USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 23
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Sam. J. Gifford represents some of the most economical and reliable life and fire insurance companies of the world. His agency represents the Etna, Phoenix, and Orient companies, of Hartford, Conn .; the German-American, Conti- nental, Fidelity, and United States companies, of New York city ; the California, and Fire- men's Fund companies, of San Francisco; the Liverpool, London and Globe, and Lancashire companies of England ; the American Central company, of St. Louis, and the Mntnal Life Insurance company, of New York city, which has assets of over one hundred and fifty mil- lions.
In politics Mr. Gifford is a straight Republican.
He is a member and vestryman of St. John's Protestant Episcopal church, of whose Sunday- school he was superintendent for several years. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1861, and holds active membership in Irondequoit Lodge, No. 301, Chapter and Com- mandery No. 40, and Ismalia Temple.
W HITMAN CLARK comes from English ancestry on the paternal side of the house, and running with it in his veins, is the cool and conservative Scotch blood of his mater- nal ancestors. He was born in Erie county, New York, July 16, 1826, and is a son of Simeon Jr. and Hannah (Stone) Clark. Sim- eon Clark (grandfather) was a native of Ver- mont, served as a soldier throughout the war of the Revolution, and then moved to Erie county, this State, and engaged in farming. He died in 1837, aged seventy-fonr years. Simeon, Jr. (father) was also a native of Vermont, and, emulating the patriotic example of his father, served his country as a soldier, enlisting among the first troops summoned to fight the British in 1812, and after that war ended, he too, set- tled in Erie county, this State, and engaged in the manufacture of chairs and wheels, and also in the occupation of a millwright. The latter part of his life was spent in Clarksburg, Erie county, a town named in his honor, where he operated a saw and grist-mill. In politics he was a whig and in religion was a devout mem- ber of the Baptist church. He was a very en- ergetic man and respected by all who knew him. Simeon Clark, Jr., married Hannah Stone, by whom he had five children. Mrs. Clark was born in Rhode Island, in 1794, was a member of the Baptist church, and died in Erie county, this State, May 28, 1828, aged thirty-four years. Mr. Clark died in Clarks- burg, March 22, 1859, aged seventy-three years and twenty-two days.
Whitman Clark was reared in Erie county and received a common school education.
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After his school days had ended, he learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner, and in 1852 went to work as a millwright, which vocation he has since pursued, and, in connection there- with, handles a large amount of mill machinery of all kinds on commission. May 2, 1870, he came to Dunkirk and has resided herc ever since. In politics he is a straight Democrat, and takes a very active interest in local, State and general political matters. In the election of the spring of 1887, he was chosen justice of the peace, and was re-elected in March, 1891, for four years. He is a very public-spirited man and always ready to aid any movement beneficial to the city, and is a member of Phœ- nix Lodge, No. 262, F. & A. M.
Whitman Clark married in 1846, Emily Beardsley, a daughter of Solomon Beardsley, of Eden, Erie county, by whom he had four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters: Simeon, who was born in 1846 and died in December, 1854; Jennie, born in 1850 and died August 18, 1871 ; Hattie M., born in 1863 and died May 19, 1879 ; and Newton L., born December 25, 1867, who is a clerk in Dunkirk.
and lived until 1881. She was a member of the Baptist church.
Matthew S. Noxon lived in Dutchess county, until nine years of age, when he was sent to live with his uncle, Daniel M. Farington, who reared him. He attended the Westfield schools where he received his education and having learned practical farming with his uncle, when grown to manhood he began to farm on his own account. One of the finest farms in Portland, consisting of one hundred and ten acres, upon which is eighteen acres of neat vineyard, is his property, where he has a pretty home.
On March 28, 1,860, he married Ermina Weaver, who was born in Allegany county, February 21, 1832, a daughter of John Weaver, who still lives in Westfield town, aged eighty- seven years. The latter's wife was Ann Benton, a gentle Christian woman who died in 1850, when but forty-five years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Noxon have an adopted daughter : Lizzie, aged twenty-two years.
M. S. Noxon affiliates with the Republican party and has served the town as school trustee. His success has been due entirely to his indivi- dual efforts. Without a dollar's capital when he began life, he is now one of the town's sub- stantial citizens, a position he lias attained by incessant toil ; and good management. He is proud of the fact that a blacksmith shop or store has never carried his name on their books, it being his rule to pay cash. Being just and exact in his business transactions he has never been called to answer to a law suit. Having reached nearly seventy years of age he has I retired from active labor and is enjoying the reward of his labors.
M ATTHEW S. NOXON. Industry, econ- omy and good management will secure a competency for any man. This is strikingly proven in the case of our subject, who was left an orphan when one year of age, and started in life without a dollar. Matthew S. Noxon is a son of Claudius and Lodunia (Farington) Noxon, and was born in Delaware county, New York, April 12, 1822. The maternal grand- : father, Matthew Farington, lived in Fishkill, Dutchess county, N. Y., where subject's mother was born. He had a son, Daniel M. Faring- ton, who came to Westfield town in 1832, and died in 1881, aged eighty-six years. He was W ILLIS D. LEET, one of the proprietors in the large tanning business at Laona, is a son of William and Harriet (Belden) Lect, and was born at Point Chautauqua, this county, the foster-father of Matthew S. Noxon. Clau- dius Noxon was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., married there and followed farming until | October 29, 1856. The Leet family came from his death in 1823. His wife was born in 1799, | the eastern states, and grandfather Anson Leet
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settled in the town of Stockton in 1811, coming there from Connecticut and remaining two years, when he moved to the shore of the lake. The father of our subject was born there and has been engaged in the produce business for the past thirty years, and during that time has been twice clected treasurer of the county.
Willis D. Leet was reared in Chautauqua town, acquired a good common-school educa- tion and then entered the produce business with his brother, George E., and followed it for eight or nine years. Being of a genial, good-natured disposition, Mr. Leet became very popular, and when only twenty-eight years of age he was elected treasurer of Chautauqua county and filled the office during the term of three years. In 1889 he came to Laona and bought a third interest in the White tannery, one of the largest in the county. The buildings are very exten- sive and the product exceeds $100,000 annually, the principal sales being made in Boston, and the works give employment to about twenty-five hands.
Willis D. Leet led Carrie White to the mat- rimonial altar in 1884, and their union has been blessed with three children : Arthur W., Willis D. and Harvey E. In addition to this Laona property Mr. Leet owns a fine home at Mayville. Willis D. Leet is a gentleman of recognized integrity and of strong force of character. His business ability stands out prominently in the mercantile world, and the older men, who have passed their experimental stage, warmly grasp his hand and welcome him, for they recognize an equal.
WILLIAM F. GREEN. The prosperity of a community is often reflected, as a face in a mirror, by tlie condition of the local bank ; and the banking facilities of a locality often decide whether business shall be active or slug- gish. William F. Green, the venerable but active and energetic cashier of the bank of Sher- man, realizes all this and does much to promote
the business interests of his village. He is a son of William and Martha (Tomlinson) Green, natives of Lincolnshire, England, and was born in the town of Chantauqua, this county, March 3, 1832, two years after the arrival of his parents from their mother country. William Green was a carpenter by trade, and when he first reached America he made a short sojourn near the city of Utica and followed his trade, but in 1831 he came to this county, and after a short residence in the town of Chautauqua he settled permanently in Sherman. He was born in 1803, and married Martha Tomlinson in England. In 1856 and 1857 he was supervisor of the town of Sherman, and he died March 25, 1862, when fifty-nine years of age, leaving five children.
William F. Green spent the first fourteen years of his life in Chautauqua county, and was then sent to Oneida county, where he lived with an unele. He was educated at the public schools and the Oneida Castle academy, and such was his proficiency and aptitude for absorbing knowl- edge that he was among the foremost scholars of the school. He attended there for six years and then took a clerkship in Henry Ransom's grocery and dry-goods store at Sherman. He remained there until about twenty years of age and then went to work for Isaac E. Hawley, a prominent dealer at Sherman. Upon attaining his twenty-third year he embarked in the gen- eral dry-goods business on his own account and conducted it for about five years, at Oneida Castle and Taberg.
He married Martha T. White, of Taberg, Oneida county, and they have had one son, Israel W. They left Oneida county and came to Sherman and engaged in the dry-goods busi- ness with his brother, I. T. Green, for several years; afterwards moved to Northeast, Pennsyl- vania, and then returned to this county and settled again in Sherman, where he engaged in the butter, cheese and grocery business, after- wards moving to Jamestown and remaining- some two years, where Mrs. Green died in 1883 ;.
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he then again returned to Sherman, and in 1884 Mr. Green married Hattie S. Underhill, of Rochester, Minnesota, and from that date until 1889 he was engaged in the wholesale produce business. Mr. Green assumed the duties of cashier in the Bank of Sherman during the month of February, 1890, succeeding Mr. W. F. Smallwood, who had officiated as such since its opening, on November 6, 1884. It has always been a prosperous institution and, al- though an individual corporation, it represents a capital of $200,000. Associated are A. Cal- houn, Hiram Parker and James Vincent-all solid and responsible men.
William F. Green, although becoming ad- vanced in years, retains the vigor of his earlier days and transacts the business of his bank with the system and skill of a National bank. He is punctual and prompt in all his business trans- actions, and the increasing volume of business of the institution, whose business he directs, attests the appreciation and confidence of the public.
L AWRENCE EUGENE SHATTUCK.
One of the pioneers of Chautauqua coun- ty, who spent his mature life here and gave most valuable aid in reclaiming its fertile lands from the wilds of nature was Lawrence Eugene Shattuck, who was the son of Pliny and Dolly (Rice) Shattuck, born in the State of Massachu- setts, July 20, 1816, and died at his home in Cherry Creek, January 20, 1890, aged seventy- three years and six months. The Shattucks were for several generations natives and resi- dents of New England.
Pliny Shattuck was born in Massachusetts, and after marrying Dolly Rice, in 1820 moved to Virginia ; he was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that business in the Old Dominion, where he remained for four years and came to Sinclairville, and worked at blacksmithing, where he lived for eight years and then came to Cherry Creek, at which place he made his
home until his death. By his union with Dolly Rice Mr. Shattuck became the father of eight children, as follows : Jerome B., Dolly H., Oliver, Frederick, Lucy, Eugene, Harriet and Philemon. Five of these are yet living.
Lawrence Eugene Shattuck was sixteen years of age when his father came to Cherry Creek and located upon a wild farm about one mile west of the village, where his father built a blacksmith shop and carried on the trade. The other members of the family cleared up a small farm and tilled the soil, while L. E. Shattuck worked in the shop with his father, and, having learned the trade, succeeded to his father's business when the latter died. He was the only blacksmith for some distance around that could shoe oxen, and had all the work that he could do, but as he became older he found the work uncongenial, and gradually lessened his business until some years before his death he discontinued it entirely.
On April 13, 1836, Mr. Shattuck married Amy Angeline Ames, a stirring, energetic young lady, who was born at Trenton, Oneida county, New York, February 26, 1817. Their union was blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters : L. E. Jr., born April 11, 1838; Lydia, born September 7, 1839; Amy A., born February 10, 1843; Jerome B., born May 27, 1847 ; and Rosella, born November 12, 1851.
The old gentleman's farm was located at four corners of the road one mile west of Cherry Creek village, and the place is still known as Shattuck Corners.
Amy Angeline Ames was a daughter of Amos Ames, who was born in Vermont, and married Lydia Franklin. She was the danghter of Stephen Franklin, and the latter was a great- grandson of the renowned philanthropist and American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Ste- phen Franklin married Rachel Carpenter, whose father came from England. Mr. Frank- lin was a minister of the Gospel, an earnest,
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devout and self-sacrificing preacher, whose thought was not of dollars but the faithful ser- vice of his Master. He became the father of five children, three sons and two daughters: John, Ebenezer, Eleazer, Hester and Lydia. The latter, the mother of Mrs. Shattuck, died May 15, 1830, after which Mr. Ames married Mrs. Phobe Burnett. He was a farmer and cleared one hundred acres of land on the banks of West Canada Creek, in Oneida county, just two miles below Trenton Falls, and, building a commodious house, he kept a hotel for a num- ber of years. His children by his first wife were Lydia F., Luther Loren and Amy Angel- ine, and to his last wife was born one son, who did not reach manhood. Amos Ames died May 27, 1847, the same day that Mrs. Shat- tuck's youngest son was born.
Mrs. Amy Ames Shattuck has always been characterized by energy, good judgment and force of character. While she was yet a young girl, becoming dissatisfied with the arbitrary ac- tions of her step-mother, she left her father's home and supported herself until she was mar- ried. While yet very young she spent three years in succession spinning wool for Pliny Shattuck and for a number of succeeding years she did this and other service. The winter following her marriage, after having spent the summer in preparing household linen and other necessary comforts, she put what goods she could command in boxes and barrels, and took them to the canal where she shipped them, by way of Rochester and Buffalo, to Chautauqua county. During the journey she met a Mr. Beverly, who was going to the same place with his family, and he assisted her in hiring teams at Buffalo to convey them to their new home, where, after a tiresome journey, she arrived, and the following spring herself and husband began keeping house, at that time a lonely place in the woods, one half mile from the nearest neighbor. Mr. Shattuck and his sons, who are now gray-haired old men, have always
said that their success in life was entirely due to the advice, counsel and encouragement received from their wife and mother.
The oldest son is L. E. Shattuck, Jr., now living at Stanbury, Missouri, where he is a sheep and cattle breeder, and is well known in that line all over the United States and Canada ; the youngest son, J. B. Shattuck, is a successful farmer living in the town of Cherry Creek, this county. It is to such mothers as Mrs. Shat- tuck that the county of Chautauqua owes its development and the United States of America its greatness.
D ANIEL LEWIS WAGGONER, although for the past decade he has been living on borrowed time beyond the allotted span of man, enjoys a serene, happy and vigorous old age, and well deserves it. He is a son of Calvin and Rebecca (Babcock) Waggoner, and was born in Cayuga county, New York, August 4, 1809. His paternal grandfather, George Wag- goner, was born in 1756, was a farmer by oc- cupation, and served as a good soldier in the war of the Revolution, enlisting for a short term and re-enlisting at the expiration of that term. At the close of the war he resumed farming in Cayuga county, whither he moved, and eventually moved to Canada, where he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1827. He married Mary Connor in 1783, and had four sons and four daughters: Margaret, Israel, George, Calvin, Cyrus, Charlotte, Polly and Electa. Calvin Waggoner (father) was born in Cayuga county, this State, in 1785, and was a farmer there until 1810, when he removed to Canada, leased some land and resumed his oc- cupation, continuing as tiller of the soil until his death in 1835. He married Rebecca Bab- cock in 1808, and she bore him six children, two sons and four daughters: Daniel Lewis ; Caroline, who married John Vaughn, a farmer and tanner in Canada; Matilda, who married Rosel Merchant, a farmer in Crawford county,
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Pennsylvania ; Charlotte, who married Michael Baugher, a lumberman in Crawford county, Pennsylvania; Charles A., a farmer in Char- lotte, this county, who married Sarah Johnson ; and Rebecca, who married John Williams and lives in Canada. The mother of these children died in 1828.
D. L. Waggoner was educated in the com- man schools of Canada. No better facilities for an education then being offered him, he was obliged to finish his education at home. He worked on a farm until a young man, when the farm was to be sold for unpaid taxes and rent, it being a leased farm. He borrowed money, paid the debts, cultivated the land a few years and then sold to a Mr. Hall, who came from England and moved to this county in 1832, and bought a tract containing ninety acres of land on the line between Cherry Creek and Ellington, about twelve miles from Jamestown. Subsequently he sold this and bought one hun- dred and fifty acres farther west, and afterward purchased two hundred more in Cherry Creek, part of which he gave his children. In Sep- tember, 1889, he moved to Fredonia, bought five acres of land, built himself a nice house and enjoys the fortune he has accumulated. Beside the land given away, he still owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Ellington village, a lot in Jamestown and a house and lot in Chautauqua. He is a member of the Meth- odist church and politically is a stanch prohibi- tionist.
D. L. Waggoner was married August 14, 1831, to Mary Millspaw, a daughter of Jere- miah and Margaret Millspaw, of Canada, and has had by her six children, three sons and three daughters : Calvin M., died young ; Dan- iel Marshall, married to Mira B. Woodward, is retired from business and lives in Fredonia ; Jane A., married Ezra Greeley, who is dead, and she lives at Jamestown ; George N., mar- ried to Victoria Ferguson, is retired from busi- ness and lives in Jamestown ; Mary M., mar-
ried to Williani Hitclicock, a farmer in Cherry Creek ; and Emily, married to Perry Slater, a farmer in Ellington.
A NTHONY BRATT, an aged and venerable gentleman, now leading a quiet and re- tired life, was born to Christopher and Elizabeth (Lee) Bratt, in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga county, New York, February 3, 1821. His grandfather, Daniel Bratt, was a native of Holland, but came to America and settled on the bank of the Hudson river, between Albany and Schenectady and established a hotel, but later, about the year 1834, emigrated to Chau- tauqua county, and shortly afterwards died. His principal occupation, besides keeping hotel, was farming. He was a democrat politically, like most of the early settlers of his nationality. His wife was a Dutch woman and they reared a family of five sons and two daughters. Chris- topher Bratt (father) was born near the Hud- son river above Albany, in 1793, and later moved to Stillwater, which is located on the same stream a number of miles above. About 1834 he moved to Jamestown and farmed in connection with his other business until 1871, when he died on October 12th. Mr. Bratt married Elizabeth Lee, and she bore him three children : Elzada, married George Nelson and moved to Minnesota : Erastus (dead) ; and Anthony.
Anthony Bratt received his education at the schools of the localities in which his early life was passed, and after coming to Chautauqua county, in 1834, he pursued farming until ten or twelve years since when advancing years caused him to relinquish this heavy work.
Anthony Bratt has been married three times. His first wife was Eliza Lee, whom he married in 1844, and who bore him two children : Charles, now living at Bradford, is in a paper store; and Jeanette, wife of Harvey Davis, a carpenter of Jamestown. For his second wife lie married Mary Lec, and had two children :
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Orsimus, who married Maria Juden. Mr. Bratt married for his third wife Elvira Bailey, and by her has two children : Bailey, married and resides in Jamestown ; and Mary, wedded Fred. Moon and died.
A DDISON C. CUSHING, an uncle of the renowned heroic Lieutenant Cushing, one of the pioneer grape culturists of the town of Pomfret, and one of the most prominent of that town's progressive men, is a son of Judge Zattu and Eunice (Elderkin) Cushing and was born near the site of his present home in Fredonia, May 4, 1820. His grand-parents were honorable Puritans who lived in the New England States. Judge Zattu Cushing was born at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in 1770, and was one of thirteen children born to Nathaniel and Lydia Cushing. He received but a meager education, the schools of that day being primitive and their course of study limited in extent, but his natural industry, energy, self-reliance and integrity were of more value to him than schools. At an early age he was apprenticed to a ship carpenter, and when he had mastered that trade, he followed it for some time at Boston. The work, however, was not congenial to his nature and he decided to exchange it for a farmer's life and for the pur- pose moved to Ballston, Saratoga county, where he married Rachel Buckingham and then re- moved to Paris, Oneida county, and took up a tract of land in the forest, from which he made a farm. In 1799 he was employed to go to Presque Isle, adjacent to Erie, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of superintending the con- struction of a ship. When it was completed it was christened the " Good Intent " and was the first vessel of note-worthy size built on Lake Erie. She was lost with all on board in 18.05. In returning from the scene of his labors, one of his horses strayed, and while attempting to secure it, night came upon him and he passed the night upon the lands where forty years
later he built him a home. Having had excel- lent opportunities for examining the lands of that locality, he determined to locate there, and in February, 1805, he moved his family to the site where now stands the town of Fredonia. Two yoke of oxen, each drawing a sled, were the conveyances used and it took three weeks to perform the journey that may now be made in twice as many hours. At the time Mr. Cush- ing had eight children : Walter; Lydia, married Dr. Squire White ; Milton B; Zat- tu ; Catharine, married Philo H. Stevens ; Lucinda, the widow of William Barker ; Alonzo ; and Rachel, who married Mr. Tup- per. All are dead. When they arrived at Buffalo, they started down the Pike upon the ice, intending to camp nights on the shore, but a driving storm coming on, they were compelled to stop, and were only rescued by two men who heard their signals of distress. At daybreak the ice was broken up so that escape would then have been impossible. Upon his arrival here, he was much disappointed to find that his choice of lots was taken by Thomas McClintock and he took another, upon which he cleared fifty acres during the ensuing two years. In 1807 he sold to Mr. Marsh, father of the present occupant, and bought from Mr. Mc- Clintock, for one-hundred dollars, the farm that he originally desired. He then paid the land claim at Batavia and on November 7, 1807, received a title to about six hundred acres, a great portion of which is now covered by the village of Fredonia. About the last mentioned date he erected the log-house on Eagle street, where A. F. Taylor now lives. Zattu Cushing was eminently a pious man, a Baptist of un- swerving devotion, and his first thought upon reaching here was to establish a church. In 1811, when the organization of the county was completed, Mr. Cushing was appointed the first judge and he wore the erminc until 1822. At the battle of Buffalo he served as a private and was highly indignant, feeling that with a com-
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