USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 66
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ed in a family of eight children, six living and two dead.
George W. Parks received his education in the public schools, learned the same business that his father followed and continued it until 1872. Later he became a dealer in lumber and timber, and in 1890 he embarked in the merchandising business, handling the three staple lines, dry-goods, groceries and hardware. This constitutes his present business, in which he has become firmly established, enjoying a good local trade.
George W. Parks united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Henry Burmaster, of the village of Irving, and has two children living and one dead : Charles, Maud and Claude, de- ceased. He, together with his wife, holds membership in the Methodist church, of which he is steward and trustee, the latter of which offices he has held for the past nine years. Mr. Parks has always been identified with the de- velopment of the town from a material stand- point as well as educationally and religiously. He has been a member of the school board for a number of years, and also takes an active in- terest in politics. He is a member of the Royal Templars and of the Equitable Aid Union.
D ANIEL C. SMITH, a well-known and respected gentleman, living in the town of Hanover, who has followed agricultural pur- suits for many years, is a son of Christopher and Eve (Ball) Smith, and was born in the town of Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, on the 12th day of August, 1821. The pater- nal grandfather, Conrad Smith, was a native of Germany and came to America during the progress of the Revolutionary war. Having served in the German army and being traincd in military tactics, he was well fitted to per- form a similar service for his adopted country, and he enlisted in the Colonial army, serving as an officer until the close of the struggle. He received wounds in battle and drew a pension
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until his death. After the close of the war he settled in Schoharie county, pursued farming and died there when one hundred years of age, cousoled by his faith in the Methodist church. The maternal grandfather, Mathias Ball, was also a native of Germany and came to this country a few years prior to the war mentioned. He enlisted and served throughout the strife and then settled in Schoharie county, but later came to Chautauqua county, and lived with his son until his death. Christopher Smith was born in Schoharie county, New York, 1779. In 1841 he emigrated to Cattaraugus county, purchased a farm of four hundred and twenty acres, which he tilled until 1849, when he moved to the town of Hanover, where he lived until his deatlı, which occurred in 1868. His political sympathies were with the Democratic party until the slavery issue became the burn- ing question of the day, when he severed his connection with it and allied himself with the Republican party. He was thrice married, first, to Eve Ball, by whom he had four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter ; all are dead except George, who lives in Michigan, and subject. After Mrs. Smith's death he married her sister, Catherine Ball, and later he united with Elizabeth Van Valkenberg.
Daniel C. Smith was educated in the com- mon schools and then tilled a farm until he was thirty-five years of age. He then clerked for three years in a store owned by R. B. Smith & Co. Since that time he has followed farming, and is the owner of one hundred and thirty acres of land in the town of Hanover. Politically, like his father, he was formerly a democrat, but divided with his party upon the question of slavery and is now in harmony with the Repub- lican party.
Danicl C. Smith married Cordelia M. Cush- man, a daughter of Hiram Cushman, and their union has been blessed with seven children, six now living and one dead : Lucinda E., married Hall Gidley, who is a farmer and mechanic,
living in the town of Hanover ; Phila A., mar- ried John Q. A. Christy, deceased, now lives in Silver Creek ; Sarah C., is the wife of Adelbert A. Newbury, a farmer living in the town of Ripley ; Daniel C., Jr., married Maggie C. Mc- Andrews, and follows the same occupation in the town of Hanover; Sidney B., married Liz- zie L. Curran, and is similarly employed in the same town ; and Frank, who is reading law in the office of Towne & Bishop, Silver Creek, New York.
H ORACE C. SAWIN is a leading farmer and business man of the town of Ripley. He was born July 2, 1821, in Herkimer county, New York, town of Stark and is a son of Ethan and Eleanor (Anise) Sawin. George Sawin, his paternal grandfather, was a resident of Herki- mer county, whence he had come originally from Connecticut, of which State he was a native. Prior, however, to his residence in Herkimer county he had been a citizen of Washington county, in the northern part of the State. In early life he taught school, combined this with farming and in later years made it his exclu- sive vocation. He was married to Ruth Crocker, who bore him six children, and died at the ex- treme age of ninety-nine years. Grandfather Alexander Anise was a native of Washington county, New York, but lived and died in Or- Icans county. He was a farmer by occupation, and reared a large family to which he was unu- sually devoted. Ethan Sawin emigrated to Chautauqua county, New York, town of Ripley, ncar where the subject now lives, in 1832, in which State he was born and spent his early life. He died in 1884. Mr. Sawin had always been an interested patron of education. In his earlier life he himself had been a teacher and thor- oughly understood the necessity and possibility of true education as well as the reciprocal rela- tions of teacher and pupil. He had always been ambitious to elevate the standard and to still more generalize the functions of the com-
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OF CIIAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
mon sehool. In an official eapaeity he served quite a number of years in connection with the sehools of his own town and always exhibited the highest interest in their effieieney and sue- cess. His marriage resulted in the birth of five children, all living.
Horaee C. Sawin gained his edueation through the advantages of the common sehool, though at that time he was surrounded by such conditions and eireumstanees as to afford him very poor facilities. He first worked upon a farm and after attaining his majority embarked in farm- ing for himself. He is now the owner of one hundred and eighty-eight aeres of land in a high state of cultivation and productivity. In politics he has always voted the Demoeratie ticket and his fidelity to party has been rewarded by eleetion, to various town offiees. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons at Westfield, New York.
Horaee C. Sawin married Mary A. Osterman, a daughter of William Osterman, of Ripley, who bore him one son, H. Eugene, now married to Aliee Palmer and living in the town of Rip- ley. He is a farmer and dealer in agricultural implements, and the parent of two children : Laura M. and Lee.
Horaee C. Sawin is held in respeet by his neighbors and those with whom he eomes in con- tact, not only for his sterling qualities but also for his social qualities as well. His life has been one of honesty, high purpose and single- ness of aim-not to aeeumulate riehes and ma- terial wealtlı, but to acquire those comforts of home and domestie life whiel produce simple happiness.
OBERT A. MAXWELL, the genial and enterprising editor and proprietor of the Commercial, published at Sinelairville, New York, is the son of the Rev. J. Allan Maxwell, and was born in Amsterdam, New York, June 8, 1856. His grandfather, whose name was also J. Allan Maxwell, was a native of New
York city, but died in New Orleans, Louisiana, when about twenty-eight years of age. His son, Rev. J. Allan, father of Robert A., was a Presbyterian clergyman of acknowledged learn- ing and eloquenee, and was stationed at differ- ent points in the States of New York and Penn- sylvania. He died on November 27, 1890, at the age of fifty-seven years.
Robert A. Maxwell lived in Soutlı Orange, New Jersey, until the age of fourteen, when he removed with his parents to Hazleton, Pa. He received his education at the academy in Blairs- town, New Jersey, and at the Hazleton schools, after which he learned the trade of printing and engaged in that business in the adjoining eitics. In January, of 1891, he eame to the village of Sinclairville and took charge of the Commercial, the only paper published in the village, a weekly having a eireulation of about six hundred. Sinee embarking in this enterprise Mr. Maxwell has met with unqualified sueeess and the future of his journalistie enterprise still continues to grow brighter. Politically he is a republican and is a member of the Equitable Aid Union.
On December 29, 1883, Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage to Marietta, daughter of E. Rust, of Cambridgeborough, Crawford county, Pa. Their marriage has been blessed by the birth of one son, Allan R.
F RED A. BENTLEY, a well-known eitizen of the town of Busti and vice-president of the Chautauqua County National Bank, is a son of Gustavus and Cornelia (Stewart) Bentley, and was born in the town of Busti, Nov. 30, 1846. Among the pioneers settlers of the town of Busti was Uriah Bentley, the paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch. Uriah Bentley was the son of Caleb Bentley of Ber- lin, Rensselaer county, where he was born June 21, 1779. In May 1810 he settled on lot 9, township 2, range 12, now in the northern part of the town of Busti. He eleared a piece of land, built a house after the common pattern of
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those pioneer days and in November brought his family to Mayville and, for want of a road, he shipped them down the lake in a long canoe, reaching his home at midnight. He was an industrious man and useful citizen. On December 28, 1800, he married Nancy Sweet, who was born May 7, 1779. They reared a family of ten children : Nancy, Polly, Uriah S., Sybl E., Hiram, Simeon G., Alexander, Gustavus A., Ulrica C. and Minerva. Gusta- vus A. (father) the fourth son, was born Angnst 12,.1817, and followed farming on the home farm until his death. He was a republican in politics and married Cornelia Stewart, who died in Febuary 1888. She was the danghter of John Stewart, a Methodist, who was born in Herkimer county, married Eunice Wilcox, by whom he had five sons and five daughters, and died in the town of Harmony in 1826. He was the son of Eliphalet and Mercy (Coates) Stewart, who settled in 1810 in Busti near Jamestown, where Mr. Stewart followed farm- ing and lumbering. Gustavus A. and Cornelia (Stewart) Bentley reared a family of three chil- dren : Marian E., who died in 1857; Frances V., wife of J. S. Briggs, a grocer of Jamestown, and Fred A.
Fred A. Bentley grew to manhood on the farm and received his education in Randolph and Jamestown academies. Leaving school, he was engaged in farming on the homestead farm near Lakewood until 1886, when he was elceted vice-president of the Chautauqua County Na- tional Bank of Jamestown and since then has given his time principally to the business of the bank.
He married Clara Ball, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who died shortly after her marriage, and after her death he united with Mary B., daughter of Flint Blanchard, a farmer of the town of Ellicott. By his second marriage he has two children : Janc and Marian E.
In politics Mr. Bentley is a republican. He served three terms continuously as supervisor
of the town of Busti. He has been very care- ful of the interest of his bank and has spared no effort to strengthen and maintain its well earned reputation.
E LIJAH E. HALE, a farmer of the town of Ellicott who has followed black- smithing for seventy years, was born in Pitts- field, Massachusetts, October 26th, 1805, and is the son of Alfred and Lucy (Ensign) Hale. Alfred Hale was born in Conway, Massachu- setts, and removed to Pittsfield, that State, where he died in August 1817. He was a shoe-maker by trade and a whig in politics. His wife Lucy (Ensign) Hale was a Presbyterian and died in Pittsfield in September, 1816. Mr. and Mrs. Hale were the parents of three children, of whom two grew to maturity : Elijah E and Sarah E. (deceased), wife of Oliver Arms, also dcad. Mrs. Hale was a daughter of Capt. Elijah Ensign (maternal grandfather), who was the first white male child born in the town of. Pittsfield, of which he was a life-long resident. He was an extensive farmer for his day, an earn- est and active federalist in politics and was a captain in the Massachusetts militia. He mar- ried Phobe Holt, by whom he had nine chil- dren, five sons and four danghters. Two of these sons, Thomas and John, served as soldiers in the war of 1812.
Elijah E. Hale received his education in the common schools of Massachusetts and at 15 years of age was apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmith, which he has successfully fol- lowed for seventy years. He went from Pitts- field to Hancock and from there in 1830 to Fluvanna, which he left three years later to re- move to his prosent farm. He is a republican in politics and served for some time in the Massachusetts State militia, in which he was ap- pointed on September 11th, 1828, by Gov. Lincoln, as quartermaster with the rank of lientenant. He served as a deacon in the Chris- tian church of Ellicott until it ceased to exist.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
On November 27th, 1825, he married Eliza A., daughter of Major William Acocks, a black- smith and whig, who was a deaeon of the Bap- tist church and a militia offieer in Massachusetts, from which he removed to Campton, Kane county, Illinois, where he died August 10th, 1854, aged seventy-seven years. He married Phobe Baker of Lanesboro, Massachusetts, and they had four children : Eliza A., James L., not dead ; Phobe G., who died some years ago, and Wm. B. Major Aeocks was born in Devon- shire, England, where he was pressed to serve in the British army. He was one of the soldiers surrendered at Saratoga and after being sent to Boston as a prisoner, he enlisted in the Ameri- can army. After the Revolutionary war he married a Mrs. Lewis (nèe Grant) by whom he had two children : Major William, and Thomas who was killed by a falling tree at Elmira, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have two children : William F., born July 15th, 1827, who was graduated from Jamestown academy, taught ten terms in the public sehools, married Mary A. Stillson and is now engaged in farming for his father ; and Milton A., who married Annetta Arnold of the town of Ellery, and is engaged in farming.
A LBERT H. STEBBINS, a descendant of one of the old pioneer families of the town of Hanover and Chautauqua county, is a son of Marcus M. and Emeline (More) Steb- bins, and was born in the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county, New York, May 15th, 1842. His paternal grandfather, Sesedialı Stebbins, was a native of Massachusetts and came in 1806 to what is now the town of Sheri- dan, where he purchased a farm of two hundred acres. He was an enterprising and successful farmer and in politics was successively a whig and republican. He married Iseneth Green, by whom he had one son and three daughters. The son, Marcus M. Stebbins, was the father of the subjeet of this sketch. Marcus M. Stebbins
was born in 1819, owned one hundred and fifty acres of his father's farm, which he cultivated and managed until his death in 1886. He was a whig and republiean in politics and married Emeline More, a daughter of Huber More, a native of Essex and afterwards a resident of Chautauqua county. They reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters.
Albert H. Stebbins was reared on the home farm and received his education in the common schools and Randolph academy, which latter he attended one term while that institution of learn- ing was under the charge of Prof. S. G. Love. Leaving school, he turned his attention to farm- ing which he has successfully followed until the present time. He owns a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres of good grape land, of which thirty-two acres are now in productive vineyards. His land is also well adapted to grain raising and grazing purposes. Mr. Steb- bins is a republican, who believes in yielding an active support to his party. He held the office of assessor of the town of Hanover for nine consecutive years and shortly afterwards was elected as supervisor, which office he held unin- terruptedly sinee 1884. He is a member of Lodge No. 757 Free and Accepted Masons of . Silver Creek.
In 1863 he married Clara E. Smith, who is a daughter of William Smith, and died May 9th, 1883, leaving five children : Fannie (de- eeased) ; Lorain W., a farmer of Hanover, who married Grace Birdsey ; Schuyler C .; H. Smith, attending Exeter academy ; and Mary L. In 1886 Mr. Stebbins united in marriage with Nina C. Congdon, daughter of Morgan Congdon. By his second marriage he has one child, a daughter-Clara A.
W ILLIAM F. STRUNK, one of the reli- able citizens and substantial farmers of the town of Ellicott, is a son of Williani H. and Jane A. (Van Vleck) Strunk, and was born in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua county,
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New York, May 7th, 1840. The first of the Strunk family in America was in 1750, when Hendrick and Catherine Strunk, brother and sister, came from the principality of Leppe Detmold, in North Germany, to Rensselaer county, New York. Hendrick Strunk was a farmer and his son, Jacob Strunk, grandfather of William F. Strunk, came in 1816 to Chau- tauqua county, where he settled on lot 53, range 4, township 2 in what is now the town of Elli- cott. He owned a large farm, was an old-line whig in politics and died in 1831. He married and reared a family of ten children. His son, William H. Strunk, was born August 5th, 1807, and died December 25th, 1878. In 1834 he was married to Jane Ann Van Vleck by Rev. E. J. Gillett. They reared a family of five sous and five daughters, of whom three are living : William F., Dwight, a farmer of Lake- wood, and Alvin, now engaged in farming in Ellicott.
William F. Strunk grew to manhood on the farm and received his education in the common schools. He has always followed farming and owns a farm of eighty-five acres of good land, upon which he now resides. In 1865 he went to Forestville and bought nine bull-head fish with which to stock a pond his father had made ; seven of these fish lived, and in 1867 the pond was washed out by Lake Chautauqua, into which the fish escaped. By this means the lake was stocked with its present abundance of that kind of fish. In politics Mr. Strunk is a republican.
He married Edna Augusta, daughter of Ly- man Parker, of Ellicott, who died leaving two children : Grace Edna, who has taught five terms of school in Cattaraugus county, and Minnie B., a dressmaker of Jamestown. Mr. Strunk again united in marriage with Gertrude A. Carter, daughter of S. H. and Jane A. (Perry) Carter, of the town of Randolph, Cattaraugus county. Mrs. Gertrude A. Strunk received her education at Chamberlain institute, from which
she was graduated in 1875. After graduation she taught in the States of New York, Ohio and Illinois. While at Chamberlain institute she taught in one of the preparatory departments and afterwards taught natural science and Ger- man in the Illinois female college for tliree years and the higher branches in the high school of Ironton, Ohio.
E DMUND MEAD, a retired merchant and one of the substantial farmers of the town of Sheridan, was born in New York city, Janu- ary 10th, 1809, and is a son of Benjamin and Eliza (Holmes) Mead. He is fourth in lineal descent from Benjamin Mead, who came from England to Greenwich, Connecticut, where he was the founder of the Mead family, which now has branches in so many parts of the United States. He was a farmer, served in thic Revo- lutionary war and married. Two of his sons were killed by the Indians and another son, Edmund Mead (grandfather), was a large land- holder and prominent business man of Norwich. He left home but never returned, and it was al- ways believed that he was murdered. He was married and had three sons and two daughters. One of these sons, Benjamin Mead (father) was born between 1790 and 1800, and at ten years of age went to New York city, where he became successively a clerk, partner and proprietor of a wholesale grocery house. At sixty years of age he retired from active life, but continued to re- side in New York city until his deatlı. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, originally a Jacksonian demo- crat but later in life a republican. He married Eliza Holmes, a native of New Jersey, by whom lie had seven children, among whom were William (deceased); Joseph S., a retired gro- cery merchant of Brooklyn; and States O., a retired wholesale merchant of New York city.
Edmund Mead grew to manhood in New York city, where he attended the public school and then entered New Canaan academy, from
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
which he was graduated in 1825. Leaving school he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business with his father until 1830, when he came to the town of Sheridan, where he bonght his present farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which was then almost in wilderness. This farm, which he took great delight in clearing out and improving, is in the central part of the town and was the first farm cleared out between Silver Creek and Westfield. It is well im- proved, carefully tilled and very productive. Mr. Mead is a republican in politics and has always taken an active part in any movement intended for the improvement of the town. He has been town clerk and school commis- sioner, served five terms as supervisor and held the office of justice of the peace for nearly fif- teen years. He was at one time a candidate for Assembly and lacked but one vote of being nominated, his successful competitor being Mr. Palmer, who was elected at the ensuing election. While not a church meniber, yet he supports churches and church work.
He married Susan Doty, daughter of William Doty, of Sheridan. To their union were born fourteen children : Ralph A., a railroad con- ductor of Binghamton, New York, who married Ann Gold and after her death Louisa Belden ; Benjamin, died when young; Benjamin, who married a Miss Pearson and lives in Jersey City, New Jersey ; Brockus L. (dead); Abigail A., wife of Marshall E. Rice, of San Francisco, California ; Brockus L. ; Susan D., married to John V. Patterson, of Sheridan ; Eleanor F., wife of Richard Honk, of Ohio; Edmund, de- ceased ; Caroline A .; Emma, died in infancy ; William H., telegraph operator of New York city ; and Rachel H., wife of Charles Smith, of Kansas City.
EDWARD DENNISON, a representative farmer of the town of Hanover, was born on the farm on which he now lives, in the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, New York,
May 5, 1828, and is a son of Joseph and Deb- orah (James) Dennison. The founder of the Dennison family in America was William Den- nison, who was born in England about 1586, and eame, in 1631, to Roxbury, Massachusetts, with his wife and three sons : Daniel, Edward and George. A descendant of one of these sons was Joseph Dennison, the paternal grandfather of Edward Dennison. Joseph Dennison, who was born at Norwich, Connecticut, March 20, 1750, married Mary Smith, by whom he had seven sons and four daughters. In 1829 he re- moved to Galway, Saratoga, county, this State, where he followed farming until his death, March 17, 1833. His son, Joseph Dennison (father), was born at Norwich, Connecticut, October 25, 1787, and in 1816 removed to the town of Hanover, in which he died in the year 1872. He purchased the farm from the Hol- land Land company, containing one hundred acres, upon which the subject of this sketch now resides. He dealt largely in real estate, and al- though a carpenter and joiner by trade, yet gave his time principally to farming. He was an old-line whig and an active worker in the Baptist church, with which he had united in 1820. His wife, Deborah James, was the danghter of Jesse James, a farmer of Saratoga county. Their children were : Sallie E., born 1814, and now widow of David Strong; Dr. John, born August 8, 1818, and a graduate of Albany Medical College, who married Elcanor Johnsonworth, and after practicing for twenty years at Alden, Eric county, removed to De Witt, Iowa, where one of his sons, Dr. John, Jr., is practicing medicine and the other son, Walter, is in the hardware business ; Flora, wife of a Mr. Dinehart, a banker of Stator, Iowa; and Edwin.
Edward Dennison was reared on the farm on which he resides and received his education in the common schools and Fredonia academy. Leaving school, he engaged in his present busi- ness of farming on the old homestead which he
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now owns. He has a large apple orchard, and also makes a specialty of sheep-raising. Mr. Dennison is a democrat in politics and has been an active member of the Baptist church for many years. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., of Forestville, the Grange and No. 235 Pa- trons of Husbandry of Sheridan. He is one of the oldest Masons of western New York, being a member of Hanover Lodge, No. 152, Free and Accepted Masons of Forestville, in which he was initiated in July, 1850. Although fre- quently solicited, Mr. Dennison has never pre- sented himself for any office within the gift of his fellow-citizens.
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