Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county, Part 14

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


USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 14


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On September 3, 1855, he united in marriage with Mary A. La Due, daughter of Joshua La Due, a native of Auburn, New York, who held several important offices in the town of Sher- man, Westfield and Portland, and died in 1865, aged seventy-one years. To Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury have been born five children, three


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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.


sons and two daughters : Carlton, who read law, was admitted to the bar and is practicing with his father ; Edward P., a lawyer of Ogdens- burg, New York ; Clara K., wife of James L. Weeks, an attorney-at-law of Jamestown ; Julia H., and Henry C., Jr.


JONATHAN P. PENNOCK, who, with his son, is conducting a first-class grocery store in Jamestown, was born in Lyme, Graf- ton county, New Hampshire, October 12, 1824, his parents being Alvin and Zilpha (Kidder) Pennock. Adonijah Pennock (paternal grand- father) was a native of the Green Mountain State and passed most of his days within its borders but a few years before his death he re- moved to this county. He was a carpenter by trade and followed it until advanced age for- bad. His wife was Elizabeth Bacon and they had seven children. Alvin Pennock was born in Vermont in 1800 and came from there to Jamestown in 1827 where he was employed as a laborer at the woolen mills, which were es- tablished in 1817. He married Zilpha Kidder, who came from the family of Kidders who were among Jamestown's first settlers, in 1823, and had eight children, two of whom died young. Mr. Pennock was a whig and a mem- ber of the Methodist church, in which faith he departed from life in 1842.


Jonathan P. Pennock, upon arriving at school age, began his education and when suffi- ciently advanced attended the Jamestown acad- emy where he completed the course of instruc- tion taught, and leaving scliool secured employ- ment in the Jamestown woolen mills, where he worked until twenty years of age and then employed himself at chair manufacturing.


On August 31, 1848, he married Clarissa B. Price, who, like his mother, came from one of the oldest families of the county. They have been the parents of four children : one who died in infancy ; Charles P., died when fifteen years old; Frank A., in business with 7


his father, married May Martin, daughter of Dr. W. B. Martin, a prominent physician of Busti, and they have two children : William J., and Marjorie ; and Lee J. who is a machinist and draughtsman is the youngest son of J. P. Pennock.


J. P. Pennock is an active republican and served as constable and deputy sheriff for a number of years. He also filled the office of tax collector for a period of twelve years. For about one year during the war he conducted a grocery, and since 1877 has been in that busi- ness with his son, their store being located on the corner of Main and Sixth streets. They have a large trade and are doing an excellent business. Mr. Pennock is a Baptist and for the past twenty-seven or twenty-eight years has been an active member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M.


G UST. BURLAUND, a member of the con- tracting and building firm of Mahoney Bros. & Burlaund, and a native of Sweden, is the son of Abraham and Anna (Swanson) Bur- laund, and was born on the 21st day of Sep- tember, 1854, near Ginsiping. John Burlaund (grandfather) was a well-to-do farmer and mason and never came to America, being em- ployed until his death in the work mentioned and as a contractor. Andrew Swanson (mater- nal grandfather) was a farmer and during Swe- den's last war, in her struggle with Russia and Finland, he served the king as a soldier. Abraham Burlaund was born in Sweden, December 10, 1821, and followed farming in his native country until 1868, when seeing greater inducements in the new world than the fatherland offered, he left his home and came to America. On his arrival he at once came to Jamestown and engaged in farming and stock- dealing, but died very shortly after his arrival, on September 10, 1868. He left his wife with eight children, five of whom are still living. Clarence H. is engaged in the livery business.


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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY


After the death of Mr. Burlaund, Mrs. Bur- laund again married, this time to Peter Swan- son.


Gust. Burlaund received his early education in the public schools of Sweden and after his father's death he was apprenticed to and learned the mason's trade which he followed from 1872 to 1883.


In 1879 he married Matilda Stonfaldt, a daughter of Andrew Stonfaldt, of Morlunda. To this union have been born three children, one son and two daughters : Archie F. (dead) ; Anna R. (dead); and Ellen Matilda.


From 1883 until 1885 he was a contractor and builder, but during the latter year he asso- ciated himself with the well-known firm of Mahoney Bros., and the company is now known as Mahoney Bros. & Burlaund, contractors and builders. Their reputation stands equal with the best in Jamestown and as specimens of their handiwork, they point with pride to the Gifford block, Gokey house and the Swedish Orphanage, which are among the largest and finest buildings in the city. The company cm- ploys during the busy season as many as eighty workmen. Politically Mr. Burlaund is a re- publican, but is known as one that is indepen- dent, feeling that country is before party, and patriotism should be before partisanship. He' is a communicant of the Lutheran church and takes an interest in his church work.


SILAS S. DERBY, an old and highly re- spected citizen of Jamestown, is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kenyon) Derby, and was born April 29, 1820, in Monroe county, New York. His grandfather, Phineas Derby, was born in Vermont, where he quietly pursued farming and died. The Kenyon branch of the family came from Rhode Island and settled near Batavia, in Genesee county, this State. Joseph Derby was born in the Green Mountain State but while yet a young man, went to Monroe county, this State, and later to Warren county,


Pa., locating near Sugar Grove, where he died March 14, 1837. While nominally a farmer he was essentially a mechanic, conducting his farm, as did many artisans of that day, to keep em- ployed. He was a democrat and a member of the Free Baptist church. He married Elizabeth Kenyon, in 1811, and had five children, all sons : Phineas, who removed to Michigan, where he died in 1889, at the age of eighty years ; Sylvanus was a resident of Saginaw, Michigan, where he died in 1883, at sixty-nine years of age ; John K., is a painter, residing at Jamestown (see his sketch); William R., who for many years followed farming, and is now buying and dealing in stock at North Warren, Pa. ; and Silas S. Derby.


Silas S. Derby was educated in the schools near his early home and at the age of eighteen came to Jamestown, from Warren, Pa., and has resided here ever since. Soon after his arrival he established himself as a painter and in 1839 opened a paint store in partnership with his- brother, Jno. K. Derby, which they conducted for at least twenty years, but for the last sixteen years he has laid aside the cares of active busi- ness and only attends to his investments made from the accumulations of earlier toil. He is now the owner of considerable real estate.


On December 17, 1840, Mr. Derby married Huldah E. Frask, a daughter of Elijah Frask, who resides adjacent to Busti, this county, although they came originally from Penfield, near Rochester, this State. They have been the parents of but two children : Agnes D .; and Sylvia A., who wedded Darwin E. Hay- ward, a railroad conductor living at Buffalo, this State.


S. S. Derby was a republican and as such held the office of street commissioner in this city, but of late years his sympathies have been with the prohibitionists. He belongs to the Royal Templars of Temperance and is a member- of the Wesleyan Metho list church


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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.


C RAWFORD STEARNS is one of the most successful farmers and cattle dealers in this county. He was born in Arkwright, Chautauqua county, New York, May 9, 1830, and is a son of Benjamin and Electa (Halstead) Stearns. Benjamin Stearns was of English de- scent and was born in Vermont, in 1803, and came to this county in 1820, where he became an extensive farmer and stock-dealer and was successful in gathering together a goodly share of riches. In politics he was a democrat and held the office of county commissioner for sev- eral years. His religious convictions prompted him to become a member of the Baptist church, of which his wife was also a member. He died in Villanova, this county, in 1866, aged sixty- three years. In 1825, he married Electa. Hal- stead, a native of Canada, who is now in her eighty-fifth year and resides at Villanova. They had six children.


the parents of two children : Lester F., district attorney at Dunkirk, this county ; and Allie M., married to Irving Powers, who is engaged in the railroad business and resides at Buffalo. Mrs. Stearns is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.


S AMUEL SHEPARD CRISSEY is a well educated man of advanced ideas, and in addition to his labors in his nurseries, frequent- ly contributes to the newspapers valuable, in- teresting and instructive papers on the subject of farm work. He is a son of Harlow and Anna (Shepard) Crissey and was born in Stock- ton, Chautauqua county, New York, August 13, 1833. His paternal great-grandfather, John Crissey, was born in Massachusetts in 1700 and married Martha Davenport in July, 1731, at Boston, Massachusetts. By this mar- riage there were six sons, and three of thiem Crawford Stearns was reared on the farni and received his education in the public schools. He has always been occupied in agricultural pursuits, and now owns a fine farm of four hundred and fifteen acres in Villanova, besides being largely interested in cattle-dealing. In 1883, he came to Forestville and built a fine residence which he still occupies. Full of puslı and energy, he has as a natural consequence been very successful and now in the autumn of life is enjoying the fruits of his efforts. Politi- cally he is a republican and has held several village offices. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of which he is came to Stockton, this county, in 1816. The names of these six sons were : John Jr., James, Gould, Nathaniel, Samuel and Sylvanus. Sam- uel Crissey (grandfather) was the fifth son of John (great-grandfather), and was born in Fair- fax, Franklin connty. In 1816 he settled in the north part of the town of Stockton, on lot thirty-nine, where he resided until his death March 1, 1848, having just passed his seventy- seventh birthday. This lot comprised one hun- dred acres of wilderness, which he cleared and cultivated. He was one of the founders of the Baptist church in Delanti, and served it occa- sionally as a preacher. Samuel Crissey was also a steward and trustee. He is a member . married in 1799 to Lucy Grosvenor of Fairfax, of Hanover Grange, No. 594, Patrons of Hus- bandry, and Hanover Lodge, No. 10, A. O. U. W. Strong in his convictions, pleasant and kindly in temperament and disposition, he is respected and esteemed by all who come in con- tact with him.


In 1854, Mr. Stearns was united in marriage with Lonisa White, a daughter of Joel White, | ing four children : a son, Jirah ; a son, Edward of Arkwright this county, and they have been


Vermont, by whom he had seven children, three sons and four daughters : Almira, born in 1800, married Ethan Covley, both dead, (slie died in 1868) whose daughter, Generva, is the wife of Mortimer Ely ; Harlow (father) born in December, 1802; Jason, born in 1805, mar- ried Roxanna Winsor and died in 1875, leav- J., living in Fredonia N. Y .; a daughter,


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Mary, wife of Lucien C. Warren, of Stockton ; and Sardis, who served in the army, and is in the department of the Interior at Washington, District of Columbia; Lucy, born in 1808, married Chauncey Winsor of Delanti, whose children are Wealthy Ann, widow of B. W. Fields, of Sinclairville, N. Y .; Cynthia, born in 1812, married Zalmon Jennings, removed to Pennsylvania where she died in 1836; Patty, born in 1809 and died in 1821; Samuel, born in 1816, married Julia Grant of Fredonia and resides in Stockton, and has a daughter Lucy, the wife of Cassius Perrin, for several years a justice of the peace ; a daughter Myra, wife of George Putnam; and a son Forest. Of the seven children of Samuel Crissey, Sr., none are living, except Harlow. Nathaniel and Sylva- nus Crissey, of Vermont, were brothers of Samuel Crissey, Sr. Nathaniel had two sons, Alson, who died at the age of thirty-one years ; and Merrill, who married Eunice Tracy, has been supervisor of Stockton, and had five chil- dren : Thomas, and two pair of twin broth- ers, of whom one is dead. Sylvanus Crissey removed with his family to the west. Samuel Shepard (maternal grandfather) was born in Ashfield, Franklin county, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary 13, 1778, and came to Stockton, this county, July 9, 1819, and was the first justice in Stockton. He married Rachel Cobb in June, 1798, by whom he had five children, two sons and three daughters: Ezra, Pamelia, Anna, Polly and Madison, all born in Massa- chusetts. Samuel Shepard died June 5, 1862, in the eighty-fifth year of his age ; Mrs. Shep- ard preceded him to the better land November 8, 1860. Harlow Crissey (father) came to this country with his father and settled in Stockton, taught school a few years and then purchased two hundred acres of land which he cultivated, and also started one of the first dairy farms in this section, owning forty cows. He was supervisor a few terms and was elected jus- tice of the peace in 1850 on the Whig ticket for


one term of three years. In religion he was a member of the Baptist church. Harlow Cris- sey was married November 2, 1862, to Anna Shepard, a daughter of Samuel Shepard of Stockton, this county, by whom he had four children, all sons : Newton, born April 6, 1828, married Cynthia R. Miller and is a farmer in Stockton ; Samuel S .; Seward M., born April 9, 1839, married Lucy Wood and is also a far- mer in Stockton ; and Elverton B., born June 23, 1843, married Mary Langworthy and is a banker in Jamestown, this county.


Samuel Shepard Crissey was educated in the district school of Stockton until he was eighteen years of age, after which he attended the Fre- donia academy for three years, and then taught school three terms. He then engaged in the nursery business and fruit growing, having now eleven acres of most excellent land, four acres of which are devoted to grapes, and last year those four acres produced seventeen tons of the best quality of that esculent fruit. Grow- ing grape roots for market is another specialty in which he indulges. For seven years he has been secretary of the Chautauqua Horticultural society. In religion he is a Baptist, being a member of the church of that denomination in Fredonia. He has been a member of the board of trustees of Fredonia for several terms. Samuel Shepard Crissey was married in Decem- ber, 1859, to Mary A. Leonard, a daughter of George V. and Anna Leonard of Fredonia, by whom he has had three children, all sons : Jay, born January 15, 1861, who is principal of the academy at Belmont, Allegany county, New York, and who married Alice Kennedy; George H., born December 24, 1862, and now a resi- dent of California ; and Howard B., born Feb- ruary 22, 1864 and died October 11, 1889, while a junior at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Mrs. Crissey died May 31, 1868, and S. S. Crissey married January 15, 1871, Mrs. Ella K. Wright, widow of A. J. Wright, D.D.S., of Fredonia and by her has had two


MAJOR E, A. CURTIS.


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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.


children, sons : Newton K., born July 12, 1873; and Lester, born in 1877 but died in infancy.


M AJOR ENOCH A. CURTIS, a successful architect of Fredonia and a prominent post and encampment commander in the Grand Army of the Republic, is a son of Isaac C. and Susan H. (Hunter) Curtis, and was born in the town of Busti, Chautauqua county, New York, July 19, 1836. Enoch A. Curtis is of Scotch- Irish descent on his paternal side and his grand- father, Rev. Enoch Curtis, was born in New Hampshire. He was an itinerant minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, removed to Pennsylvania and afterwards died in Cattarau- gus county, this State. His son, Isaac C. Cur- tis, the father of Enoch A. Curtis, was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he married Susan Hunter, a native of the same county. In 1834 he settled on a farm in the town of Busti, and died in 1881, aged seventy-two years.


Enoch A. Curtis was reared on his father's farm. He received his education at Jamestown academy from which he graduated in 1848. He then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed until the breaking out of the late civil war, excepting a part of the winter seasons during which he taught in the public schools. On July 13, 1862, he enlisted in the 112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry, under Presi- dent Lincoln's call of that year for three hundred thousand volunteers, for three years service. On August 12, 1862, he was commis- sioned captain of Co. D, which he commanded in the various skirmishes and battles in which his regiment was engaged until the fearful strug- gle at Cold Harbor where he received such severe wounds as to unfit him for further mili- tary service. He was honorably discharged on September 12, 1864, on account of his wounds, and on June 27, 1867, was brevetted major by Governor Fenton for " gallantry at the battle of Cold Harbor." After the war he settled at Fredonia, where he resumed his studies in archi-


tecture, which had been interrupted by the war, and in a short time had erected several fine and tasteful buildings which recommended him to the public favor as being a competent and skilled architect. He has prosecuted the study of his profession for over thirty years and his experience as an architect has specially fitted him for the responsibilities of this most exacting of all the art sciences. The structures which he has designed, stand as evidence of his skill, and prominent among them we may mention : the fine residence of A. O. Putnam, of Fredonia, R. G. Wright, of Westfield, and M. L. Hin- man, of Dunkirk ; National Transit company building, Oil City and the Fredonia, and Oil City Town Halls.


On Sept. 12, 1859, he married Jennie Nor- ton, of the town of Harmony. They have two children : Isabella and Edith.


Major Curtis is kept very busy in his pro- fession, and does a large and lucrative business. He is a republican in politics, and has been president of the village corporation. He is a member and has been president of the Chautau- qua County Veteran union. He is past comman- der of Northern Chautauqua Encampment and commander of E. D. Holt Post, No. 403, Grand Army of the Republic.


W ILLIAM R. DOUGLAS, who owns and conducts the largest grocery, crockery and queensware house of Westfield, was born in county Down, Ireland, January 30, 1847, and is a son of Thompson and Anna J. (Shaw) Douglas. His parents were both boru in county Down and became members of the Presbyterian church. His father was engaged in the grocery business and in farming, and died in 1889, at eighty years of age. His mother is a danghter of James Shaw, who was a prominent linen manufacturer of Ireland (sce sketch of Robert Shaw). She is now in the seventy-fifth year of her age and resides on the home farm in county Down.


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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY


William R. Douglas passed his boyhood days on the farm and attended the national schools at Ireland. At sixteen years of age he left his native land and came (December, 1863) to Westfield, where lie learned the trade of stone and marble-cutter, which he had to abandon at the end of his apprenticeship, on ac- count of ill health, occasioned by the stone dust. He then learned the trade of moulder, which he followed in the Lock factory until it shut down in 1870. During this same year he se- cured a clerkship in a grocery store, where he remained until 1874, when he became a partner with Robert Shaw and J. R. S. Cosgrove in the grocery business, under the firm name of R. Shaw & Co. The firm was changed several times during the next eight years, but he re- mained a member of it during all of that time. In 1882 he purchased the interests of all his partners, and since that year has conducted a very extensive and lucrative business. His es- tablishment is at No. 3 and 4, on Main street, and is divided into two large departments. His trade is now of such proportions as to require the service of five clerks. He deals largely in groceries, provisions, glassware, china, crockery, standard proprietary medicines and notions. Mr. Douglas has been a republican since coming to this country, and is now serving as a member of the school board of Westfield. He is a mem- ber and deacon of the Presbyterian church. In addition to his mercantile interests, he owns some valuable real estate, is a stockholder of the " Pulley Works" and has a promising young vineyard. Nov. 19, 1874, he united in marriage with Mary Winsor, daughter of David Winsor, of Westfield. To their union have been born seven children : John R., Harry W., | year was engaged in the grocery business on William M., Elizabeth A., James R., Alice R., and Grace.


Brown, and was born July 10, 1854, in Dun- kirk, Chautauqua county, New York. His grandfather, Eleazer Brown, was of English ancestry, and born in Massachusetts in 1798 in which State he was a life-long resident, dying in 1853 at the age of fifty-five years. He was a hotel-keeper and manufacturer of oyster and powder kegs. Carlton S. Brown (father) is a native of Massachusetts, born in 1827, and re- moved to Dunkirk, this county, in 1850, where he resided ten years and then removed to Westfield, remaining there until 1867, and again changed his local habitation by removing to Silver Creek, where he has since lived. At Dunkirk and Westfield he operated a bakery and for twenty years thereafter was in the em- ploy of the L. S. & M. S. R. R. He is now in his sixty-third year and has retired from active business. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and in politics is a demo- crat. Carlton S. Brown married Caroline S. Bancroft, by whom he had five children. Mrs. Brown is a native of Massachusetts, born in 1829, is a member of the Presbyterian church and is still living, being in her sixty-first year.


Arthur L. Brown was reared in Dunkirk, Westfield and Silver Creek and attended the public schools of each place. After leaving school, which he did at the early age of four- teen, he was employed as a clerk in a store in Silver Creek until 1873, when he went west, remaining a year or more, where he was em- ployed as a clerk and also travelling salesman for the Iowa Paper Co., of Davenport, Iowa. After returning to Silver Creek he was em- ployed as clerk and bookkeeper for O. L. Swift & Co., until 1876, and in the following his own account in Buffalo, in which he contin- ued a year and then sold out to return to Silver Creek and enter the office of roadmaster of the L. S. & M. S. R. R., as a clerk, where he re- mained three and one-half years. In the


A RTHUR L. BROWN, one of the enter- prising young men of Silver Creek, is a son of Carlton S. and Caroline S. (Bancroft) , spring of 1882 he entered the office of Howes,


Simeon Howes


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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.


Babcock & Co., manufacturers of the widely celebrated Eureka Smut and Separating Ma- chine, where he held a clerkship for six years, and then (March 1, 1888) bought a third inter- est in the parlor furniture frames factory of Kofoed & Bro., in Silver Creek, the firm name being changed to Kofoed, Bros. & Brown, in which firm he still continues. They employ thirty operatives, their average sales being three hundred suits per month. In politics he is a democrat, and was a member of the board of trustces of Silver Creek for two years and in March, 1891, was elected president of the Vil- lage. He is a past-master of Silver Lodge, No. 757, F. and A. M. of Silver Creek.


Arthur L. Brown was married November 17, 1880, to M. Cora Norton a daughter of Henry S. Norton, of Belmont, Allegany county, this State, by whom he has one son and two daughters : Ralph A., Florence N., and Alice M.


S IMEON HOWES. Probably the one man


who has done more to advance the mate- rial welfare of the village of Silver Creek than any other is the venerable and aged gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He became identified with this place in 1856, and since New Year's Day, 1866, has been at the head of our leading manufacturing estab- lishment.


Simeon Howes is a son of Sylvanus and Persis (Crittenden) Howes, and was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, March 28, 1815, and is now seventy-six years old. He is a direct descendant of rugged and long-lived ancestry and traces his family back to a very early. day, when three brothers emigrated to North America, settling at Cape Cod. When he was about one year of age his parents re- moved to Middlebury, Wyoming county, this State, where they tilled the, soil for subsistence for themselves and family. While he was still a boy his parents died and left him to battle




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