USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 56
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Dr. Charles Smith served as president of the village of Fredonia two terms in succession, also as trustee and treasurer for several years, always foremost in any and all movements for the benefit of the village, namely, the construc- tion of the State Normal school, D., A. V. & P. R. R., town hall, electric lights and system of water works, the best in the State.
On November 23, 1838, he married Cornelia Turner, a daughter of Hezekiah Turuer, an early settler of Fredonia. They had six child- ren, five of whom attained their growth : Mary married Callix Dagenais, a carriage painter, and lives in Fredonia ; Albert H. is a doctor, assisting his father ; Olive, wife of Thomas H. Towers, who keeps a hotel in Brandou, Mani- toba ; Cornelia resides at home; Ella died in infancy ; and Anna, youngest, married Chas.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Dunning, of Buffalo. Mrs. Smith died in April, 1873, aged fifty-five years.
The secret societies are familiar with Dr. Smith's face. Until its suspension he was a member of the Fredonia Odd Fellows, and Forest Lodge, No. 166, F. & A. M. welcomes his appearance at its meetings. Dr. Smith is well advanced in years ; has passed the allotted three-score and ten and six more have been added, and during all his long life his reputa- tion has been one of strict honesty and integrity, and whose only fault, which no one calls a fault, is his open generosity.
ASHINGTON CROCKER. A well- known agriculturist and grape-grower, residing in the town of Ripley is Washington Crocker, who is a son of Andrew and Anne (Leland) Crocker, who was born in Sardinia, Erie county, New York, November 3, 1819. Taking up the maternal ancestry the first Leland, of which we have record is Henry, who was born in England about 1625, married Margaret Babcock, came to America in 1652, and died in Sherburne, Massachusetts, April 4, 1680. They had five children. Ebenezer, born in 1679 was a direct lineal ancestor of our subject, having married Deborah Hunt, by whom was born James Leland, tlie great-great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, at Sherburne, in 1687 and died in Grafton, the same State, in 1768. His wife was Hannah Larned, who was the mother of Thomas Leland ; he was born in 1726 and died in 1759 ; married Margaret Wood and had a son Thomas, who was the grandfather of our sub- ject, and was born iu Massachusetts in 1757. He removed to Ohio, after having served in the Revolutionary war, followed farming until 1848, when he died. He was a disciple of Thomas Jefferson and married Anna B. Raw- son, by whom he rcared a large family, con- sisting of seven sons and seven daughters. The oldest of the family was Anne Leland,
who was born in 1779 and became our subject's mother. Andrew Crocker (father) was born at Albany, New York, in the year that the Declaration of Independence was given to the world and removed, in 1817, to western New York, settled in the southern part of Erie county and followed carpentering and joining until his death. He married Anne Leland and reared sixteen children, ten sons and six daughters; Washington was next to the youngest.
Washington Crocker was educated in the common schools and began life as a farmer, which he has followed throughout his useful life. He married Nancy Benton, daughter of James Benton, of Berkshire county, Massachu- setts, where the latter died. Mr. and Mrs. Crocker have the following children : Burton W., born at Sardinia, in 1848, married Lydia Raudall, of New York city, and died in Jan- uary, 1883 ; and Edward B., born in December, 1859, married Julia Barker, a daughter of George Barker, of Portland ; he has one child, Minnie, and lives with his father in Ripley. Washington Crocker first came to Chautauqua county in 1865, made his home at Dunkirk and resided there for thirteen years after which he went to the town of Portland, remaining there eleven years and in 1890 came to the town of Ripley, purchased a farm and in con- nection with his agricultural work is engaged in growing grapes. Politically lie is a prohibi- tionist and has always been a member of the Baptist church.
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ELISHA E. KILBOURN is the miller upon whom many of the farmers of Cherry Creek depend for their grinding. He is a son of William and Lydia (King) Kil- bourn, and was born in this town August 24, 1836. William Kilbourn was born February 25, 1801, at Sandisfield, Berkshire county, Mass., and came to Cherry Creek March 22, 1824, where he built the first saw-mill in the
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town, the location being near the present site of our subject's feed-mill on Cherry creek. He was a miller and farmer, and incidentally made linnet wheels and all kinds of spinning wheels. Politically he was a whig, and served two terms as supervisor of the town ; religiously, he was a Second Adventist. William Kil- bourn, on October 7, 1824, united in marriage with Lydia King, a daughter of Ward and Sallie King, who came with ox teams through the woods from Hancock, Mass., to Cherry Creek in 1817. Lydia King was born at Hancock, Berkshire county, Mass., June 11, 1804. The fruit of their union was six sons and two daughters: William R., born June 15, 1825, died November 26, 1885; Hiram, born October 21, 1827, married Lydia Carr, June 17, 1849, and is a machinist by trade, and served in an Iowa regiment during the civil war; Lydia M., born October 10, 1829, mar- ried Samuel H. Carr, of Cherry Creek, Deceni- ber 27, 1848, and died May 27, 1858 ; Mary C., born March 29, 1832, married Ozro A. Hadley, of Cherry Creek, February 17, 1849; (Mr. Hadley was Governor of Arkansas one term after the war, and is now a large ranch owner and cattle dealer at Springer, New Mex- ico); Leonard W., born August 14, 1834, dead; Elisha E .; Norman G., born January 29, 1839, married Phobe A. Graves, of Ellington ; and Benjamin W., born April 3, 1841, died De- cember 20, 1865. William Kilbourn died May 17, 1875, and his wife followed him Sep- tember 23, 1886 ; both are buried in Cherry Creek.
where he has since resided and built a feed-mill near the site of his father's old saw-mill, and is operating the former. In addition to this, he has a small farm, which he has brought into a high state of fertility.
Elisha E. Kilbourn is a square-dealing, highly-respected business man and citizen. Kilbourn's Hills are two mound-shaped piles of earth which were islands in a lake that once occupied the site where the village of Cherry Creek now stands, and marks of the waves are distinctly visible on the sandy beach skirting the base of the hills. Mr. Kilbourn was a ser- geant in Company A, Sixty-eighth Regiment, New York Volunteers, served throughout the war, and is a member of Bullock Post, No. 304, G. A. R., of Cherry Creek, and has been its commander for one term. He also belongs to Lodge No. 54 of the Equitable Aid Union and Cherry Creek Lodge, No. 42, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a repub- lican.
On May 4, 1856, he married Philetta M. Gage, daughter of Reuben and Nancy Gage, of this town, and they have had one son and one daughter : Xenophon E., born September 21, 1860, is in business with his father; and Nel- lie B., born June 7, 1867, married Bradner H. Slawson, of Dunkirk. Mrs. Kilbourn died February 25, 1890, aged fifty-seven years.
ROF. ANDREW YATES FREEMAN.
The children of to-day are the statesmen of to-morrow, and as Providence has given us no way to foretell the future, we educate them all alike. A. Y. Freeman, the subject of this sketch, is engaged in this work.
Elisha E. Kilbourn was educated in the common schools and brought up in the mill, thereby becoming a thorough, practical miller. He is the oldest son of Edmund and Rosetta (Young) Frecman, and was born in North Pitcher, Chenango county, New York, January 29,1848. He spent from 1860 to 1883 (excepting the period from 1862 to 1865) in other towns in this county and in Pennsylvania, being em- ployed by Sellew & Pople, who own extensive Samuel Freeman, his grandfather, was born in Mansfield, Conn., about 1785. In the early iron works at Dunkirk and other cities. Mr. Kilbourn returned to Cherry Creek in 1883, part of this century he moved to Chenango
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county, and in 1806 married Huldah Barrows, by whom he had eleven children. He farmed summers and taught winters, teaching twenty- four terms in all. During that time each one of the eleven children had the rare oppor- tunity of being taught at school by their father.
Edmund Freeman, the seventh child, was born at North Pitcher, August 16, 1821. He worked on the farm summers with his father, and attended his school winters. In 1866 he moved to Sherburne and purchased a farm of ninety acres where he now resides. In 1846 he married Rosetta A. Young, by whom he had four sons : Andrew Yates ; Harlan Page, who was assistant cashier in the Sherburne National Bank ; Edmund Byrd is a shoe merehant in Oxford ; and Charles Storrs operates his father's farm. Harlan Page Freeman died in 1884.
A. Y. Freeman received his education, until twenty-one years of age, at the district schools, with the exception of six weeks at the Norwich academy. He began to teach when seventeen years old, teaching winters and working sum- mers. He also taught one term of select school, after which he took the classical course in the Brockport Normal, from which he was graduated in 1873. He has since been continually in educational work. The two years succeeding his graduation were spent in Spencerport, where he was principal of the school. In 1875 the voters of Chenango county elected him school commissioner for a term of three years. On August 16, 1876, he married Emma W. Hall, who was preceptress of the Union school at Union Springs, this State, but was called upon to mourn her death eight months later, April 9, 1877. At the expiration of his term of office Mr. Freeman returned to Spencerport and taught two years, when, in the fall of 1880, he was elected principal of the intermediate department, and later superintendent of practice at the State Normal school, at Fredonia, where he has since remained. He is a popular instructor, giving
satisfaction in whatever capacity he has been called upon to act.
On June 23, 1886, lie married Kate E. Hen- dee, daughter of Joel E. and Catherine (Pang- born) Hendee, and they have a family of three children : Harlan Page, Andrew Yates, and Edward Hendee.
Prof. Freeman owns a valuable traet of twenty acres, planted with choice varieties of grapes, on Central avenue, where he lives ; a farm of fifty-nine acres at Cordova, and one of one hundred and forty acres at. Sherburne.
Prof. Freeman is an elder in the Presbyterian church, and has for many years been superin- tendent of the Sabbath school. He takes a deep interest in all Christian and temperance work, and is highly respected by all who know him. His life has been spent in imparting knowledge to the youth of his locality, and while the nation has not yet advanced to the plane where such services are rewarded with honors like those conferred upon warriors and statesmen, the world knows that the education of the children is of greater importance than the winning of battles.
W ILLIAM COVILL, a thrifty farmer and an ex-justice of the peace of the town of Sherman, is a son of David and Eliza (Krouskop) Covill, and was born in Delaware county, New York, March 28, 1826. His pa- ternal grandfather, Simeon Covill, was a native of Canada, and lived in the United States for a few years, after which he returned to Canada, where he followed farming until his death. He married and had five sons, two of whom, Si- mneon and Henry, deserted from the British army during the war of 1812, and served for some time in the American forces operating against the Canadian border. Another son, David Covill, (father) was born about 1802, and made a visit to Chautauqua in 1823, before permanently settling in it in 1825. He was a farmer and an old-line whig and republican and died in November, 1878. He was a member
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of the Methodist Episcopal church, and mar- ried Eliza Krouskop, by whom he had three sons : William H .; George, who married Olive Newell ; and John. Mrs. Covill was a daugh- ter of William Krouskop, of German descent, who lived in Delaware county. He married Nancy Sands, who bore him three sons and five daughters, and who was a lineal descendant of Samuel Sands, who was born in 1622 in Eng- land, and settled with his family in the Colony of Massachusetts in 1658 or 1660.
Willian Covill received an academic educa- tion, taught school for one year in Kentucky and then returned to Chautauqua county, where he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, at which he worked for about twenty years. He was an oil producer for a short time, and then engaged in farming, which he has followed ever since. He owns a nice farm of one hundred and fifty-three acres of good land near the vil- lage of Sherman, and is a member of Grange No. 36, Patrons of Husbandry.
On February 21, 1850, he married Julia Newell, a daughter of Jesse Newell, of Con- niecticut, who came to Cayuga and subsequently to Chautauqua county. Mr. and Mrs. Covill have two adopted children : Lamont and Hen- rietta, wife of Edgar O. Buss.
He and his wife are members of the Method- ist Episcopal church. Squire Covill is a repub- lican, and served the town for six years as as- sessor, and for ten years as justice of the peace.
D
EXTER ALFORD is a well-known and highly respected farmer and real estate dealer of Ripley, who comes from old New England stock that gave full proof of their loyalty and patriotism by service in the Revo- lutionary, 1812 and Black Hawk wars, in which their country has been involved. Dex- ter Alford is a son of Martin and Sarah (Ad- ams) Alford, and was born in Waterford, Erie county, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1831. Oliver Alford, the paternal grandfather, was a native
of Vermont, who emigrated to Crawford coun- ty, Pa., in 1814, where he sojourned until 1841, and then followed the setting sun as far as Painesville, Ohio. While he owned a farm, and was nominally a farmer, he was a minister of prominence in the Baptist church. He was a democrat of Jeffersonian simplicity and Jack- sonian intensity, and was ever ready to defend the tenets of that party. During the war of 1812 his farm, which lay on Otter creek, Ver- mont, a few miles from its mouth, was used as the site of a fortification thrown up for the protection of Vergennes, which lay farther up the creek. Oliver Alford married Lavina Por- ter, and they reared a family of six sons and four daughters. Oliver, Jr., Ira and Hiram served in the war of 1812. The maternal grandfather was William Adams, who was a native of the old Bay State, and came from that family of Adams who furnished two pres- idents of the United States, and who were re- nowned as scholars and statesmen. William Adams came from Massachusetts to Chautau- qua county in 1815, and settled in Westfield. From there he went to French Creek and died. He was a soldier in the struggle for Independ- ence, and to his death bore two scars of ugly wounds received in battle. He married Annie. Atwater, who became the mother of six sons and two daughters. Martin Alford (father) was born in the Green Mountain State in 1804,. and died, in 1884, in the town of Ripley. In 1832 he went to Michigan, then a territory, and served as a private in the Black Hawk war, thus keeping up the chain of military ser- vice which his father had begun. In 1835 he came to French Creek, where he lived for eighteen years, and, in 1853, he moved to a farm near the village of Ripley, where the subject now lives. Martin Alford was a farmer and owned a place of one hundred and forty acres. He affiliated with the whigs, but later became a republican, and was elected to several of the town offices. Mr. Alford was a consci-
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
entious and Christian man who early associated himself with the Baptist church. Sarah Adams was born in March, 1808, and is still living. She married Martin Alford in 1824, and bore him eleven children, all except one living. Frank Alford, a brother of Dexter, served three years in suppressing the Rebellion, and at the close of his enlistment re-enlisted as a veteran, and served to the end of the war.
Dexter Alford was reared a farmer and taught to work. He was educated in the com- mon schools of his district, and then walked out to battle with the world, commencing as a farm laborer. He worked by the month at this occupation for two years, and taught school in the winters.
On September 6, 1859, he married Lucy A. Fisher, a daughter of Samuel Fisher, who came from Randolph, Mass., about 1860, and made his home in the town of French Creek, where he purchased a home with the accumulated savings of his two years of toil in field and school-room. Later he sold this farm and went down to Erie county, Pa., where he fol- lowed carpentering for about eight years. In 1870 he bought the old homestead from his father and now lives upon it, but since pur- chasing it he bought a property of one hun- dred and six acres in Erie county, and lived upon it for one year ; spent a season in French Creek.
Dexter Alford is a farmer, but does large transactions in real estate. He owns, besides the properties mentioned, a tract of one hun- dred and thirty acres in Amity township, Erie county, Pa. He is known as a leading repub- lican of Ripley, and has been a notary public during the past three years. The Knights of Honor claim him as a valued member, and the Baptist church recognizes him as a generous and upright supporter. Such men as Dexter Alford make a progressive and wide-awake community.
H OLLIS FAY ELLIS, the genial and popu- lar depot and express agent at Brocton, was born April 8th, 1844, in the town of Portland and is a son of Edmund (deccased) and Roxana (Fay) Ellis. The Ellis family arc of Scotch descent, while the Fays are from old Puritan stock. The maternal grandfather, Hollis Fay, was a native of Massachusetts, being the de- scendant of Puritan fathers. He came to Port- land prior to 1811 and located first in Brocton village but afterwards, in 1815, removed to West Portland. At this time he was unmarried and lived alone on his farm for three years. In 1818 he went back to Massachusetts and mar- ried Phobe Mixer, when they returned with an ox-team and lived on their farm in Portland un- til 1851 and then went to Concord, Erie county, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Fay died in July, 1868; his wife followed him in October of the same year. They had three children, only one of whom-Roxana E .- survived infancy. Mr. Fay was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was present at the burning of Buffalo; and subse- quent to leaving his farm in 1851 he owned and operated a saw-mill at Concord. Both himself and wife were members of the Baptist church. Edmund Ellis was born in Orleans county, New York in 1820 and emigrated to Portland, where he followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1857, when but thirty-seven years of age; and was a member of the West Portland Baptist church. He married Roxana E. Fay, the only child of Hollis Fay, in 1842. They had five children. Mrs. Ellis is still living, aged sixty-nine years, and is at present in De- troit, Michigan. She is a member of the Bap- tist church, in which she takes an active interest.
Hollis Fay Ellis was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the public schools, supplemented by two years in the Corry High school, his mother, at the time living with her parents in Concord, Pennsylvania. After leaving school Mr. Ellis spent a year in the oil country and then ran his mother's saw-mill for
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
five years. Succeeding this, he went back to the farm and staid four years. In 1872 he took a position as switchmau on the L. S. & M. S. R. R. His worth, however, was appreciated and a few months later he received the appoint- ment of second clerk at Brocton. Eight months after the position of first clerk was offered and accepted. He filled this place acceptably until 1878 when a vacancy occurred in the ticket of- fice and he was advanced to the agency of the L. S. & M. S., W. N. Y. & P. and the Chautau- qua Lake railroads. When the American Ex- press company entered Brocton, the agency of that company was given him. All of these agencies Mr. Ellis still holds.
In 1866 he was united in marriage to Jennie A. Springstead, daughter of John Springstead of Portland. They had two children, Louis E. and Josie B.
H. F. Ellis is a republican and a member of Brocton Lodge No. 8, A. O. U. W. and Brocton Lodge No. 984 Knights of Pythias. He is a companionable, pleasant gentleman and enjoys a host of friends.
J OHN W. FELTON, a prosperous young farmer and grape-grower of Westfield, is the son of Barnardus and Amelia (Lictus) Felton, and was born in the town of Clymer, Chautauqua county, New York, June 25, 1859. Tlie pa- rents of our subject are thrifty and industrious people from Holland. They came from their native land in 1855, and settled in the town of Clymer, where they resided and where Mr. Felton farmed for a few years, but in 1865 re- moved to Sherman, where he has since lived and pursued the same calling, being now sev- enty years of age. Mr. Felton joiucd his sym- pathies with the Republican party as soon as he became acquainted with the political system of this great country, aud has identified himself with it ever since. In 1862, when the second call for troops was made by President Lincoln, he enlisted in the 154th regt., N. Y. Vol.,
and served as a private until the suspension of hostilities. His wife died February 5, 1888, when sixty-four years of age. She was pos- sessed of an earnest Christian character and passed away consoled by the faith of the United Brethren church. She was the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters : Gar- ret J., John, Nat, Mary aud Ann, living in Clymer, married to G. W. Lictus.
John W. Felton was reared on his father's farm and was educated at the public schools of Clymer and Sherman towns. He has spent his whole life farming, and now owns a pretty place three miles east of Westfield, consisting of forty-six acres, sixteen acres being planted to grapes.
June 5, 1882, he married Mary A. Inwood, a daughter of William Inwood, a resident of Sugar Grove, Warren county, Pa., aud they have one child, a son, Henry, living. William Inwood was a native of England, and came to the United States in 1842. He came to War- ren county, Pa., and, buying a farm, engaged in farming. He married and reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters : Isaac, resides in California; Thomas, lives in Westfield town, this county ; William, makes his home at Freehold, Pa .; Michael, is living in Harmony, this county; Hattic, married Charles Crouch and they are citizens of Sugar Grove, Pa. ; Annic, wife of Leonard Gifford, of Westfield town ; and Mary A., united to our subject. Mrs. Inwood was born in England June 6, 1814, and died at her husband's home March 6, 1888. When a young woman she was in service with the family of the Duke of Norfolk. Mr. Inwood died March 7, 1890, aged seventy-three years.
Mr. and Mrs. Felton are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
C YRUS HOUSE. Among the best of the descendants coming from English settlers who made America their home more than a
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century ago, the House family, of which West- field town contains several representatives, stands prominently to view, and are recognized as leading farmers and grape-growers in their locality. Cyrus House is a son of Daniel P. and Lavina (Saunders) House, and was born where he now resides, in Westfield town, Chau- tauqua county, New York, February 10, 1825. Grandfather John House, was born in Morris- town, N. J., in 1760.
John House moved from the State of Rhode Island to Cortland Co., N. Y., early in the pres- ent century, and in 1816 he came to this county, purchased one hundred acres of land from the Holland Land company, and the same amount from another source. Upon the latter Cyrus House now lives. John House served in the Continental army through the Revolution, being in the transportation department. He married Joanna Pridden, and had eight children, three sons and five daughters. He died in 1838, aged seventy-eight years.
Daniel P. House was born at Homer, Cort- land county, N. Y., in 1799, and came to West- field town when seventeen years old. His father's farm of two hundred acres, upon which were standing giants of the forest, furnished sufficient work to engage his own and his broth- er's labor for many years. He occupied a prominent place in the Methodist church, officiat- ing as class-leader for some years. The latter years of his life brought him ill health, and he relinquished the active management of his busi- ness some years before his death, which occurred in 1864.
Levina Saunders, whom he married in 1822, was born in Homer, Cortland county, this State, in 1802. She bore her husband five children, two sons-Daniel and Cyrus-and three daughters : Joanna, married David Jones, died 1870; Mary A., died 1844; Lavina M., married G. A. Fay, died June 20, 1891. Mrs. House was a member of the Methodist church, a gentle Christian woman, and attained the age
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