USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 55
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Albert Kirkland married twice. His first wife was Nancy T. Giles, a daughter of Abel Giles, of Hanover township, by whom he had one daughter, Minnie, at present a student at the Fredonia Normal school. Subsequent to the death of his first wife, March 4, 1880, he united a second time in marriage ; this time to Annette M. Persons, by whom he had one child, Bert, born in 1881, a daughter of Orris Per- sons, of Westfield, New York. Mr. Persons is a farmer and grape-grower and was once mar- ried to Melva Shaw, who bore him six chil- dren.
His life is one of independence, contentment and peaceful labor, tempered with the benedic- tions that come to an honest, conscientious life. He is a consistent member and supporter of the Methodist Episcopal church, while politically he casts his vote with the Republican party.
A DELBERT A. NEWBURY, one of the progressive and shrewd farmers of Rip- ley town, was born January 13, 1847, in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, and is a son of John A. and Margaret (Oster- man) Newbury. The old home which his
father established so many years ago has shel- tered two generations. The paternal grand- father was drowned in the Delaware river. He married and reared a family of four sons and five daughters. Grandfather Osterman came to this county, and settled in Ripley. He was a farmer and married, and his wife bore him two sons and four daughters. John A. Newbury (father) was born in Delaware county, New York, in 1808, and lived to be eighty- two years of age. He came into Chautauqua county and bought a farm in the town of Rip- ley about 1830. When he came to Ripley, he saw nothing but forests. Two or three small settlements were scattered about, but they were so small as to be hardly noticeable to a migra- tory crow passing over them. Mr. Newbury set to work at once, and cleared up his farm, and erected an immense farm house, which is still standing. While primarily a farmer, he was also a carpenter, at which he did consider- able, and bought and sold real estate. His property consisted of two hundred and twenty- five acres of fine land. He was high in the councils of the Republican party, and was a local leader of renown. Many of the town offices were filled by him, and the duties of the office honorably discharged. When the Bap- tist church was organized, Mr. Newbury was active in accomplishing it, and has since served as a deacon. The latter part of his life was passed in Ripley village. He was twice mar- ried ; first to Louisa Spencer, who bore him two children : William S., now a lawyer at Portland, Oregon, and Libbie. His second wife was Margaret Osterman, by whom he had three sons and two daughters : Sarah, wife of Rush R. Brown, a farmer living at Silver Creek; Julia, wife of Frank Griffin, who is engaged in the real-estate business in Kansas ; Adelbert A .; John, a farmer of this town, married Clara Palmer, who is now dead; and Clarence, who died young.
Adelbert A. Newbury was reared a farmer,
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
and seeured a country education at the distriet schools. When still a young man, he bought the old homestead, and has spent his life upon it, engaged in tilling its soil. It now consists of one hundred and thirty-five acres, and eight acres of vineyard.
On September 14, 1870, he married Sarah Smith, a daughter of Daniel and Cordelia (Cushman) Smithi of Silver Creek. Their union has been blessed with four children,-three sons and one daughter, two of whom are dead : Eva, died young ; Clarence ; Arthur, dead, and Allie.
A. A. Newbury is a republican, and has served as assessor two terms, and is a member of Council No. 164 of the Royal Arcanum at Ripley. He is a very popular man in his lo- cality.
D AVID HOUSE, a respected and popular farmer of Westfield town, living about two and one-half miles east of the village, is a son of David, Sr. and Nabby (Saunders) House, and was born near the scene of his present resi- dence in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, June 29, 1832. The best blood of old England flows in his veins, his mother having come from the aristocracy of that country. His great-grandfather was a respectable gentleman, but of somewhat humbler origin than his wife, and they decided to come to America, which they did about the middle of the last century, making the Newport, Rhode Island and Provi- dence plantations their home. In 1760 John House was born, and became the grandfather of our subject Anterior to the commencement of the present century he moved to central New York, where he followed farming until 1816, and then with his family, which were born there, came to Westfield town, where he resided until his death, having bought and cleared two hun- dred acres of land. This was divided among his children who, with their descendants, still live upon it. He was married in 1784, and had eight children.
David House, Sr. (father), was born in Cort- land county, N. Y., in 1792, and came here with his father in 1816. He married Nabby Saun- ders, who came from New Jersey, where she was born in the same year with her husband. They had ten children : John, born November 12, 1821; Nancy, born August 28, 1817; Julia A., born November 27, 1819; Indiana, born January 30, 1843; David, Jr., born June 29, 1832 ; Ruth, born October 5, 1827; Louisa J., born March 11, 1827 ; Nabby, born September 17, 1824, died in April, 1834; Eliza J., born March 24, 1835; and Edwin, born October 11, 1837. Mr. House died May 20, 1868, aged seventy-six years, and was fol- lowed by his consort in 1886, when she had attained the unusual age of eighty-nine years.
David House was reared on the farm, and received his edueation in the public schools. His life-long occupation has been following the plow, sowing and reaping the harvest of his fields, together with conducting a fine grape orchard.
In 1860 he married Mary Ann Caldwell, a daughter of Samuel Caldwell, who. lived in Portland town, and their union resulted in nine children, four sons and five daughters : Edwin M., James S., living in Nebraska, Nabby S., Nancy M., wife of E. D. Mead, who lives in Westfield ; Emmit D., Almedia A, Clara M., Arthur J. and Lydia A.
Politically, Mr. House is a republican, modest and retiring, and while not caring to receive any political honors, is always willing to advance the interests of his party by honest and legiti- mate means. Personally he is an agreeable companion, courteous and entertaining, and enjoys a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
p ETER G. PHILLIPS, of Westfield, Chau- tauqua county, New York, is a son of James and Mary (Dafoe) Phillips and was born in Hastings county, Canada, on New Years day of 1835. His paternal grandfather, James Phillips, was a native of Scotland, from whence
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
he emigrated and came to Canada about 1800. Farming was his avocation and he pursued it in Hastings county until his death in 1830. He left eight children, five boys and three girls. James Phillips, Jr., father of Peter G., was born in Scotland, in 1794 and came to Canada with his father in 1800, where he spent his en- tire life farming. He was a pushing, active man, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a Mason of exalted rank: James Phillips died, April 19, 1837, aged forty-three years. He married Mary Dafoe, of Newburg, Ontario, in 1818, and reared a family of nine children, six boys and three girls.
Peter G. Phillips was reared on the farm where he spent the first sixteen years of his life. He was educated in the schools of the Domin- ion, and, at the age mentioned, began to learn to build fanning-mills. In that work he con- tinued eleven years, when, during the latter part of 1861, he came to the United States, where, after staying for a year, he located in Westfield somc time in November, 1862. Here he has made his home ever since. For several years he was the general agent in this county for the Singer Sewing Machine Co., and trav- elled, establishing agencies in the larger cities. His sales record was equal to the best and on several occasions, during contests, he was the recipient of the prize for being the best sales- man. In the fall of 1866, Mr. Phillips bought a farm containing one hundred acres, located four miles west of the village of Westfield and conducted it himself, but in 1882 he moved two and a quarter miles east of Westfield, where he now lives and lias a very desirable place. He has a fine frame residence and the farm contains a magnificent vineyard, and an extensive truck garden. Mr. Phillips is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, affiliates with the Republican party and belongs to Chautauqua Lodge A. O. U. W.
In 1866 he was united in marriage to Lizzie Winsor, of Westfield, who has become the
mother of one son and one daughter: James W. and Mary S.
Peter G. Phillips is a kind father and a gen- tle husband; public-spirited and enterprising and enjoys the confidence of all his acquaint- ances.
D ANIEL HAZELTINE POST is the son of William and Susanna (Hazeltine) Post, and was born in the city of Jamestown on the 17th day of July, 1850. He received his early cducation in the schools of Jamestown and was prepared for college in the Jamestown academy, and the Jamestown Union school and collegiate institute, now the Jamestown High school. He was a member of the first class which graduated from this latter institution, in 1868. He grad- uated from Williams college, Williamstown, Mass., in the class of 1874, securing the degree of A.B., and five years later the degree of A.M. For some months after graduation he studied law in the office of his grand-uncle, Hon. Abner Hazeltine. From 1874 until 1882, he was engaged in newspaper work, being regularly engaged on the daily Journal and the daily Democrat in Jamestown, besides doing work for many other papers and periodicals, including the New York Tribune and Harpers' Magazine, to which he contributed an illustrated article. In 1878, he accompanied the late Gov. R. E. Fenton to Paris, where he acted as clerk of the American Delegation to the International Monetary conference, Mr. Fenton being chair- man of the delegation. In 1874, Mr. Post became a partner in the furniture manufactur- ing firm, known as the Jamestown Bedstead company, with which he is still connected. He is secretary of the Chautauqua Lake railway company, a member of the Masonic fraternity and a lieutenant in the 13th separate company of the National Guard of the State.
On July 16, 1883, Mr. Post was married to Evelyn M., only daughter of Robert and Evelyn (Patchin) Newland, of Jamestown.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Mr. Post's father, William Post, was born in Phillipstown, Putnam county, N. Y., Sept. 23, 1803. He was the second child of a family of five, three sisters and two brothers. His father was Absalom Post, wlío was born at Phillips- town, Nov. 29, 1776, and was married to Annie Schofield, who was born at New Rochelle, Westchester county, July 12, 1771. Absalom Post removed from Phillipstown to Catskill, where he lived for some years and in July, 1842, he removed to Afton, Chenango county, where he resided the balance of his life. He was a whig and a republican in politics, a farmer by occupation and a man of intelligence and high character. William Post, the son, though enjoying but scanty opportunities of instruction in his youth, equipped himself with a practical education that well-fitted him for the duties of life. He lived in Phillipstown, Cats- kill, Afton, New York city, Kent, Ohio, and Newark, N. Y., before coming to Jamestown. He studied medicine, but never practiced as a physician. He was engaged in general mer- cantile business and in the drug business, the greater portion of his life. While living in New York city, he was one of the founders of the artistic society, which afterwards became the National Academy. During a portion of lis residence in Jamestown, he was a member of the oil refining firm of Marvin & Co. Mr. Post possessed cultured tastes and a large fund of general information. He was a republican in polities, a man of kind heart and unblem- ished character. He was first married to Miss Alctta Westervelt, in New York city, by whom he had one son, Maj. Wm. Westervelt Post, who died in New York, April 5, 1880. Wil- liam Post was married to Susanna Hazeltine, on Sept. 1, 1845, and one son, Daniel H. Post was the result of this union. Mrs. Post died in 1870, and her husband's deatlı occurred at Jamestown, Nov. 16, 1878.
The ancestors of Daniel H. Post on the maternal side were all identified with the early develop-
ment of this region. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Hazeltine, was a man of more than ordinary prominence in the carly history of Jamestown, and one of the founders of her present industrial prosperity. He was a native of Wardsboro, Vermont, and in 1812, at the age of seventeen years, on the advice of liis uncle, Solomon Jones, he mastered the art of cloth-making with the intention of coming to western New York, which he did in 1816,
coming to Jamestown in company with Samuel Barrett, who in later years became president of the Chautauqua County Bank. Mr. Hazeltine's first factory was erected where the Broadhead mills now stand, and he was the pioneer maker of textile fabrics in this region. His business steadily increased until, when he retired in 1865, it had attained considerable proportions. He was regarded as a man of the strictest integrity and was highly exemplary in all the relations of life. He was one of the nine founders of the Congregational church, and continued a devout and earnest member until his death, universally deplored, which occurred August 3, 1867. In 1818, Daniel Hazeltine was married to Mehetabel, the youngest daugh- ter of William and Mary (Prendergast) Bemus. William Bemus was born at Bemus Heights, Saratoga county, in 1762, and it was upon his father's farm that the "Battle of Bemus Heights" was fought. Together with his father and brother lie was a soldier of the Rev- olution, and in the above named engagement he fought in the most literal sense for his home and fireside. William Bemus came into Chau- tauqua county in 1805, and the following spring settled on Chautauqua lake, at what is now known as Bemus Point. His youngest daugh- ter was named after her maternal grandmother, Mehetabel Wing, who married William Pren- dergast, senior. To Danicl and Mehetabel (Bemus) Hazeltine were born five children, two sons and three daughters. Susanna, the eldest daughter, was born April 8, 1822. She was
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
the mother of Daniel Hazeltine Post, the sub- ject of this sketch. She was a woman of strong and lovable character, kind and benevolent and her death on June 23, 1870, was greatly mourned. Mehetabel (Bemus) Hazeltine sur- vived her husband and daughter, and died Sept. 22, 1889, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-five years. She was a woman of many strongly-marked but worthy traits of char- acter.
R OBERT NEWLAND. One of the best- known and most universally respected citizens of Jamestown is Mr. Robert Newland, the venerable ex-president of the Chautauqua County National Bank. He was born in Al- bany, N. Y., January 24, 1809, and was the son of David Newland, a native of Dumfries in Scotland, who at the age of eighteen years emi- grated to America and settled in Albany, where he subsequently married Jane MeHarg, who, like him, was of Scotch parentage. David Newland had a long and honorable mercantile career in Albany, where he died in 1855, at the age of eighty-two years. His widow who sur- vived him only a short time was also an octo- genarian at the time of her death.
Robert Newland, the son of this worthy couple, had the ordinary advantages of educa- tion afforded by the time, and among other schools of the city attended the well-known Al- bany boys' academy. On quitting school he entered his father's store as a clerk, where he remained until he was nearly twenty-five years of age. In 1834 he left Albany and came to Jamestown, where he became connected with the Chautauqua County Bank, a relation which has now (in 1891) been continuous for fifty- seven years. The history of this banking in- stitution is almost coincident with the business life of Mr. Newland in point of duration, and lie has been so closely identified with its fortunes and good name that a brief sketch of the bank is not inappropriate in this connection. The
bank was chartered April 18, 1831, being what was then known as a " safety fund bank," and was founded mainly by Albany capitalists, the famous " Albany Regency," being largely in- terested in the enterprise. The first election for directors was held at the " Inn of Messrs. Jones," in Jamestown, June 24, 1831, but the bank did not begin business until about January 13, 1832. When the bank was started there was no other bank in the southern tier of counties west of Orange county, and its nearest neighbors were the U. S. Branch Bank at Buffalo, and the State Bank at Lockport. The first president was Elial T. Foote, and one of the first board of directors the Hon. Richard P. Marvin, a brother- in-law of Mr. Newland, is still living. The first cashier was Arad Joy, who was succeeded by Fitch Shepard (father of Col. Elliott F. Shepard, of New York city), as cashier pro tem. Aaron D. Patchin succeeded Mr. Shepard, and he in turn was followed by Thaddeus W. Patchin as cashier. Mr. Newland entered the service of the bank September 30, 1834, a little less than three years after it commenced bnsi- ness, and on May 20, 1840, he was promoted to cashier, succeeding Mr. Thaddeus W. Patchin. After twenty years of service as cashier Mr. Newland was advanced to the vice-presidency, being succeeded as cashier by his nephew, Gen. Selden E. Marvin, now of Albany. In 1862 Mr. Newland again became cashier, owing to the resignation of Mr. Marvin to enter the army. In 1872, upon the death of Major Samuel Barrett, who had been president for thirty- seven years, Mr. Newland was advanced to the presidency, another nephew, Mr. David N. Marvin, succeeding him as cashier. After eighteen years service as president of the bank, in 1890 Mr. Newland then in his eighty-second year resigned his office of president, though still remaining a director of the bank, and each day going to the institution and occupying his ac- customed seat and attending to certain official duties.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
During all these fifty-seven years of service to the bank Mr. Newland has been a striking example of the ideal business man. Punctual, painstaking, industrious and watchful his name has been the synonym of business integrity and lofty character in all the region round about. To his executive ability and careful judgment the bank owes much of its prosperous career, while to his liberal policy toward the infant in- dustries and enterprises of the place is due much of the growth and progress of the city.
In his private life Mr. Newland has endeared himself to all classes of people by his upright character and his open-handed though unosten- tations benevolence. As has been well said of him, " Young men have found him a firm friend, public enterprises a wise and liberal promoter, the poor and needy a generous benefactor."
Mr. Newland has always taken an earnest and intelligent interest in public affairs and local advancement. He was one of the original di- rectors of the Erie and New York city railroad (now the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio railway) ; he was an assistant engineer in the fire department of Jamestown, he was for several terms one of the village trustees, and was also president of the village. In politics Mr. Newland has been a consistent and consci- entious republican since the formation of the party, and has always kept abreast of the times in political and general reading. He possesses a marked taste for all works of art, and has found much pleasure in securing and enjoying a large and valuable collection of engravings, etchings and water-colors, as well as a large library of works upon general and art subjects.
Mr. Newland has for many years been a reg- ular attendant upon the services of the Presby- terian church in Jamestown, and a liberal sup- porter of that body of which he is one of the trustees. He has also contributed, it is believed, to the erection of every church building in the place and the support of every religious society. On January 21, 1847, Mr. Newland was mar-
ried to Miss Evelyn Patchin, daughter of Dr. Aaron D. Patchin, of Hoosic Falls, N. Y., and a sister of Mr. Aaron D. Patchin, the sec- ond cashier of the bank. Mrs. Newland died on June 17, 1887. By this union there were two children-a son, Frank, who died in in- fancy, and a daughter, Evelyn M., the wife of Mr. Daniel H. Post, of Jamestown.
It has been well said of the subject of this sketch, that "there is probably no one in the community in which he lives, who deserves or possesses in a greater measure the respect, con- fidence and esteem of those who know him." There is a human heart-throb in the utterance of his fellow-citizens when they mention the name of that strong, inflexible yet helpful busi- ness man, that liberal-handed, kind-hearted gentleman, that reserved, yet sympathetic friend -Robert Newland !
C CHARLES SMITH, M. D., belongs to a profession in which for nearly fifty-five years he has been in continuous and success- ful practice in administering to the sick and maimed. Charles Smith is a son of George and Anna (Ellis) Smith, and was born in Delaware county, New York, May 22, 1815. This branch of the Smith family is a combination of English and German. Grandfather Smith had but one child and died while in the early prime of life. Upon his death the mother of subject re-married to a Mr. Gay, by whom she had one son. She kept a hotel all her life in Poughkeepsie, this State, where she died in 1843, aged one hundred and three years. Gen. George Washington was a guest at her house many times during the war of the Revolution. The maternal grandfather, Noah Ellis, was of English extraction, his mother's ancestors being passengers on the Mayflower. He was a resi- dent of Roxbury, Delaware county, N. Y., where he operated a grist-mill and was a justice of the peacc. About 1825 he moved to Clovers- ville, on the Delaware river and ran a mill and
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
foundry, where were cast the first iron plows. He gave his personal attention to this business and died about 1845 and was survived by seven children : Noah, Horace, Charles, Anua (Mrs. Smith), Olive (Mrs. Washburn), Elizabeth was the mother of Hon. W. B. Morrison, the famous Democratic champion of tariff reform; and Amelia. George Smith was born at Pough- keepsie, this State, in 1784, and was a farmer in Delaware county until 1823, when he moved to Stockton, this county, and bought a farm of one hundred and five acres. It was but little improved and the only building upon it was a log hut, and that was surrounded nightly by wolves, so that almost the same amount of labor was required to subdue nature as though it had been taken from the virgin forest. They moved here in wagons, bringing with them some leather which they sold here for cash, to Gen. Leverett Barker, who had a monopoly of the leather trade, for money enough to buy the farm. He was an industrious mau and worked hard upon his farm, but died in June of the year after his arrival. He married Anna Ellis in 1808, the result of which was seven children : Harriet, married John Nye, a farmer of West- field who afterwards went to California ; Sallie, married Olvin Putnam first and afterwards Dr. Joseplı E. Kimble, of Siuclairville; George, a judge in San Leandro, California, married to Eliza Fenner; David, a farmer in May- ville, married Rebecca Johnson ; Jane, wife of | James M. Copp, a farmer living in Siuclair- ville; and Olive, wife of Dr. Chester Ellsworth, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After the death of her husband Mrs. Smith married Israel Smith, in 1826, and by him had one son, Edwin, who married a Miss Blanchard, and is a teacher in the High school of Quincy, Ill.
Charles Smith was educated in the town of Stockton and then attended a select school taught by Worthy Putnam and continued re- ceiving private lessons for some time. He taught school during the winters of 1832-33-
34, helping his mother on the farm during the summer, and in August, 1835, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Watterman Ells- worth, of Stockton, agaiu teaching in Pomfret in the winter of '35-36. Medical students were not theu compelled to attend lectures, so young Smith, lacking means, studied at home until 1838, when he passed an examination before and received his diploma from the censors of the Chautauqua county medical society. He completed his studies with Dr. Thomas D. Mann, who died about the time of Dr. Smith's graduation, and the latter at once assumed the practice made vacant by the former's death, which he conducted for ten years, when, April, 1848, he moved to Fredonia, where he has since practiced and lived. His practice is large, and making a specialty of obstetrics aud child- dren's diseases, he is uniformly successful with such cases. (Dr. Smith has attended 3,746 accouchements up to November 1, 1890.) He praoticed his profession because he loved it. When a call camne he responded without a ques- tion as to whether his fee was forthcoming. Poor and rich were served alike; when his ser- vices were needed he went.
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