USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 47
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Briggs, but without issne. He now lives with his father and is engaged in farming ; and Jennie, married to Thomas Nelson, formerly a farmer but at present in the merchandising business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have been blest with two children-Frank and Kate-both still in childhood.
C HARLES S. CURTICE, of Portland, who
is one of the largest propagators of grape- vines in the United States, is a son of Roswell B. and Hannah M. (Chase) Curtice, and was born at Webster, Monroe county, New York, January 21, 1857. The Curtice family is of English extraction, and Jesse Curtice, the grand- father of Charles S. Curtice, came from Antrim, N. H., to Webster, Monroe county, N. Y., where he was engaged in farming until his death, in 1863, at sixty-six years of age. One of his sons was Roswell B. Curtice (father), who was born in 1833. He came about 1870 to Jamestown, where he owns a small farm within the limits of that city and is engaged in raising small fruits. He is a republican in politics, a member of the First Baptist church of James- town, and has been master workman for several terms of the lodge of Ancient Order of United Workmen, of which he is a member. He mar- ried Hannah M. Chase, a native of Wisconsin, and a member of the Baptist church, who passed away in 1873, aged forty-one years.
Charles S. Curtice came with his parents, in 1870, to Jamestown, where he attended the Union school and collegiate institute of that place. Leaving school he entered the employ of E. A. Ross & Co., of Ross Mills, with whom he remained for four years and then engaged as a traveling salesman with George A. Stone, nurseryman of Rochester, New York. He traveled for Mr. Stone throughout this State until 1880, when he engaged in the nursery business on a small scale for himself in the town of Portland. He increased his business from year to year until it is now of large proportions.
He makes a specialty of propagating grape-vines for the wholesale trade, and has developed this branch of the nursery business until he is now one of the largest grape-vine propagators in the United States. In addition to supplying liome demands he supplies large orders from every section of the Union. Mr. Curtice employs an average force of twenty men in his nursery and vineyard in the town of Portland, and is a stock- holder in the Rochester and Cayuga Lake Vine- yard company, of Seneca county. He owns a nice residence at Portland where he has made his home since 1880. He is an active republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a pleasant but thoroughgoing busi- ness man. He is a member of Brocton Castle, No. 284, Knights of Pythias, Summit Lodge, No. 219, Free and Accepted Masons, at West- field ; Westfield Chapter, No. 129, High Royal Arch Masons, at Mayville ; and Triumph Union, No. 32, Equitable Aid Union, which organiza- tion was incorporated at Columbus, Pa., March 23, 1879.
On October 4, 1882, Mr. Curtice married Luna L. Harris, a daughter of W. D. Harris, of the town of Ellicott. Mrs. Curtice was born in 1861 and died July 26, 1889, leaving one child, a son, named William M., who was born February 17, 1885.
C HAUNCEY M. RATHBUN, D.D.S., of Fredonia, one of the progressive and leading dentists of western New York, is a son of Dr. Byron and Thirza A. (Jillson) Rathbun, and was born in the city of Dunkirk, Chautau- qua county, New York, May 28, 1867. The Rathbuns are of English descent and Rev. Levant Rathbun, paternal grandfather of Dr. C. M. Rathbun, was born at Camden, Oneida county, in June 1803, and removed to Pine Grove, Warren county, Pa., where he farmed until 1837. He then entered the ministry of the Baptist church and preached in Jamestown and Dunkirk and at Panama where he died
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
September 18, 1869. In January, 1826, he married Laura Brainard Comstock, who was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, and died August 24, 1845, leaving five children : Dor- liska, Theron, Andrew, Dr. Byron and Milton. Rev. Levant Rathbun married for his second wife, on August 10, 1846, Mrs. John Paden, who bore him five children : Wilbur, Laura, Charles, James and Willie. Dr. Byron Rath- bun (father), now the oldest practicing dentist of Dunkirk, was born at Pine Grove, Pa., October 28, 1834, worked on a farm at May- ville, from twelve to fifteen years of age and then went to Erie, Pa., where he studied dentistry with Dr. Thompson in day time and worked in a printing office at night. He left there in 1853, held a position for two years in A. T. Stewart's dry goods store in New Orleans and returned in 1855 to Erie where he was a partner with Dr. Thompson for three years. In 1858 he opened his present office on Center street, Dunkirk, where he is now an influential member of the city council. He has a large practice, is wealthy and has been for several years a Knight Templar of Dunkirk Com- mandery No. 40, K. T., and a member and vestryman of St. John's Protestant Episcopal church. On December 28, 1865, he married Thirza Ann Jillson. They have three children : Chauncey M .; Mary J., born March 28, 1877; and Jean A., born January 27, 1882. Mrs. Rathbun's father, Samuel C. Jillson, was born October 4, 1820, and on August 28, 1842, married Mary Shale, of Rochester, N. Y., by whom he had four children. He was a son of Oliver Whipple Jillson, who was born in 1786, married to Sally Sackett in 1819 and died in Genesee county in 1829, leaving four children : Samuel C .; De Witt C., born in 1822; Mary, born January 2, 1824; and Amanda, born March 20, 1826.
Chauncey M. Rathbun attended the public schools of Dunkirk until he was seventeen years of age when he entered a military school
at Peekskill, on the Hudson, where he remained one year. He then returned home, studied den- tistry with his father, and matriculated in 1887- at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1888 with the degree of D.D.S. In the autumn of that year he came to Fredonia where he has been successfully practicing dentistry ever since. His office is fully equipped with modern appliances and he keeps fully abreast of the times in the line of his profession.
June 12, 1889, he united in marriage with Julia S., daughter of P. Ten Eyck and Caro- line (Sparks) Smith, of Wilmington, Delaware, where Mr. Smith is cashier of the First National bank of the city.
Dr. C. M. Rathbun is energetic and active in whatever he undertakes. He is a conserva- tive republican and a Master Mason of Forest Lodge, No. 166, Free & Accepted Masons. He is a member and vestryman of Trinity Prot- estant Episcopal church of Fredonia.
H ON. CHARLES B. BROCKWAY was a man who in life attained an enviable position, and who, since his death, is remem- bered as a courageous, generous and honorable man. He was a son of Burban and Lois A. (Bostwick) Brockway, and was born in Ontario county, New York, December 6, 1810, and died December 4, 1883. The earliest mention of the representatives of this family in Amer- ica, Wolston Brockway, is found in the town records of Lyme, Connecticut, where it is stated on December 3, 1659, he purchased housing and land from John Reynolds, then living at Norwich, Connecticut, but formerly of Lyme. From Wolston Brockway came the Hon. Chas. B. Brockway. Burban Brockway was born in Lyme, Connecticut, March 1, 1767, being the youngest of a family of ten children. His father and several of his older brothers served in the Revolutionary war. Burban Brockway began a sea-faring life at the age of eighteen
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
years, and when twenty-three years of age he he was elected associate judge of the county, married Lois Anne Bostwick, of New Milford, and at the end of his term of office was made a justice of the peace, which office he held for fourteen years. His administration of those offices was highly satisfactory, and had it not been for his natural modesty and desire to avoid the turmoil of public life, he would have been elevated to more distinguished positions. Mr. Brockway was a man of strong moral con- victions, which gave him a standing among lis neighbors and attracted their confidence, and his services as a counselor and conveyancer were much sought after. He was a regular attendant at church and a liberal supporter of every public enterprise, whether religious or secular, that had for its object the public weal. Hon. Charles B. Brockway was the friend of the poor, the widow and the fatherless, and their appeals to his liberality were always met with substantial responses. Connecticut, and located at Catskill, New York, where he left his family while he fol- lowed his chosen occupation. In 1797 he re- moved his family to Ontario county, located in the wilderness, and commenced clearing up a farm with the idea of following an agricultural life; but in 1813 he removed to the town of Ripley (then Portland), Chautauqua county, and located on a tract of land of which he held possession until his death, and it still remains in the family. This property is located one mile east of the village of Ripley, and there Mr. Brockway lived until his death, which occurred September 2, 1861. He was a mem- ber of the Episcopal church, and on the organ- ization of St. Paul's church at Mayville was elected its senior warden. Mr. Brockway reared a family of four sons and five daughters, of which our subject was the youngest.
Charles B. Brockway removed with his pa- rents to Ripley, Chautauqua county, in 1814, and at their arrival the land was covered with dense woods. But meager educational facilities were at haud, and the better part of his knowl- edge was obtained after he had attained man- hood. His childhood and youth were passed in the usual manner incident to the early pio- neers. Mr. Brockway was a constant reader, and his mind was practical. He took an active part in the preservation of the Union during the civil war, devoting all of his time and much means in enlisting volunteers from his own and adjoining towns, and aiding them to secure equipments. In 1838 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors for Chau- tauqua county, and held that office for thirteen years, part of the time as chairman of the board. Although at that time but twenty-eight years of age, he showed extraordinary ability and good judgment in conducting the affairs of the county, and familiarized himself with all her needs. When he abdicated this position,
He married Rachel Rebecca Sterrett, a daughter of David Sterrett, who was a repre- sentative of one of the old and respected fami- lies of the Keystoue State. Their union was blessed with the following children: Mary S., who married Hon. James M. Williams, May 21, 1882,-a lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio, who for two years was a member of the Ohio As- sembly, where he was the recognized leader of the Democracy; he has edited one edition of the statute laws of Ohio, and revised several others; Martha, who died when thirteen years of age; Charles B., now living iu the town of Ripley, thoroughly identified with local poli- tics aud a well-known republican; David S., died in infancy ; Belle R., also dicd in infancy ; and Frederick, born July 20, 1854, and on Sep- tember 15, 1877, married Emma L. Cushman, a daughter of Leverett and Ann (Wilson) Cushman; they have three children,-Byron, May and Fred.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
b EXTER D. DORN, now resident of James- town, and a member of the Chantauqua connty bar, was born in Sngar Grove (now Farmington) township, Warren county, Penn- sylvania, September 26, 1849, and is a son of John L. and Harriet M. (Allen) Dorn. His grandfather, Andrew Dorn, was a native of the town of Florida, Montgomery county, New York, removed to Warren county, Pa., in 1841, and about forty years later came to this county, where he afterwards died. He studied for the ministry, but the death of his father and the cares of the family compelled him to abandon his studies and engage in teaching for several years. He served as school commissioner, held various town offices, was a Methodist and demo- crat, and married Mary Cramer, by whom he had four sons and one daughter. His son, John L. Dorn, the father of Dexter D. Dorn, was born in the town of Florida, N. Y., March 16, 1819, went with his father to Pennsylvania, and in 1870 came to this county, where he has resided ever since. He is a farmer, a Methodist and a prohibitionist. He married Harriet M. Allen, and to them were born two sons and fonr daughters, two of whom are dead. Mrs. Dorn is a daughter of Jacob Allen, who was a native of Jefferson county, N. Y., but abont 1830 became one of the pioneer settlers of Warren connty, Pa. He was a man of unusual mechani- cal inventive genius, carried on coopering ex- tensively and taught vocal music. He was a prominent member and deacon of the Baptist church, and a republican in political principles. He married Olive Tupper, whose mother, well remembered by Dexter D. Dorn, in relating her experience in witnessing the naval engagement on Lake Champlain, near Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1814. The Americans were victorious, and the whole British fleet was snrrendered to the American commander, McDonongh, died at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. They reared a family of one sou and three danghters.
Dexter D. Dorn received his education in the
common schools and Jamestown Union school and Collegiate Institute. He received the regent's certificate in 1867, but was prevented from obtaining a collegiate education by failure of his eyesight, he having to rely wholly upon his own resources. He taught school for a time, then learned the trade of cooper, which he soon abandoned to learn telegraphy. On May 1, 1870, he was appointed night operator at Cam- bridge, Pa., and on January 1, 1871, was pro- moted to day operator, and freight, ticket and express agent, which position he held for eighteen years and four months. During this long period of time he was never called in for miscondnet or neglect of duty, and never caused an accident or damage to any person or train by carelessness or mistaking orders by telegraph or otherwise, which is a remarkable record considering the time covered, the onerous duties performed, vast amount of property and the hundreds of lives that were daily dependent upon his accuracy and vigilance in moving trains over a great railway. During this time he and his wife com- pleted the course of, and graduated in the pioneer class (1882) of the C. L. S. C. Leaving the railroad, he commenced to read law in James- town on September 26, 1887, and after com- pleting his course of reading entered the Albany Law school, from which he was graduated May 23, 1889. On June 6, 1890, he was admitted to the bar, and since then has been engaged snccessfully in the practice of his profession in Jamestown. He is in principle a democrat, a strong temperance advocate and an active worker in the Methodist church, of which he and his wife are members.
On October 23, 1871, he united in marriage with Emma Brookmire, a woman of rare force of character who had been a successful student and teacher in the Jamestown Union Schools and Collegiate Institute, and served as principal of one of the city schools in 1870. To their union have been born two children : M. Edith, born August 5, 1872, and died March 23, 1889;
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
and Ralph W., who was born June 28, 1877, and has just passed the regent's examination for the academic department of the Jamestown High School. M. Edith Dorn was a girl of brilliant promise, amiable and kind in disposi- tion, and a fine scholar and musician for one of her age. She was a member of the class of 1890 of the Jamestown High School, was uni- versally loved and regarded, and her early death was deeply deplored by all who knew her.
M ATHEW FULLER comes from an old English family of that name, was born in Dutchess county, New York, November 26, 1825, and is a son of Micah and Elizabeth (Clements) Fuller. Micajah Fuller (grandfather) was a native of eastern New York, and farmed in Westchester county, where he died. He had four children, one of whom, Micah Fuller (father), was born in Westchester county in 1788. When a young man he went from his native county to Dutchess ; in 1828 he moved from thence to Herkimer county, and in Novem- ber, 1833, he came to Chautauqua county and settled on a farm in Portland town, which he occupied and tilled until his death in 1860. Politically he was a whig, and a quiet, un- assuming gentleman. He married Elizabeth Clements, a native of Dutchess county, where she was born in 1795. She died in 1883. Mrs. Fuller bore her husband fourteen children, six sons and eight daughters.
Mathew Fuller was eight years of age when his father came to this county. He got his edu- cation in the common schools, and spent his early life on the farm, and when he had attained man- hood adopted farming as his life work. The old homestead of his father is now his property, in which he resides, and one hundred and five acres of land are attached to it, with a fine vine- yard of grapes. In 1860 he went to the dcer sections of Michigan where he spent six years, mostly hunting. Three elk fell before his rifle, and deer too many to count. The remainder
of his life has been spent on his Portland farm. In 1865 he was united in marriage with Mary Barrows, who lived at Port Huron, Michigan, a daughter of La Prelate Barrows, a farmer of Racine county, Wisconsin. Thrce daughters have been born to them, all of whom are living : Winnie E., Lucy B., and Milly R.
Mathew Fuller is an adherent of democracy. Poor health took him to Michigan, as recorded above, and the bracing air of the fragrant pines invigorated his constitution so that he bids fair to enjoy a long and happy life.
JOHN W. DAWSON was an esteemed Christian gentleman, who lived in the town of Ripley, this county, until his death, which occurred August 8, 1890. He was the son of Thomas and Hannah (Connelly) Dawson and was born in Venango county, Pa., Septem- ber 14, 1817.
His grandfather, James Dawson, was a na- tive of Ireland, but emigrated to America and settled in Venango county, Penna., where he followed farming until his death. He was a consistent member of the Methodist church and married Elizabeth Armstrong, by whom he had a family of three sons and four daughters. Thomas Dawson, the father of our subject, was born in Ireland and had not yet reached his fifth year when his father came to America. He worked upon the farm, and having reached manhood married Hannah Connelly, who bore him thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters.
John W. Dawson was reared in the "Key- stone State," where he learned how to farm and secured his education in the common schools. In 1865 he came to Chautauqua county, and set- tled in the town of Ripley, where he secured him a farm and spent the remainder of his life.
He belonged to the Republican party and was a devout member of the Presbyterian church, in the affairs of which he took a lcad- ing part and served as one of its trustees.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
On the 17th day of February, 1841, he united in marriage with Emeline Ross, a daughter of Perrin Ross, who was one of the first settlers of Erie county, Penna. His father was a renowned Revolutionary officer and was killed at the massacre of Wyoming, where Butler and liis hordes of blood-thirsty savages, after defeating the handful of able-bodied defenders at Forty Fort, pursued the fleeing defenceless women and children, and killed and scalped them with- out mercy. Mrs. Dawson's grandmother fled to the woods with her four children where she remained concealed for four days, until Butler and his army had withdrawn from the country. When Perrin Ross came to Erie county, he settled at Colt's Station, near the present town of North East, and remained there nearly all his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married Hannah Utley and reared a family of six sons and six daughters : of these but two sons and two daughters are yet living ; one of the former, Sterling A. Ross, served in the late civil war, and is now living at Jackson, Kan- sas. By his marriage with Emeline Ross Mr. Dawson had the following family : William R., who married Livonia Richardson, and lives at Tidioute, Penna., a merchant, a real estate dealer, oil producer and a general business man. They have had three children : Josephine G .; Bessie, died at the age of six, and Mary R. He entered the civil war in August, 1862, joining Co. H, 121st regiment, Penna. Volun- teers, and served until July, 1865. He was wounded at Gettysburg and was taken prisoner, but soon thereafter was exchanged and then entered the provost marshal's office at Pitts- burg ; Olive E., married Rev. Frederick Fair, a Methodist Episcopal minister located in the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county. They have two children, Hurlburt D. and Arthur R .; Elizabeth J., is the wife of John C. Ster- ling, and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her husband is engaged in the real estate business. Their children are Thayer D., Ruth,
John and Faith ; and Henry T., who married Lulu Smith, and lives at Newark, New Jersey. He is connected with the University Publishing Company, New York, is a graduate of Syracuse University, and has two children : Eva A. and John W.
John W. Dawson was a public-spirited, gen- erous, open-hearted man, and the last years of his life were spent in grape-growing and liglit farming ; he died a Christian.
w ILLIAM E. POWERS, one of the prominent citizens and leading busi- ness men of the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, is the son of William and Achsah (Emerson) Powers, and first saw the light Feb- ruary 6, 1827, in Auburn, New York. His grandfather, John Powers, was a descendant of the early families of that name who came to the rock-bound coast of the New England States for settlement. He, however, was born among the mountains of New Hampshire, after- ward removed to the State of Vermont and there died. Beside himself and wife, his family consisted of six children. Enoch Emerson (maternal grandfather of subject) was more commonly known to his neighbors and chosen friends by the sobriquet of " Deacon Emerson." He was a native and citizen of Vermont, where, among the green mountains of his nativity, a plain marble slab, bearing the inscription " Re- quiescat in pace," marks his last resting place. Deacon Emerson was a man whose life and energies were devoted with a rare sincerity and sacrifice to the interests of the Commonwealth of Vermont. He was nominally a farmer, but the longest and best part of his life was given to the public service. For many years he was a member of the Vermont Legislature and the recognized political leader of his section of the State. Imbued with sincerity, honesty and a controlling desire to promote the general wel- fare of the entire people of the State, he was lield in the highest confidence and respect.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
William Powers (father) was born in Corydon, New Hampshire, where he spent his childhood and youth, amid the natural beauty of the " Granite State." In 1795 he migrated to the State of Vermont, thence to Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, in 1826, and thence to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1833, 'and from thence to Chautauqua county, in 1840, where he died. Politically he was a firm ex- ponent of Democratic principles, and while in Vermont was a member year after year of the State Legislature. His place in the Legislature had been formerly filled by his father-in-law for many years. While a resident of Auburn, New York, Mr. Powers was appointed keeper of the State prison, which position he held until called to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, as archi- teet and builder of the province penitentiary at that place. He was selected as architect and builder by a British commission sent all over the United States to inquire into and investi- gate prison systems. Their inspection of the prison at Auburn and its management, together with a satisfactory examination of certain plans drawn up by Mr. Powers led to his selection. After the completion of the prison he was made warden, which position he held for seven years. In Chautauqua county he occupied himself in agriculture and stoek-raising. Mr. Powers was a man of military bearing and tastes, and at one time (in the State of Vermont) was colonel of a regiment of inilitia. In politics he was a re- publican and strong abolitionist. He was a personal friend of Hon. William H. Seward, Vice-President Fillmore, William L. Marcy, of New York, and ex-Postmaster-General Jacob Collamer, of Vermont. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he held the office of deacon. His first wife, Aehsalı Emer- son, bore him five children, three boys and two girls. His children were: Eunice, dead ; John, died in Buffalo, New York, where he had been distributing superintendent in the post-office for thirty-five years ; William E .; Ellen, dead ;
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