USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 78
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Carlisle Durand attended the early common schools of his town and Westfield academy. He commenced for himself as a farmer which he has since followed without intermission.
Carlisle Durand married Frances Cordelia Coy, who is a member of the Presbyterian church and a daughter of Alvy Coy, who set- tled in the town of Clymer in 1816, and mar- ried Nancy Marsh, whose father was one of the early settlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Durand are the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters: Frederick C., an engineer by profession but now engaged as a postal clerk at Chattanooga, Tenn., married Kate McElroy ; Herman F., married Minnie Shepherd, of Clymer ; Donna, is the wife of C. C. Otis, of Buffalo, N. Y .; Sarah; Joseph, a telegraph operator and car inspector at Buffalo ; and Louis.
Carlisle Durand is an active republican and has served as constable besides holding other town offices. He is a regular attendant at church and profitably conducts a farm which he owns. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the Ancient Order of the United Workmen.
A LFRED J. LUNT, the courteous and popu- lar cashier of the Lake Shore National bank at Dunkirk, is a son of Thomas and Ann (Batchelor) Lunt, and was born in Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York, October 19, 1855. Thomas Lunt is a native of Liverpool, England, where he was born in 1829. When nineteen years old he decided to seek a home in America, and with this object in view came to the United States in 1848. He stopped in different places until 1850, when he came to
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Dunkirk which has since been his permanent liome. For thirty-five years he was roadmaster of the Erie railway. He married Ann Bateh- elor, by whom he liad six children. Mrs. Lunt is still living, and is sixty-three years of age. Both she and her husband are members of the Episcopal church. He is a demoerat, and has served as street commissioner in Dun- kirk, and is also a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Irondequoit Lodge, No. 291.
Alfred J. Lunt is an example of what any American boy, with a good constitution, may accomplish. He was reared in Dunkirk, and edueated in the publie schools of the city. His first experience in business life was gained in the post-office where he was employed for three years. From here he went to the Lake Shore National bank, first serving as its messenger. His work was characterized by the careful and systematic manner in which it was performed, and it could not help but reach the favorable attention of his superiors. Courteous and respectful in manner, he retained the good-will and advanced in the estimation of his employers until, when a vacancy presented, he was advanced to fill it. Here, again, application to the work before him was observable, and this was a dis- tinguishing feature through life. In 1883, when the bank needed a cashier, and the question was asked, " Who shall we get ?" the answer met the eye when it fell on him. Mr. Luot received the appointment because he deserved it and was prepared to fill it. Thus at the age of twenty-eight he was the executive manager of one of the strongest financial institutions in southwestern New York.
In 1884 Mr. Lunt married Dora Popple, daughter of Alexander W. Popple, a citizen of Dunkirk, and they have two interesting chil- dren, Helen and Gurney.
He is a member of the Episcopal church, one of its vestrymen, and has attained to the thirty-second degree in the Dunkirk Lodge, No. 767, Free and Accepted Masons.
were about to say that Mr. Lunt was a fortunate man, but his good fortune came because he was possessed of sterling qualities of integrity and social qualities of good fellowship, which, combined and intelligently administered, will bring good fortune to any man. He is a representative eitizen of Dunkirk, esteemed by the business men, and admired by society. He is treasurer of the board of water works of the City of Dunkirk, of the Dunkirk wagon company, and of the F. & A. M.
F LBERT P. LOWELL, an enterprising business man and prominent hardware merchant of Brocton, is a son of James W. and Jane (Sellick) Lowell, and was born in the town of Pomfret, June 24, 1847. Mr. Low- ell's aneestors came from Scotland. His grand- father, James Lowell, was born in Connecticut, but came to Chautauqua county, where he bought a farm in Pomfret town, which he tilled until his death in 1856. He was a democrat of the old school and an influential man among his associates.
James W. Lowell was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and, hoping to improve his con- dition, eame to western New York, and settled at Pomfret. He has always been a leading farmer, having good crops and fine stock. Mr. Lowell is a democrat, and still lives on his farm in Pomfret, aged seventy-three years. He married Jane Sellick, and is still living at sixty-five years of age.
Albert P. Lowell was reared on his father's farm, and seeured his education at the public schools and the academy in Fredonia. He prepared for teaching, and upon leaving school followed the pedagogue's profession for seven years with a remarkable degree of sueeess; but, as many of the best teachers are doing to-day, on account of the mcagre remuneration, he de- cided to enter a business more profitable. A person capable of becoming a first-class teacher We | can easily make two thousand dollars or more
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per year in other pursuits. This is discour- aging to the instructor who receives but one hundred dollars or less per month, and that for but seven to ten months in the year. In 1872 Mr. Lowell entered a partnership with H. B. Crandall, the firm being Crandall & Lowell, for the manufacture of fruit and berry baskets. This business was profitably and successively continued for fifteen years, during which time they turned out an immense quantity of bask- ets. In February, 1888, Mr. Lowell decided to open a hardware store, and stocked it with a complete line of shelf and heavy hardware. He still conducts this business, carrying a fine and assorted stock, and enjoys a large and in- creasing trade, and, like many another, can look back and smile quietly at thoughts of days spent as teacher in the little school-house.
Albert P. Lowell married Emily M. Risley in 1871. She was a daughter of Ira Risley, a farmer in Pomfret, and has one child : Anna S. He is a member of the Methodist church, where he is a steward, and belongs to the Royal Templars of Temperance and the Knights of Pythias. Politically a democrat, he has held the office of justice of the peace, and was the first "No License" excise commissioner of Portland town. Mr. Lowell is a pushing and enterprising man, who has reached the position in the business world he now occupies through his own efforts, and few men are held in higher esteem by their neighbors and acquaintances.
JAMES MCALLISTER was born in the town of Gerry, on September 1, 1825, and is the son of John and Sarah (Brewster) McAllister. His great-grandfather, William McAllister, was born in Scotland and emigrated to New York State in the Adirondack region with a surveying party, where he was taken sick and died. His grandparents were born in the New England States, where also was born our sub- ject's father. The father was by occupation a tanner, and in the earlier part of his life removed
from Boston, Massachusetts, to Amsterdam, New York, where he operated a tannery and in con- junction therewith dealt in boots and shoes. In 1817 he moved to the town of Gerry and pur- chased a farm from the Holland Land company, upon which one of his sons now lives. Here he engaged in farming and other collateral lines, through which he acquired considerable money. In politics he first voted with the Whig party and afterwards allied himself with the Demo- cratic party, under the latter of which he held the office of justice of the peace, supervisor and collector for a number of years. He was a member of the Baptist church, in which he held the offices of deacon and trustee at different times. His death occurred in the town of Gerry on the old farm, which he had originally cleared and improved, at the age of ninety years.
James McAllister was reared and educated in the town of Gerry, left school at an early age and worked with his father in the tannery and on the farm. He shortly afterward com- menced his independent career on the old home- stead, where he carried on the business of farm- ing, lumbering and dairying. At the age of twenty-two he purchased the old farm, erected a saw-mill and increased his facilities for manu- facturing and shipping lumber.
James McAllister, on June 21, 1863, was united in marriage to Laura, daughter of Jonas Willow, of the town of Poland, New York, who bore him five children : Cora Bell (deceased) ; Lottie (deceased) ; Joseph Lynn, a graduate of Sinclairville academy and a student at the University of Michigan, where in 1890 he was taken sick and died; Guy Brewster ; and Ray Barnard.
James McAllister has always been a repub- lican in politics, while his religious views were Unitarian.
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A LEXANDER M. MINIGER. One of Westfield town's prosperous and contented farmers is the gentleman whose name appears above. He is of German descent; a son of Orville and Mary J. (Riddell) Miniger, and was born in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, May 25, 1840. The family is indigenous to the town and county almost since its forma- tion. In 1806 Low Miniger, the paternal grandfather of Alexander M., bought a tract in section 26, and a year later, a part of section 18 from John McMahan, who had secured it from the Holland Land company. Previous to the first date mentioned, Mr. Miniger had lived about two years at Fredonia. This would place his arrival from Pennsylvania at about 1804, which is believed to be correct. He served bravely with the American army in the war of 1812, and died when eighty-four years of age, being a whig in politics. When Westfield town was formed he was elected the first over- seer of the poor and one of the fence viewers, a committee of three to pass upon the quality of a fence in case of damages by a stock.
Orville Miniger, the father of our subject, was born in this town in 1813 and is now liv- ing in Ripley, aged seventy-eight years. He has always been a farmer, in which avocation he is still employed, and his farm is character- ized by the neatness of all its surroundings. He is a pushing, energetic man and pushes the seasons instead of letting them push him in his farm work. Mr. Miniger is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and also belongs to the Republican party. Like many of the best thinking minds of this enlightened day, he is strongly in favor of the temperance movement and hopes to live to sce it successful. He mar- ried Mary J. Riddell, who still comforts his advancing years and is in her seventy-sixth year. She is a member of the Presbyterian church. They rcared a family of several chil- dren.
Alexander M. Miniger was reared on the
farm and has spent his life in tilling the soil. His education was acquired in the public schools of Westfield. He is now the owner of forty- four acres of well-kept land, lying two and a quarter miles west of Westfield, on the Buffalo road, where he devotes considerable attention to grape culture-a fine vineyard in excellent cul- tivation being part of his farm.
In 1867 he married Martha A. Webster, a daughter of Warren Webster, of Gowanda, Cattaraugus county, New York. They have one son and a daughter-George W., aged twenty, and Martha E., who was born in 1876. Mr. Miniger is a republican politically and is one of the town's most enterprising men.
S ILAS W. MASON, a member of the Chau- tauqua county bar, and a prominent pro- hibitionist of New York, is a son of Fitler M. and Ann (Haskins) Mason, and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, November 21, 1840. His paternal grandfather, Thaddeus Mason, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, was born either in Massachusetts or Connecticut, and served in the war of 1812. His maternal grandfather, Ira Haskins, was of English descent, and was a native of Clinton county, New York. His father, Fitler Mason, was born in Clinton county in 1802, and died in this county in 1886. He was a millwright by trade, and was engaged extensively for several years in Clinton county in the lumber business, besides building several mills. About 1832 he removed to the town of Ellery where he followed farming. He also worked at his trade and built a number of flouring-mills in different sections of the county.
Silas W. Mason was reared on the homestead and attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age, when he became an insur- anec solicitor, which position he resigned after one year's service, to enter Westfield academy. After attending one year he taught one term in the public schools, and then returned to West-
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field academy, from which he was gradnated in 1859, at the age of nineteen years. After being variously employed for two ycars, he entered Bryant & Stratton's business college of Cleve- land, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1861. During the next year he went to Venango county, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged for about six years in the real estate and oil business. He owned a one-fourth interest in the celebrated Foster oil farm, besides having an interest in several other good oil farms. In 1870 he returned to this county, where he read law at thirty years of age with Austin Smith, and two years later entered the Albany Law school, from which he was graduated in 1872. He was afterwards admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New York, where he has practiced his profession successfully. In avoca- tions of life other than professional, Mr. Mason has been actively engaged at different times. While giving close attention to his large law practice, he did not neglect his agricultural interests, and has greatly improved the tract of land which he owns.
In 1862 he united in marriage with Amanda F. Parsons, a native of Westfield, and a daugh- ter of Paul Parsons, a business man, and for- merly a resident of Westfield.
Silas W. Mason is one of the leading prohi- bitionists of western New York. In 1887 he was the prohibition candidate for Assembly in Chautauqua county, where the Prohibition party casts about one thousand votes. In 1889 he was the prohibition nominee for judge of the Supreme Court of New York, and the next year was nominated for judge of the Court of Appeals. He has always polled the full vote of his party and at each election has received an increased vote, although the prohibitionists have been so far in the minority.
H ENRY FINCK, a prominent citizen and successful business man of the town of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York, is a
son of John A. and Frances (Thuilot) Finck, and was born in Prussia on October 19th, 1835.
His father was a native of Prussia and by occupation was a hotel-keeper and brick maker, while his mother was of French descent but born within the confines of Germany. The former was an active, energetic man, conducted his business with success and died in his native country at the age of fifty-four years.
Henry Finck was reared in Prussia, where he received his education in the common schools and passed the first seventeen years of his life. At the expiration of this time he emigrated to the United States and located in the city of Buf- falo, New York, where he received employment as a brewer and continued in that business until the year 1869. During this period, however,- in 1855-56-57, lie was employed on a steamer on Lake Erie as a dock hand at ten dollars per month. He also worked for a short time in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and other places in the West. In 1869 Mr. Finck left Buffalo, New York, and located on the farm upon which he now resides. There was at that time erected upon it a small brewery of the French type, in which he commenced business. He continued the brewing business, gradually increasing the business in its capacity up to the year 1888, at which time he erected a large new brick brewery and equipped it with the most modern appar- atus. This brewery is located within a short distance of the city of Dunkirk and is also within a short distance of two leading railroads, so that he is not lacking in facilities for delivery and shipment. His business has grown in ex- tent and importance year by year until at the present time it is one of the most prominent in the town of Dunkirk. Mr. Finck has erected upon his farm a fine brick house of a modern style of architecture, where he lives in compara- tive ease and complacency, practically retired from the activities of a business life. The life of Henry Finck well illustrates what can be at- tained through industry, courage and unflagging
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energy in the business world. His career lias been marked by self-effort, by patient struggle with adverse circumstances, but withal honesty and an untiring zeal. He is now recognized, though born in a foreign land and reared under a widely different form of government and type of civilization, as a model citizen and in com- plete sympathy with our constitution, as well as the political and social fabric of America.
In the year 1864 Henry Finek was united in marriage to Margaret, daughter of Alexander Hadley of Baden, Germany, who has borne him two children, both sons-Henry and Albert.
RICHARD A. HALL, a gentleman well versed in the statute law of the State of New York, is a son of Artemus and Almira (Mount) Hall, and was born in the town of Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county, New York, in 1864. The paternal grandfather, Abraham Hall, was a farmer. Artemus Hall was a re- publican in politics and a farmer by occupation. He came with his parents to Cherry Creek and still resides here.
Riehard A. Hall received a public school edu- cation, attended the Ellington academy and the Fredonia State Normal school. After leaving the latter he read law with the Hon. George H. Trout, of Cherry Creek, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1889. About the same time he associated himself in partnership with his former preceptor, who resides in Buffalo and has a law office there. The firm now do legal bus- iness in both Erie and Chautauqua counties, and in the different courts throughout the State. Richard A. Hall is a member of Cherry Creek Lodge, No. 463, I. O. O. F., and is a republi- ean in politics.
He united in marriage with Stella Ellsworth, and they have two children : Eugenia, and an infant. Mr. Hall is a bright and shrewd lawyer, careful and conscientious in his business, up- right in his character and seems destined to make a mark.
A LMERON MCDANIELS, a descendant of a good old New England family and a staunch farmer of Chautauqua county, was born July 27, 1845, in the town of Villanova, Chautauqua county, New York. His parents were Leonard and Lydia (Howe) McDaniels. The McDaniels family were natives of the State of Vermont, where the paternal grand- father of our subject lived and died. His grandfather on the maternal side was a farmer of Massachusetts, of which State he was a life- long resident. Leonard McDaniels was born and reared in Vermont and about the year 1841 changed his place of residence to the State of New York, town of Pomfret, Chautauqua county. Thence he moved into the town of Villanova, where he remained some time, and finally located in the town of Hanover on the public road leading from Silver Creek to Forestville. Here he purchased some land and went to farming, which he has since fol- lowed with success and good financial results. Politically, his tendencies were decidedly re- publiean, although he always held himself aloof from partisanship and office seeking. He held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, where his family were constant worshipers. During the war of 1812 he was mustered into the service and took part in nearly all the notable campaigns of that war. Mr. MeDaniels entered the bonds of marriage with Miss Lydia Howe, who is still living in the town of Han- over, at the age of seventy-seven years. They were the parents of seven children : Sarah, married to Philo Osborn (dead) and now living in the village of Silver Creek ; Mary, married to Albert Bennett, a resident of near Forestville, New York ; Ellen, married to Abner Stebbins a farmer of Erie county, Pa. ; Emily (dead) ; Almeron ; Adelaide, married to Mason Cushman, a farmer of the town of Hanover; and Charles (married to Nora Mor- ris) living in Sheridan, Chautauqua county, a farmer.
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Almeron McDaniels is indebted to the com- mon school system for his education, and to his early life npon his father's farm for a strong, robust physical constitution. After leaving school he began his independent career as a clerk at Silver Creek, where he spent three years. At the expiration of this time he re- turned to farming, and in 1883 located where he now lives in Hanover township. In con- junction with his farm interests, he runs a dairy, which has proved quite a successful and profitable venture. He has been democratic in his political proclivities until within a few years, when his moral convictions led him to ally himself with the Prohibition party.
Almeron McDaniels united in marriage with Emily A. Brown, daughter of Sidney and Har- riet (Green) Brown of Hanover Centre, New York, but formerly of the State of Vermont. He has two children : Sidney B. and Fred A., both young.
ISRAEL G. MOORE, a man of influence and a leading farmer of the town of Elli- cott, is by birth and education a New Eng- lander. He was born in West Boylston, Mas- sachusetts, Jannary 2, 1809, and is a son of Israel and Mary C. (Goodell) Moore. His grandfather whose name was also Israel Moore, had been born three generations prior at the same place, where he also died. The Moores have been a succession of farmers, grandfather Moore having been the owner of a large and well-improved farm in the native State. He was a follower of the Whig party and a member of the Congregational church, in which he held the office of deacon for many years. His mar- riage resulted in the birth of five sons and two daughters. Maternal grandfather Goodell was also a Massachusetts farmer in comfortable cir- cumstances and of Puritan descent. He was a whig, a worshiper at the Congregational church, and reared a family of seven children, three sons and four danghters. His wife was
Miss Eunice Lovell of the same place. Israel Moore, father of Israel G. Moore, was given birth at the old Moore homestead in Massachu- setts in the year 1779, and died thirty-two years later. By occupation he was a farmer, in politics a whig and in religion a member of the Congregational church. He was united in the bonds of marriage with Miss Mary C. Goodell, who bore him two sons and two danghters, all of whom lived and died in the State of Massachusetts, except the subject. Mr. Moore inherited in a measure the religious con- victions and social views of his Puritan ances- tors. He was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of conservatism and firmly held to the faith and customs which have become such potent factors in shaping American life and institutions.
Israel G. Moore gained his education through the medium of the common schools, was reared a farm lad and, ever since attaining his majority, has engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. In 1836 he emigrated to New York State and settled in the town of Ellicott, where he now resides. At that time his present farm was en- tirely covered with a heavy growth of timber, bnt through his toil and tireless energy the scene has changed. To-day there is field and meadow, waving grain and lowing herds, where sixty years ago all was trackless forest relieved from the monotony of its primeval nature only by here and there the chipping of the surveyor's ax. This farm, which still re- mains in the ownership of the subject, is man- aged and operated by his sons.
On March 17, 1831, while still in Massa- chusetts, he was nnited in marriage to Abigail H. Partridge, by whom he had fonr children : Eliza J., wife of Alva Bush (deceased) who lives in Osage, Iowa ; Alfred E., married to Mary Sunderland and now residing in James- town, New York, a carpenter by trade ; Alman P. (married to Anna Lardle) living on his father's farm ; and Abbie H., wife of Addison
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
E. Holandbeck, a hotel-keeper of Balake, Pa. In politics Mr. Moore is a republican, while in church membership he is a Congregation- alist. As a eitizen and as a man he is held in highest respeet.
JONAS MARTIN, one of the early grape- growers of the town of Portland, and an active business man of Broeton, is a son of Jason and Elmira (Hill) Martin, and was born in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, November 26, 1828. The Mar- tins and Hills were among the early settled families of Vermont, and many of them served with credit in the Revolutionary struggle for Independence. Zadoc Martin (grandfather) came into this eounty in 1816 with an ox team, and purchased two hundred and seventy acres of land in the town of Portland. He was ac- companied by his wife and four children, none of whom are now living. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, served in the war of 1812, and died in the autumn of 1851, at seventy- three years of age. His son, Jason Martin, (father), came with him in 1816, and settled one and one-half miles east of the village of Brocton, where he followed farming until his death in 1872, when, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was a prosperous farmer and an old-time democrat, and married Elmira Hill, of Vermont, who was born in 1808, and passed away in the same year in which her husband died. Her grandfather, Reuben Hill, (maternal great-grandfather), was a gunsmith, and made guns for the Continental army, in which his son, Zimri Hill, (maternal grandfather), served in a light-horse company and lost one of his hands. He was but eightcen years of age when he enlisted in the Continental army, and after- wards served as a soldier in the war of 1812.
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