USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 50
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
419
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
daughter of John Honse, who came from Rhode Island in 1816. She is an annt to Cyrus House, whose biography appcars under the head of Westfield town. She was born in Homer, Cortland county, New York and had the distinction of being the first female child to appear there. She died in 1864, aged seventy years. Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey raised a family consisting of eight children, three sons and five daughters.
Andrew Kelsey, Jr., gained his practical education on the farm and his theoretical knowledge in the common school. Farming has been his life-long avocation and to-day he owns seventy-one acres of as fine land as may be found within three miles of Westfield. Grape- growing is his delight aud he now cultivates a fine vineyard. Mr. Kelsey never married. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and fills the office of trustee and class leader.
He belongs to the Grange Society and is a member of the Prohibition party, being en- trenched in his convictions that they are right. He is a courteous gentleman, though he does not impose his ideas upon those who do not choose to hear them. At home he is pleasant and hospitable and has the regard and esteem of a large circle of friends.
SCAR L. PORTER, proprietor of one of the leading general merchandise stores in Brocton, is a son of John N. and Nancy M. (La Bar) Porter, and was born in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, An- gust 26, 1853. His grandfather, Roland Porter, was a native of Oneida county, but came to Chautauqua county in 1819, and began to farm in the town of Pomfret. He was of Plymouth Rock extraction, (the first of his name coming to America and settling in Con- necticut about 1785). He died in 1818, aged eighty-five years. He married Eliza Shepard and had four children, one of whom was John
N. Porter (father), who was born in Chantau- qua connty in 1825. When his father came to this connty in 1819, he with him worked upon the farm for a while. In 1852 he removed to the town of Portland, where he still lives, and engaged in farming and the growing of grapes. In 1851, he married Nancy M. La Bar, a native of Oneida county, who is still living, aged sixty-one years. They had three children. Mr. Porter is a Jacksonian democrat and is held in high esteem in his community, by his own party as well as the republicans, and has filled the offices of justice of the peace and auditor of the town board.
Oscar L. Porter was reared in Portland and received his education at the public schools and at the Fredonia Normal school and Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He secured a position as clerk with several firms, in general merchandising at Fredonia, where he remained four years. From Fredonia he came to Brocton and re-engaged as a clerk, this time with C. S. Ogden, in the same line of busi- ness, where he remained until 1887, when he saw that there was an opening in Brocton for another first-class general store, and embarked in that business on his own account. Mr. Porter is a sagacious business man and en- deavors to keep everything that his patrons may desire. He carries a large stock of the best goods and enjoys a good trade. A matter, too, in which he takes pardonable pride is that he has the confidence of his patrons. He car- ries everything usually found in a general store. Groceries, dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, hats, wall-paper and carpets.
In 1877, Mr. Porter married Lilian C. Ogden, of Brocton, and has three children : Edna A., Nettic A. and Ada M.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and belongs to the Royal Templars of Temperance. Politically Mr. Porter is a repub- lican and takes decp interest in the politics of his section.
420
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
O SCAR F. PRICE, the present efficient mayor of the city of Jamestown, New York, is a sou of Addison A. aud Charlotte A. (Green) Price, and was born in that city, Sep- tember 11, 1840. The Price family have been citizens of the new world for more than a cen- tury and a half. Our subject's great-grand- father, Stephen Price, was born in the State of New Jersey, December 28, 1758. He received a classical education and pursued the profession of school teaching nearly all his life; in this capacity he weut to the town of Homer, New York, and died there on the first day of June, 1831. He purchased a farm at the latter place and the property remained in the family for a great many years. When America had her first struggle with England his patriotism im- pelled hin to enlist in the colonial army, where he remained for seven years, serving until the close of the war. He married Elizabeth Hall, and reared a family of eight sons and five daugh- ters ; several of the former were engaged in our second war with the mother country. His father's maternal grandfather, Abraham Neff, was a native of Holland, born October 18, 1772. He came to America and settled in Cortland county, New York, where he married Eunice Beckwith and reared a large family. Charles Price, the paterual grandfather, was born in Clarendon, Morris county, New Jersey, April 20, 1786, and moved to Cortland county, this State, in 1817. Seven years later he came to Chautauqua county and settled in the town of Portland. In 1828 he moved to the town of Chautauqua, and in 1851 came to James- town, where he resided until his death, which occurred November 20, 1868. When a young man he followed farming, but later in life pur- sued carpenter work. Charles Price was first a democrat, then a whig and finally a republi- can. For twenty years he was a member of the Baptist church. He married Mary Neff, who was born October 18, 1792, and died No- vember 4, 1883. She bore him twelve chil-
dren, of whom Addison A., subject's father, was the secoud child and the eldest son.
Addison A. Price, who is now a prominent and respected citizen of Jamestown, was born in Cortland county, New York, June 26, 1814. He learned to be a carpenter, and came to Jamestown iu 1839, where he has been one of our most active builders ever since. In 1866 he built the residence which he now occupies. He married Charlotte A. Green, a daughter of David Green, of the town of Chautauqua. Their union was blessed with six children, the oldest being Oscar F. Mrs. Charlotte A. Price died some years ago. Addison A. Price erected many of the fine buildings in this city.
Oscar F. Price spent his boyhood days in Jamestown and was educated in the common schools and at the academy of this city. He read law with Smith & Lakin for a time, but has given most of his attention to real estate transactions. He has been one of the largest house-builders in the city, and during the last twenty years has erected upwards of one hun- dred and fifty and sold them upon easy terms ; many of the people of Jamestown, who now own homes, secured them from Mr. Price, and upon terms so favorable that the cost was but little more than the paying of rent.
In November, 1875, he united in marriage with Lizzie H. Osborn, a daughter of Benjamin H. Osboru, of Butler, Pennsylvania. His family consists of a wife and one daughter, Louise O., a young lady eleven years of age. He lives in his comfortable residence at the corner of Main and Sixth streets. Politically Mr. Price is a republican, and has been un- wavering in his fealty to that party since his boyhood days. Oscar F. Price has been for a number of years prominently identified with the official history of Jamestown. He was a member of the village board of trustees, serving in 1882-83 as its president. About this time he was elected for two successive terms as mem- ber of the State assembly, and when the city
John a. Waterhouse. M.S.
423
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
charter was granted, in 1886, he was chosen as the first mayor, and has been twice re-elected for the term of two years. Recognizing the demand for an economical city government, which was conspicuous in the charter drawn by the citizens, Mayor Price has not sought for a brilliant administration, being content to con- duct the affairs of the city along the lines laid down by the framers of the law. He has so far succeeded in this that a small indebtedness left to the city by the old village of Jamestown has been paid off, and at the date of his last annual message, in May, 1891, the city was out of debt. In answer to a decided public senti- ment he rendered important service in helping to secure several amendments to the fundamen- tal law of the city which has enabled the mu- nicipality to put in an electric lighting plant. While Mayor Price has favored all public im- provements he has been careful not to crowd them upon the people in advance of public sen- timent, and this intelligent conservatismn has inspired the public with the utmost confidence, and it is to this fact, largely, that is due to-day the strong sentiment in favor of other improve- ments. Those who had conceived the idea that a municipal administration was essentially ex- travagant have been forced to concede the con- trary, and they are ready to-day to follow the suggestions of Mr. Price in respect to public ne- cessities. He is modest, quiet and unassuming, but he has played an important part in the his- tory of Jamestown's most rapid advancement, and has always stood ready to aid and encour- age all lines of private industries. It is con- ceded that there is no man more popular before the people in the city. He has probably erected more houses and done more to give Jamestown the name of "the city of homes" than any one man in Chautauqua county, and it is said of him that he never foreclosed upon a single individual except for the purpose of perfecting a title.
JOHN A. WATERHOUSE, M.D., a suc-
cessful physician not now in active prac- tice and one of the progressive, enterprising citizens of Fredonia, was born at Pittsfield, Warren county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1854, and is a son of Russell and Laura (Ford) Waterhouse. Russell Waterhouse comes of English-Quaker stock and is a cousin of Com- modore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero ot Lake Erie. He is a native of New York, which he left in 1839 to become one of the pioneer lumbermen of Warren county, Pa., where he was continuously and successfully engaged in business until 1888, when he re- moved to Fredonia. He married Laura Ford, who is a native of Pennsylvania, and their three sons are physicians. Their children are: Dr. H. M., of Dunkirk; Drs. Thomas W. and John A., of Fredonia ; and Maud, wife of Rush Abbott, a prominent and leading lawyer of Tiffin, Ohio.
John A. Waterhouse received his education principally at the Fredonia Normal school and from 1870 to 1874 was engaged in teaching in the public schools of New York and Pennsyl- vania. In 1874 he went to Portage, Wiscon- sin, where he commenced the study of medicine with his unele, Dr. Marvin Waterhouse. After completing the required course of reading he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1879. Immediately after graduation he estab- lished himself at Bay City, Michigan, where he conducted a good practice until 1884, when he removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a wider field for the practice of his profession, but at the elose of one year on account of ill health, left a finely established practice to come to Fredonia. He soon grew into a good prac- tice but on account of ill health he was com- pelled to retire from the active pursuit of his chosen profession. While at Bay City he founded the Amcriean Hospital Company whose object was to provide houses and proper care
22
424
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
for the lumber workers in Michigan, Wiscon- sin and Minnesota and did one hundred thou- sand dollars worth of business in 1882. Dr. Waterhouse is a republican in politics.
On June 4, 1879, he married, in Detroit, Michigan, Rose Kimball, daughter of Edward Kimball, of Puritan stock and a native of Fredonia. Their union has been blessed with three children : John, Edward and Rose.
For the last four years Dr. Waterhouse has been engaged in the oil business in Pennsylva- nia where he now owns eight thousand acres of oil land which is nearly all developed and which yields an annual income of about forty thousand dollars. The magnitude of the im- portant business in which he is a successful operator is scarcely realized by the public, although many millions of capital are invested in the development of these oil fields whose wells produce yearly hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil. Two years ago Dr. Waterhouse erected his present neat, tasteful and convenient residence, on Central avenue, where he and Mrs. Waterhouse are always happy to welcome their many friends.
JOHN MADIGAN, a prominent lumber dealer of Dunkirk, New York, and at present Collector of Customs for the Port of Dunkirk, is a native of County Limerick, Ire- land, a son of Dennis and Hannah (Cusick) Madigan, and was born June 25, 1829. Den- nis Madigan and his ancestors for generations were natives of County Limerick, Ireland.
John Madigan was reared in Rathkeale, County Limerick, remaining there until attain- ing eighteen years of age and receiving such education as the schools permitted.
He is a life-long democrat. His present office of Collector of Customs was given him by President Cleveland, August 18, 1887.
In February, 1859, Mr. Madigan married Margaret Miers, a native of County Clare, Ireland, and they have five living children, all
sons : John T., Dennis F., Edward, Wil- liam J., and James W., all living at home.
John Madigan is a member of the Catholic church ; and starting as he did, without capital and almost friendless in a strange country, has achieved a successful sunset to an honorable career.
S AMUEL GRIFFITH is one of the substan- tial, intelligent and enterprising citizens of the town of Ellington. His parents, Sam- uel and Nancy (Lewis) Griffith, at the time of his birth, March 23, 1808, were residents of Madison county, New York. Samuel Griffith (father) was a native of Rensselaer county, New York, and was born in the same year that his country became a free and independent na- tion, 1776. His career was marked by a series of removals and residences. In 1800 he be- came a citizen of Madison county and from thence removed to Chautauqua county and loca- ted in what is now the town of Busti, but at that time an undivided expanse of territory.
Here he took up land and continued to re- side for thirteen years, at the expiration of which, he again changed his residence to the town of Ellery, and in 1853 removed to Gerry, where he died in 1855, at the age of eighty years. Samuel Griffith was a farmer of indus- try and honesty; during the existence of the Whig party he cast his support in its behalf, but when the Republican party was given birth, he allied himself with that party. The Grif- fiths on the paternal side are of Welsh descent, while the wife of Samuel Griffith was of New England birth and education; she died in 1860 at the age of eighty-four years.
Samuel Griffith was reared upon his father's farm in Chautauqua county, where he also at- tended school, receiving a fair common school education. Upon leaving school he was ap- prenticed to a mill-wright, learned that trade, and continued to work at it for ten years. About this time he turned his attention to
RESIDENCE OF DR. J. A. WATERHOUSE, FREDONIA.
-
427
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
farming, which he has continued most of the time since. In 1861, subject moved from Ger- ry to Ellington, where he now lives in practical retirement.
On February 15, 1841, Mr. Griffith was joined in marriage to Miss Eliza Pardee, a daughter of Augustus Pardee, formerly.a resi- dent of Montgomery county, New York. They are the parents of three children, all daughters : Emily, Adelaide and Elsie. The daughters are still living and married.
He belongs to the Grangers and has been a life-long supporter of the Republican cause. In the matter of dealing out offices, he has re- ceived his share as well, having served as super- visor for a period of six years in the towns of Ellington and Gerry. Mr. Griffith is an excep- tionally well preserved man for his age, which to a great extent must be attributed to the non- use of tobacco in any form. He, however, be- longs to a family remarkable for longevity, having one sister ninety-one years of age and three others whose ages will average about eighty years. Mr. Griffith has an unusual memory in connection with his past experiences and incidents of early life. He has been a careful and continual reader of local and tradi- tional history, as well as of contemporaneous occurrences and issues, and in these respects possesses a fund of information of rare value and detail.
J. FRANK SCOTT, an enterprising mer- chant in the village of Portland, is a son of William H. and Sarah (Beck) Scott, and was born in the town of Gerry, Chautauqua county, New York, April 6, 1860. He comes from an old Scotch family, his grandfather, Rev. John Scott, having come to America from that country in 1818. Rev. Jolin Scott was born in 1793. He was educated for the minis- try and was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal church. Upon his arrival in the new world hc came to Chautauqua county and had a large
circuit. He died in 1861, aged sixty-eight years. William H. Scott was born in the town of Chautauqua, in 1833, where lie lived for many years, but now makes his home in the town of Gerry where he is a farmer. Since the organization of the board of trade at Sinclair- ville in 1881, he has been its president. Mr. Scott identifies himself with the Republican party and has been a supervisor of the town of Gerry three terms. In 1856 he married Sarah Beck, a native of Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Jolin Beck and was born in 1836. She is a pleasant unassuming lady and a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Scott were blessed with four children, two sons and two daughters.
J. Frank Scott was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools. He followed agriculture until 1878 and then engaged as a general clerk in a store which employed him for several years. 1883-84 was spent in Ten- ncssee where he was lumbering, and in April, 1889, he embarked in the general mercantile business at Portland, which he is still follow- ing under the firm name of J. Frank Scott & Co. They have a large general stock and en- joy a good trade.
In December, 1878, Mr. Scott married Cora Phillips, a daughter of A. J. Phillips, of Cat- taraugus county, this State, and they have one child: Bessie F., born in 1880.
J. F. Scott is a republican, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Brocton Lodge, No. 284, and, with his wife, is connected with the Equit- able Aid Union. He is a bright business man, progressive, public-spirited and popular.
AMOS T. MEAD, JR., is one of those farmers in Portland town who by energy, industry and frugality has become enabled to enjoy the sunset of life with pleasure and has no apprehension for the morrow. He is a son of Amos T. and Ann (Purdy) Mcad, and was born in the town of Marcellus, Onondaga
428
BIOGRAPHIY AND HISTORY
county, New York, September 10, 1823. Amos Mcad (grandfather) was a native of Dutchess county, this State, where he was born in 1760. He moved to Chenango county in 1790, and about 1820 or '22 he went to Onondaga county, where he died in 1827. The family is of French extraction. While living in Che- nango county his son, Amos T. Mead (father) was born in the town of Norwich in 1792. In 1822 the latter moved to Onondaga county ; eight years later he removed to Aurora, Erie county, and in 1836 he came to Chautauqua county. He arrived at Ellery the day the land office was destroyed. Amos T. Mead remained in this county until 1845, when he removed to Versailles, Cattaraugus county, where he died in 1865. Farming had its charms for him and he always followed it. Politically Mr. Mead was a whig and served in the American army during the second war with the mother country. He married Ann Purdy in 1818. She was a native of Wyoming county, Pa., a member of the Baptist church and died in La Porte, Ind., in 1873. Her father was Stephen Purdy (maternal grandfather), who came from Pennsyl- vania to Chenango county, this State. He was a Revolutionary soldier and spent his last years farming in Chenango county, N. Y., and died March 27, 1812, aged 61 years. He married Mary Pellett in 1792. She was at Forty Fort during the frightful Wyoming massacre and joined in the flight with the rest of the terror- stricken people when their men were defeated by the Tories and blood-thirsty Indian allies under Butler. Mrs. Mead now has part of a wedding dress which has been in the family over nine generations. It was buried July 4, 1778, the day of the massacre at Wyoming, Pa., lay there seven years and has been handed down from parent to child for three hundred years, nearly two hundred before the incident mentioned above. They have been the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters.
Amos T. Mead, Jr., came to Chautauqua
county in 1836; was brought up on the farm and secured his education at the public schools, supplemented by a course at the Fredonia academy. After leaving school he entered the office of the Mayville Sentinel in 1843. From there he went to the Erie Observer and then to the Buffalo Express, following the business for about twenty years. In the fall of 1847 Mr. Mead began the publication of the Con- neautville Courier, in Crawford county, Pa., which he conducted for one year. It started with good health and a strong constitution and continues to run with the same name and in- creased influence. In 1864 Mr. Mead moved on to his farin, which is located one mile from the village of Portland, where he now resides and is engaged in the culture of grapes.
May 1, 1848, he was united in marriage with Achsa Buel, a daughter of John B. Buel, of Mayville, and they have been blessed with six children, three sons and three daughters : Addie M., wife of Robert Burhans, who resides in Portland ; Charles A., who also resides in Portland and is married to Minnie E. Hipwell; Will B., too, resides in this town and married Ella M. Williams ; and Nettie I. The oldest child died Dec. 27, 1850, aged 20 months; the youngest child died Sept. 2, 1888, aged 22 years.
Amos T. Mead, Jr., is a democrat and has filled a number of the chairs of the town execu- tives, notable, conrt-crier and constable. He takes an active interest in politics and is a member of the Equitable Aid Union and the Farmers' Alliance. He is an active, energetic man and has several times been a delegate to the county convention.
W ILL M. ROOT. The dairy business in connection with farming has assumed mammoth proportions in western New York, and Chautauqua county in particular has be- come noted for its dairy products. Among the leading producers of this class in the town of
429
OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Busti is Will M. Root, who is a son of William and Nancy A. (Draper) Root, and was born in this town March 8th, 1855. The first man named Root to locate in this county was Zed- dock Root, the paternal grandfather of our subject, of German extraction, who came here and bought a tract of land from the Hol- land Land company, was a farmer, and died at the age of seventy-one. William Root is a native of this town, where he now resides. He is an extensive farmer and stock-raiser, and has passed his sixty-fifth year. He affiliates with the Republican party, is stirring and energetic, keeps himself well posted upon cur- rent events, and has been a very successful business man. He married Nancy A. Draper, who was born in Genesee county, this State, in 1831.
Will M. Root was brought up on the farm, and, like many of our country's best men, was educated in the common schools. When he attained manhood he continued to do farm- work, and is now the owner of one hundred and thirty acres of well-improved land located three miles west of Jamestown, and upon it he pastures a fine herd of cows, from the milk of which he makes and prepares for market a superior quality of butter. He also handles creamery butter, being unable to supply his orders with his own product.
He was married in 1879 to Rhoda J. Wil- cox, a daughter of A. P. Wilcox, living in Busti. Their union has been blessed with three children-all daughters: Belle V., R. Ethel, and Lulu B. Mr. Root is a member of the A. O. U. W., and is active in the politics of his eounty. He belongs to the Republican party, and is now serving as county committec- man from the town of Busti. He is a leading citizen, and has the respect of all his acquaint- ances.
JOEL COLVIN. The late Joch Colvin was a highly respected citizen and a prosperous farmer of Ripley. He was born in Danby, Vermont, January 29, 1814, and was a son of Benajah and Ruth (Irish) Colvin. The great- grandfather of Joel Colvin was Luther Colvin, who was born in Rhode Island about the mid- dle of the eighteenth century. He moved to Danby, Vermont, in 1765, and was the fourth settler in that section. There were no broken roads then, but the way was marked by niches being cut in the trees and it was by this means he accomplished the journey. Upon his ar- rival there he constructed a cabin of logs in a hasty manner, and the winter coming on much suffering and hardship was endured. Pio- neer life in the wilds of Vermont during win- ter was about the most severe that man could experience and survive, but his vigorous body and hardy constitution stood him in good stead until more comfortable quarters could be provided. The most trouble was the wolves that killed and carried off the sheep. To pre- vent this constant vigilance was necessary, and a strong pen was provided to protect them at night.
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.