USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 52
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F RANCIS MAY. If we were to select an example of what a fixed purpose and determination will accomplish; if we wanted to point out to the youth of Dunkirk one who had begun at the very bottom of the ladder and in fifty-six years had reached pretty well towards the top; if a boy, poor in pocket, de- sired wealth and would say, "Who shall I emulate ?" we would say the man whose name heads this article, Francis May, the son of Francis, Sr., and Sarah (McMunn) May, who
was born in County Sligo, Ireland, March 26, 1835. Francis May, Sr., was a son of the Emerald Isle, and was a farmer in the histori- cal county where his son was born. He was a stirring, energetic business man, and a member of the Catholic church. He married Sarah McMunn, who, although born in the same county with her husband, belonged to the Epis- copal church. She was a woman of ability, and to his vigorous parents the son is indebted for the traits which secured him his wealth.
Francis May was reared in County Sligo, and was educated at a private school. When seventeen years of age he came to America, first stopping at Piermont, New York, where he got the job of water-boy at a quarry, which he held for six months, and was then promoted, if it may be called such, to blowing the bellows for the blacksmith, which he did for a year longer. He came to Dunkirk, getting work as a laborer on the docks. A year or so later saw him doing the same work in the freight house of the Erie railway, remaining in the employ of that com- pany for eighteen years, and advancing to the position of foreman of the local freight house. After the Erie docks were transferred to Buffalo he left the company and was a clerk in the bank of H. J. Miner & Co. Succeeding this he en- gaged in the flour and feed business, which is being continued to this day. In 1882, with other moneyed men of Dunkirk, he organized the Merchants National Bank, and is now one of the directors. He is largely interested in the street railway system, being the second lar- gest stockholder in the Dunkirk and Fredonia Electric railway. Politically a democrat, he served eleven years as a member of the school board, and is a member of the Catholic church. Mr. May is an active, wide-awake citizen, and takes an enthusiastic interest in everything to enhance the welfare of Dunkirk, in which he | owns considerable real estate.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
THOMAS H. ROBERTS, a leading farmer and grape cnlturist of the town of Han- over, is a son of William and Filura (Harmon) Roberts and was born in the town of Pomfret, County of Chautauqua, State of New York, January 31, 1831. His ancestors were of New England birth, his paternal grandfather being a native of the State of Vermont, in which State he passed his life and reared his family. Grandfather, Minor Roberts, was by occupation a carpenter and joiner. He nnited in marriage with a Miss Smith, who bore hini seven chil- dren, five boys and two girls. William Roberts migrated into Chautauqua county from the State of Vermont in 1817, and located in the town of Pomfret. He purchased a farm here from the Holland Land company, and devoted himself to its cultivation. Considerably later (in 1844) he changed his fortunes to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, where he likewise engaged in farming. During the war of 1812, he went into the service as a substitute for Captain Martin. In politics he belonged to the pre- dominant party of his time, the Whig party ; while in matters of religion, he was a member of and strongly attached to the teachings and theology of the Methodist Episcopal church. His first wife was a daughter of Luther Har- mon, of the town of Pomfret, whither he had come from Vermont, the State of liis nativity. His arrival in Chautauqua county was cotempora- neous with that of grandfather Roberts. Wil- liam Roberts (father) and his wife were the parents of nine children, eight boys and one girl; Thomas H. being the youngest. Joseph H., another son, entered the civil war at the first call of President Lincoln for troops, en- listing in 4th regiment Michigan Volunteer Infantry, as first lieutenant. He served through- out the entire war with honor and distinction, being with Gen. Butler at New Orleans and other famous campaigns. His death occurred in 1883.
Thomas H. Roberts' education was limited
to the common schools, which at that time, held out to the youth comparatively poor advantages. Starting with such education as they did give, he began the struggle of life npon a farm. This he soon relinquished and engaged his ser- vices to a railroad company, with the view to becoming a locomotive enginecr. After acquir- ing skill and confidence in the management of a locomotive, he accepted a position on the Illinois Central, which he continued to hold until the date of his marriage. After this hc went into farming at Milford near Fredonia, New York, where he remained until the autumn of 1865, when lie removed to the town of Han- over and bought his present farm. Mr. Roberts' farm consists of one hundred acres of well improved and highly productive land, twelve acres of which are under grape culture. He has a pleasant home with beautiful surround- ings and lives a contented life. In June of 1863 he entered the service of the Union army in Co. A., 68tl regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. He has also served a period of seven years in the New York State militia.
In June, 1860, Thomas H. Roberts first entered into marriage bonds with Martha Jane Clark, daughter of John E. and Louise Clark; and subsequent to her decease, with Helen Bunce, who bore him three children : Myram H., Harley H., dead, and Roy.
His first vote was cast as a whig for General Winfield Scott. He afterward affiliated with the Republican party and has been its devotee ever since. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and of the A. O. U. W. and the G. A. R.
B ENJAMIN CASSELMAN, a prominent farmer and good citizen of the town of Ellery, Chantanqua county, New York, is a son of Jonas and Saralı (Horn) Casselman, and was born at Mohawk Flats, New York August 22, 1820. He is of Teutonic ancestry, whose
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
grandfather, Jonas Casselman, was born in Ger- many, emigrated to the United States and set- tled in Schenectady county, New York. At the time of his emigration he was accompanied by his two brothers, one of whom located in the Dominion of Canada and the other at Utica, New York. Jonas Casselman (grandfather) was a farmer by occupation and a member of the Dutch Reformed church. He was married in his native land and had a family of three children. Jonas Casselman (father of subject) was a native of New York State. In early life he worked at various occupations, but devoted the greater part of his life to agriculture. He was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Horn and became the father of thirteen children-five boys and eight girls. His political support was given to the Whig party during its life-time, and, subsequent to its demise, to its successor, the Republican party. He was a meniber of the Lutheran church, where both he and his family were regular attendants.
Benjamin Casselman attended the common schools, apprenticed himself to a carpenter and joiner and learned that trade, at which he worked for some time, and finally purchased a farm of two hundred and fifteen acres near Be- mus' Point, Chautauqua county, New York. To the improvement and cultivation of this farm he lias since devoted himself, and has now made it one of the best kept and most attrac- tive places in the town of Ellery.
On September 1, 1842, he was joined in mar- riage to Miss Melissa Wheeler, by whom he had nine children : Cassius E., a carpenter and joiner by trade, living in the town of Chautau- qua, New York; Emma J., wife of Charles Manley, who resides at French Creek and is engaged in the grocery business ; Cenath A., married to Andrew Aikens, of Jamestown, New York; Eleanor F., married to Alman Coni, a resident of Clymer and a cooper by oc- cupation ; Benjamin F., married to Sarah Jack- son and now living at Jamestown, New York,
where he works at the carpenter and joiner's trade ; Helen A., wife of A. Tenet, of James- town, New York, a farmer ; Lydia M., mar- ried to John Kady, a blacksmith living in Co- lumbus, State of Pennsylvania; Orville C., married to Mattie Simmons, and now a resident of Jamestown. engaged in the carpentering trade; and Charles H. Casselman, living in the town of Ellery, a farmer.
Mr. Casselman is a member of the Grange and is in every sense a model farmer. He keeps fully abreast of the times and is an intel- ligent reader upon all subjects relating to the field of agriculture.
SOLOMON B. NORTHAM. One of Rip- ley's venerable farmer citizens, now nearly an octogenarian, is a son of Solomon and An- struss (Jenkins) Northam, and was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, May 28, 1814. The Northam family was a familiar one in Connecticut during the early half of the eighteenth century, grandfather Ebenezer Northam having been born at Colchester, that State, in the month of August, 1760. When the fertility of the western lands was being heralded throughout New England he gathered his family and effects about him, and with a team and covered wagon started through the semi-settled regions of western Connecticut and, although the roads were rough he kept on up into the wild and almost unknown county of Washington, and made a temporary residence at Fort Ann, New York, then pushed on, about 1825, to Ripley, this county. He subdued the forests and made grain to grow from which with other agricultural products he gained his livelihood. Ebenezer Northam married Rachel Bascom, a native of Connecticut, born in Leb- anon, January 22, 1758, and they reared a family of five sons, the eldest being Solomon Northam (father). He was a member of the Universalist church and of the Jeffersonian party. The maternal grandfather was Abiah
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Jenkins, also a native of Connecticut, from which he emigrated to Jefferson county, where he died after farming for a number of years. He was a member of the Baptist church. Solomon Northam was born on the 16th of November, 1786, while his parents were living in Washington county. In 1825 he started westward and arrived at Ripley in 1825, settling west of the village. This place he made his home for eleven years following farm- ing and land surveying, doing a considerable of the latter for the Holland Land company and then moved over into Westfield town where he farmed until 1858, and died October 3rd of that year. The Democratie party furnished the principles of his idea for good government and he heartily supported its platform, filling the office of justice of the peace and some minor town offices. Solomon Northam was a valorous and patriotic man. When the tocsin of war was sounded on the 19th of June, 1812, he re- sponded to the first call of President Madison for twenty-five thousand men and served with credit. He married Anstruss Jenkins, for his first wife and she bore him one ehild, Solomon (subject). She was born June 13, 1784, and died October 7, 1817. In 1821 he married for his seeond wife Jane Hopkins, who was born in Washington county, March 3, 1792. They had five children : Jane, born September 10, 1822 ; Wallace, born September 4, 1825; Emmett, born November 16, 1828; Curran, born in October, 1830, now lives on the old homestead in the town of Westfield; and Mary, born in 1833.
Solomon B. Northam reecived a good educa- tion at the district schools and other places of learning and began life as a farmer, working shares. He has had a varied business experi- ence. Beginning as a tanner he changed to merchandising which he followed in Ripley for fourteen years, holding a commission as post- master at the same time. Then he bought a farm adjoining his present residence and for
some years has given attention to that business, but is now growing grapes exclusively.
Solomon B. Northam has been twice married ; first to Mary Ann Wood and then after her death to Louise Brayton, a daughter of Samuel Brayton.
Conceding that parties are necessary in the conduct of our form of government, Demo- cratic principles more fully meet his views and he identifies himself with them, while the dog- mas of the Universalist church are in aceord with his ideas of true Christianity.
FRANK G. SPENCER, the only son of Gilbert and Eveline (Gay) Spencer, is a prominent grape grower of the town of Ripley. : His vineyard is forty acres in extent. He was born near the banks of historic Lake Erie, upon which waters Commodore Perry, Septem- ber 10, 1813, gained his world-renowned vic- tory over Barclay, November 6, 1837, the pre- cise location being about one and one-half miles northeast of the village of North East, in Erie county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather was Orange Spencer, who came to Chautauqua county and settled in Sherman prior to 1827. He was born in Otsego county, this State, July 30, 1765. As may be inferred from the date of his coming, he was one of the first settlers in the town mentioned and took up a large tract of land and upon it built the first grist-mill in that section. The second saw-mill ereeted also belonged to him, which he operated in partner- ship with his son-in-law, Eliab Skeels. Orange Spencer was an ordained Baptist minister, and on August 29, 1827, he organized the first Bap- tist church of Sherman with thirty members. He was the first minister that ever preached in Sherman and officiated as the first pastor to the church he organized. They held their mectings from house to house and in the sehool-houses until 1842, In 1844 the charge dedicated their new meeting-house. Orange Spenecr is said to have been a man of great spiritual power and
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
preached with fervency that attracted admira- tion and carried conviction. In 1830 he re- moved to North East, Pa., where he also organ- ized a congregation. When a very young man he entered the Colonial army and served in the Revolutionary war. He was a follower of Hamilton and Adams in politics, and died January 10th, 1843, in North East, Pa. His wife was a Miss Bostick, who left at her death four sons and two daughters, The maternal grandfather was Rodolphus Gay, of Herkimer county, N. Y. Gilbert Spencer was born in Otsego county, this State, in 1804, and came to Chautauqua county while in the prime of life. He followed agricultural pursuits, and later moved to North East, Pa., where he died in 1876, aged seventy-two years. The Repub- lican party entered the field for public favor while Mr. Spencer was in the vigor of his man- hood and he allied himself with it. Prior to its inception his politics are not mentioned. Early in life he joined the church that his father did so much to strengthen, and remained its votary throughout his life. He married Eve- line Gay October 30, 1825. She is yet living, aged eighty-two years, in the home her husband left at North East. Mrs. Spencer brought to her husband two sons, Frank G. and Loomis B., who died at the age of seven months, and four daughters, Sarah A., first married Jeffer- son Henshaw (now dead), and is now the wife of Milton Munson, a prosperous farmer living in the town of Portland ; Cordelia is the wife of Harry Munson, who follows a like occupa- tion in the same town ; Mary lives at Nortlı East, Pa., where her husband, Milton Colt, is a carpenter and joiner ; and Anna resides with her husband, Alonzo Lewis, at Fredonia, this county. He is a well-known milk dealer there.
Frank G. Spencer early learned to hold the plow, and by the time he had reached young manhood was qualified to run a farin for him- self. He was educated in the district schools and acquired such education that coupled with
his natural ability has enabled him to secure himself a property of sixty-eight acres. He is a republican in politics.
On March 23, 1859, he married Elizabeth Newbury, of Ripley, N. Y., who is a daughter of John A. Newbury, of Ripley. They have one child, a daughter, named Lois Ann, who was born June 26, 1879.
F RED H. GARFIELD, the popular and energetic division passenger agent of the Erie railway, whose headquarters are at James- town, was born in the town of Busti, this county, November 10, 1853, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Botsford) Garfield.
The Garfield family for more than two cen- turies were residents of the American colonies, and our martyred president was a descendant of the same family from which our subject came. For more than a century they were residents of Worcester county, Massachusetts, and the first to come to Chautauqua county was Samuel Gar- field, familiarly known as Deacon Garfield, on account of his upright religious character. Deacon Samuel Garfield was born in the " Bay State," at the place above mentioned, and in 1803 removed with his father, Eliakim Garfield, to Windham county, Vermont. The father was a Revolutionary soldier and served with more than ordinary distinction. Samuel Gar- field married in the "Green Mountain State," and in 1814 came to Chautauqua county ; he purchased a farm in the town of Busti and se- cured a livelihood by farming and doing carpen- ter work. He possessed considerable inventive genius, his first invention being grain measures, nested from a half bushel down ; following this he manufactured scythe-snaths and grain cradle handles, besides making a large number of rakes. Immense quantities of these " crooked sticks," as they were called, were manufactured by him and sold to the farmers in his neighbor- hood ; several boat-loads were sent down the river to the southern markets. He had several
4
8. Rychman
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
brothers, among them Joseph Garfield, Sr., wlio reared a considerable family. Both Samuel Garfield and his wife died a number of years ago ; they were the parents of a large family, all of whom are now dead excepting Lydia, wife of Amos Palmer, and the father of our subject. Benjamin Garfield was born in the town of Busti and became opulent from the products of his farm. In 1880 he moved to Salamanca, New York, where he now resides, the proprie- tor of the railroad eating-house. He married Sarah Botsford and reared a family of two children. Benjamin Garfield is a democrat and has filled some of the town offices in Busti; he was a man of integrity and upright character. Mrs. Garfield was a native of the town of Kian- tone, and is now in her fifty-sixth year.
Fred H. Garfield was born on his father's farm, where he passed his early life and received his education in the district school and at the public schools of Jamestown. In 1876 he was offered the position of passenger agent of the old Atlantic and Great Western railroad, and he remained with that company through its various changes until 1885, when he was appointed di- vision passenger agent of the Erie railway, by whom the N. Y., P. and O. R. R., the successor of the Atlantic and Great Western has been absorbed. He has immediate charge of the passenger traffic of over two hundred miles of the Erie R. R., and in the discharge of his duty is giving satisfaction to his superior officers.
On the 7th day of June, 1882, he married Mary Smith, a daughter of George Smith, who lived at Wilson, Niagara county ; she bore him a son, Robert Marvin, and died in May, 1890. Fred H. Garfield is a democrat and takes an active part in politics. He is genial and accom- modating, and the popularity of the passenger carrying business of the Erie railway is due largely to his personal supervision.
G. E. RYCKMAN, a prominent citizen of Chautauqua county, New York, and the proprietor of the celebrated Brocton wine cel- lars, is a son of Lawrence F. and Lydia E. Ryckman, and was born at Brocton, March 16, 1835. His maternal grandparents, " Deacon " Elijah and Lucy (Belknap) Fay, were natives of Westboro, Massachusetts, and in 1811 came to what was afterwards Salem Cross Roads, Chautauqua county, but where at the present time is situated the village of Brocton. Mr. and Mrs. Fay were the first settlers at this point, in fact, about half of the present village of Brocton is located upon their old home farm. Lawrence F. Ryckman, father of G. E. Ryckman, came from near the city of Albany, New York-where the elder Ryck- mans settled, one of whom was a member of the commission appointed by King William III to treat with the powerful Six Nations-and located in Chautauqua county at an early day. His ancestors were active in the politics of castern New York and held prominent offices from alderman to mayor. Deacon Elijah Fay was the first to discover the adaptability of the soil and climatic conditions of the northern portion of Chautauqua county, bordering on Lake Eric, to the purposes of grape culture and in 1824 planted the first vineyard in that part of the State. In 1840 he began making wine for sacramental and medicinal purposes, and in 1859 our subject, Mr. G. E. Ryckman, in com- pany with Captain J. B. Fay and Colonel Rufus Haywood, built the original wine cellars, known as the Brocton Wine Cellars, which to-day have passed into his hands as the sole proprietor, and have been increased in capacity to two hundred thousand gallons.
G. E. Ryckman, in addition to being the owner of these far famed wine cellars, is also owner and cultivator of a bearing vineyard of one hundred and forty-five acres. For the purposes of manufacture he is forced to buy extensively in addition to his own production ;
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
his purchase per annum being over two hundred tons of grapes. The wine product of these grapes is shipped all over the country and some to foreign lands, which fact is proper attestation not only of its quality but also of the esteem in which it is held by the commercial world. The qualities which have earned for his wines such a wide reputation are purity and honest valuc.
OCTOR E. ISHAM. Longevity appears to run in families to a greater or less degree and the Isham family seems to be espe- cially endowed with long life. David Isham (grandfather) attained to a full century lacking one year. One son reached the same age while the father of subject was eighty-nine years of age when he died. Doctor E. Isham is a son of Joshua and Lucinda (Chamberlain) Isham, and first looked upon the blue skies of heaven and the green grass of earth near the secne of his present home in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, September 19, 1843. The Isham family is one of Scotch extraction. David Isham (grandfather) lived in Vermont and died when ninety-nine years old. Joshua Isham (father) was born in Rutland, Vt., in 1778, and remained there until 1840, when he came to Chau- tauqua county and soon after settled in West- field town on the farm where his son now lives. He died in 1867, aged eighty-nine years. Mr. Isham was a carpenter and joiner by trade which he followed nearly all his life. He was a republican and member of the Universalist church. In 1839, he married Lucinda Cham- berlain, a native of Thetford, Vermont. She died in 1879, aged sixty-eight years, and was also a member of the same church. They had three children.
Doctor E. Isham was reared on a farm and then mastered the carpenter and joiner's trade which he is now working at o a limited extent. His education was received at the public schools. When but nineteen years of age,
August 22, 1862, he enlisted in Co. E, 154th regiment, New York Infantry. He served until January 22, 1864, and was then dis- charged from St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Wash- ington, D. C., having been wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville. His left foot was shot away by a cannon ball on June 3, 1863, and he was confined to the hospital from that date until discharged. He then returned to Chautauqua county and lives upon the old homestead two miles east of Westfield village, engaged at his trade and grape culture.
On January 8, 1868, he married Nancy Bush, a daughter of Henry Bush of this town. They have four children, three sons and one daugh- ter : Arlington D., Stella V., Claude E. and Earnest J. One child, Clyde, died in infancy in August, 1888, aged nine months.
Dr. E. Isham is a member of William Sackett Post, No. 324, G. A. R., and affiliates with the Republican party.
OBERT KANE. R Among the descendants of the people whose lives are spent amid the beautiful lakes and hills of Ireland, the " Emerald Isle of the Sea," we enroll the gen- tleman whose name heads this sketch. Robert Kane, a son of Thomas and Mary (Conigham) Kane, was born on the 10th day of June, 1852, his native city being Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York. Charles Kane (paternal grandfather) was a native of Ireland, where he lived until summoned to another and a better world. The maternal grandfather of Robert Kane, James Conigham, was also a native of Ireland, where he spent his entire life. Thomas Kane (father) was born in Ireland, but emi- grated to " the land of the free and the home of the brave " in 1845, and located where he landed, in the city of New York. He resided here a few years, and deciding he could better his fortunes by seeking "fresh fields and pas- tures new," removed to Dunkirk, this State, in 1860. For the past few years he has been
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