author: Dilley, Butler F; Edson, Obed, 1832- Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Gresham Number of Pages: 740

Author: Dilley, Butler F; Edson, Obed, 1832-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Gresham
Number of Pages: 740