USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 39
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table is the equal of the best, the service is without a superior, every convenience is in use for the comfort of the guests and last but far from least, is the genial-mannered proprietor who circulates amongst his guests and makes each feel that he is at home.
In 1886 he married Etta Vandevort, one of the most charming and noble young ladies of Dunkirk.
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J AMES C. WALKER, a son of Clark and Esther (Caldwell) Walker, was born in Brocton, Chautauqua county, New York, August 29, 1842. Deacon Joseph Walker (great-grand- father) was born February 10, 1739, and died December 15, 1813, in Massachusetts. Samuel Walker (grandfather) was a native of Massa- chusetts, being born in 1773. In 1828 he came to Brocton and engaged in farming, a vocation which he pursued for many years. For many years he was a consistent member of the Pres- byterian church, and died in 1843 consoled in its faith. Clark Walker was born at Hopkin- ton, Mass., in 1813, and came to Chautauqua county with his father when fifteen years of age. He settled in Portland, which has been his home ever since. When a young man he learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade and employed him- self thereby for some time, but since 1860 farm- ing has been his chief vocation. `Now in his seventy-eighth year, he personally superintends the workings of his farm and vineyard. For sixty years he has been identified with the Brocton Baptist church, in which he is a deacon. Since the organization of the Republican party he has affiliated with it, but he is a strong tem- perance man and his sympathies lean towards that class of legislation. Mr. Walker has filled town offices, but has never entered politics at large. In 1837 lie married Esther Caldwell, a daughter of Samuel Caldwell, and, although of Scotch-Irish extraction, has for some generations been identified with American history. Her mother, Mary Clyde, was a prominent woman
on account of her mental attainments and skill in medicine. Mrs. Walker is a sister of Samuel Caldwell, whose sketch appears elsewhere. They had seven children.
James C. Walker was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools and Westfield academy. Upon leaving the academy he taught school for a few years and then returned to the farm, where he has resided ever since. His fine place, forty acres in extent, has a vineyard upon it from which a good yield of luscious fruit is secured.
In 1870 he wedded Lydia Tinkham, a daugh- ter of Jacob Tinkham, who lived in the town of Pomfret. They have two children, one son and one daughter: Benjamin, aged seventeen, and Jessie N., a child of five.
RANGE A. FARGO for many years was a leading farmer of Poland town, this county, and stood foremost in the ranks of the breeders of high grade stock. Strict attention to the details of his business enabled him to accumulate a competency, and for some years past he has been retired from active work and is living opulently at Kennedy. Orange A. Fargo is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth B. (Ambler) Fargo and he began life in the village of Attica, Genesee county, New York on the eighth day of May, 1827. His blood is a dif- fusion of French and Cymric, the father's ancestors having been natives of Wales. Both grandfathers, Fargo and Ambler, were born, reared and died in the State of Vermont, where Samuel Fargo, subject's father, was born. Samuel Fargo came to Chautauqua county about 1829. He was brought up on a farm but received an excellent education, through the assistance of his parents, coupled with his own exertions, and after leaving school as a student, he taught for some time, studying theoretical medicine and qualifying himself for a physician at the same time. He practiced in Genesee county and then came to this county,
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Gerry town, and made his home and practiced in the " Vermont settlement." He followed the profession until a few years before his death, when advancing age compelled him to relinquish its arduous duties. He married Elizabeth B. Ambler and had ten children, six of them are living : Ariel W. is a farmer in the town of Westfield; Eveline married Leonard Barton and lives at Elko, Cattaraugus county ; Clarissa is the wife of John Helmick; Maria A. lives with her husband, David Ostrander at Gerry ; Mary T. married Henry Starr, aud lives at Gerry ; and Orange A. Samuel Fargo was originally a democrat but when the slavery question disturbed the country and divided households with its bitter intensity, he joined his sympathies with the republicans and became an ultra-abolitionist.
During his whole life his energies were bent toward bettering the common schools of his locality and for a long time he held the office of school trustee. It is safe to say that never before or since has the office been occupied by a more zealous incumbent or one more anxious to elevate the standard of his charge. He had a firm belief in the existence of a Supreme Ruler of the universe, an adher- ent of the sect devoted to the study of scientific morals, but was not connected with any church. His integrity was never questioned and his honor never imputed. Mr. Fargo was a widely read man and a devoted student of the Bible. He died when fifty-eight years of age.
Orange A. Fargo came with his parents to Gerry town when only two years of age and spent his childhood and youth on the farm. Having secured a good education, he began lumbering and followed it for many years. but in 1860 he entered agriculture and began to breed fine stock. The best strains of blood were secured for his stud, although he bred for results rather than pedigree. Much of the fiue stock now scattered throughout Chautauqua county were originally from his stables, and to
Mr. Fargo is much credit due for the improve- ment.
He married Mary L. Tucker, a daughter of David Tucker, of the town of Poland, July 24, 1847. They reared a family of eight children, all of whom, excepting two that have died, are well-to-do, educated and representative people of the localities in which they live. Leroy is an agriculturist in Cattaraugus county ; Addison A. tills the soil in the town of Ellington ; Frcd A. farms in Poland ; Irwin, same residence and occupation ; Victor H. farms iu Cattaraugus county ; and Eliner E. resides in Brocton, New York.
Orange A. Fargo is a republican of a most pronounced character, is a great reader and keeps himself informed upon public matters. Having been successful in business and laid by a suug fortuue, he can lay back and contemplate the outside world with complacency.
F ERNANDO CORTEZ HASKIN. Among the many American citizens who trace back their lineage to Celtic Scotland is Fer- nando Cortez Haskin, the subject of our sketch. He is a son of Enoch and Mary (Wadsworth) Haskin and was born in Pittston, New York, on July 5, 1817. Elkanah Haskin, from whom the American stock by that name sprang, was born in Scotland about the year 1700, came to Connecticut in early life and settled in Norwich. Here he pursued the vocation of broadcloth weaver, reared his family and died at the age of eighty years. His family in- cluded seven children, one of whom, Enoch Sr., was the great-grandfather of our subject, aud was born May 5, 1740, in Norwich, Con- nccticut. True to his religious training and environment, he was a strong adhereut of the Presbyterian church and sought to inculcate its doctrines and dogmas by his life and example. Enoch Sr., was twice married ; by his first wife he had one daughter, Rachel ; by his second wife he had several children, among
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whom was Enoch Jr., subject's grandfather, born July 23, 1765. Animated and fired with enthusiasm for his country's independence in its moments of deepest gloom, our boyish patriot threw his life, his soul, his all into the struggle for liberty. He did all that a boy could in behalf of his native land, endured the privations, the sufferings, the dangers and the vicissitudes of war. Upon one occasion he was stunned by a cannon-shot and thrown into the ditch, but almost miraculously resuscitated and lived to see the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Reward was made for his gallant services by a pension. Subsequent to the Rev- olution he married Miss Lydia Ackley, who bore him a family of seven children. He was thoroughly democratic in his views of State ; conscientious in conduct, and an active member of the Presbyterian church. He died in Ohio. The father of our subject was born near Breed- port, Vermont, in 1788, and in 1818 came to the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county, New York, where he lived until his death in 1868. He was reared upon a farm and subsequently purchased a farm of his own in Sheridan town, which he cultivated simultaneously with other branches of business. Later he went into the hotel business, and as proof of his carefulness and integrity in the sale of liquors, has on file some thirty-one licenses granted by the excise committee. He is an enthusiastic democrat in political creed, but a very notable attestation of his popularity irrespective of party is the fact that he lacked but. twenty-one votes in the race for the office of sheriff in a strong republican district. His union in marriage was blest with eight children, four boys and four girls; two of the former and three of the latter are still living.
Fernando C. Haskin was married to Sarah A. Kcech, a daughter of Abram Keech of the town of Hanover. Three children were born to them : George ; Susan who now lives in Winona, Minnesota ; and Mary, married to
George Cranston, a postal clerk on the Penn- sylvania Railroad.
Mr. Haskin received the customary common school education of this day, and being reared on a farm, has followed farming ever since, with the exception of eight years spent in the lumber business. He has acquired a com- fortable home, is regarded as an honest, upright citizen and a good neighbor ; is a democrat in politics, both by heredity and principle and is fully alive to the National issues of the day.
č EDEDIAH M. JOHNSON, a very suc- cessful farmer and grape-grower of the town of Ripley, was born in the town of Nor- wich, Chenango county, New York, May 3, 1845, and is a son of Homer and Roxanna (Skinner) Johnson. The Johnson family is of English descent and settled at an early day in southern New England, from which Dr. Jona- than Johnson, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Chenango county, New York, shortly after the year 1791. He read medicine for four years under a pre- ceptor in his native State of Connecticut, re- ceived a diploma which is dated April 3, 1791, and after removing to Chenango county, his pioneer practice soon extended into adjoining counties. As his county developed Dr. John- son grew in wealth, medical repute and personal influence and at his death owned several mills, stores and valuable farms, aggregating a value of one hundred thousand dollars. He married Hannah Graves, who lived to be ninety-six years of age. They had four sons and one daughter. One of the sons was Homer John- son (father) who was born October 31, 1803, in Chenango county, where he died May 9, 1872. He was a carpenter by trade, a farmer by occu- pation, a whig and republican in politics and a member and trustee of the Baptist church. He married Roxanna Skinner, who was born Feb- ruary 14, 1806. Their family consisted of five sons and five daughters, of whom six are
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living : John, a farmer of Ripley (see sketch); Mary, widow of Orin Warner and wife of Thomas W. Hall, of Norwich, N. Y .; Jona- than Darwin ; Abie, married to Ashel Holcomb, of Ripley; Emily, who married a Mr. Cartland Hall and afterwards Melvin Slater, of Norwich, N. Y .; and Jedediah M. Those deceased are: Hannah M., born March 23, 1827, died October 10, 186 -; Harriet A., born June 25, 1848, died April 19, 1864; George H., born July 8, 1834, died May 7, 1886-he was a carpenter by trade and for many years was boss carpenter of a large gang of workmen, laying out the work for the others to do; and Charles H., born August 16, 1837, died December 3, 1880; he was a Baptist preacher of pronounced ability and during his itinerancy built two churches of that denomina- tion and was tlie means of the conversion of many souls. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of Daniel Skinner (maternal grandfather) who was a native of Connecticut and a resident of Che- nango county, where he followed farming and married Hannah Skinner, by whom he had nine children.
Jedediah M. Johnson grew to manhood in his native town, where he attended the common schools aud Norwich academy. He commenced life for himself as a farmer and in 1869 came to the productive lake farm in the town of Ripley, on which he now resides and on which he erected his present substantial residence, good barns and first-class out-buildings. He is a republican in politics, served five years iu the State Militia, in which he refused a lieutenancy, and is a member of the Baptist church.
September 17, 1867, Mr. Johnson married Annic M., daughter of Hiram A. Burton, of Brocton, and a member of the Baptist church. To their union have been born one son and two daughters : Harriet A., born August 6, 1868 ; Hiram B., January 10, 1872; and Emily L. B., who was born March 8, 1879, and died April 18, 1887.
On his lake shore farm of eighty-two and a half acres of land he has a vineyard of twenty- five acres, which, during the grape season of 1890, produced the large yield of twenty-one thousand baskets, or one hundred tons of grapes. Since 1869 Mr. Johnson has been dealing continuously in apples, peaches, plums, pears and various other kinds of fruits. He handles large quantities of fruit and has been very successful in farming and the cultivation of the vine. He takes great interest in all agri- cultural pursuits and is a member of Ripley Grange, No. 68, Patrons of Husbandry.
He has twenty-five acres of young grapes which go on wires next year, which makes fifty acres in the ground now.
H' IRAM BURCH, a substantial farmer of Portland and a Union soldier of the late civil war, is a son of Oliver W. and Mary S. (Tower) Burch, and was born on the farm on which he now resides, in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, December 15, 1831. In the town of Wells, Rutland county, Vermont, in the year 1766, was born to Jona- than and Eunice Burch, a sou, who, in accord- ance with a time-honored custom of New Eng- land, was given his father's name, Jonathan. This Jonathan Burch, Jr., the grandfather of Hiram Burch, at twenty years of age (1786) married Sally Hosford and settled in Herki- mer county, where, after a residence of a few years, he removed to Chenango county. He served and was a major in the war of 1812. In January, 1813, he settled on lot 62, twp. 4, in the town of Portland, and his farm is now owned by the subject of this sketch. He died in 1838 aud his wife passed away in 1845, aged sixty years. They had five sons and five daughters : Eunice, wife of Heman Ely; Olive, who married Zeri Yale; Jonathan, who mar- ried Maria Yale; Powell G., who married Lovina Palmer ; Polly, wife of Jared Taylor ; Sally, who married Erastus Cole; Oliver W.,
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married Mary S. Tower ; Chauncy, who married Nancy Cole; Stephen S. ; and Matilda, who died at eighteen years of age. Of the sons, Oliver W. (father) was born in Herkimer county, and about 1825 purchased his father's farm, on which he resided until his death, in 1883, at the ripe old age of eighty-two years. On March 8, 1825, he married Mary Sprague Tower, daughter of John and Lucy (Munson) Tower, of Oneida county. The Towers were descendants of one who came over in the " May- flower." To Oliver W. and Mary S. Burch were born six sons and three daughters: Lucy, Olive, Hattie, Walter, who served in the 49th New York, for ten months, and was discharged on account of typhoid fever; Newell, served about two and a half years as a member of the 154th New York-was captured at Gettysburg and held prisoner for twenty-one months at Belle Isle and Andersonville ; Rollin, a soldier in the 7th Iowa, and a prisoner for two months- he then re-enlisted and served to the close of the war; Hiram, was in Iowa at the breaking out of the rebellion ; Horace and Ransom. After Mrs. O. W. Burch's death, March 2, 1851, at forty- three years of age, Mr. Burch married, on No- vember 30, 1884, Arminda Sunderlin, who still survives.
Oliver W. Burch, although young, remem- bered well the excitement caused by the British burning Buffalo.
Hiram Burch was reared on the homestead farm and received his education in the common schools. He has followed farming ever since leaving school, and is now engaged to somc extent in the culture of the vine. He owns the homestead farm of ninety-seven acres, which is located three miles northeast of West- field. In 1861 Mr. Burch enlisted in Co. I, 9th regiment, Iowa volunteers, but soon caught a cold that settled in his eyes and caused his discharge from the service, after being in about four months.
On March 17, 1870, he married Louisa,
daughter of Frederick Miller. They have one child, a son, Clarence G., now in his twenty- first year.
Hiram Burch is a republican in politics and a strong advocate of the temperance cause. On Thursday, August 22, 1889, there was a re- union of the children of O. W. and Mary S. Burch at the old homestead farm. All of the nine children were present, of whom the eldest was sixty-two years of age, and the youngest over forty-two years. At this re-union Rev. Knight read an interesting history of the Burch family from 1700 to 1890, which was carefully prepared by one of the children. One of its concluding sentences was : "But as our feet diverge from this home of our childhood, as we again go forth into the world, let us not forget the duties we owe in all charity and love to one another."
L EWIS B. BIXBY is a son of Horace S. and Julia E. (Hanchett) Bixby, and was born April 2, 1864, in Hartfield, Chautauqua county, New York. The name of Bixby is of Danish origin, but the original family lived so long in Boxford, Suffolk county, England, and intermarried so' much with the inhabitants thereabout that the Danish characteristics were well nigh lost. The first one of the family to emigrate to America, and from whom the American Bixbys all descended, was Joseph Bixby, who came from England in 1636, and settled in Ipswich, near Salem, Massachusetts, eleven years later (1647). In 1660 he removed to what was then Rowley village, now Box- ford, being incorporated in the latter place through his efforts. In 1647 Joseph Bixby was married to Sarah (Wyatt) Heard, who was the maternal American ancestor of the Bixbys. The family has been remarkable for its piety and energy, and many of those born in this cen- tury have been educated men of high standing. The earlier ones had to struggle with the In- dians, and became well acquainted with all the
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hardships of pioneer life. During the late civil war New England alone furnished ten com- missioned officers in the Union army from the Bixby family. The great-great-great-grand- father of Lewis B. Bixby was Samuel Bixby, who was a son of Benjamin Bixby, and was born in Lopsfield, Massachusetts, January 2, 1689, and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, in 1718. He had a son, Solomon, who was born in that part of Sutton now Milbury, Massachu- setts, and settled in Barre, Massachusetts. His wife's name was Esther, but farther nothing is remembered of her. Solomon Bixby was the great-great-grandfather of L. B. Bixby. He had three sons and five daughters ; one of the sons, Joel, being the great-grandfather of L. B. Bixby, and was born in Barre, Massachusetts, November 15, 1768, and had two children, one of whom, Solomon, born March 5, 1808, at Worcester, Massachusetts, and died in May- ville, New York, April 5, 1881, was the grand- father of L. B. Bixby. He owned and operated a machine-shop and foundry, first at Hartfield, this county, and then at Mayville. In politics he was a republican. He had a family of six children, two sons and four daughters, the eld- est of whom was Horace (father). He was born October 20, 1835, at Worcester, Massa- chusetts, and was married November 21, 1861, to Julia Hanchett, a daughter of Joseph Han- chett, by whom he had four children, two sons and two daughters : Lewis B., Georgianna, born October 20, 1865, at Hartfield (dead) ; William, born at Mayville, April 16, 1870, died January 15, 1885; and Millie, born at Mayville, De- cember 26, 1876.
Lewis B. Bixby was educated in the Union school, at Mayville, and then took a college preparatory course, but did not enter college. He entered the Brush Electric Works, at Cleve- land, Ohio, and learned the trade of electrical engineering, remaining with them four months in the shops, and then went into the field, set- ting up their lamps. His next engagement
was with the Buckeye Mower and Reaper Works, at Akron, Ohio, where he had charge of the electric lighting. Returning to Mayville in 1883, he engaged in the machine-shop with his father, where they do a general repair busi- ness, and has remained there since. During tlie summer he furnishes the electric lighting for the Chautauqua Association grounds at the lake. They also handle pipe and supplies, and have a factory, twenty-five by fifty feet, two stories on Water street. In politics he is a republican, and is at present excise commis- sioner of the town of Chautauqua. In religion he is a member of the Baptist Church, of May- ville, Lodge, 284, I. O. O. F., and of Lodge No. 825, K. of H., at Mayville.
Lewis B. Bixby was married September 16, 1884, to Alice M. Belden, a daughter of N. D. Belden, of Mayville, and has two children : Emma T., born July 8, 1885, and Harry E., born April 8, 1890.
SMITH H. BROWNELL, of Ellery town, is a son of Peter R. and Rhoda (Putnam) Brownell, and was born in the town where he now resides, June 4, 1835. The paternal grand- parents were Joshua and Elizabeth (Reasoner) Brownell. Joshua Brownell was a native of the Empire State and was born on Long Island, near New York city, and arose to a position of prominence. About 1812 he moved to and set- tled near Elmira, this State, and engaged in cattle dealing, buying and shipping large num- bers to the New York and Philadelphia markets. Politically he was a whig and devoted admirer of DeWitt Clinton, whom he ardently supported when he was a candidate for governor. His wife, Elizabeth Reasoner, bore him nine chil- dren and he died in Chemung county in 1822. Peter R. Brownell was born in Dutchess county April 20, 1806, and came to Chautauqua county during his youth. He began life as a farm laborer, working by the month, until twenty- eight years of age, when lic bought a farm in
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the town of Ellery, which he lived upon for thirty-six years. In 1870 he moved into James- town, and, being wealthy, he has retired from business and is quietly enjoying his declining years. He married Rhoda Putnam, who bore him three children, of whom our subject is the eldest ; Mary Ann and Bessie M. For a second wife he married Mrs. Mary Van Dusen. Po- litically he is a republican and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Smith H. Brownell spent the first seventeen years of his life on his father's farm and then engaged in the mercantile business in the town of Ellery, continuing it with fair success for ten years, but ill health compelled him to abandon the confining duties of the store and he returned to the farm, upon which he has since lived, nearly thirty years. His residence is beautifully situated on the shore of Lake Chautauqua, and is admirably adapted to keeping summer board- ers. During the season his house was filled with pleasure and health-seekers, they being attracted thither by the superior accommodations and home-like comforts found there. Many expres- sions of regret were heard when Mr. Brownell decided last season to discontinue the business. His farm consists of one hundred and ninety- seven acres kept in a high state of fertility.
On the 4th of June, 1858, he married Mary A. Strong, a daughter of Siley Strong, of Ellery ; she became the mother of three children-two sons, George W., born July 4, 1859, and Perry R., born August 8, 1871 ; and one daughter- Adeline S., born July 29, 1862. Mrs. Brow- nell died November 3, 1883, aged forty-three years. George W. Brownell married Jennie Norton, of Bemus Point, February 6, 1885, and is now located in Dakota ; Adeline S. is the wife of Charles C. Aniler, and resides in the same State ; Perry R. is unmarried and lives at home. For his second wife Mr. Brownell took Minerva Dunn, a daughter of Daniel Dunn, of Sugar Grove, Pa., whom he married November 20, 1884.
Politically he is a republican and takes an active interest in party matters. He is now holding the office of justice of the peace for the town of Ellery, having first been elected to fill an unexpired term, but in the spring of 1891 he was re-elected. Smith H. Brownell is of a modest, retiring disposition, but possesses an open frank character that makes friends. He is a member of Bemus Point Lodge, No. 585, I. O. O. F., and belongs to the Grange Associa- tion. While not a member of any religious de- nomination he attends and contributes liberally to the Methodist Episcopal church and is looked upon as one of its warm friends.
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