Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county, Part 2

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 2

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Eleazer Green was reared in the towns of Busti and Harmony, and received his education in the common schools and Westfield academy. Leaving school in 1867, he entered the Albany Law School, graduating therefrom in 1868, when law offices of Cook & Lockwood, where he read for two years; he then opencd an office in James- town, where he has since practiced his profes- sion. In 1882 he became a member of the present law firm of Sheldon, Green, Stevens & Benedict. In addition to his law practice he has dealt in real estate. He is the founder of "Green- hurst," upon Lake Chautauqua, where the hotel known as "The Greenhurst" is situated.

On November 5, 1873, Eleazer Green mar- ried Mary E. Brown, daughter of Samuel and Clarissa Brown, who formerly lived at Ashville,

: Chautauqua county. They have three children : Edward James, born April 6, 1875; Ella W., born November 15, 1876, and Clara L., born August 24, 1879. Mr. Green is a republican and an attendant at the Congregational church.

Aside from the duties of his law practice, Mr. Green has interested himself in the subject of fish culture, and has devoted much time and attention to the subject of increasing the supply, in Lake Chautauqua, of the famous food and game fish-the muskallonge. The muskallonge had never been propagated artificially, and it was necessary to study its habits in order to suc- cessfully and intelligently do so. Mr. Green, believing in the practicability of the idea, raised a fund with which to pay the expense of experi-

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

ments, contributing largely of his own means to who were orphaned within one year by the death the enterprise, corresponded with Seth Green, of both father and mother. Rodney B. Smith, one of the fish commissioners of the State of after the war of 1812, engaged in business with New York, and a noted fish culturist, sending Mr. Green muskallonge, from time to time, for his examination, that he might learn more of their habits, time of spawning, etc., and such an interest was awakened that the commissioners ; of fisheries of the State of New York, took hold of the enterprise, and, with the fund raised by Eleazer Green, augmented by State fuuds, pro- secuted experiments until it has been demon- strated that muskallonge can be successfully hatched artificially. good success. In 1824 he became a sub-con- tractor under Thompson & Bird, for the con- struction of the Black Rock dam, in connection with the Erie canal, and afterwards was a con- tractor on the canal until its completion. He then returned to this county, where he purchased a small mill of his brother and enlarged it into what is now known as Smith's Mills. He also erected a distillery, tannery and store, and for : thirty years was actively engaged in these dif- ferent lines of business. He was a member for several years of the Methodist Episcopal church H ON. HIRAM SMITH, ex-member of the General Assembly of New York and a highly respected citizen of Jamestown, is a son of Rodney B. and Achsah (Blodgett) Smith, and was born in the town of Han-| over,. Chautauqua county, New York, October 25, 1819. His paternal grandfather, Isaac Smith, of English descent, was a native of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry during the late ! and a useful citizen of the community in which he resided, but for the last thirty years of his life he became entirely liberal in his theological ideas. He married Achsah Blodgett, and to them were born seven sons and seven daughters, of whom four are living: Hon. Hiram; Lyman B., a lawyer of Buffalo; Myron, an officer of war, and now engaged in farming in Kansas ; and Byron, who resides on the homestead.

Massachusetts and removed, in 1802, to the town of Gorham, Ontario county. Eight years later he came to Sheridan and soon afterwards removed to Hanover, this county. He was a farmer, served in the war of 1812 and partici- pated in the disaster at Buffalo. The forced march home from that city induced a fever which resulted in his death. He married a Miss Morton and had nine children: Henry, Hiram, Matilda, Rodney B., Roxanna, Esther, Atilla, Benjamin and one whose name is forgotten.

Rodney B. Smith, the third son, and father of Hon. Hiram Smith, was born February 3, 1799, in Whately, Hampden county, Mass., and died at "Smith's Mills," in May, 1873, aged seventy- four years. At fifteen years of age he volunteered to take his eldest brother Henry's place in the army and was in the battles of Chippewa, Black Roek and Williamsville. Henry, who was but eighteen years of age, returned from the army to eare for his seven younger brothers and sisters, ;

Hiram Smith was reared on a farm and thoroughly trained to an active business life. He received his education at Fredonia academy, and at an early age entered into the general business of milling, distilling, merchandising and farming at "Smith's Mills." During the late civil war he entered the Federal service, was appointed by President Lincoln as a United States quartermaster, and at the end of nearly four years' active service was honorably mus- tered out with the rank of major. After the war Major Sinith went to St. Louis, where he was engaged in business one year. In 1867 he returned to Jamestown, where he embarked in merchandising, which he followed during 1867. Three years later he engaged in his present prosperous and extensive life and fire insurance business.

September 10, 1844, he married Melissa P.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Love, daughter of Major George Love, of For- estville. They are the parents of two children : Mary, wife of Mason M. Skiff, a graduate of Union college, and now commissioner of public works ; and Major George R., who graduated from West Point Military academy in 1875, afterwards married Corinne Barrett, grand- daugliter of Major Samuel Barrett, of James- town, and is now stationed with United States troops at Leavenworth, Kansas, having been appointed paymaster in the United States army by President Arthur in 1882.

In political opinion Hiram Smith was a deni- ocrat until 1856, after which he affiliated with the Republican party until 1872. In 1859 and 1860 he was elected as a member of the New York Legislature from the Second Assem- bly District of Chautauqua county, and served in that body as chairman of the committee on roads and bridges, besides being a member of the committee on railroads, revision of towns and counties, and several other important com- mittees. He received the nomination of the Democratic party for Congress in 1884, but was not successful, as at that time the republicans had a majority of ten thousand votes in the Thirty-fourth Congressional District. Mr. Smith is regarded as one of the reliable busi- ness men and substantial citizens of Jamestown. In 1890 Mr. Smith was the democratic nominee for Congress in the Thirty-fourth Congressional District.

ON. PORTER SHELDON is one of Jamestown's most distinguished citizens, and Chautauqua county's most eminent lawyers. With Chief Justice Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, Long John Went- worth, and other able and talented men, he took prominent part through the many stormy ses- sions of the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1861 that gave to Illinois her present State Constitution. Porter Sheldon was born at Vic- tor, Ontario county, New York, September 29,

1831, and is a son of Gad and Eunice (Hors- ford) Sheldon. The genealogical record of the Sheldon family in western New York begins with Capt. Sheldon, who was a descendant of the Sheldons who emigrated from Germany to England, and from thence came to Vermont, and afterwards settled in New York. Capt. Sheldon (grandfather) was an officer in the war of 1812, and after its close removed to Monroe county, this State. His son, Gad Sheldon (father), was born in Vermont, reared in Monroe county, and early in life became a resident of Ontario coun- ty, where he died in 1874. He was a farmer, and married Eunice Horsford, a native and resident of New York. Their family consisted of five sons and one daughter: Mary E .; Charles H., a real estate dealer of Rochester, N. Y. ; Carton W., of Rockford, Illinois, and secretary of a large insurance company having its principal office at that place ; Alexander, a prominent lawyer ; Porter and Ogilvie. .

Porter Sheldon received his education in the common schools of Ontario county, and Fre -. donia academy of Chautauqua county, from which he was graduated in the class of 1852. After graduation he took up the study of law with George Barker, afterwards read with Alvah Warden, a prominent lawyer of Ontario county and a brother-in-law of William H. Seward, and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court at Batavia in 1854. Immediately after admission he formed a partnership with his brother Alexander, at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, where he remained until 1856, when he came to Jamestown and opened an office. The next year he removed to Rockford, Illinois, where he secured a lucrative practice, and at- tained such favorable standing with the people of Winnebago county that he was elected in 1861 from that county as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of that year. He was one of the twenty-two republican members of that notable body, which contained many of the leading men and ablest jurists of that State.

Of. Stafford

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

Convened amidst the opening scenes of the greatest war of modern times, the convention was agitated in its deliberations by the intro- duction of sectional topics and the exhibition of sectional prejudice. He took a prominent part in some of its stormy sessions, and thus became well known throughout the State. Five years later-in August, 1866-he returned to Jamestown, and formed a law-partnership with his brother Alexander, who died shortly after- wards. From that time until the present he has practiced continuously, but about five years ago he retired from the main part of his com- mon practice, and since then has only appeared in some of the most important cases that have come before the courts. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Forty-first Congress to repre- sent the then Thirty-first District of New York, composed of the counties of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus. His services in that body were of such a character as to win the approval of his entire constituency of all parties.

May 12, 1858, he married Mary Crowley, daughter of Hon. Rufus Crowley, of Randolph, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., who was a promi- nent republican leader of that county, and has served several terms as a member of the State Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon are the parents of three children : Cora, wife of Her- bert W. Tew, cashier of the City National Bank ; Ralph C., engaged in business with his father ; and Harry, a clerk in the City National Bank.

A USTIN H. STAFFORD, ex-clerk of the courts of Chautauqua county, commander of James M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of thic reliable and suecessful pension attorney firm of Walter & Stafford, of Jamestown, was born in the town of Ellington, Chautauqua county, New York, August 27, 1843, and is a son of Lieut. John A. and Polly (Rubblee) Stafford. Among the carly settlers of the town of Ellington, this county, was John Stafford, the paternal grand- father of Austin H. Stafford. He was a car- penter and contractor and married Sophia Ran- dall, who bore him nine children : Abel, Sophia, Electa, Isaac, Sally, Orinda, Russell, Martin and John A. On the maternal side, Austin H. Stafford's grandfather was Rolli Rubblee, a na- tive of Lanesboro', Massachusetts, who settled in the town of Ellington in an early day-1823. When he first came he traded his horse on his land and then walked back to Lanesboro' and brought out his family. His wife was Betsy Green. He was a farmer and one of the founders of the old Christian church of Ellington. Lient. John A. Stafford (father) was born in 1817 and died in his native town of Ellington in 1844. He was a carpenter by trade, a well-respected citi- zen of the community in which he resided and was a lientenant in the New York militia. His wife was Polly Rubblee, and they had three children : Martin J., who enlisted in Company A, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols., in July, 1862, fought at Fort Sumter, in the Wilderness cam- paign and at Fort Fisher, and died at home in 1872 from the effects of exposure ; Joseph, who was the first man in April, 1861, to enlist in Company H, 37th regt., N. Y. Vols., served two years, re-enlisted, became a member of Com- pany K, 9th N. Y. Cavalry, served till the close of the war and now resides at Midland City, Michigan, where he is an oil producer ; and Anstin H. Mrs. Stafford, after her husband's

Mr. Sheldon is a large man, of fine personal appearance and agreeable manners. He is pres- ident of the American Aristotype Company of Jamestown, and in various other ways is inter- ested in the thrift and advancement of his city. No man in the State has made a better reputa- tion as a lawyer, and no man in the county is more popular with his fellow-citizens than Mr. Sheldon. His reputation is lasting and his popu- larity is enduring, for the one is founded on his acknowledged ability as a lawyer, and the other , death, married Joseph Nestle, and is now sey- upon his useful services rendered this county. enty three years of age.

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Austin H. Stafford received his education in the common schools. When a boy he worked in a woolen factory until he was thirteen years of age. He thien learned the carpenter and cooper trades, and in 1867 became proprietor of a butter-tub and cheese-case manufacturing es- tablishment at Ellington. In 1869 he was un- fortunate enough to have his left hand so badly crushed in the factory as to be unable to work any longer at that busiucss. He then engaged in the produce business, which he followed until 1885, when he was elected county clerk by the Republican party of Chautauqua county, and ran 700 votes ahead of his ticket. He served very satisfactorily in that office, and at the end of his term in 1888 he took one year's vacation from business, which he spent in traveling. In January, 1890, he and Joseph M. Walter formed a partnership under the firm-name of Walter & Stafford, and became United States pension at- torneys and notaries public in Jamestown. In a few months they have handled a large number of cases and have been very successful.

On February 6, 1869, he married Louise M., daughter of Warren Arnold, of Ellington. They have two children : De Leo and James P.

The military career of Mr. Stafford com- menced on August 4, 1862, when he enlisted in Company B, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols. He served in the Army of the James, Army of the Potomac and nnder Sherman in North Carolina. He participated in many battles and nnmcrons skirmishes with his regiment. He was in the very front of the storming of Fort Fisher, and was honorably discharged June 13, 1865. When the Grand Army of the Republic was organized in the county he became prominent in the move- ment and has served as commander of three different posts. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows and Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Stafford has always been a republican, is proud of the fact of casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 aud has been chosen repeatedly |

by his party as a delegate to State and county conventions. In addition to his Jamestown agency Mr. Stafford has a controlling interest in a very profitable real estate business in the city of Buffalo, N. Y. Active, energetic and reli- able in whatever he undertakes, he is now in the midst of a very successful business career.

T THEODORE F. VAN DUSEN, an active business man of Jamestown and one of the coroners of Chantauqua county, is a son of Ben- jamin F. and Mehitable (Lovell) Van Dusen, and was born in Jamestown, Chautanqna county, New York, June 8, 1846. His remote ances- tors on the paternal side were natives of Hol- land. Several members of this Van Dusen family came from their home in that country and settled at an early day at Claverick, in what is now Columbia county, New York. In 1720 Abraham Van Dusen, a descendant of one of these Van Dusens, went to Connecticut, where he settled at Salisbury. He was the father of John Van Dusen, who was the grandfather of Theodore F. Van Dusen. John Van Dusen had a son, John Van Dusen, Jr., who married Mary Forbes and reared a family of six chil- dren : Alonzo, Marshall, Harry, Elizabeth, Benjamin F. and Edwin, who enlisted as a sol- dier in the Federal army during the late war and was killed in one of the battles of that great struggle. Benjamin F. Van Dusen, the fourth son and fifth child of the family, was born in Perry, Wyoming county, New York, January 3, 1815. He learned the trade of cab- inet-maker and came in 1842 to Jamestown, where he was engaged for many years in the cabinet-making business and where he has re- sided ever since. He is a republican in politics and a member of the Baptist church. He mar- ried Mehitable Lovell, who is a daughter of William Lovell, a native of Massachusetts. Their children are: Judge Almon A., whose biography appears in this volume in connection with the Mayville sketches ; Theodore F. and

OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

George C., an attorney-at-law (see his sketch). Theodore F. Van Dusen was reared at James- town, where he received his education, in the public schools of that city. Leaving school, he learned the trade of cabinet-maker with his father, and in 1870 removed to Sugar Grove, Warren county, Pa., where he embarked in the undertaking business. Four years later he re- turned to Jamestown, where he formed a part- nership with his brother, George C. Van Dusen, in their present undertaking business, under the firm-name of Theodore F. Van Dusen & Bro. Mr. Van Dusen gives a considerable portion of his time to his well-established and prosperous business, and is amply prepared to furnish any- thing . to be found in a first-class undertaking establishment. He is secretary of the Chautau- qua County Undertakers' Association, and was elected coroner of the county in 1887.

He married, February 20, 1866, Frances A. Smith, a daughter of Ezra Smith, a farmer of the town of Poland. To their union have been born four children : Vesta M., Nellie G., Theo- dore E. and Alice L., who died young.

Theodore F. Van Dusen is a member of the First Baptist church and a member and Past Grand of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, I. O. O. F. In politieal matters he is a republican. For the last ten years he has been a member and the secretary of the board of health of Jamestown. He is also serving his city, at the present time, as register of vital statistics.

ERNON E. PECKHAM, a member of the

Chautauqua county bar in successful prac- tice in Jamestown, is a descendant, through one of his ancestors, of Capt. John Smith, the real founder of the Virginia Colony, and the first thorough explorer of the New England coast, and whose meteor-like career in America for the benefit of English civilization made a lasting impression on the world's history.

Vernon E. Peckham was born in Allegany county, New York, October 1, 1849, and is a

son of Lauriston and Mary J. (Bacon) Peck- ham. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Peck- ham, was born in 1786, in Rhode Island, and removed in early life to near Boston, Massachu- setts, which he soon left to settle in New York. He first located temporarily in Cortland, but soon settled permanently in Allegany county, where he died in 1873, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. He was a farmer by occu- pation, a carpenter by trade, a Baptist in church membership, and a republican in political senti- ment. He married Julia Smith, who traced her ancestry back to Capt. John Smith, the hero of Virginia's early history. Their family num- bered four sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Lauriston Peckham (father), was born February 5, 1823, at Homer, N. Y., and now resides at Angelica, this State. At twenty- one years of age he learned the carpenter's trade, but soon afterwards purchased a large farm, which he tilled up to 1871, when he sold it and retired from active life. He is a re- markably industrious and very even-tempered man, and supports the Republican party. He married Mary J. Bacon, and they have but one child, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Peck- ham is a woman of unusual good judgment and business ability, and her husband and son ascribe much of their success in life as due to her wise counsels, judicious suggestions and in- spiriting words. She was born February 10, 1824, and is a daughter of Thomas Bacon, who was the son of a Mr. Bacon, a merchant who, in the early history of Boston, had a store on Bacon street, now called Becon, although spelled Bacon. Thomas was left an orphan at the age of nine years and went to sea, which he followed for many years, until shipwrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia; he was one of only three of the whole crew that succeeded in reaching shore. Among the sailors lie was known as honest Scotch Bacon, and was an honorably discharged soldier of the war of 1812. He married Betsy Woodcock, of Vermont, and came to Allegany

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

county, this State, where they reared a family of six children, one son and five daughters. Thomas Bacon was a man of great will power, scrupulous honesty and untiring energy.

Vernon E. Peckham received his education in district schools, and the Belfast academy, Allegany county, New York. After finishing his course in the Belfast Academy, he followed teaching for three or four years, and, in 1873, commenced the study of law with Hon. D. P. Richardson at Angelica, New York, and was admitted to the bar on April 7, 1878, at Rochies- ter, N. Y. In the following August he went to Attica, Wyoming county, where he purchased the office and books of ex-Judge M. Thrall, and commenced the practice of his profession. He remained five years, and then was compelled to leave a very flattering practice on account of failing health. After one year spent at Omaha, he returned to his father's, where he continued to gain in health. In February, 1885, he deemed himself sufficiently recuperated to re- sume his profession, and came to Jamestown, where he has been in active practice ever since. He is a republican politically, and while in Attica, in 1880, he was elected justice of the peace, and served for one year, resigning when he went to Omaha. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife is also a member.

January 28, 1880, he united in marriage with Helen Cogswell, of Attica, who is a graduate of Attica Collegiate Institute, and the Musical Conservatory of Cleveland, Ohio. She is a daughter of Moses Cogswell, who was a station agent on the Lake Erie railroad for many years, but resigned that position to accept the office of general freight agent of the T. K. M., having his headquarters at the city of Chicago, Ill. Returning from a visit to his family at Attica, he lost his life on the ill-fated passenger train that went down on the Ashtabula bridge in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Peckham have two children, Mary and John.

A list of Jamestown's able and successful lawyers is almost a catalogue of its entire num- ber of attorneys, and among this uncommonly able array of legal talent Mr. Peckham has found no trouble in securing and holding a high rank. Hc was associate counsel in the noted George W. Foster murder trial, and has taken part in many other important cases ; he has won and retained the good-will and respect of all who know him.

E DWARD R. BOOTEY, who, in addition to the reputation of being a successful ad- vocate, enjoys popular distinction as one of the ablest criminal lawyers of western New York, is a son of Simon and Ann (Convoyne) Bootey, and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., April 16, 1839. The Bootey name has been well and favorably known for several gen- erations in Cambridgeshire, England, while the Convoyne family traces its remote American ancestor back to honorable parentage under the rule of the "Grand Monarque " of France. John Bootey (grandfather) was born and reared near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, where he lived a quiet and honest life, and where he died the serene and peaceful death of a Chris- tian. His excellent character and consistent walk in life so recommended him as being a man safe to trust that he was appointed as su- perintendent of a large landed estate, which position he held until well advanced in years, when by an accident he was disabled for the remainder of his life. He was a member of one of the churches which were in opposition to the established Church of England. His chil- dren were : John, Edward, William, Elizabetlı, Fannie, Mary, Philis, and Simon. Of these Edward and Simon (father) came to the United States. Simon Bootey was born in 1801, and came in 1834 to Jamestown, where he resided until his death in 1875. The farm which he owned and tilled is now within the borough limits, and most of the land is covered with

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Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county, Part 2

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