USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 8
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beauties if no hand more skilled or voice of larger compass or finer training than Philip Phillips' attempted them. Of the two great teachers, earlier surroundings limited him to but one-that onc, fortunately, the greater-and art can elaim but little honor for the developed gifts with which nature was here so lavish. As a farm-boy, he heard the brooks, the birds, the sighing winds ; and the low purling of the one, the lighter strains of the other, the sad mono- tones of the third-all the myriad voices of nature which to many a lower heart than David's have only chanted the praises of their Creator, were not more spontaneous outpourings than the simple, stirring melodies that have come from the pen of this "Singing Pilgrim."
Philip Phillips' residence at " Ft. Hill Villa," Fredonia, is a most beautiful one, and it is evi- dent from its comfort and cosincss that years of traveled life have not made its owner in the least oblivious to the joys and allurements of home life. It was while resident here, in Feb- ruary, 1884, that he lost his eldest son, James Clark Phillips, a young man whose musical gifts were of the highest, and whose genial character made him the favorite of all who knew him. He lies buried in Forest Hill cemetery, and on the plain headstone are his last words: "Tell everybody I dic a Christian." His loss was a peculiarly severe one to his father, for he had been, and would have been, his associate and co-worker for many years. His youngest son, Philip Phillips, Jr., the fourth of the name to live in Chautauqua county, is to enter the min- istry of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1890 he graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University, the largest western institution under the control of that denomination ; and in the spring of 1891 he was married to Mary Semans, only daughter of Prof. W. O. Scmans, of the faculty of his alma mater.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
B ENJAMIN S. DEAN .- As journalism for the last quarter of a century has broad- ened its seope and elevated its aims, the editors of New York have never been found laggards in the march of progress, and the press of Jamestown has kept fully abreast of the papers of any other city in the western part of the State. One of their number that is worthy of particular mention is The Morning News, edited by Benjamin S. Dean. He is the eldest soul and second child of Philo N. and Rosella S. (Fisher) Dean, and was born at Randolph, Cat- taraugus county, New York, May 10, 1860. His paternal grandfather, Norman Dean, was a resident of Allegany county, New York, where he married and reared a family of three sons and two daughters. His maternal grandfather, Simeon Fisher, was a native of Vermont, where for many years he was a very prominent and influential citizen and a trusted whig leader. At one time he was a candidate for governor of the "Green Mountain State," and his delicate sense of honor was such that he would not vote for himself, and thereby lost the governorship, as the election resulted in a tie between him and his opponent, and was thrown into the legisla- ture, which decided against him. About 1836 he moved .to Waterborough, this county, but afterwards removed to Randolph, in Cattarau- gus eounty, where he died in 1864, aged sixty- three years. He was a eabinet-maker by trade, a congregationalist in religion, and an old-line whig in politics until the agitation of the slavery question, when he became a strong and leading abolitionist. He was one of the founders of the Republican party in the State, and was aetively advocating its principles at the time of his death. He was of English deseent, and mar- ried a Miss Brookins, who bore him three sons and five daughters. Philo N. Dcan (father) was born at Centreville, Allegany county, N. Y., in 1832, and in 1858 removed to Ran- dolph, in Cattaraugus county, where he has resided ever since. He is a shoemaker by trade,
and a republican in politics. He married Rosella S. Fisher, who was born in 1830. Their children are : Emma L., wife of Edward May, a banker of Artesian City, South Dakota; Benjamin S .; Odel H., married Martha Turner, of Addison, and is a elerk in a dry goods house; Daniel W., who is eity editor of the Morning News of Jamestown ; and Lonella A., wife of James Tanner, a lumber dealer of Artesian City, S. D.
Benjamin S. Dean received a common sehool education, which he has supplemented by read- ing, observation and self-study. At thirteen ! years of age he began life for himself in Miehi- I gan as a wood sawyer, which he followed for one year. He then (1874) entered the office of the Randolph Register, of Randolph, N. Y., to learn the printing business. After three years of faithful work on that paper, he went to Pennsylvania, where he worked for two years on the Emlenton Register. Later he pur- chased the Register, and enjoyed a large patron- age until one of his eorrespondents furnished an artiele whose publication ineensed the busi- ness men of the town. Some sixty of them in a body visited Mr. Dean and demanded the correspondent's name, but actuated by that sense of honor which lost his grandfather Fisher the governorship of Vermont, he deelined to accede to their request, although he knew his denial would result in the downfall of his paper. They withdrew their advertisements and used their influence so effectively against him that he was compelled to suspend publication two weeks afterwards. In a short time he became foreman of a New York eity Sunday paper, and then served as eity editor of the Olean Morning Herald, and associate editor of the Sunday Mirror of the same place. Late in 1882 he purchased an interest in the Randolph Register, which he edited until 1885. In the latter year he eame to Jamestown, where he beeame a part- ner in the publication of the Morning News, and immediately assumed editorial charge of
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its columns, which he has retained ever since.
On the 27th of June, 1883, he united in marriage with Emil C. Blaisdell, daughter of the late Richard Blaisdell, of Gawanda, Catta- rangus county, New York. To their union has been born one child, a daughter named Blanche B.
In political affairs Mr. Dean takes an active part, and his pen is always wielded vigorously in behalf of the principles, the prosperity and the progress of the Republican party. His paper, the Morning News, is a power in the cause of Republicanism in Chautauqua county.
J EROME LA DUE, who has been identified with the business interests of Westfield since 1870, is a son of Joshna and Julia Ann (Cowles) La Due, and was born in the town of Chautauqua, Chautauqua county, New York, December 12, 1839. The La Dues of New York are of French Hugnenot origin, and are descended from a La Due family that settled in Lower Canada during the last century. Joshua La Due was born in Dutchess county in 1794, and died in the town of Portland in 1865. He came to Chautauqua county in 1819, where he settled in what is now the town of Sherman, but afterwards became a resident of Mina. He was a farmer by occupation, served as keeper of a government light-house for four years under President James K. Polk, and was a supervisor and afterwards a justice of the peace in the town of Mina. He married Julia Ann Cowles, who was a native of Farmington, Connecticut, and of New England ancestry.
practiced for three years, at the end of which time he went to Winona, Minnesota, where he practiced for nearly a year and attended to a part of the legal business of the M. & St. P. Railroad company, of which his brother had charge. In 1870 he returned to Chautauqua county, where he established himself at West- field in the real estate and insurance business, in which he has continued successfully ever since. Uuder President Cleveland's administration, in 1885, he was appointed postmaster of Westfield, which position he held until 1890.
In 1867 he united in marriage with Ada Wells, daughter of S. V. R. Wells, a resident of Westfield.
He represents two important branches of busi- ness which are necessary to the growth and pros- perity of any place. Beside handling desirable residence and valuable business properties, he also has good farm lands for sale and is the rep- resentative of the most solid and reliable insur- ance companies.
F FREDERICK L. CRANSON, one of the enterprising and bound-to-be successful business men of Silver Creek, is a member of the firm of Huntley, Cranson & Hammond, manufacturers of grain and corn cleaning, and buckwheat machinery, at the large establishment known as the Monitor Works, which was organ- ized by Giles S. Cranson (father) and his son, F. L. Cranson, in 1885. He was born in Rome, Oneida county, New York, March 16, 1855, and is a son of Giles S. and Mary E. (Bligh) Cranson. The fact that their guarantee, which ish, that nothing but the very best material is employed in its construction, that none are per- mitted to leave their works unless absolutely perfect in every detail, is endorsed by commen- dation of the best millers from the Hudson river to the Rocky mountains and from Lake Erie to the Rio Grande, is sufficient proof that
Jerome La Dne was reared from four years . states that their machinery is unequalled in fin- of age at Westfield, where he attended the acad- emy of that place and then (1858) entered the law-office of H. C. Kingsbury. After reading for two years he went west, and completed his. legal studies in the office of his brother, Joshua La Due, who was prosecuting attorney of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar of Milwaukee, at which he , the firm knows its business and deserves their
.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
reputation. Among the useful and indispen- sable machinery made at the Monitor Works are : The Cranson Scouring, Polishing and Sep- arating machine, single and double, with mag- netic attachment ; tlie Oat Clipper, the Monitor Dustless Receiving Separator, the Monitor Dustless Milling Separator, the Monitor Aspi- rator, the Monitor Dustless Warehouse and Ele- vator Separator, the Cranson Corn Scouring, Polishing and Separating machine, the Diamond Dustless Corn Sheller and Separator, the Cranson Buckwheat Scouring, Polishing and Separating machine, the Cranson Roller Buck wheat Shucker, the Monitor Scalping and Receiving Shoe, and the Buckwheat Bolt. Giles S. Cranson (fatlier) was born in 1821, in Venice, Cayuga county, this State, and after residing in several towns, came to Silver Creek, a thriving incorporated manufacturing village in the town of Hanover. In 1846 he married Mary E. Bligh, a daughter of E. Bligh and a native of Clockville, by whom he had five children. On his removal to Silver Creek in 1879 he engaged in the manu- facture of buckwheat hullers. In 1885 he and his son organized the Monitor Works, and in 1886 they associated with them W. W. Hunt- ley and C. L. Hammond. G. S. Cranson re- tired from the firm in 1888.
Frederick L. Cranson received his education in the common schools and afterwards acquired the art of telegraphy, and was employed as a telegraph operator for seven years. He has full charge of the correspondence and advertising department, and also directs the movements of the octette of indefatigable traveling salesmen. It goes without saying, that the productions of the firm find a ready market. He is an active ! and influential member of Dunkirk Comman- dery, No. 40, Knights Templar, has received the thirty-second degree, A. and A. Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Order of the Mystic Shrine, Ismalia Temple, Buffalo, N. Y.
Mr. Cranson united in marriage with Eliza- beth A. Parkhurst, who was a daughter of
Wm. Parkhurst, of Clockville, this State. Their union has been blest with one child, a daughter, named Ethel D.
G EORGE B. DOUGLAS was born in the city of New York, December 25, 1846, and is a son of George and Mary (Barton) Douglas. He received his education in the public schools of his native city, and now lives in Buffalo, this state.
R ALPH B. DAY. A man whose life has not only been one of usefulness and business activity, but of genial, quiet manner and kindly deeds, is Ralph B. Day, a prominent and highly- respected citizen of the town of Dunkirk. He was born on the farm where he now resides, one mile from Dunkirk city, in the town of Dunkirk (then Pomfret), Chautauqua county, New York, March 10, 1831, and is a son of Edmund and Maria (Drake) Day. The Days are of Scotch descent, and the founder of tlie American branch of the family came in the second ship load of Pilgrims that landed on Plymouth Rock to facc the unbroken forest depths and the many warlike Indian tribes of New England. One of his numerous descen- dants in western Massachusetts was Edmund Day, Sr., grandfather of Ralph B. Day. He was a native and life-long resident of Spring- field, Massachusetts, where his son, Edmund Day (father), was born October 29, 1802, and remained until he was twenty-four years of age. Edmund Day, in 1826, joined in the steady tide of New England emigration that then had for several years been pushing westward towards the Genesee Valley and southwestern New York. He settled upon the fine farm where the subject of this sketch now resides, and devoted all his energies for a time to the clearing and improv- ing of his land. He erected good farm build- ings, and built a saw-mill which was greatly needed in his community in that early day of its settlement. He was successful in his farming
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operations and lumbering business, which he followed many years. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian church, was an active democrat in local politics, and held sev- eral of the most important offices in his town. His life was well worthy of imitation. It was straightforward, unfaltering and unstained. He died April 18, 1873, and rested from his many earthly labors when one year past the allotted threescore and ten years of man's life. His wife was Maria Drake, daughter of Eli Drake, of Connecticut. She was born February 18, 1800, and passed away March 4, 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Day were the parents of three children : Ralph B .; Mrs. George Gerrans, of Lincoln, Nebraska ; and Mrs. B. B. Hill, of Leadville, Colorado.
Ralph B. Day was reared on the Day home- stead, and received his education at Fredonia academy. Leaving school, his first employ- ment in active life for himself was in the lum- bering and farming business, in which he engaged with his father. He was successful in both those lines of business, and in 1861 pur- chased an interest in a wine house at Brocton, where he was engaged for eighteen years in the manufacture of wine. He then engaged in the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine on a large scale upon his home farm. He also invested in a chemical works at Warren, Pennsylvania, besides purchasing a considerable body of choice farming lands in Wisconsin. Each and every one of these different lines of business has received his personal attention and careful supervision for several years, and to-day, as the result of his able management, are in a very prosperous condition. The products of the chemieal works at Warren, Pa., are of first class character, and the average annual produc- tion amounts to $25,000 in value. His vine- yards are extensive, and are amply provided with all modern machinery used in the manu- facture of wine. His extensive paeking house is two stories in height, with a large, dry wine- cellar extending under it. His wine is popular
in the market, and is known as an absolutely pure and wholesome article.
April 17, 1855, he married Prudence J. Gates, of Dunkirk, who was a daughter of Phineas and Eliza A. Gates, and died April 25, 1890, when in the forty-ninth year of her age. To Mr. and Mrs. Day were born two sons : Edmund L. and Ralph D., now aged respec- tively twenty-one and fourteen years.
In agricultural matters Mr. Day takes a great interest, and his fertile and highly improved home farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres bears witness to his extensive knowledge and good taste as a farmer. In politics he is pronounced in his democracy, and always active in supporting the principles and advocating the interests of the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. During his long business career, and in all his extensive business dealings, Ralph B. Day has never failed to meet every financial engagement promptly, and has never been known to deny an honest and deserving appeal in favor of any worthy enterprise calculated to benefit his fellow-men or advance the interests of his town. He has been for many years a useful member of Dunkirk Lodge, No. 767, Free and Accepted Masons.
p ETER R. BROWNELL, of Jamestown, is a son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Reasoner) Brownell, and was born in Dutchess county, New York, April 20, 1806. His father, Joshua Brownell, was a native of Long Island, N. Y., and was a man of much more than ordinary prominence. About 1812 he left Long Island and settled at a point near Elmira, this State, and engaged in the purchase and sale of cattle for the New York and Philadelphia markets. He was a large dealer, and bought and sold a great many. ' An active whig, he was an ardent supporter of De Witt Clinton when he was a candidate, and was probably one of his strongest workers. He married Elizabeth Reasoner and had nine children. He died near Elmira in 1822.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Peter R. Brownell received his education in ties of his town. Another of his sons was the public schools of Jamestown, and when he George Aldrich, the father of the subject of this left his paternal home he began life as a laborer, sketch, and who was born April 1, 1806, in the working by the month until twenty-eight years of age, when he bought a farm in the town of Ellery, upon which he lived until 1870, a total of thirty-six years. After this he bought a property consisting of three houses and lots in the city of Jamestown, and moving in one of them has lived there ever since. Some years ago he retired from business and is now enjoy- ing the fruits of the labor of his early life.
On August 31, 1834, P. R. Brownell married Rhoda Putnam, who bore him three children : Smith H., whose first wife was Mary Strong, and after her death he married Minerva Dunn; Mary Ann, married to John B. Rush, a promi- nent farmer living at Jamestown; and Bessie M., wife of the well-known Jamestown livery- man, John Peregrin. After Mrs. Brownell's death Mr. Brownell married for his second wife Mrs. Mary Van Dusen.
In politics he adheres to the tenets of the Republican party, and with a kindly disposition he has many friends, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
J OHN J. ALDRICH, the leading furniture dealer of Jamestown and Chautauqua county, is a son of George and Maria (Munger) Aldrich, and was born in the town of Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York, November 23, 1841. His grandfather, Tillotson Aldrich, was a native of Rhode Island, where he was a prominent manufacturer of cotton goods for many years. He then removed to Tompkins county, this State, and afterwards settled in the town of Ellery, where he resided, and was a farmer until his deatlı. Among his possessions was a fine farm on the East side of Lake Chau- tauqua. He was a Quaker or Friend in relig- ious belief, reared a family of five sons and one daughter, and sold his farm to his son William, who afterwards became prominent in the poli-
City of Providence, R. I. He removed fromn Rhode Island with his father to Tompkins county, and thence to Ellery, this county. He is a farmer by occupation, and in politics sup- ports the Republican party, but was formerly an old-line whig. He married Maria Munger, who died in 1873, aged sixty-nine years, and since that time has lived in Jamestown with his son, John J. They were the parents of two children, who lived to maturity : John J. and Orin T., now a resident and commercial travel- er of St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Aldrich was a daughter of James Munger (maternal grand- father), a farmer and resident of Tompkins county.
John J. Aldrich was reared in the town of Ellery where he received his education. When fifteen years of age he became a clerk in a gen- eral mercantile store in which he served five years and then bought out his employer. He conducted this store for over four years, and during his connection with it for nine years as clerk and proprietor he acquired a thorough knowledge of merchandising, and laid the foun- dations for his future success in business life. In connection with his mercantile business he- purchased butter and eggs for a produce firm in New York city, and when he disposed of this store in 1866, he came to Jamestown, where he was engaged for ten years in the dry goods bus- iness. At the end of that time, in 1876, he was elected county clerk and at the expiration of his term was re-elected, being the only clerk during the last forty years who was elected for a second term. During the last three years of the time which he served as county clerk at Mayville, he was a member of the Breed Fur- niture Manufacturing Company, of Jamestown. When his second term of office expired, he soon after retired from liis association with the Breed Furniture Company, returned to Jamestown,
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and, in January, 1887, he established his pres- ent furniture establishment on Main street. He is carrying on this business under the firm name of John J. Aldrich, and keeps constant- ly on hand a full stock comprising all lines of furniture from the best down to the cheapest. His trade extends to nearly every section of the United States east of the Mississippi river. His business establishment is conveniently locat- ed and well fitted up and arranged for the dis- play of his different styles of useful and elegant furniture.
In 1860 Mr. Aldrich married Lizzie Foster, of the town of Linden, Cattaraugus county, who died and left one child : Clara M., now the wife of Dr. D. R. Redgers, of New York City. He married for his second wife Hattie S. Coe, of the town of Ellery, who bore him two chil- dren : Minnie C., and John D. She died Au- gust 2, 1871, and on October 23, 1872, lic united in marriage with Clara I. Breed, daugh- ter of Dewitt C. Breed (sce his sketch), and of the two children born to them, one died in infancy and the other is named Lncy Gene- vicve.
present President of the Board of Trade of the city of Jamestown, and is prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of the city.
LOF A. OLSON, a member of the Chatau- qua county bar, is a son of Olof H. Svens- son and Johanna (Anderson) Svensson, and was born in Skarbolstorp, Kil Parish, Vermland, Sweden, December 17, 1851. He attended the common schools in Sweden, and, in 1868, emi- grated from that country to the United States, and located at Jamestown, New York, where he read law with Barlow & Green, and, in 1874, he entered the Albany (New York) law school, from which he was graduated the next year, having studied nearly seven years. He returned to Jamestown, intending to practice his profcs- sion, but clientage coming slowly, he joined the ranks of the pedagogues, in order that he might add to his income while he established a prac- tice. In 1883 he was appointed a notary public at Jamestown, and the performance of the duties thereby incumbent upon him, together with his legal practice, leave him but little time to con- duct his private classes in his evening school. In 1874 he took the first step, and a prominent part, in the organization of a company whose object was to publish a Swedish weekly paper in the interests of the Swedish citizens of James- town. He was manager of the paper, called the People's Voice, from July 1 to December 31, 1875. The name was afterward changed to Our New Home, and the journal is now ranked among the prominent Swedish papers published in the country, and has a circulation of about five thousand. He was, in 1873, one of the originators of the scheme to establish a circu- lating library among his fellow-countrymen. This library, which was established in 1873, was much used for a time in Jamestown, and has been productive of much good among the
Mr. Aldrich has always been a republican in politics and is now serving his fourth consecu- tive term as supervisor of the city of James- town, and is chairman of the Board of Super- visors of Chautauqua county. He is a member of the Jamestown First Baptist Church, James- town Lodge, No. 34, Ancient Order of United Workmen ; Chautauqua Lodge, No. 46, Knights of Honor ; and Chautauqua Council, No. 73, 1 Royal Arcanum. He was chairman of the fi- nance committee of the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Honor of the United States for four years, has been a member of the Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum for one term and served as a presiding officer of the Grand Conncil of the Royal Arcanum of the State of New York for two terms, as well as being a member of the New York Grand Lodge of the class whom it was intended to benefit. By Knights of Honor for several years. He is at these philanthropic efforts to advance their edu-
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