USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 74
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in politics and the public welfare. He married and reared a family of seven children.
Dwight Dickson received a common school education, is and always has been a farmer, devoting most of his time at present to the cul- tivation of grapes. He is a republican in polit- ical affairs, a member of the Equitable Aid Union and the Knights of Honor. Both he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian church.
Dwight Dickson was married first time to Miss Jeannette Webster, who borc him three children : Walter H., a sheep dealer in Texas ; Warren, married to Sadie Arnold and living in Pittsburg, Pa., where he holds the position of mail inspector ; and Carleton, a resident of Texas. His second marriage was to Miss Charlotte Brown, a daughter of Jonathan Brown of Dutchess county, New York, but formerly of the State of Massachusetts. By his secoud wife he had two children : Edward D., in the mail service ; aud Jeannette M., now attending a music school.
R ANSOM F. COWING is a citizen of Chau- tauqua couuty by adoption only. He was born October 25, 1832, in the town of Chesterfield, Massachusetts. His paternal grandfather belonged to the Puritan stock of New England, which has given so much sta- bility and character to American social, reli- gious and political institutions. He was also a native of Massachusetts, where he spent his entire life and died at an advanced age. His maternal grandfather was also of New Eng- land birth and parentage. Our subject's father, Thompson Cowing, was born about the year 1794, and came to Chautauqua county, New York, in December, 1839, locating in the town of Busti, at what is now the famous and popular summer resort of Lakewood. Here he purchased some two hundred and twenty- five acres of land from Joseph Barker, and devoted the remainder of his life to clearing it and bringing it into a proper state of cul-
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tivation. He was a man of close application to his work-a hard toiler in every sense of the word, who knew the value of a dollar measured by honest labor. In political caste he was a whig during the existence of that party, but with the rise of the Republican party he cast his lot anew. He united in marriage with Saloma House, and liad a fam- ily of nine children, six boys and three girls ; one girl died in infancy. They are : Char- lotte, dead ; John, who has retired from farm- ing and now lives in Jamestown, New York; Charles, now living in Busti, New York; Samuel, a farmer living near Lakewood, New York ; Julia, dead ; Marietta, married to Sam- uel Butler, a merchant of Cambridge, Wiscon- sin ; Fortis, now dead, but formerly a resident of Jamestown, New York, until his death in November, 1890. He entered the civil war as a member of Co. F, 9th Regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, in 1863, and served until the close of the war ; and James, lives in the town of Elli- cott, a farmer by occupation.
Ransom F. Cowing was united in marriage to Martha A. Duryea, a daughter of Jacob Duryea, of Long Island New York. By this marriage he had two children : Ransom T., born January 18, 1862; and Nellie A. Ran- som T. was twice married ; first to Mattie Steward, of Watts Flats, New York, and after her death to Elizabeth Crouch. He now re- sides at Meadville, Penna., where he is employed in the service of the N. Y., P. & O. division of the Erie railway company.
Ransom F. Cowing, in early life, was forced by circumstances to carve out his own fortune, and lience his educational advantages were necessarily circumscribed. However, when the throes of the civil war were upon us, he was among the first to place himself at the service of the nation to preserve its honor, its flag and its political autonomy. He enlisted in Co. F, 9th Regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, and served three years and three months. At Brandy street,
Virginia, his arm was shattered by a shell. During his term of service he took part in six- teen engagements, and, as a reward for valor he was promoted first to a sergeancy and then to a lieutenancy. For the past fifteen years he has been in the employ of the Eric R. R. com- pany in the capacity of baggage agent. He has always been an ardent supporter of the Repub- lican party, and has served in several town offices, though they have always come to him unsought. His soldier's record, his honesty of principle and purpose and his uniform kindness have won for him the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
L EROY P. COATES is a son of Anson J. and Anna B. (Dow) Coates, and was born August 6, 1822, in the town of Pomfret, Chau- tauqua county, New York. His paternal grand- father was a native of New England, but emi- grated to Pittston, N. Y., where he died. His paternal grandfather was a native of New Hampshire. Father of subject, Anson J. Coates, was born in Pittston, N. Y., and removed to the town of Pomfret, Chautauqua county, in 1816. He spent his youth as a farmer boy, and adopted farming as an occupation. He married Anna B. Dow, resulting in a family of four boys and one girl, only one of whom still survives.
Leroy P. Coates was eduated in the com- mon schools of his native county, learned the business of and is at present an architect. In conjunction with his business, he formerly car- ried on that of contracting and building. He has been in business as an architect about forty years, and his wide range of experience, as well as his professional proficiency, has given him a high standing among leading architects. Mr. Coates is a democrat in politics, public-spirited and interested in progressive education.
He married Matilda Knapp, of Jamestown, by whom he had six children, three of whom are now deceased : Helen M. died at the age
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
of twenty-four years, Charlotte M. at the age of twenty nine years, and Anna B. at the age of twenty-one years. Of those still living, Edgar L. is married to Ellen Abram, and now resides at Warren, Pennsylvania, where he is engaged in the business of grocer and baker. Llewellyn A. aud Jennie B. still reside at home, the for- mer as an assistant to his father in the line of architecture.
Mr. Coates has always been most liberal to his children in matters of education, aiding and guiding their intellectual powers to a full and free development, realizing that the best basis for a successful career in life is not a pecuniary basis, but one of self-help, self-confidence and inherent self-power. Recognizing the ideal in the family, he has likewise transferred it to the community, and is thus recognized as an upright, exemplary citizen, who always has the best in- terests of his neighbors, his city, his county, and his State at heart.
W ILSON CAMP, a citizen of the town of Ellery and a soldier of the late civil war, is a son of John and Abigail (Simmons) Camp, and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, May 27, 1841. He is a descendant of au old New England family. His grandfather, Samuel A. Camp, Jr., was a native of the State of Conuecticut and a son of Samuel A. Camp, Sr., a graduate of Yale University, a clergymen of the Presbyterian church at that day. He was married to Lemira Wilson, and had eight children,-six sons and two daughters. Grandfather Jonas Simmons was a native of Rensselaer county, New York, near Troy, but emigrated to Chautauqua county in 1818, where he purchased a tract of land in the town of Ellicott, and located upon it. He was a hunter, pioneer and farmer, and through his combination of pursuits became well and favorably known in connection with the early settlement aud development of Chau- tauqua county. He was united in marriage to
Miss Strunk, a daughter of oue of the old Dutch families of Rensselaer county. John Camp, father of Wilson Camp, was born in the year 1800, and died in 1856. He was a steady-going farmer, in politics a whig of de- cided anti-slavery. proclivities. His marriage with Miss Abigail Simmons resulted in the birth of three children : John, deceased ; Wil- son, subject, and Herman, deceased.
In March, 1879, Wilson Camp was united in marriage to Mrs. Nancy Halladay (née Wilkins). In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volun- teers, in which he served until discharged for promotion. On September 1, 1864, he accepted a commission as second lieutenant in the Eighth Regiment U. S. colored troops, and shortly afterward received a promotion to the first lieutenancy. Mr. Camp took part in thirteen engagements, the most important of which were Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettys- burg. At Gettysburg he received a severe wound, but, notwithstanding, continued in the service, and was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Throughout his entire service he was faithful to duty, all of which is fully attested by his numerous promotions from pri- vate to captain, to which latter rank he was promoted in the winter of 1865 .. At the close of the war he returned to civil pursuits, and first engaged in lumbering, which business he continned to follow until 1876, when he came to Chautauqua county. In farming and allicd pursuits he has been engaged ever since. He is a stanch supporter of the Republican party and its principles, and is also a member of the Grange. Mr. Camp is an honest, unassuming man, well liked by all those who have come to know him.
H ON. JEROME BABCOCK, ex-member of the general assembly of New York, and a well-known business man of Jamestown, is a son of George and Abigail (Pickering) Babcock,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and was born in the town of Busti, Chautauqua county, New York, July 21, 1835. His great- grandfather, Barber Babcock, was of English extraction, and was a resident of Rensselaer couuty, where he followed farming until his death. He owned a large tract of land which is still in the hands of the Babcocks of that county who are descended from him. He mar- ried a Miss Cropsey, of German extraction, and reared a family of four sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Henry Babcock (grandfather), was born in Reusselaer county, April 16, 1782, and came in 1807 to the town of Ellery, this county, where he was engaged in farming for several years. He then removed to Cherry Creek, iu 1815, and then to Busti, where lie passed the remainder of his days. He was an old-line whig in politics. He married Lovina Boyd, who was born March 15, 1780, and their union was blessed with nine children : Harry, born March 18, 1804; John B., born June 17, 1805 ; Palmyra, born April 4, 1807 ; Sophronia, boru March 13, 1809; George, born April 10, 1811; Amanda, born February 3, 1813; Eme- line, born September 6, 1816; Leonora, born September 22, 1818 ; Laura, born December 3, 1820; and Lovina, born October 31, 1822. George Babcock (fatlier) first settled in Cherry Creek, but afterwards removed to Busti, where he followed farming until his death, which occurred August 18, 1867. He was a whig and afterwards a republicau, and favored compromise iu reference to the slavery question. He served as constable and held various other town offices during his lifetime. He was twice married ; his first wife was Abigail Pickering, a daughter of Artemus Pickering, and sister to Angeline Pick- ering, wife of John B. Babcock, who taught the first summer school in the town of Cherry Creek, and a relative of the celebrated Timothy Pickering, of Revolutionary fame, who settled in Cherry Creek at an early day. By his first marriage George Babcock had two children : Jerome, and Abigail, wife of Hon. L. T. Palmer,
a prominent lawyer of Warren, Pa., who served for several years as collector of the port of Philadelphia, and was a member of the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania for two terms. Mrs. Babcock died in November, 1836, and Mr. Babcock married for his second wife Sarah (Miller) Andrews. By his second marriage he had four sons and three daughters. One of these sons, Perry Babcock, is a lawyer of Min- nesota, where he was elected and served as a probate judge of one of the counties of that State. He was elected, after retiring from the beuch, president of the State Bar association, of Minnesota.
Jerome Babcock was reared on a farm, received his education in the common schools of his boy- hood days, and commenced life for himself as a farm hand. . Hc soon quit working on the farm, and engaged in the lumber business on the Allegheny river in Pennsylvania which he fol- lowed for fifteen years. He then went to Sugar Grove, Warren county, that State, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated for about eight years. At the end of that time he re- turned to this county where he located at Busti, and was in the hotel and mercantile business for several years. Leaving that place, he fol- lowed farming for one year and then (1889) purchased his present business establishment on Brooklyn square in Jamestown.
On January 1, 1863, he married Celia O. Smith, daughter of Asa Smith, of Warren county, Pa. They have one child, Grant B., who was born November 28, 1868, graduated from the Jamestown business college, and now is bookkeeper for his father.
Jerome Babcock has been a republican ever since the organization of that party. He voted for John C. Fremont in 1856, and while in Sugar Grove was president of the school board of that place for four years, and president of Union agricultural society for two years. After he returned to Busti he was elected supervisor of the town in 1873-75, and in 1887 and 1888.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
In 1885 he was elected to represent the First Assembly district of Chautauqua county in the Legislature of New York, and served one term. Mr. Babcock devotes his time largely to his mercantile and other business interests. He is a member of the Busti Lodge, No. 85, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and a man who encourages all worthy enterprises.
H ENRY R. CHRISTY is a well-known Christian gentleman living in the town of Hanover, where he has a farm of thirty-seven acres, five of which are planted in grapes. Henry R. Christy is a son of Leonard and Ruth (Hall) Christy, and was born in Dutchess county, New York, January 8, 1821. His great-grandfather came from Scotland and set- tled in Rhode Island, where he died, leaving a son, John Christy, who was born in the State named, but emigrated to Dutchess where he fol- lowed farming ; was a Quaker in religion and a whig in politics. He married Ann Tripp and reared a family of four sons and two daughters. He died in Dutchess county. The maternal grandfather, Peter Hall, was a native of the last mentioned place, followed farming and weaving, was very prosperous and became wealthy. Hc married and had a family of three sons.
Leonard Christy was born in Dutchess county and came to Chautauqua county in the autumn of 1835. Our subject, who was but thirteen years of age, having preceded him one year. He secured subsistence for himself and family by tilling the soil, his farm being located in the town of Hanover. He was a whig and married Ruth Hall, who became the mother of five sons and five daughters-two of each are yet living ; of the sons, Gilbert H. resides in Dutchess county, New York ; and subject.
Henry R. Christy received a common school education, and stepped forth in the arena of life as an agriculturist ; but shortly after he learned carpentering and ship-building, and for twenty-
five years worked at the latter trade. One- fifth of that time he was foreman of the yard, and it was not until 1890 that he relinquished the work. Henry R. Christy married Amanda Wood, and she bore him four children : Henry died young ; Mary reached the age of twenty- four and died ; Ada married John Orr, has three children and lives in the town of Hano- ver; and Ella A. is living at home, and has successfully taught several terms of school.
Henry R. Christy is a republican in politics, and before the formation of this party acknow- ledged allegiance to the whigs. He served nine successive years as commissioner of highways, which is the extent of his office holding. In religions matters Mr. Christy takes a deep inter- est-is a member of and a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, and belongs to the Equitable Aid Union.
C HARLES B. CHAPIN, the subject of this sketch, was born November 8, 1824, in the town of Winfield, Herkimer county, New York. His paternal grandfather and also his father were natives of Massachusetts, but emi- grated to Herkimer county, New York, at an early period, where the former died at an ad- vanced age. Subject's father, Lorin Chapin, was brought up on his father's farm and re- ceived a common school education. He has been farmer, merchant and distiller by occupa- tion, and in early life shared in those experi- ences that have always been attendant upon the pioneer. He has the distinction of having hauled the first load of merchandise from Al- bany to Buffalo, is republican politically but without undue political aspirations. He was also a member of the State militia and an active member of the Presbyterian church at Silver Creek, in which he held the office of deacon for many years. He married Miss Sarah Brace, and had, as a result of this union, two girls and three boys. Mr. Chapin died in the county of his adoption.
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Charles B. Chapin was educated in the com- mon schools and engaged in farming, which oc- cupation he has since followed. He married Cal- ista A. Gage, daughter of Sullivan Gage, a native of Connecticut originally, but by adoption a citizen of Hanover Center, New York, and has a family of three boys and one girl : the eldest, James M., is married to Miss Allie Thurston, and conducts a successful lumber, contract and real estate business in Newark, N. J. He was educated at the State Normal school ; Lizzie O., married to A. Morgan Harrison, a promising young lawyer of Minneapolis, Minn .; Bradley, married to Emma Mead, daughter of Edmund Mead, of Sheridan, residing at home, was en- gaged in cattle dealing ; and Fred N , married to Miss Allie Smith, of Bradford, Pa., now lo- cated in Chicago as foreman of a large factory.
Charles B. Chapin is the owner of a good farm, which he has acquired by his industry and frugality. He is a good citizen, a supporter of all worthy educational and charitable move- ments and takes a lively interest in public af- fairs, having always been an ardent republican in politics.
w ILLIAM T. COLEMAN is the presi- dent of the Lake Shore National bank of Dunkirk, having succeeded his father, the founder of the bank, who died in 1884. He is a son of Freeman R. and Sophia (Beecher) Coleman, and was born in Ellicottsville, Catta- raugus county, New York, February 18, 1845. The Coleman family is of English extraction, but grandfather, Asa Coleman, was a native of Connecticut where he followed farming. He died in 1860, aged seventy-eight years. Free- man R. Coleman was born in Connecticut but came to Madison county, this State, when a mere child. He remained there only a few years, until about fifteen years of age, and then went to Utica, New York, where he engaged as a clerk in a general merchandise store, owned by Ferrin & Backus. He remained with them
three years and was then entrusted with a stock of goods and sent into the new country of Catta- raugus county, settling at Ellicottsville. Reali- zing that this business was more profitable than working for a salary he bought the outfit and ran it on his own account up to 1854. Ten years prior to the date mentioned he engaged in the law business. He opened a land office and ran it in connection with his store. At the date mentioned he came to Dunkirk and opened a bank which later was known as the Lake Shore Banking Co., and was nationalized in 1882, when it assumed the name of the Lake Shore National bank of Dunkirk, with a capi- tal stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Coleman was president of this bank until he died in August, 1884, being at that time seventy- five years old. He was a member of the Epis- copal church and a warden at the time of his death. In early life he was an anti-slavery man, then a whig and finally a Horace Greeley republican. He was a pushing energetic man, and always ready to help a deserving cause. He started in life worth ten shillings and left at his death quite a large estate. He married Sophia Beecher and had a number of children. She was a native of New Haven, Connecticut, born in 1812 and died in 1867, aged fifty-five years. Mrs. Coleman, too, was a member of the Episcopal church.
William T. Coleman was reared in Dunkirk until eleven years of age, when he was sent to Trenton, New Jersey, to be educated, where he remained until eighteen years old. Upon reaching the latter mentioned age he returned to Dunkirk and began work as a clerk in his father's bank. ' One year later he was promoted and made cashier, which position he filled for twenty-one years. When the elder Mr. Cole- man died in the fall of 1884, W. T. Coleman was elected to the presidency of the bank.
In 1870, he married Grace, daughter of Charles Kennedy, of Dunkirk, and they have two sons and two daughters: Agnes, Essie,
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Royal C. and Shirley T. Mrs. Coleman died in February, 1885, aged thirty-nine years.
W. T. Coleman is a republican, liberal in his views and of original ideas. He has served as president of the council and is now a member of the board of water works. Mr. Coleman's bank is a sound financial institution. The last statement shows the surplus fifty-eight thousand dollars. Deposits over five hundred thousand dollars, and the total balance for the day nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
C HARLES R. CROSBY is a progressive merchant of Portland, carrying, in addi- tion to a regular stock of merchandise, a big supply of flour and feed. The Crosby family was originally English but has been in America for several generations. Charles R. Crosby is a son of Ervin S. and Harriet E. (Shaver) Crosby, and was born in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, November 8, 1839. His grandfather was Luther Crosby, a native of Connecticut, from which place he came and settled in this town in 1816, buying a farm which he tilled for many years. He went to Boone county, Illinois, in 1843, where he died in 1855, aged cighty years. His wife was Amy Salsbury, who came from Rhode Island, and by whom he had twelve children. Ervin S. Crosby was born in Otsego county, New York, in 1809. When seven years of age his father brought him to Portland, where he lived for fifty years. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, which he fol- lowed all his life, all of which was spent in this town excepting ten years when he lived in Akron, Ohio. Many of the buildings of this locality are specimens of his handiwork. He died here in 1876, when sixty-seven ycars of age. Mr. Crosby was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a democrat, although formerly a whig. He married Har- riet E. Shaver, who came from Schoharie county, this State, where she was born in 1809.
She died in 1874, consoled by the faith of the Methodist church. They had eight children.
Charles R. Crosby was reared in Portland, and was educated in her schools, and after gaining sufficient education began life as a clerk in a mercantile house at Portland. In 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, 9th regiment, New York Cavalry, with the rank of sergeant. He served one year and was mustered out on account of impaired health, but after recovering he en- gaged in farming, which he followed for twenty-five years. In 1887, he opened a grocery and feed store and his business ability has enabled him to build up a good trade. He carries a nice stock of the best grades in his line. Since 1880, he has given a good share of his attention to grape culture and still grows a large quantity each year.
In 1861, he united in marriage with Delia Webster, a daughter of Jason Webster, well- known in Portland town, and their union has been blessed with seven children, three sons and four daughters: Townsend W., Carrie M., Hattie D., Carlton L., Archie D., Lottic M. and Bessic E.
C. R. Crosby is a member of the Congrega- tional church and of Lodge, No. 219, F. & A. M., of Westfield ; Portland Lodge, No. 461, Knights of Honor, Equitable Aid Union and J. A. Hall Post, No. 292, of the G. A. R. He affiliates with the Democratic party and has held the office of justice of the peace for twelve years.
C ELIN BURGESS. One of the great in- dustries of this country and which to-day, in this State, has over fifteen million dollars in- vested and nearly six hundred thousand cows, is the dairy business. A prominent representative of this industry in the town of Ripley is the gen- tleman whose name heads this sketch. Celin Burgess is a son of Walter S. and Delitha (Welch) Burgess, and was born in Madison county, New York, July 23, 1830. Levi Bur-
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gess (grandfather) was a native of the Green Mountain State. Like his illustrious compatriot, Ethan Allen, he served in the Revolutionary war, and at its close moved from Vermont to the Empire State and settled in Madison county, where he died. He united in marriage with Ruth Sabin and reared a family of four sons and three daughters. Nicholas Welch (maternal grandfather) came from Germany during the first decade of the present century and when the mother country was a candidate for her second chastisement this newly arrived citizen went forth to assist the forces of his adopted country. At the battle of Queenstown, about the same time and place that Lieut. Winfield Scott, after- wards the renowned general, was wounded, Nicholas Welch was so severely wounded that it was necessary to amputate both hands. He returned to his home in Madison county, finally became blind and then lived with his daughter, Mrs. Burgess, until his death. . Walter S. Bur- gess was born in Vermont, and when central New York was pretty well "out West " he moved to Madison county. Later he came to Chautauqua county and selected for his home a site that was covered with stately monarchs of the forest. His ax laid low the mighty mon- archs and with wedge and maul transformed the vast trunks into boards and rails for houses, barns and fences. A double duty was performed by clearing and building simultaneously. When a few acres were cleared lie tilled the soil to provide food for his family. He married De- litha Welch, a native of Germany, who was a helpmeet to him in all that the term implies. They rcared four children : Alfred, a miller, resides in Iowa; Celin ; Henry, occupying the responsible position of master mechanic for an Ohio railroad ; and Lucy, wife of William O. Case, who lives in this town.
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