USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 37
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Wesley Milspaw was reared principally in Chautauqua county, educated in the common schools, and upon leaving took up trading and peddling for some timc. He was a poor boy who was compelled to make his own way in life, so that all his spare time had to be turned toward making a livelihood. When a young man he cut wood at eighteen cents per cord and worked in the hay fields at fifty cents per day. After
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accumulating a little money and establishing a credit, he engaged in the lumber business and farming, finally embarking in commission busi- ness for eastern firms. For the past ten years Mr. Milspaw has been engaged in the oil busi- ness and is now the lessce of twenty-nine flowing wells, for which lic has been offered one hundred thousand dollars. He also owns and operates a large agricultural house in Ellington, where is kept a large variety of farming implements, buggies and wagons, grass seeds, etc. Besides these interests, a couple of farms and other properties claim his attention.
Wesley Milspaw was united in marriage, on December 24, 1843, to Angeline, daughter of Mrs. Almira Cheeseman, of Ellington, N. Y. To them have been born five children, three sons and two daughters : Charles L., Willis M., Luella, Alice and Francis. Luella is married to Clinton Conet, of Conewango, Cattaraugus county ; Alice is married to George Wells, of Warren, Pennsylvania, while the sons are resi- dents and large farmers of the town of Ellington.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church (and has been for forty-eight years), in which he is steward and trustee. Politically lie is a republican, and in 1864-65 was highway commissioner, during which term of service he built twenty-five bridges. Mr. Milspaw is a remarkably well-preserved man for his age, which lie attributes largely to his abstemious habits and regard for the laws of health. His entire career has been no less remarkable ; start- ing in life without a dollar, he has gradually ascended the scale of suecess until now he pos- sesses all the material wealth that one could reasonably desire. His life is one worthy of study and indicates what can be done by perse- verance, courage and energy.
H ON. GEORGE E. TOWNE is a man who has been prominently identified with the public and political affairs of Chautauqua county, and is also an advocate of recognized |
learning and ability in the profession of the law. HIc is a citizen of New York State and Chau- tauqua county by adoption only, but has become peculiarly and firmly wedded to its interests and fortunes. Mr. Towne was born in the Granite State, village of Keene, November 7, 1854, and is a son of Andrew H. and Caroline (Spring) Towne. Five generations of Townes have been native to the State of New Hamp- shire, and have lived in the immediate vicinity of Keene. The grandparent of the subject, David Towne, was one of the daring patriots and valiant soldiers who, under the incompara- ble leadership of Ethan Allen, captured Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary war. He was also one of the famous "Green Moun- tain Boys" who won such a decisive and over- whelming victory at Bennington, Vermont. Andrew H. Towne (father of subject) is a resident of Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, New York, and has been engaged in agricul- tural and viticultural pursuits the major part of his life. His wife, who was a native of Grafton, Vermont, died in 1888.
George E. Towne passed his childhood in New Hampshire, and removed to Cattaraugus county, N. Y., at the age of thirteen. Hc entered the Ten Broeck academy at Franklin- ville, graduating in 1875. In the spring fol- lowing his graduation he wended his way across the continent to the Pacific coast, where he hazarded his fortunes for about a year in the golden State of California. In 1876 he returned to the east, and began to read law with a cousin, Hon. Alfred Spring, of Franklinville, the present surrogate of Cattaraugus county, and the next year accepted the principalship of the schools at Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, which position he held a year, and then resumed his law studies. He was admitted to practice in all the courts of the State of New York at Rochester in 1879, but began the actual prac- tiee of his profession in Cattaraugus, New York. In 1880 he removed to Silver Creek, where he
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continued his practice until 1888, when he became a candidate for, and was elected to, the New York Legislature. His course, while at the State capital, so completely met with the appro- bation of his constituents, and was so com- mendable in its efforts to secure the political, economic, industrial and reciprocal rights secured to the citizens of the Commonwealth of New York under its constitution and a republican form of government, that at the termination of his first term of service, he was enthusiastically returned. While in the Legislature Mr. Towne was a member of the judiciary committee, and also chairman of the committee on claims. He was recognized as one of the leaders of the House on the republican side, and gained an enviable reputation as a speaker, a logical and persuasive reasoner and a man of broad and thorough acquaintance with public questions. Mr. Towne has a pleasing address, is uniformly genial and courteous, and as a lawyer, as a representative of the people, as a citizen, enjoys the confidence and high esteem of his fellow-men.
On June 18, 1883, he was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Smith, of Franklinville, and has three children : Frank, five years of age ; Hazel ; and one still in infancy. Mr. Towne is half owner of thirty acres of grape land and has . twenty acres under cultivation.
OVERNOR REUBEN E. FENTON. Among the men of prominence who re- ceived their birth and were reared within the borders of the Empire State, none have had a more honorable or glorious career than Reuben E. Fenton, who was the youngest son of George W. and Elsie (Owen) Fenton, and was born in the town of Carroll, Chautauqua county, New York, July 4, 1819.
His father, George W. Fenton, was a native of New Hampshire, and entered the world in 1773, a son of Roswell Fenton, who shortly after the date mentioned removed with his family to the State of New York. George W.
Fenton was full of life and ambition, and in 1804 he started through the trackless forest, and pushed onward until he reached old Fort Du Quesne, where the city of Pittsburg now stands. He engaged in trade with the settlers and Indians along the Allegheny river, con- tinuing the mercantile business until 1806, but in the summer of the last named year he went up to Warren, Penna., and during the winter of 1806-7, he taught the first school in that now thriving and populous borough. He married Elsie Owen, who was born in Warren county, Pa., in. 1790, and with her moved up into Chautauqua county, where he followed farming until his death, which occurred March 3, 1860. He was a very intelligent man, and possessed a superior education, a profound mind and excel- lent judgment; all of these qualities seem to have been handed down to his youngest son- Reuben E. George W. and Elsie Fenton reared a family of five children : Roswell O., who married Leanora Atkins ; George W., Jr., married Metta Howard; William H. H., mar- ricd Catherine Edmunds ; John F., married Maria Woodward ; and Reuben E.
Reuben E. Fenton received his early educa- tion at a pioneer school in his native town, and when fifteen years of age, was sent to Cary's academy, an institution of learning located six miles north of Cincinnati, Ohio, but after remaining there two years, he returned to Chautauqua county, and completed his educa- tion at the Fredonia academy. The following two years were spent in studying law, Joseph Waite, of Jamestown, being his preceptor, but suffering from poor health, he was compelled to abandon study, and engaged in the lumber business along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, meeting with very satisfactory success. Quoting from a eulogy delivered by the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew-" It is easier for a man of ability to get on in a new country and with fresh sur- roundings, than in the neighborhood where he was born. Where every one has known him
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from childhood he is often handicapped by the unforgotten frivolitics of youth, and reaches middle life before he has outgrown the feeling that he is still a boy, while, as a new settler, he starts at once at the level of his ascertained abilities. It is the peculiar distinction of Mr. Fenton that he overcame these prejudices before he was of age; that he became the choice of his fellow-citizens for positions of trust as soon as he attained his majority, and passing his life at his birth-place, he earned, at a period when most young men are unknown, the confidence of the people among whom he had grown up, and carried it with him to his grave. This proud career was not lielped by accident, or luck, or wealth, or family, or powerful friends. He was, in its best sense, both the architect and builder of his own fortunes." For seven years (1846-52) he was supervisor of the town of Carroll, and from the last named date his long- continued promotion to places of trust was frequent and noticeable. In 1852, when but thirty-three years of age, he was elected to the United States Congress ; two years later, being a candidate for re-election, he was defeated by the candidate of the American party, an organi- zation which has passed down into history, and is now known as the "Old Know-Nothing party," at that time in the zenith of its power. Reuben E. Fenton was originally a democrat, and was elected to Congress as snch in 1852, but the great question which destroyed the Whig, and divided the Democratic party, met him at the outset of his Congressional career ; when Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which had for its purpose the repealing of that section of the Missouri Compromise which forever prohibited slavery in the new territories, the young Congressman was at once obliged to choose between his conscience and his party, but without hesitation or faltering he threw his whole energies to the support of the former, and his first speech was made in support of the inviola- ble preservation of that compact so solemnly
made in 1820. It was the first speech made against the impending erime, and. emanating from a member of the party then dominant, its clear notes rallied about him a determined band of democratic representatives, and from that day he was one of the leaders in the formation and afterwards in the conduct of the Republican party, and Reuben E. Fenton was unanimously cleeted presiding officer of the new party at the first State convention held in New York. From this time on until his death he co-operated with the Republican party, and by them was elected to Congress in 1856, and at each succeeding election until 1864. In the latter year he was pitted against Horatio Seymour in the guber- natorial contest of the Empire State. The radical element of the Republican party de- nounced President Lincoln as being too slow and conservative. Horatio Seymour, in the democratic National convention, in one of thic most able and masterly speeches declared that our martyred president's administration had been a series of costly and bloody mistakes, and under his guidance the war had been a failure. Horatio Seymour was one of the most brilliant and attractive of New York's democratic states- men ; his life was pure, his character unblem- ished, and his personal magnetism made him the idol of his party, and a most dangerous opponent. To meet this emergency, Reuben E. Fenton was nominated by the republican con- vention. The wisdom of the choice was speedily apparent. Mr. Fenton's abilities as an organ- izer were felt in every election district, and when the returns showed the State carried for Lincoln, and Fenton leading the presidential vote by some thousands, the new governor became at once a figure of National importance. Within four days after his inauguration he raised the last of New York's quota of troops, and sent them to the front with these stirring remarks : " Having resolutely determined to go thus far in the struggle, we shall not falter nor hesitate when the Rebellion reels under our
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heavy blows, when vietory, npon all the methods of human ealeulation, is so near. Believing onrselves to be inspired by the same lofty senti- ments of patriotism which animated our fathers in founding our free institutions, let ns continue to imitate their bright example of eonrage, endurance and faithfulness to prineiple, and in maintaining them. Let us be faithful and per- severe. Let there be a rally of the people in every eity, village and town." He was amiable and eoneiliatory, but as unyielding of principles as the massive boulders to the falling raindrops; he possessed the taet of satisfying applicants and petitioners without granting their requests, where sueh would jeopardize or be prejudicial to the publie serviee. At the elose of his first term he was re-elected, and filled a second term. So profoundly impressed was his party, that when it met in Syraeuse in 1868 to eleet dele- gates for the National Convention at Chicago, those eleeted were nnanimously instrueted to present his name for Vice-President, and for five ballots in that memorable eontest he stood next to Schuyler Colfax in the vote. The fol- lowing year the Legislature of the State of New York eleeted him United States Senator, and he held that honorable position for six years, his term expiring Mareh 3, 1875. After ·his retirement from the Senate, Governor Fen- ton was never again a candidate for office, but President Hayes sent him abroad in 1878 as chairman of the Commission to the Interna- tional Monetary Convention to fix the ratio of valne between gold and silver, and provide for their common nse. It was about this time that his health had beeome impaired, and continued to grow worse until his sudden death while sit- ting at his office desk in Jamestown, on August 25, 1885. The news, when given to the world, was met with many sorrowing expressions, and when the Legislature met in the spring of 1886, resolutions of eondolenee were passed by both the Senate and House, and a joint resolution was introduced as follows :
"That a committee of three be appointed on the part of the Senate, and a like committee on the part of the Assembly, to select an orator and to name a day for the delivery of an ora- tion on the life and character of the late Hon- orable Reuben E. Fenton, and to make all needful preparations therefor."
The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and the Honorable Messrs. Vedder, Fassett, and Parker were appointed by the Senate, and the Honorable Messrs. Bateheller, Cheney and Haggerty were appointed to represent the As- sembly. These gentlemen met in joint eom- mittee, and decided to ask the Honorable Chauneey M. Depew to deliver the oration, and April 27, 1887, was selected as the date for its delivery. The ceremonies were held in the Assembly hall, at the State capitol in Albany, and with bowed heads and subdued emotions, the multitude listened to the words of Mr. Depew, which though grand and eloquent, but feebly expressed the virtues and greatness of Reuben E. Fenton.
In 1838, Reuben E Fenton was married to Jane Frew, who was born in 1820, and died two years after her marriage, leaving one child, a daughter. In 1844, Mr. Fenton married Elizabeth Seudder, a daughter of Joel Seudder, and born at Vietor, Ontario county, this State, in 1824. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had three chil- dren : Josephine, who was born in the town of Carroll, Chantauqua eonnty, April 15, 1845, now Mrs. Frank E. Gifford, of Jamestown ; Jeannette, born November 2, 1848, now Mrs. Albert Gilbert, Jr., of Jamestown ; and Reu- ben Earle, who was born in Jamestown, June 12, 1865.
It is universally eoneeded that as a politieal organizer Renben E. Fenton ranked with the best and, with the possible exception of Martin Van Buren, exeelled them all; as a business man he ranked with Folger, and as a statesman he was the peer of Seward. His nature was gentle, tender and affectionate, and his judgment
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was deep and profound. Many of New York's sons have risen to distinction, but none have embodied in their character so many qualities that lead to sueeess.
E UGENE E. DE VOE, the present efficient and accommodating postmaster at Elling- ton, New York, is a son of Dr. David G. and Mary T. (Grinnell) De Voe, and was born in the town of Napoli, Cattaraugus county, New York, September 15th, 1842. His father, a na- tive of Homer, Cortland county, New York, migrated into Cattaraugus county in 1832, and in 1849 to Ellington, Chautauqua county, where he continued to reside up to his death in 1857, at the age of fifty-two years. Dr. De Voe was a graduate of tlie Syracuse Medical College and also of the Eclectic Medical College of Cincin- nati, Ohio. Being the first practitioner of an eclectic school to locate in the town of Ellington, he naturally met with considerable opposition. His was a new school of medicine to the people of Ellington, he was received with a great deal of skepticism and was forced to live down the opposition and successfully demonstrate the scientific wisdom and natural reason of his theory and practice. This required hard work and un- remitting application, and though complete suc- cess followed, yet it was at the expense of his health and mainly superinduced his death. Prior to his death he enjoyed a large and varied prac- tice, was a careful student in the various branches of his profession, as well as in collateral subjects, and ranked high in the councils of the medical fraternity. He was a man of sterling qualities, and, at his death, was mourned by all who knew him. The grandfather of our subjeet was a sturdy tiller of the soil, a New Englander by birth and a Revolutionary patriot and soldier. Hc was of French descent and died at Homer, Cortland county, New York, at the age of eighty- two years. Subject's mother was born at Ca- naan, Columbia county, New York, and died in 1889, at the age of eighty years.
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Eugene E. De Voe passed his early life mainly within the county of Chautauqua, received his education in the district schools and the academy at Ellington, and has all his life been an in- structor in instrumental music, piano and organ, and conducting music. His field of labor has been in western New York and western Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was a musician in the 64th regiment New York Volunteers for a period of three months and in the 111th Penn- sylvania Volunteers for six months. In 1890 subject received the appointment as postmaster of Ellington, which position he now holds. Among the other official positions which have been acceptably filled by Mr. De Voe is that of town assessor, which office he held for six years. He has served on the board of education quite a long time and in other offices of local import- ance.
On October 13th, 1870, Eugenc E. De Voe was united in marriage to Miss Ophelia, daugh- ter of Hiram Terry, of the town of Ellington. To theni have been born three children, all daughters: Bertha E., Marna M. and Ina Belle.
E. E. De Voe is a thorough republican, be- lieving firmly in having fixed political views as the proper basis for wielding the right of suf- frage. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. As a thorough musician, a skilled performer and teacher, Mr. De Voe has a high standing in his profession. He is a elose student and has given much time to the study of harmony, instrument- ation and general technique of music.
H ON. JOHN S. LAMBERT, judge of the Supreme Court of New York for the Eighth Judicial District, is one of that class of self-made men who build their own "monuments of fortune and reputation." He was born at Johnsonville, Rensselaer county, . New York, February 4, 1851, and is a son of Peter and Mary (Morey) Lambert. The Lambert family as the name would indicate is of English origin. Peter Lambert was born and reared in England,
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where he remained until 1841, when he came to this State and settled at Johnsonville. He was trained to agricultural pursnits in his native land and has followed farming ever since he be- came a resident of Johnsonville. He is an ac- tive democrat and married Mary Morey, who is a native of Ireland.
John S. Lambert was reared on his father's farm and like most of farmers' sons prior to 1860, enjoyed but limited educational advant- ages. After a brief attendance at the common schools he entered Greenwich academy, from which educational institution he was graduated at seventeen years of age. Leaving the latter academy he worked on a farm for a few months and came, in 1870, to Chautauqua county, where he spent the ensuing two years as a laborer on a farm. At the end of that time he became a clerk at Mayville, in the office of Charles G. Mapcs, then surrogate of Chautauqua county. During the two years he was with Mr. Mapes he turned his attention to jurisprudence for which he always had a decided preference, and so far improved his leisure moments as to secure considerable knowledge of the elementary prin- ciples of the common law. In 1874 he came to Fredonia, where he read law with Morris & Russel for three years, and was then, in the fall of 1877, admitted as a counselor-at-law in the courts of the State of New York. In 1878 he became a partner with Morris & Russel in the practice of law, and three years later was elected county judge. At the expiration of his six year term, in 1888, he was re-elected as county judge and had served two years upon his second term when (1890) he was nominated by his party as their candidate for a justice of the Supreme Court of New York, for the Eighth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugns, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niag- ara, Orleans and Wyoming.
Judge Lambert took his seat upon the bench on January 1st, 1890, for a term of fourteen years and to succeed Judge Barker of Fredonia.
The judges of the Eighth Judicial District were appointed by the governor from 1823 to 1847, since which year they have been elected by the people, and the judges from Chautanqua connty who presided over this district have been : John Birdsall, appointed 1826; and Richard P. Mar- vin, elected 1849, 1855 and 1865; George Barker, elected 1868, 1875 and 1883; and Jolm S. Lambert, elected in 1890.
Judge Lambert has always been a republican in politics, but has many warm personal friends in the ranks of all the other political parties. He is sociable but dignified, yet courteous and pleasant to all whom he meets. At the bar he was recognized as an able and successful lawyer and on the bench he has presided with ability and impartiality. To his own ability, energy and efforts he owes his success in life, while his fidelity and zeal in behalf of any cause which he espoused has won him the respect and confi- dence of the public.
C HARLES B. STURDEVANT officiates as station agent for the Erie railway at Kennedy, and by his courteous and obliging manner has become popular with the traveling public and highly esteemed by the company which he serves. He was born on the 28th of December, 1844, near the city of Erie, Penn- sylvania, and is a son of Asel O. and Sarah (Hall) Sturdevant.
Levi Sturdevant, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Connecticut, and was born about 1765. He emigrated from his native State to Onondaga county, New York, in 1790, and about thirty-five years later again moved, this time to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he died after having spent his entire life farm- ing. He married and reared a family of nine children,-five sons and fonr danghters. John C. Hall, who was the maternal grandfather of subject, was a native of Onondaga county, born about 1770, and died in Lafayette, the same county, when sixty-five years of age. He fol-
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lowed farming, and married a Miss Conkling in 1790; she bore him eight children,-one son and seven daughters. He belonged to the Whig party, and was a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.
Asel O. Sturdevant was born at Fabius, Onondaga county, January 6, 1812, and spent his childhood and youth on a farm. Later in life he purchased a"property, and conducted farming in connection with some mechanical work. He married Sarah Hall on January 1, 1833, who bore him nine children : Chandler D., dead ; John W., dead; Clarissa A., married William Briggs, of Union City, Pa .; Henry C., killed at White Oak Swamp, Va., June 30, 1862, a member Company I, 61st N. Y. Vols .; Guy H., died in Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 4, 1864, a corporal Company I, 15th N. Y. Cav .; Charles B. ; Orlando J., resides at Jamestown ; Harriet A. is the wife of George Ames, of Jamestown, and S. Jeannette, who also lives at the last-named city with her husband, Alonzo L. Moore. Asel O. Sturdevant voted with the Republican party, was a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and belonged to Clent- ent Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Union City, Pa. He was of a modest and retiring disposition, and assiduously attended to his personal affairs, and dicd at Jamestown, N. Y., April 16, 1888, at seventy-five years of age.
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