USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 18
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
for his first wife, afterwards her sister, Julia Spencer, and they reside upon a farm one-half mile west of W. C. Silsby. John D. married Alice Kelton, and lives on a farm near Orangeport.
In political sentiment Mr. Silsby sup- ported the Democratic party up to the time of the nomination of Fremont, when he united with the republicans. For four years he was justice of the peace, and he and his wife are members of the First Christian church of Royalton. He has served as a trustee of the church for a num- ber of years, and is highly respected as a citizen and as a business man. As a farmer he has given the requisite time, attention and study to his farm to win the permanent success which he has achieved.
F RANKLIN D. HABECKER, a jus-
tice of the peace and a worthy citizen of Sanborn, is a son of Joseph and Annie (Herr) Habecker, and was born in the town of Wheatfield, Niagara county, New York, on November 27, 1846. His paternal grand- father, David Habecker, was born in Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1791, and died at the age of ninety-eight years. He was a minister of the Mennonite church, and married and had two children, Joseph (father) and Barbara. Joseph Ha- becker (father) was born in the town of Manor, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1817, and died November 26, 1855. He was a farmer, a whig, and a re- publican, and held the offices of commis- sioner of highways and supervisor of the town. On May 29, 1845, he married Annic Herr, by whom he had three sons: Frank- lin D .; Joseph H., who was born April 6, 1851, in the town of Wheatfield, and died
April 27, 1853; and Benjamin J., a carpen- ter by trade, married to Ella E. Metz, and resides in the town of Cambria. (Sec his sketch). Mrs. Habecker was born July 28, 1820, in the town of Amherst, Erie county, this State, and died at her home in Sanborn, April 3, 1889. She was of German descent, and her father was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and her forefathers of Switzerland.
Franklin D. Habecker received his edu- cation in the town of Wheatfield and at Williamsville, Erie county, this State. After leaving school he was on the farm until within a few years, since which time he has been working at the carpenter trade, and also doing some surveying. He has a beau- tiful home in the enterprising and pro- gressive little village of Sanborn.
In 1888 he was united in marriage to Kate A. Schenck, by whom he has one child, Myra Anna. Mr. Schenck came from Pennsylvania, and married Myra J. Batchelder, from New Hampshire, by whom he had eight children : L. Eugene, at home ; Kate A., wife of subject; Alfred E., and Isabel, dead; Myra J., John S. G., Ada E., and Edgar J., all at home.
In politics he is a prominent republican, and a stanch supporter of the principles of his party. He has been honored by the people with the offices of district clerk, trustce, and collector, and is now serving a term as justice of the peace, being elected in the fall of 1890. He has faithfully dis- charged the duties of these several offices. IIe is one of the substantial citizens of the county, and is respected for his integrity. Honorable in business transactions and ex- emplary in life, he is a worthy descendant of respected Pennsylvania German an- cestors.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
A NSEL P. AUSTIN, now a resident of North Tonawanda, and who was one of the youngest Union soldiers serving in the great civil war, is a son of Jehial and Ann (Rapplege) Austin, and was born at Farmer village, Seneca county, New York, July 26, 1850. The Austins, although of Scotch descent, were known in New York as " Yankees," probably from the fact that they came from Scotland to New England, and thence to the Empire State. David Austin (grandfather) was a native, farmer, and nearly a life-long resident of Schuyler county, where he dicd in 1852. His son, Jehial Austin (father), was born seventy-six years ago in Seneca county, where he now resides in the village of Farmer. He is a stanch republican, a member of the Baptist church, and has always followed farming. His wife was born in 1821, in the same county, and is a member of the same church as her husband. She is a daughter of Wil- liam Rapplege (maternal grandfather), who, with his brother Peter, have the honor of being the first two white men to settle within the present limits of Seneca county. He was a well-to-do farmer, and died when his years lacked but a few months of span- ning a century.
Ansel P. Austin was reared in Seneca county. He received his education in the common schools of his native county, Ovid seminary and Starkey seminary, of Yates county, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1868, at eighteen years of age. During the period of two years be- tween the completion of his common school studies and the commencement of his acad- emic course, he spent as a soldier in defense of the Union. He enlisted on December 30, 1863, in company E, 9th New York heavy artillery, when only thirteen years of
age. He was the youngest soldier in his regiment, as well as one of the youngest soldiers in the State and in the Federal armies. He served until May 15, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Wash- ington city. During the terrible "Battle month of May, 1864," he was with his bat- tery in its terrific hot work from the Rap- idan to the northern defenses of Richmond, and was especially exposed in the Wilder- ness fights, and the battles of the North Anna, the South Anna, and Cold Harbor. He was also under a heavy fire in the bat- tles of Petersburg and Fort Hill. When the sun of the Southern Confederacy set at Appomattox Courthouse, and the wide- mouthed cannon ceased to hurl forth their iron messengers of death, he returned home to enter upon his academic course. After graduation, in 1868, he read law, and was elected justice of the peace in his native town, which office he held for four years. At the end of that time, in 1875, he went to Townsendville, in Seneca county, where he was actively engaged in the general mer- cantile business until 1881, when he came to North Tonawanda to become a traveling salesman for a large lumber and shingle manufacturing firm. Four years later he was elected justice of the peace, and served in that capacity for four years, since which he lias been actively and successfully en- gaged in the real estate and insurance busi- ness.
On January 14, 1875, he married Mary S. Allen, daughter of Joseph Allen, of Ovid, Seneca county. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have one child, a daughter, named Florence.
Ansel P. Austin is a straight democrat in politics, has always been active in support of his party, and has served as a member of the county democratic committee, besides
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
being frequently elected as a delegate to county and senatorial democratic conven- tions. He is a member of Tonawanda Lodge, No. 616, Equitable Aid Union, and Farmer Village Lodge, No. 183, Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Austin is a man of good personal appearance, comes of a family noted for its great longevity, and gives promise, by his careful habits, of attaining to an advanced age. As a justice of the peace he rendered good satisfaction, and his decisions were such as never to meet with reversal from the common or higher courts of the State. His knowledge of jurisprudence, acquired while he read law, helped him largely to sift and weigh cvi- dence, and to render intelligent and sound decisions in the many complicated cases which came before him for trial in both Seneca and Niagara counties. The real es- tate interests of the cities and larger vil- lages of the Empire State have attained such proportions as to enlist the services of many of the most enterprising business men, and in North Tonawanda the leading prop- erty holders transact a large volume of busi- ness through the agency of Mr. Austin. He is the representative of the most substantial and reliable insurance companies of the United States and the Dominion of Canada, and has had such successful experience as to be able to place insurance risks where payments in case of loss will be fully and readily paid.
B. WHEATON CLARK, a well-known resident of the town of Lockport, en- gaged in the nursery and fruit business, was born July 17, 1845, in the town of Moravia, Cayuga county, New York. His grand- father, Aaron Clark, was a Revolutionary soldier, who, after the war, came from Mas-
sachusetts and settled in Utica, New York, and married Amphillis Jenks, who also came from Massachusetts. He purchased a farm near the then village of Utica, and in about the year 1785 built a substantial farm house, which is still standing in good con- dition and used as a residence at this day, a quaint old land mark, surrounded as it is in the now thickly settled portion of the city by modern residences. From this union there were seven children. Their youngest son, named Jenks, who was the father of the subject of this sketch, was born May 25, 1796, and after he had attained his man- hood, married Maria Kendall, and migrated to the town of Moravia, Cayuga county, New York, and purchased a farm lying at the head of the Owasco lake, where he lived, engaged in the business of farming, until his death, which occurred August 18, 1846. To Jenks and Maria Clark were born five children, all sons, Wheaton being the young- est. The father of Mrs. Clark was William Kendall, a native of England, who emigrated to America at an early day, and built and owned warehouses at Sacket's . Harbor, New York. Her maternal grandfather was Jeremiah Powell, who was a Revolutionary soldier, and died near Utica, Oneida county, this State, in 1853, at the extraordinary age of one hundred and two years. Mrs. Clark came to Lockport with her two youngest sons in 1856, where she resided until the spring of 1869, when she went to Kansas City, Missouri, to visit hier eldest son, was taken suddenly ill, and died there.
B. Wheaton Clark's residence is now in the town of Lockport, one mile east of the city. He married, in 1871, Emma G. Wake- man, the only daughter of the late James A. Wakeman. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are the parents of six children, now growing up in
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their home and being educated in the pub- lie schools. Mr. Clark has served eight years as justiee of the peace, in the town of Lockport, is a republican in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion.
W ILLIAM WALLACE WHITMORE
is one of the retired business men of Lockport, who, having borne the heat and burden of the day, is now quietly enjoying the well earned repose of a long, calm, and beautiful evening. He is a son of Seth and Polly (Whitney) Whitmore, and was born October 13, 1811, in the old Castle settle- ment in the town of Seneca, Ontario county, New York. The Whitmores are of English lineage, and the family was planted in Ameriea by Thomas Whitmore ( originally spelled Wetmore), who came from the west of England and settled at Boston, Massa- chusetts, about 1635, or in the eleventh year of the reign of Charles I. Thomas Whitmore afterward removed to Connecti- cut, and became one of the carliest pioneers in that then colony. Hc located in the town of Middletown, purchased land, and cleared out a fine farm, on which he lived until his death at an advanced age. From him are descended all the Whitmores of the United States, and many of his early descendants became prominent in the politieal and mili- tary history of their day. Oliver Whitmore, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born February 4, 1738, at Middletown, Connecticut, but removed, in 1792, to what is now Ontario county, New York, and later to Wayne county, where he died. He was a farmer by occupation, and married Abigail Hayden, by whom he had a family of five sons and four daughters. Seth Whitmore (father) was the seventh of these nine
children, and was born March 17, 1783, in Conway, Massachusetts, where his father had moved in 1773. At the age of nine years he came with his father's family to Ontario county, this State, which was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and by the necessities of the situation became a farmer, helping to clear and cultivate his father's farm. He secured a good education for that day, and studied surveying, which oceupa- tion he followed, not only in Ontario county, but also in Niagara county, after removing to Lockport in 1832. He lived in that city until 1839, when he removed to Illinois, and spent nine years in the prairie State. Re- turning to Lockport in 1848, he continued to reside there until his death, August 27, 1869, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. During the war of 1812 he organized a company in his county, and served as cap- tain while that struggle lasted. He marched his company to Batavia, where his men were equipped, and he was ordered to the lake Ontario frontier to protect the trading ves- sels in that vicinity. In politics he was a whig, and. was thrice married. His first wife was Polly Whitney ( mother), and to them were born seven children. After her death he wedded Martha (Spring) Bigelow, by whom he had eight children. His third marriage was to Anna Fletcher, of West- ford, Massachusetts.
William Wallace Whitmore received his education in the common schools of Geneva, Ontario county, where he grew to man's estate, and after leaving school learned the allied trades of stone mason, bricklayer, and plasterer. He worked for some two years at these trades, but being ambitious, and feeling in himself the ability to successfully cope with wider business opportunities, in 1831 he embarked in stone quarrying at
It. It. It hitmaner
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
Loekport, Medina, Albion, and other places, and establishing market yards at Buffalo, Rochester, and other points, thus becoming a pioneer in that line. This venture proved sueeessful beyond his anticipations, increas- ing year by year until he had built up a large and lucrative business, one of the most important of its kind in western New York, He continued to devote his time and atten- tion to this development of natural resources until 1879, when he retired from aetive business, and has since been enjoying the comforts and luxuries which so fittingly crown an active, useful, and honorable life.
In November, 1836, Mr. Whitmore was united by marriage to Sarah Ann Mead, of Lockport, and to them was born an only ehild, Hulburt. He was born February 23, 1838, was well edueated, and in 1862 en- listed in the 151st New York infantry as a private, was promoted to the rank of ser- geant-major, and met death while fighting for his country at Monocaey junetion, Mary- land, July 9, 1864, in the last raid made by the Confederates on Washington city. On October 1, 1840, William Wallace Whitmore was again married, this time wedding Har- riet E., daughter of James Bushnell, of Lockport, by whom he had two sons and two daughters: Emma, born August 3, 1842; Henry, born September 3, 1844, en- listed during the civil war in the 8th New York artillery and served until the cessation of hostilities, and is now a machinist, resid- ing at Springfield, Massachusetts; Charles, born September 3, 1848; and Ella, born August 22, 1852. His second wife died January 26, 1855, and on January 15, 1856, Mr. Whitmore was married for the third time, being united to Mary Ann Gardner, of Lockport, New York.
In his political principles and affiliations
Mr. Whitmore was originally a whig, but on the organization of the Republican party he gave it his support and influence, and has remained loyal to its standard ever since. He has taken a conservative part in politieal and public affairs, and is widely known as a man of intelligence, energy, and spotless integrity of purpose.
H' ENRY WELLS CLARK was truly one of the self-made men of Niagara Falls who had little or no assistance in his early life, but who, by dint of industry and steady application in the discharge of duty, acquired the reputation of being trust- worthy, no matter what position of responsi- bility he was assigned. He was a son of Ephraim and Lydia (Chamberlain) Clark, and was born October 9, 1797, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Ephraim Clark (father) was a resident of Pittsfield nearly all his life, and died in Dalton, Massachusetts, at an advanced age. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and an inn, or tavern keeper, as they were termed in the early days.
Henry Wells Clark was born on New England soil, had meagre opportunities for an education, but obtained some schooling in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen was bound out, or apprenticed, for a term of seven years, to a paper manufac- turer at Dalton, Massachusetts. After hav- ing learned his trade, and served his term, he pursued it one year at Lenox, Massaeliu- setts, and then came to Rochester, this State, where he was associated with Everard Peek in the manufacture of paper, remain- ing in this capacity until 1823, when he came to Niagara Falls at the solieitation of a company that had commenced the build- ing of a paper mill near the bridge that
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leads to Bath island. This mill he finished for the company, and shortly afterward, in partnership with A. H. Porter, built a mill on Bath island, which they operated until 1837, when Mr. Clark sold his interest to his partner and retired from the firm. The products from the factory were conveyed in wagons as far east as Rochester, where they were exchanged for goods and wares, most part for the necessarics of life, and brought baek by the same means, as railroads then in this vicinity were unknown, while to-day there are a half dozen different roads con- verging at this point as the result of the great progress the county has made in a half century. In 1837 Mr. Clark became the agent of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls railroad, remaining in that capacity until it was leased to the New York Central, and was retained as agent by that company until a short time before his deatlı.
He was twice married. The first time he wedded Elizabeth M. Evans (who was born in in 1805 ) in 1822. She was a native of Roches- ter, this State. To this union were born three children : Henry and Elizabeth, deceased; and Thomas, living. After the death of his first wife, in 1843, he married, in 1845, Mary Ann Reynolds, who was born in 1816, a daughter of Eli and Anna (Field) Rey- nolds. Eli Reynolds was a native of Dutch- ess eounty, New York, and came to Niagara eounty at the beginning of the war with England in 1812. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and was a sutler in the war of 1812.
Henry Wells Clark was a Methodist in religion, but before his death became liberal in his views; in politics a whig, then an abolitionist, and finally a republican. He was an earnest abolitionist, and gave time, money, and assistance to encourage the growth of the Abolition party, and was en-
thusiastie for the success of the Union forces and the abolition of slavery. He served the town of Niagara as supervisor, and in other municipal positions. He was a very active and successful business man, who, by his honesty and probity, won, de- served, and held the respect of all who knew him. He died November 11, 1873, and his remains are entombed in Oakwood ceme- tery, at Niagara Falls, New York.
Thomas E. Clark is a son of Henry Wells . and Elizabeth ( Evans) Clark, and was born on the 12th day of April, 1829, at Niagara Falls. At the age of eighteen years he went to Boston, where he learned the trade of machinist, serving an apprenticeship of three years, after which he aeeepted a posi- tion as locomotive engineer for one year, and then was in the employ of the New York Central railroad for twenty years as an assistant ticket agent at Niagara Falls. Upon the death of his father le beeame ticket and freight agent. He engaged in the coal business for one year, and since that time has lived a comparatively retired life, working at intervals as a machinist. In politics he is a democrat, and has served in the office of village superintendent, on the board of health, and also as a member of the board of trustees.
On October 5, 1859, he married Mary P. Bairsto, a daughter of Moses and Caroline (Latta) Bairsto. Moses Bairsto, a native of Connecticut, came to Lewiston, this county, in 1828, where he died in 1878. He was a successful merchant and prominent business man, a whig, and served the town for sixteen years as supervisor.
As an educated machinist and skilled en- gineer Thomas E. Clark had every oppor- tunity to see and know all the practical workings of railroading, and the major part
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of his life has been devoted to the New York Central railroad, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, railroad in the world. Mr. Clark may well feel proud of his ances- * try, and it is glory enough to know that some of the branches of the tree participated in the great American revolution, and spilled blood in the cause of human rights and freedom.
FA AYETTE HASKELL, proprietor of a livery stable at Lockport, and a man who has had considerable experience in the ups and downs of life, is a son of Russell W. and Judith ( Carpenter) Haskell, and was born January 22, 1828, at Newport, Herkimer county, New York. The Haskells are of English descent, the family having been planted in New England during the colonial period by three brothers, who came from England and settled in Massachusetts. One of thesc brothers was the father of John Haskell, grandfather of the subject of this sketch. John Haskell was born in Massachusetts, but left that State to settle at Newport, Herkimer county, New York, where he died at an advanced age. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and afterward received a grant of land from the government, upon which a part of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, now stands. Russell Haskell (father) was born in the town of Russia, Herkimer county, this State, about 1790. He was a farmer by occupation, and lived and died in that county. His remains rest in the cemetery at Newport. In politics he was an old-line whig, and a devoted member of the Baptist church. He married Judith Carpenter, a daughter of Jotham Carpenter, who was a native of Herkimer county, but removed to Niagara county at an early day. By this
union he had a family of two sons and three daughters : Caroline, deccased; Mary (now deceased), who married an Englishman by the name of Edward Murphit, by whom she had one child, Willie, who now lives in Oneida county ; Truman, dead; Susan (also de- ceased), who married John Crossman, and after his death wedded Frank Powers; and Fayette. Mrs. Haskell died in 1879, at the home of her son, Fayette Haskell.
The common schools of the village of Newport, Herkimer county, furnished the instruction received by Fayette Haskell, and at the early age of thirteen he left school and entered the employ of Arza Newman, a butcher and grocer at Newport. Here he remained for some time, engaged in driving stock and assisting in the butcher shop and store, and then became a farm hand, working three months in payment for the first horse he ever owned. He finally sold the horse, and at the age of sixteen started to Boston to engage in fishing, where he accumulated ninety dollars, and then came to Niagara county, where he soon entered the service of Mr. Witbeck, proprietor of the American hotel, and drove an omnibus for nearly three years, being the first man to drive a bus to the New York Central depot in that city. He then went to Lewiston and ran a stage from Lewiston to Niagara Falls, and later came to Lockport and worked in a livery stable for some time. In 1854 he took a trip to the west, visiting Detroit, Columbus, and other points, and then re- turned to Lockport and resumed work at the livery business. In March, 1855, he was married, and leaving the employ of others lic began business on his own account, and since then has turned his hand to anything that promised remuneration or bid fair to help him on in the world. He now owns
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fifteen head of horses, and keeps eight double rigs and a number of single rigs, and is never happier than when they are all employed.
The wife of Mr. Haskell was Maria Wil- son, daughter of Alexander Wilson, and to them was born a family of eleven children : William, Nelly, Fayette, Jr., Fanny, Rus- sell and Margaret (twins), George and Lessie (twins ), and Marie, Mary, and Jennie, living at home with their parents. The family are members of the Episcopal church, and Mr. Haskell is a stanch democrat in politics.
D ANIEL H. MURPHY, M. D., a lead- ing physician and successful surgeon of the southeastern part of the county, is a son of Dr. Peter P. and Anna (Kayner) Murphy, and was born at Starksville, in the town of Starks, Herkimer county, New York, January 20, 1834. The Murphy family is of Irish descent, and two brothers left the home roof in Ireland to settle in the American colonies. One became a res- ident of the South, where he owned a large plantation, and was a man of influence in his section of country; while the other brother, Capt. Henry Murphy, the great- grandfather of Dr. Murphy, landed in New York city, where he followed ship building for some time. He built and loaded a ship for the West Indies, which was captured by pirates, and its loss ruined him finan- cially. He commanded a company in one of the Continental armies during the Rev- olutionary war, and after its close removed to Albany, this State, where he worked for a time at his trade of ship building. In 1837 he came to the town of Royalton, where nine years later (1846) he passed away at an advanced age. His son, Henry
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