USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 76
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George R. Dean united in marriage with Alice Ward, a daughter of William O. Ward, of Sinclairville, New York, March 13, 1864, by whom he has one son, George W.
George R. Dean was cducated in the common schools, which by reason of his environments and circumstances, was very meager. He com- menced his active career in life by working on a farm until he arrived at the age of sixteen, when he went to Mayville in 1854, and com- menced the printer's tradc. His residence has been practically at Mayville ever since. At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861, he held the position of local reporter on the Buffalo Courier, when he received a call from Oscar Johnson and others to take charge of the Dunkirk Union, which he continued to edit and publish until 1867, meanwhile hav- ing become owner of the paper. He sold the Union about this time, returned to May- ville, purchased a farm which he still owns, operated it for a short time and then purchased the Dunkirk Journal, which he published one year. In 1880, he established the Chan- tauqua Era and has conducted it ever since,
having besides, in 1882, purchased the May- ville Sentinel, both of which papers are now under his management and editorship. Mr. Dean is a democrat in politics and conducts the Sentinel in the interests of that party. He is a vigorous and talented writer, thoroughly abreast of the great political and social ques- tions which are agitating the American people and in the elucidation of which the editorial columns of his journals are used with much judgment and common sense.
D AVID A. TORREY, a highly moral and enterprising citizen of Charlotte Centre, was born on April 16th, 1850, in the town of which he is now a resident, and is a son of Sheldon and Ruth (Main) Torrey. His father was a highly respected citizen of the same town, a farmer by occupation and in politics, a repub- lican. Justice Torrey, the paternal grandfather of David A., came from the east to Chautauqua county over seventy years ago and was the original ancestor of the Torrey family in Chau- tauqna county.
David A. Torrey was reared in the town of Charlotte, was educated in the district school and remained with his father upon the farm un- til twelve years ago, when he purchased and moved upon the farm which he now possesses, containing some two hundred and eighty acres. His principal business is dairying and raising cattle of a high grade. He is also engaged in the manufacture of cheese, maple sugar and syrup. Of the former he produces about six tons annually, of the latter about one thousand pounds of sugar and one hundred barrels of syrup. David A. Torrey is a stanch republican, a man whose character is beyond reproach and who is unusually public spirited and enterprising. Any movement towards the improvement of the masses or the alleviation of the sufferings of mankind is sure to receive his warm and cordial support.
In 1879 Mr. Torrey joined in marriage with
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Mary, daughter of Charles Tarbox a prominent citizen of Fredonia, New York. To them have been born three children : Haddie A., Helen E. and Charles W., all of whom are still young.
E 'DWIN F. LAKE, an intelligent and ener- getic farmer, was born upon the farm on which he now lives in Charlotte Centre, Chau- tauqua county, New York, on August 20, 1836, and is a son of Daniel B. and Elvira B. (Boyn- ton) Lake. His parents were both residents and natives of Rockingham, Vermont, the former being born in the year 1802. Daniel B. Lake was a New England farmer, but at the age of twenty-eight he removed to Chautauqua county, New York, took up a farm from the Holland Land company, improved it and lived upon it for some thirty years subsequent. He then retired from the farm and took up his residence at Charlotte Centre, where he died at an advanced age. He was a man who took pride in military affairs, and after his arrival in the State of New York, was captain of a company of militia. His wife died at the age of eighty-three years. Grandfather Henry Lake was also a native of Rockingham, Ver- mont, and was a soldier in the war of the Revo- Intion, which he entered at the age of sixeen.
Edwin F. Lake was reared and educated in the town of Charlotte, attended the common schools, supplementing his elementary education at the Fredonia academy and at Cleveland, Ohio, commercial college. At the age of six- teen he began teaching school and alternated his time for several years by teaching school in the winter and working on the farm in the summer. At the age of twenty-one he purchased the old homestead upon which he has since resided, and is now engaged in its operation, besides manufac- turing butter, cheese and maple sugar. Mr. Lake is also the owner of a large bearing orchard, from which he has realized consider- able profit. He is a democrat in politics and has held the office of supervisor two years,
assessor eight years and commissioner of high- ways three years. In the line of fraternal or- ganizations, he belongs to the Grange only, and is master of the branch at Charlotte.
On February 7, 1859, E. F. Lake was mar- ried to Mary B. Brooks, a daughter of the late John Brooks of the town of Charlotte. Their children are Daniel F., Addie M. and George E.
H' ENRY L. KENDRICK combines modern farming with the important adjunct of dairying, and sets an example worthy of emula- tion by other agriculturists. He is a son of Oliver and Anna (Gleason) Kendrick, and was born in Heath, Franklin county, Massachu- setts, December 31, 1826. His grandfather, John Kendrick, was also a native of Massachu- setts, in which State he passed his whole life, dying April 28, 1808, aged sixty-two years. By occupation he was a tiller of the soil, and possessed somewhat the spirit of Mars, being a lieutenant in the State militia, and participating in the war of the Revolution, which resulted in the greatest republic on earth. In religion he was a congregationalist. John Kendrick mar- ried Keziah Baldwin, by whom he had nine children, six sons and three daughters. His wife died in 1830, aged seventy-seven years. The maternal grandfather of H. L. Kendrick was Solomon Gleason, who was a native of Massachusetts, where he followed the occupation of a farmer, affiliated with the old line whig party, and believed in the tenets of the Congre- gational church. Solomon Gleason was mar- ried-the union resulting in twelve children. Oliver Kendrick (father) was likewise a native of Massachusetts, being born in 1786, and learned the trade of a mason, at which he worked, meanwhile owning and cultivating a farm. In religion he was a member of the Baptist church, and in politics was an old line whig, being elected to several town offices. Oliver Kendrick married Anna Glea- son, by whom he had ten children, five sons
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
and five daughters, six of whom are still living.
Henry L. Kendrick was educated in the common schools of his native county, and began his active life as a farmer near the place of his birth, where he remained until 1853, in which year he came to this county and settled in Sher- man, where he has since resided, owning one hundred and fifty acres of land within the cor- poration of this village, on which he keeps thirty cows and runs a dairy. In religion he is, as is also his wife, a member of the Presbyterian ehnrch, in which he has been an elder for twenty years. Politically he is a republican, and is also a member of the Grange.
Henry L. Kendrick was married May 16, 1849, to Franees Bennett, a daughter of Solo- mon Bennett, a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, born Jannary 6, 1790, a graduate of Middle- bury college in that State, who took also a full theological conrse and became a Congregational minister, occupying pulpits in that denomina- tion for the period of half a century, He was a strong abolitionist, and married Hepzibah N. Jewell, who belonged to an old and distin- guished family, Honorable Marshall Jewell, of Hartford, Connecticut, a noted statesman, once governor of Connecticut, postmaster-gen- eral and United States minister to Russia under President Grant's administration, being her relative. Frances Bennett was born in Marl- boro, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, in July, 1826, being one of a family of six chil- dren, three sons and three daughters, the sons dying young and the daughters still living : the eldest married to Leonard Scott, of Fredonia, this county ; Louise, who married Loomis Clark and lives in Sherman ; and Mrs. H. L. Kendrick. The father of Mrs. Kendrick died in October, 1882, and her mother, who was born November 16, 1805, died January 22, 1890. The Jewell family are of Scoteli ances- try, one of them, John Jewell, being bishop of
Salisbury, England, during the reign of Henry de Valois, known as Henry II.
EPHRAIM T. KING, an old and highly respected resident of Jamestown, was born on his father's farm in Saratoga connty, New York, August 17, 1818, and is a son of Elisha G. and Sarah (Wight) King. The King family is of early New England stock and has always been noted for its industry and thrift. Joseph King (grandfather) came from Con- neeticut and settled at an early date in Ver- mont. Not finding this eongenial to his ideas he again gathered his possessions abont him and went into Saratoga connty, this State, where by hard labor he made him a home where he might wrap the mantle of his conch about him and rest in peace. During America's second struggle with the mother country, he forsook, for the time being, the quietness of home life and shouldering his flintlock marched off with many of his neighbors to repel the invader. When suecess to his country's arms was as- sured, he returned to his family, which he left when duty called, and continued to farm nntil his death. His wife was Thankful Hames and ten children was the result of the union. He embraced the faith of the Baptist church some time before his death and passed away in its consolation. Jacob Wight (maternal grand- father), too, was of New England origin, and was known as a good citizen in the locality where he lived. Elisha G. King (father) was three years of age at the commencement of the present century, and was born in New England but came to Saratoga county with his father and hewed himself a farm out of the forest where he lived all his life, following agricul- tural pursnits and died, a communicant of the Universalist church, although carlier in life he was a methodist. In life Mr. King was a whig who voted as he felt disposed and with no desire for political honors.
Ephraim T. King began life acquainted with
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
hard work and remained in Saratoga county until he was thirty years of age, when he moved to this county and located near the present town of Falconer, where he engaged in the manufac- ture of half bushel measures. This work was continued for fourteen years when he bought a farm of twenty-five acres within the present municipal limits of Jamestown, and is also the owner of thirty acres just outside the city and for nearly a third of a century has cultivated them, conducting his work with skill. Among the many republicans of his locality, he is one of them; and is recognized as an influential and highly respected citizen.
He was married twice. His first wife was Maria Scribner, and after her death he married Susan J. Washburn, a daughter of Luther Washburn, of Saratoga county, this State. This last union has been blest with four children : Frank B., who is married to Mary Edwards, of Saratoga county, and is now engaged in the manufacture of gloves and mittens in Jamestown, where he resides ; Sidney, superintendent of an oil lease at Titusville, Pa., and married to Lottic Dunn; Ida M., and George at home.
IRAM L. KNOWLTON, a man firm in his convictions, willing to see the right, and, when convinced, unswerving in adherence to the action he has decided to sustain, is an agri- culturist, grape-grower and ex-defender of his country. He was born in the town of Harmony, Chautauqua county, New York, June 29, 1835, and is a son of William and Maria (Barney) Knowlton. William Knowlton was a native of Vermont, where he was born in 1796, but left that country of ice, snow and marble, and came to this county about the year 1820. He secured him a farm and pursued the calling of a farmer in Harmony and Clymer towns until his death, which occurred in 1882, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Knowlton was an active, energetic man, full of business and of marked executive ability. He was but sixteen years of
age when England made her second attempt to subdue the young American government, but, as many of the other boys did in the original and final struggle, he donned a uniform, shouldered a musket and inarched away with the men. He . was wounded and drew a pension up to his death. He married Maria Barney, a native of Genesee county, this State, who was born in 1800, and they had eleven children, ten of whom attained manhood, and marrying, borc families. Mr. and Mrs. Knowlton were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. and were hap- piest when they were advancing its work. She died in 1875, aged seventy-five years.
Hiram L. Knowlton was reared on his fath- er's farm and educated in the common schools. He remained at home until twenty-five years old, and then started to acquire the carpenter trade, which learned he followed for five or six years, but finding farming more congenial to his taste and disposition, he went back to it and has since been an agriculturist. In 1874 a pretty place of eighty-five acres, where he now lives, two miles from Westfield, was secured, and has ever since been his home. A portion has been set to grapes, and makes a very prom- ising vineyard. Mr. Knowlton enlisted in Co. G, 49th Regiment Inf., N. Y. Vols, when President Lincoln called for troops in 1861, but he was discharged in the spring of 1862, on ac- count of failing health, and he returned to his home. 1
In 1864 he married Selina McCollom, a daughter of Alexander McCollom, of this town, and they have two children, William A. and Carey J.
H. L. Knowlton is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and of William Sackett Post, No. 324, G. A. R. He is a pronounced republican, and one of the foremost citizens of the town.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
JOHN KEWLEY, a well-to-do and intelli- gent farmer of Hanover town, was born a subject of the King of England, on May 9, 1823, on the Isle of Man. His parents were Philip and Christiana (Clater) Kewley, who trace back their ancestry to old feudal England. John Kewley (grandfather) was a native of the Isle of Man, where also was born his son Philip (father of our subject), on February 10, 1795. In 1832 Philip Kewley bid farewell to his na- tive land and boyhood home to cast his lot in the land of free institutions. His voyage hith- er was fraught with many new experiences and strange impressions, but he had firmly resolved to cast off the monarchical shackles and hence- forth swear his allegiance to the stars and stripes, so there was no turning back. His first place of location in America was in Erie county, State of New York, where, strange to say, he spent all but about a year and a half of his remaining life, which year and a half was spent in Chautauqua county. For quite a while after arriving here Philip Kewley followed the trade of a shoemaker, indeed, until his fail- ing eye-sight compelled him to give it up. He then purchased a farm of seventy-five acres from the Holland Land company, which he worked, cleared and finally reduced to a state admitting of cultivation. At his death, which occurred April 14, 1885, this old homestead fell to his son, in whose possession it now is. His marriage was blest with the birth of four children : Jane, wife of Lyman Balcom, a far- mer of Otsego county, New York; Betsey, dead ; Jolin; and William, single, lives with his brother John.
John Kewley received his education in the common schools of his native country, learned the business of and is at present a farmer. During the past three years, in addition to his farming interests, he has purchased an interest in a saw-mill and now devotes considerable time to its operation and management. Mr. Kewley after a careful study of a republican
form of government and republican institutions, has politically allied himself with the Republi- can party.
John Kewley was joined in marriage to Miss Dorcas Witherby, a daughter of Asa Wither- by, of Erie county, but formerly of the State of Massachusetts. They have three children : Ellen, wife of Henry Gedley, a prosperous far- mer of the town of Hanover; Emma, wife of William Christy of the town of Hanover, mother of one child-May; and Frank (mar- ried to Ida Dolly), a farmer, stock-raiser and speculator of the town of Hanover, New York.
By virtue of his long residence and citizen- ship in the United States, he has come into closest sympathy with American governmental principles and policies, and is now as deeply in- terested in the fortunes and possibilities of the American people as if he were a native born cit- izen. Mr. Kewley is an agreeable, pleasant man, always kind and considerate and generous to those who need his assistance. He is regard- ed as an honest, straight-forward citizen.
E MMETT T. KINGSLEY, a resident of Ripley, New York, is a son of Albert and Anna (Meade) Kingsley and was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1842. His ancestors were of New England birth and trace back their earliest authentic history to the landing of the Mayflower. Grandfather James Kingsley first emigrated from New England to Washington county, New York, and later to the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county. He was a whig politically, pursued farming and was married to a Miss Jenkins, who bore him a large family. Grandfather Meade was one of the earliest settlers of Washington county, Pennsylvania. Albert Kingsley, father of Emmett T., was born in Washington county, New York, in 1804 and learned the trade of mill-wright. Upon coming to Chautauqua county, he built a mill at Fredonia, one of the first in the county. He removed to the State
33
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Indiana, where he owned four hundred acres of land in the immediate vicinity of La Porte, and on which a portion of the city of La Porte now stands, but was compelled to leave on account of climatic conditions. He died in Ripley, May 2, 1875. His union with Miss Anna Meade resulted in the birth of three children, two sons and one daughter: Louisa, living with subject; Marvin W. (married to Miss Nellie French of Cleveland, Ohio), assis- tant engineer of the Cleveland water-works, formerly a civil engineer on the Canada South- ern railroad ; and Emmett T.
Emmett T. Kingsley was educated in the common schools and academy, learned the busi- ness of telegraphy and since 1869 has been more or less engaged in that calling.' He is at present relief agent of the eastern division of the L. S. & M. S. R. R., and besides this, deals in coal, tile and brick, with headquarters at Ripley. Mr. Kingsley also owns a grape farm of about twenty-five acres, eight acres of which are now producing vines. He is demo- cratic in politics and has been a member of the school board a number of terms. For over twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic Lodge at Westfield.
Emmett T. Kingsley was united in marriage on June 3, 1873, to Harriet Cosgrove, a daugh- ter of John Cosgrove of the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, and is the father of three children: Marvin W., Alfred C. and Florence.
G EORGE W. JONES, who is the present, and has been for the past three years, street commissioner and city surveyor of James- town, is a son of Luther C. and Angeline (Put- nam) Jones, and was born in Ellery, Chautau- qua county, New York, February 26, 1846. Luther C. Jones was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born February 26, 1806, and when about twenty years of age came to Ellery and afterwards removed to Harmony, this
county, where he lived until the beginning of the late war, when he went to Randolph, Catta- raugus county and remained until the spring of 1865, when he came to East Jamestown. Mr. Jones' life-long profession was surveying which he taught to his son George W., who still fol- lows it. He was a republican politically and served a number of years as justice of the peace in the town of Ellery. He married Angeline Putnam and had several children : one who died in infancy ; Mehitable, married Abrain Wing and died July 11, 1865; Miles, entered the Union army in Co. G, 72d regiment, New York Infantry, in 1861 and died of quinsy in 1862, having been promoted to corporal ; Al- bert C., entered the service August 20, 1862, in Co. H, 112th regiment, and served to the close of the war, entering as a private and receiving promotion advancing him to second lieutenant. He was with the Army of the James and re- ceived a severe wound in the battle of Cold Harbor, again, at the Chapin's farm fight, he was shot in the side and at Fort Fisher, re- ceived a severe wound in the hand. He now resides in Jamestown.
George W. Jones was educated in the com- mon schools and from his father learned the profession of land surveying which has been his occupation through life, excepting about three years when he was in the Union army. He entered Co. H, 112th regiment, New York Infantry, August 20, 1862, and remained in the service until the final mustering out, in 1865. His division participated at Chapin's Farm, Cold Harbor, Fort Fisher and in many minor engagements and skirmishes, although he was but nineteen years of age at the close of the war.
He married Matilda Jones, a daughter of Abraham Jones and a niece of Sidney Jones, who resides in Jamestown, on February 26, 1868. They have been blest with four chil- dren : Wilber M., Leonard F., Grace L. and Clyde G.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
Politically Mr. Jones is a member of the Republican party and by it was nominated to the office of street commissioner and city asscs- sor of Jamestown, and both himself and brother, Albert C. Jones, are members of James M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
SCAR W. JOHNSON is a son of William and Olive Johnson, and was born on the 8th of September, 1823, in Otsego county, New York, a county long since made famous by the pen of James Fenimore Cooper. His great- grandfather had been a soldier in the Colonial wars, and the succeeding generations down to the time of the subject had been confined in their nativity to the New England States. William Johnson (father) was born in the State of Vermont, removed to Chautauqua county, New York in 1837, thence to Chenango county, in 1852 where he remained the balance of his life-time. He died in 1877 at the age of seventy-six years.
Oscar W. Johnson, after his preliminary educa- tion, entered upon the study of law in the office of John Wright of Chenango county, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. For a number of years he practiced in Chenango county and in 1852 removed to Fredonia, New York, where he continued his profession. He was appointed postmaster for the village of Fredonia under Pierce's administration. Mr. Johnson is a strong adherent of the Democratic party and, because of his extreme radicalism, has never held any important offices. He is practically retired from professional work and devotes most of his time to settling up cstates and to the con- trol of his money interests. He is a director of the Fredonia National bank and is always di- rectly or indirectly engaged in every movement for the development and improvement of his village and county. Personally, Mr. Johnson is a man of geniality and affability to them who are fortunately his acquaintances ; while at all times he strictly adheres to those principles of
life and conduct which he conceives to be es- sential and necessary to the highest form of manhood.
In 1851, he was united in marriage to Miss Emily Murray of Chenango county, New York, who bore him nine children, seven of whom are married.
OHN JOHNSON, a comfortably situated farmer of the town of Ripley, was born in the town of Norwich, Chenango county, New York, in July, 1824, and is a son of Homer and Roxanna (Skinner) Johnson. The Johnson family is of English stock, but for two centuries has been American by residence. From its early New England home various branches have been planted in different parts of several States, where a numerous posterity exists to-day. Dr. Jonathan Johnson, the paternal grandfather of John Johnson, was born in Connecticut, where he read medicine for four years and received his diploma April 3, 1791. In that or the following year he became the pioneer physician of Chenango county, where he soon acquired an extensive practice and he soon became an important citi- zen. He conducted his business affairs with such good judgment as to amass a large for- tune in lands, mills and stores. He was a Presbyterian and a whig and married Hannah Graves, who lived to be ninety-six years of age.
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