USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92
44
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
seat Chair Company. In 1890, he left their employ, and on May 15, of that year, became a member of the present undertaking and pic- ture-frame firm of Reed & Field. In this line of business, Mr. Field has been attended with his usual good success, and is rapidly building up a fine trade.
On December 21, 1875, Mr. Field united in marriage with Kate A. Parsons, daughter of Dr. A. B. Parsons. To their union has been born one child, a daughter, named Lilla K., born December 29, 1876.
He is a democrat in political opinion, and a sylvania, and other Western States. He died member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was Worship- ful Master, in 1885. He is a charter member, and was the first treasurer of Jamestown Com- mandery, No. 61, Knights Templar, which was organized in 1887.
DI E WITT CLINTON BREED came from a good old Puritan family. The first and only man by the name of Breed (or Bred, as it was then spelled) known to have come to America was Allen Breed, who emigrated from England in 1630 with John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, who, with eleven vessels, landed in Salem, Mass., only a decade later than the landing of the Pilgrims. Mr. Breed settled in Lynn, Mass., a few miles from Boston, which is now one of the largest shoe manufacturing citics in the world. In Salem he had married Elizabeth Knight, and four sons resulted from this union : Allen, Timothy, Joseph and John. Allen, Sr., received a grant of land comprising two hundred acres, which is situated in what is now the north side of the city, and is known as " Breed's End." His family multiplied greatly upon the face of the earth, and a little over two centuries from the time he landed in Salem (1839), there were two hundred and forty-three persons named Breed residing in Lynn, and it is a fact that one of the family arose in his seat in Representative Hall, in the State House in
Boston, a few years ago, and, with a twinkle in his eye, gravely moved that the city be re-chris- tened Breedville. The name was formerly spelled Bread, occasionally Breade, sometimes Bred, and, back in the sixteenth century, Le Bred. During the reign of Canute, of the Saxon heptarchy, in 1100, a Breed family left Germany and settled in Sussex county, England, and the place of settlement is still known as the town of Breed. Allen Breed's son, Allen, had a son named John, who is the ancestor of nearly all the Breeds who settled in New York, Penn- March 17, 1791, aged ninety. John Breed married for his first wife Mary Kirtland. They had one daughter. John's second wife was Mary Palmer, and she bore him six daughters and four sons. One of the sons, John, married Mary Prentice, and to them were born six daughters and three sons. One of the sons, Nathan (great-grandfather of De Witt C.), was born December 13, 1731, in Stonington, Conn. He married Lucy Babcock, of Stonington, and by her had four daughters and five sons. One of the sons, Thomas, was the grandfather of De Witt C. He was born January 3, 1764, in Stonington, and married Elizabeth Clements, settling in Saratoga, N. Y., on the farm famous as the place of the surrender of Gen. John Bur- goyne during the war of the Revolution. He died in 1826, leaving a family of seven sons and five daughters. One of the sons was Wil- liam, father of De Witt C., and he was born December 24, 1795, on the farm in Saratoga. The maternal grandfather of De Witt C., Solomon Jones, was born in Wadsburg, Ver- mont, and emigrated to Chautauqua county about 1810, locating near Stillwater, where he purchased a large farm, now known as "the old Jones Farm." He afterwards moved to Jamestown, and engaged in hotel-keeping for several years, and served as justice of the peace, in those days a much more important and honorable office than in these latter times.
1
6.6 Weeks
47
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Politically he was an old-line whig, and in reli- gion a member of the Congregational church. He married Clarissa Howard, and had fourteen children, all living to maturity except one, who died in infancy. . The father of De Witt C. emigrated to Pittsburg, Pa., and from thence removed to Jamestown, where he married Clara Jones, and engaged in the furniture and ear- pentering business. At this time (1823) James- town was a very small village. Politically he was a whig, and later was the only abolitionist in Jamestown. When the Republican party was organized, in Fremont and Dayton's time, he affiliated with it, and voted that ticket. the . rest of his life. For several years he was cap- tain of the Lightfoot Infantry of Jamestown. He was an active and prominent member of the Baptist church. By his marriage he had one son and three daughters.
De Witt Clinton Breed was born in James- town, September 20, 1826. De Witt Clinton Breed was educated in the common schools of Jamestown, and afterward made himself prac- tically and thoroughly acquainted with every detail of furniture manufacturing, and took the business of his father, which he has most suc- cessfully managed to the present time (1891). He makes specialtics of chamber suits, side- boards and book-cases, and employs seventy men, besides a half dozen traveling salesmen. In politics he is a republican, having come from the Whig party. He is a member of the Bap- tist church, of which he is one of the deacons. An honorable, successful business man and a respected citizen, he occupies an enviable posi- tion in the community in which he resides,
De Witt C. Breed married for his first wife Incy A. Aldrich, of Kiantone, by whom he had four children : Clara I., who married John Aldrich, a retail furniture dealer of Jamestown; George W., married and resides in Denver,; Colorado ; Anna L., married to Albert A. Moore, a merchant at Rockwell, Iowa; Ida May, mar- ried William A. Young, an insurance agent in
Jamestown, and book-keeper. For his second wife he married Mrs. Mary L. Haughwout, of New York city, widow of Rev. B. P. Haugh- wont, a noted Baptist minister of Fall River, Mass., where he occupied a pulpit for fifteen years.
C HARLES E. WEEKS, an active business man and a popular democrat of James- town, was born at Blossburg, Tioga county, Pa., December 3, 1834, and is a son of James and Betsy (Jennings) Weeks. His paternal grand- father, Samuel Wecks, who was of English extraction, was a resident for many years of Vermont and New York. His son, James Weeks, the father of Charles E. Weeks, followed wool-carding for several years in the " Keystone State," at the end of which time he removed to New York, where he settled in Orleans county. and lived a retired life until his death in 1847, at fifty-six years of age. He was a democrat in politics, married Betsy Jennings, and reared a family of four sons and three daughters :. Mary, Walter J., engaged in the grocery business on the corner of Pine and Second Streets, James- town ; Andrew J., a real estate agent of the same city ; Charles E., Eliza, Laura and Henry, who is in the grocery business in Jamestown with his brother, Walter J.
Charles E. Weeks, although born in Penn- sylvania, yet was reared principally in New York, where he was educated at Albion academy. At the end of his schooldays lie determined upon a business career, and in 1856 became a merchant at Ellington, this county, where he remained two years. He then came to Jamestown, which he has made his permanent residence and place of business until the present time. The principal lines of business to which he has devoted his attention since becoming a resident of Jamestown have been real estate, groceries and manufactur- ing. His many real estate transactions and his large grocery trade are evidences of his business ability and adaptability to commercial pur- suits.
48
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
On December 8, 1856, he married Eunice Wood worth, daughter of Erastus C. Woodworth, a native of Orleans county and resident of Ell- ington, now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Weeks have been born four children, three sons and one daughter : Francis (died in infancy), James L., Bertha E. and Charles E., Jr. James L. completed a high school course, read law, was graduated from Albany law school, and married Clara C. Kingsbury, of Westfield. He then formed a partnership with his former legal pre- ceptors, Bootey and Fowler, under the firm name of Bootey, Fowler & Weeks, and did the demo- cratic party good service as a public speaker in the presidential campaigns of 1884 and 1888 by stumping the counties of Chautauqua and Catta- rangus. Bertha E. is a student at Wells college, New York; and Charles E., Jr., is engaged in the real estate business with his father.
As a democrat Mr. Weeks has always held firm to the time-honored and cardinal principles of his party, whose standard-bearers have never failed to receive his earnest support. In July, 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland as postmaster of Jamestown, and served with satisfaction to the citizens of the city during his term of four years and eight months. He also served his city as a member of the school board and board of trustees. He was nomi- nated by his party in 1881 as one of their candi- dates for assembly, and notwithstanding the county was republican that year by a majority of twenty-five hundred, yet he lacked but four hundred votes of being elected, and carried his own city by four hundred and twenty-five majority. Owing to his popularity he was made the democratic nomince, in 1882, for State Senator in the Twenty-second district, composed of the counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua, and although unsuccessful, yet ran far ahead of his ticket in the former as well as in the latter county, where he not only received his large vote of 1881, but almost succeeded in carrying Jamestown, which is one of the . republican
strongholds of western New York. Charles E. Weeks is a prominent representative of the real estate business of Jamestown, which has been commensurable in its increase with the other industries of the city.
N ATHAN D. LEWIS, a member of the Chau- tauqua county bar and an active prohibi- tionist of Jamestown, was born at West Win- field, Herkimer county, New York, February 15, 1842, and is a son of Nathan and Mary (Benjamin) Lewis. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Lewis, was of New England ancestry, and died in Connecticut, where he married a Miss Richmond, who lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and one years. His mater- nal grandfather, Jesse Benjamin, served in wars of the Revolution and of 1812. He served as a musician at Valley Forge and Monmouth, and after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, married a Miss Bunn, by whom he had thirteen children. He was a native of New York and died in Jefferson county, that State, when nine- ty-three years of age. Nathan Lewis, the father of Nathan D. Lewis, was born in Connecticut, where his father died when he was quite small, and the young man was reared by his uncle. In early life he owned and operated a foundry at Clayville, N. Y. In 1859 he came to the northern part of the town of Harmony, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated until his death, in 1881, at seventy-nine years of age. He was a member of the Baptist church and voted the democratic ticket until 1844, after which year, he supported the Abolition and Republican parties. He married Mary Benja- min, and reared a family of four sons and two daughters. Two of these sons, Charles C., and Fernando C., served in the Union Army during the late war, in which the former was a corporal in the 112th New York, and the latter was for two years a member of the 21st New York regiment.
Nathan D. Lewis received his education at
RESIDENCE OF MILTON E. BEEBE, FREDONIA.
-
51
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Arcade academy, in Wyoming county, N. Y. He commenced the study of law at Arcade in 1862, but having to make his own way in life he learned dentistry the next year and by fol- lowing that profession acquired means enough to complete his academic course, and to prose- cute his legal studies. He read law with J. L. White, of Jamestown, was admitted to practice in the United States District and Circuit courts of western New York, in July, 1882, and has made a specialty of bankruptcy cases.
On December 28, 1873, he united in marriage with Emily Pelton, who is now the matron of the W. C. A. Hospital, Jamestown, N. Y.
N. D. Lewis is a member of the Baptist church and a prohibitionist in politics. He has been active in the work of his party, whose vote materially increased in Chautauqua county while he served as secretary of the County Pro- hibition Committee (1884-88), and in 1885 when he was the nominee of his party he re- ceived a large vote and carried the town of Villenova. In 1885 he commenced the publi- cation of a monthly prohibition paper called The Agitator, which lic changed during the next year toa weekly sheet. In 1889 he retired from its publication, and assumed charge of the temper- ance department of the Chautauqua Democrat. He is a member of Brooklyn Lodge, No. 416, Independent Order of Good Templars, in which organization he is a lodge deputy and county deputy for Chautauqua county.
V ICTOR HOLMES. In the great cause of temperance each locality has its advocate who stands out prominently as the champion glad- iator of the forces arrayed against the Bacchanalian devotees. Prominently identified with the tem- pcrance cause through the third party move- ment is Victor Holmes, a son of Jens and Elizabeth M. (Alling) Holmes, who was born in Denmark, February 18, 1850. His grand- father, Jens Holmes, was a native of Denmark, where he was born, reared and died, his life
profession being school teaching. He was con- nected with the State church in the latter ca- pacity, and was a man of extraordinary cduca- tion. He married a daughter of Bishop Chris- tian Trause, a renowned ecclesiastical scholar and a divine of great power. Mr. Holmes was well read upon law points, and was in demand by the people of his locality as a drawer of legal documents. He married and had cight children, one of the daughters, Angnethe, being the mother of Lucianus Kofod, who became re- nowned in Danish politics and the army. He served as a member of the Reichstag and is now an officer in the Danish Army. The maternal grandfather, Mongesp Alling, also lived and died in Denmark. He was a farmer and ship- per, and reared a family of eight children. Jens Holmes was born in Denmark, March 31, 1819, where he still resides. For many years he conducted a mercantile business, but some time since retired and is now living at Ronne, Denmark. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and has been twice married : first to Elizabeth M. Alling, who died in 1878, aged sixty-two years. She was the mother of six children, three of whom are in Jamestown : a son, M. C., is an awning manufacturer in this city ; and a daughter, Betty, was married to Christian Gronberg, who is deceased ; and Victor. Two sons, Peter and Valdemar, are living in Denmark, engaged in the mercantile business.
Victor Holmes was educated in the schools of the Fatherland and came to America in 1873, locating at Jamestown, where he has since lived, engaged in the sign painting and lettering busi- ness. He carries a stock of paints and a fine line of artists' materials, which is conducted in connection with his manual profession.
He married Fannic A. Crumb, of Union City, Pa., April 22, 1875, and they have had three children : Victoria F., V. Frank and V. Elucy, who died in infancy.
Victor Holmes is a member of the Presby-
52
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
terian church, in which he is a deacon. He is a member of Samaritan Lodge, No. 376, I. Q. of G. T., of New York, and is an active supporter of the Prohibition party. His connection with the Temperance society is one of responsibility, and it is largely due to his energetic work that the cause has met with its success in this sec- tion. He attended the State convention held at Syracuse, and the Supreme Lodge on three different occasions at Saratoga and in 1889 at Chicago. Through Mr. Holmes' efforts, a German Grand Lodge, in Germany, was organ- ized. The society numbers over 700,000 in the world. In addition to these societies, Mr. Holmes belongs to Ellicott Lodge, I. O. O. F., in which he is secretary, and is a member of, director and vice-president in the Scandinavian Loan & Building Association, which was formed in Jamestown in 1890. The society is a strong one, numbering a large percentage of the 6000 Scandinavian population of Jamestown in its membership.
S YLVESTER S. CADY is one of James- town's old residents, having begun mer- chandising here in 1844. He was born in Chatham, Columbia county, New York, near the Massachusetts line, June 8, 1817, and is a son of Sylvester and Abigail (Adams) Cady. His grandfather, Aaron Cady, came of English stock and was related to Judge Danicl Cady, an eminent jurist of Albany, this State. In politics he was identified with the old-line whigs. Sylvester Cady was a native of Chat- ham, this State, where he was born March 25, 1777. He spent his early life on a farm, and in 1845 removed to Kiantone, this county, still pursuing farming as a means of procuring a livelihood. In 1805 he married Abigail Adams and reared a family of eight children, all of whom are dead excepting Sylvester S., and one daughter, Mariah, who married Ebenezer Cha- pin, a farmer, (now dead) and she lives in Cali- fornia. The names of the others were: Sappro-
nia, who died in Iowa; Louisa, Ichabod, Ann Adelia and Clarissa. In life Mr. Cady was a whig and died on his farm at Kiantone, in 1850.
Sylvester S. Cady, as will be seen, comes of good stock ; originally from the English, he is thoroughly American. Hc attended the "Dees- trict" schools, two miles from home, and secured such knowledge as was usually taught there. He was brought up under the old regime of farming, by main strength, no foolish machin- ery about it, consequently, by over-work his health failed, and he was sent to Georgia with the prospect of dying with consumption ; but the climate and favorable treatment restored him to good health, and after two years returned, just after his brother's death in Canaan, N. Y. In 1844 we find him in the grocery business at Jamestown, in which he was engaged without intermission until 1873, when he began to de- vote his attention to buying and shipping but- ter, continuing in this work for about twelve years, when he retired from active business and has since been enjoying a quiet life, the reward of work well donc. It must also be mentioned that Mr. Cady was the first resident insurance agent located at Jamestown.
On the 1st day of October, 1847, he united in marriage with Ann Eliza Vanderburg, a daughter of Martin Vanderburg, and had one daughter, Mary E, now dead, who married Willis Tew, for some time a banker and now vice-president of the City National Bank, of Jamestown ; and a son Jay, who is living in New York City.
Having lived here uninterruptedly for more than forty-five years, Mr. Cady has had oppor- tunities of observing Jamestown's growth, as have had few others of her citizens. From a country village, he has seen her advance to a magnificent city ; from comparative insignifi- cance, to her present proud eminence among the sisterhood of cities. A republican in politics, he is also an active and honored member of
.
Gro. W. Patterson
55
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and .A. M., became the mother of six children : Mary J. with which he has been connected for many (deceased); Maria (deceased), wife of Alexander years, and is now enjoying the evening of life with his companion of so many years, at the beautiful home of their son-in-law, Mr. Tew, No. 204 West Fifth street.
ENRY R. BARROWS, a representative of one of the old and most respected families of Chautauqua county, is a son of Levi and Abigail Putnam (Ransom) Barrows, and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York, January 20, 1836. His grandfather was Abner Barrows, who was a native of the Green Mountain State, from which he came to this State and located near Saratoga Springs, where he farmed until his death. One of his sons was Levi Barrows, who became the father of our subject. He was born at Luzerne, N. Y., . on March 26, 1804, and came to Stockton, this county, in 1832. He remained at the latter place only about one year, and then removed to Jamestown, where he resided until his death, which occurred March 10, 1863. At the latter place he entered into partnership with a Mr. Scott, the firm being engaged in the manufacture of sash, blinds, doors, etc. They also owned and conducted several farms in adjoining towns at the same time. Politically he was originally a democrat, but when the slavery question arose he transferred his sympathies to the abolitionists, and was one of the most energetic stockholders in the underground railroad which ran through this county. Later he belonged to the republican party. He was popular in his town, and for several years held the office of justice of the peacc. Up to 1861 he was active in the man- agement of his business, but advancing years coming upon him, he transferred his business to his sons, Henry R. and Ransom J., who con- tinued it. Mr. Barrows was a deacon in the Presbyterian church to which he was attached for many years. In 1828 he married for his first wife Mrs. Abigail Putnam (Ransom), wlio
Hawley, who comes from one of the oldest families in Chautauqua county ; Ransom J .; Sallie (dead) ; Henry R., and Orton, who died young. His first wife died in 1846, and he then married Sallie Canfield, in 1847, by whom he had three children : Halbert A., resides in Jamestown ; Herbert L., lives in California, and Antoinette (dead). He was on the charter of the original Masonic Lodge instituted in James- town, and took an active part in its history.
Henry R. Barrows was reared in the city of Jamestown, and acquired an education fitting him to succeed his father in business, which he did when twenty-five years of age, in connection with his brother, Ransom J., their association lasting twelve years.
In 1857 Henry R. Barrows married Lucy A. Ross, an estimable woman of Jamestown, and their union has been blest with three children : Abbie, died young; Kittie, wife of Henry C. Hitchcock, a prominent manager of a wholesale furniture house in Pittsburgh, Pa .; and Maude (dead).
When the great strife caused our martyred president to call on the States for troops, Henry R. Barrows enlisted July 29, 1862, in Co. A, 112th regiment, N. Y. infantry, as a private. He soon received promotion to second lieutenant, and before being mustered out, on November 26, 1863, was advanced to first lieutenant. Most of his term of service was spent at or near Suffolk, Va., and he was three times sun-struck, which forced him to resign. Since the war, Mr. Barrows has been engaged as a carpenter and joiner. He is a republican, and a member of James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R.
H ON. GEORGE WASHINGTON PAT- TERSON, speaker of the House, lieu- tenant-governor and congressman, was born at Londonderry, New Hampshire, November 11, 1799, and died at his home in Westfield, Octo-
56
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ber 15, 1879. He was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wallace) Patterson, and the grand- son of Peter and Grisel (Wilson) Patterson, of Londonderry, N. H. Peter Patterson, in 1737, emigrated from Bush Mills, county Antrim, Ireland, to Londonderry, N. H., and was the great-grandson of John Patterson, who came from Argyleshire, Scotland, in about 1612, with a colony of Scotch emigrants. Hel and his family were at the siege of Derry where one of his sons died from starvation. The homestead, at Bush Mills, of John Patterson, passed from father to son for six generations. Many of his descendants of the third and fourth generations came to America with the Scotch-Irish emigrations. Gov. Patterson's paternal ancestors were farmers, linen-weavers and dealers, holding prominent local positions. They were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, strong in body and mind and able to defend them- selves in their opinions. Gov. Patterson was a ready speaker and writer, with a wonderful memory of facts and datcs, full of anecdotes, ever cheerful, hoping and looking for the right to succeed. He was of commanding presence, a fine parliamentarian, a particularly good pre- siding officer, which position he held two years as speaker of the Assembly and two years as president of the Senate of New York. As a speaker at political campaign meet- ings, his services were always in demand. Among the legislative measures originated by him was the free banking law of New York, the original bill of which he drew, and which afterward became a law. The main provisions of the free banking laws of the United States, giving the people a secured cur- rency under governmental supervision, were taken from the New York law. He closed his congressional term in his eightieth year, the year of his death. In politics he was a whig and a republican. In business he was successful. Thurlow Weed, his political and personal friend for over half a century, the eminent journalist
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.