USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 33
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In politics Mr. Pease is a republican, and takes an active interest in every question affecting the public welfare. He was super- visor of the town of Wilson in 1882 and 1883, and has served as a member of the
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board of education for nine years, being president for five years of the board of edu- cation of Union free schools of Wilson. He is also a trustee of Greenwood cemetery, and of the First Presbyterian church of Wilson, and was a deacon in the church for a number of years. He is conscientious in the discharge of religions duties, and takes an interest in all that pertains to the advancement of his church.
JOHN SKEELS. Among the citizens of Hartland who are held in high es- teem for integrity, thrift and good judg- ment is John Skeels. He is a son of Hon. Christopher H. and Phebe (Eddy) Skeels, and was born in the town of Hartland, Niagara county, New York, December 18, 1837. In tracing the ancestry of the Skeels and Eddy families, we find that the former is of Swedish descent, while the latter came originally from England. John Skeels is in the fourth generation from Thomas Skeels, who was born in Massachusetts April 1, 1751, and died November 28, 1792. He married Hannah Lee on September 4, 1771, and to them were born six children. The eldest son and child of one of his descend- ants was Samuel A. Skeels (grandfather), a Universalist minister. He was born in Green county, New York, April 17, 1772, and died at Colesville, this State, October 15, 1856. He was a federalist and whig, and in October 1790, married Zilpah How- ard, who died in Canada and left three children. After her death, he united in marriage, on January 9, 1803, with Olive Loomis, who bore him seven children. She died some years prior to 1823, when lie married for his third wife, Elinor Bartle, by whom he had two children. His son, Hon.
Christopher H. Skeels (father), was born at Clarendon, Vermont, August 31, 1794, and removed successively to Palmyra (1815) and Niagara county (1816), where he settled in the Quaker settlement, in the town of Hart- land. He purchased seventy-four acres of the Holland Land Company, and in 1824 sold it and bought a farm of one hundred and five acres, on which he died February 27, 1877. He was a federalist, a whig, and a democrat in politics, served as a justice of the peace for thirty years, and was a mem- ber of the legislature for one term in 1846.
On his maternal side John Skeels traces his genealogy through nearly four centur- ies to William Eddy of Bristol, England, who was vicar of Cranbrook, in Kent county, from 1587, when he was appointed, until his death. In 1630 his two sons, John and Samnel, sailed in the ship " Handmaid," commanded by Capt. Grant, and landed on October 29th of that year at "Plymouth Rock," where Samuel settled. Samuel was born in 1607, and John was his senior by eleven years. John and his wife settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he became an extensive landowner. In 1681 Samuel Eddy with others bought a large tract of land from the Indians, and founded the towns of Middleboro and Eddysville, Massa- chusetts. Samuel Eddy was a member of the "Pilgrim church," and married Eliza- beth White, by whom he had five children. Their son Zachariah moved first to Swansea, and then to Providence, Rhode Island, where he died September 4, 1718. On May 2, 1663, he married Alice Patot, and had three children, the eldest of whom, Zacha- riah, Jr., was born at Swansea, April 10, 1664, and died in 1737. IIe married Mercy Baker, on February 13, 1683, moved to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1707, and
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married for his second wife Ann Phillis. His son, Zachariah, was born at Swansea, September 13, 1691, settled in Gloucester, Rhode Island, and married and had eight children. One of his sons, Eliphalet Eddy, was born at Gloucester, Mass. His first wife, Phebe King, dying, he married Tabitha Inman, by whom he had one ehild, Thomas Eddy (maternal grandfather), who was born in Massachusetts, and died at Clarendon, Vermont, January 30, 1828, at seventy- four years of age. He was a farmer and a federalist, and married Rebecca Colvin, by whom he had six children. She died De- cember 24, 1871, aged seventy-four years.
John Skeels received his education in the common schools of the State, and then en- gaged in farming, which he has followed ever sinee, in the town of Hartland, where he owns a farm of one hundred and ten aeres, besides a valuable lot of sixteen acres. In politics Mr. Skeels is a demoerat, and while yielding his party an earnest support, yet never aspires to any offiee.
B. P. BARNES, who enjoys tlie dis- tinetion of being the oldest miller in the State of New York, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Benson) Barnes, and was born in the town of Barre, Orleans county, New York, July 29, 1824. Joel Barnes (grandfather) was a native of the town of Canaan, Connectieut, and was a farmer all his life. John Barnes (father) was born in Canaan, Connecticut, and came to Orleans county in 1815, and purchased a farm of the Holland Land Company, of one hundred and sixty acres, in the town of Barre. He was also a farmer, and lived and died on his farm. He was an old-line whig during the existenee of that party, and died in Barre,
in 1851, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. He was married twiee. By his first wife he had five sons, and his second wife was Elizabeth Benson, who bore him three children.
B. P. Barnes received his education in the common schools, and acquired a fair English education, afterwards attending an academy for a short time. He started in life at the age of fourteen as a clerk, and in 1851 en- gaged in the produce business in Middle- port. In 1873 he erected a flouring-mill in Middleport, a substantial stone structure, the main building being 40x 80 feet, and three stories high, and he has been the pro- prietor of this mill ever since. He learned the milling business early in life, and has run his mill successfully for eighteen years, and has continued so long in the business that he is now reputed to be the oldest miller in the State of New York.
In 1851 he married Mary J. Briggs, and their union has been blessed with two chil- dren : Estella, who married Eugene S. Berry, a miller of Victor, Orleans county, this State ; and Lillie, at home.
In politics he was formerly a republican, but he is inclined to branch off and vote for measures instead of party, and is inelined to be more liberal in his political views than he formerly was. He is conscientious in his political as well as his religious views, does his own thinking, is firm, unyielding in his convictions ; and if he thinks his party is wrong on any material issues, he has the courage to take issue with it on that ques- tion, even resists it at the polls-although he may be in harmony with it on all other questions. This certainly is the duty of every sovereign American citizen. Mr. Barnes belongs to an old and prominent family, who were among the early pioneers
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of this eounty, many of his ancestors being distinguished men in the early days of the republic. He has been the architeet of his own fortune, and by close application, in- dustry, and economy, he has little by little added to his worldly goods, until now he is very comfortably situated. He is still an aetive business man, and has yet many years of successful business life before hin, and is proud of being the oldest soldier in the milling service.
L EANDER A. COON, of Middleport, is a son of Stephen and Mary F. ( Drake) Coon, and was born in Shelby, Orleans county, New- York, September 4, 1843. Stephen Coon (father) was born in Shelby, this State, and was the first white male child born in that place. He went from there to the town of Ridgeway, where he died at the age of fifty-one years, in 1864. Ile was a farmer by occupation, and spent his life in that industry. He was a dem- oerat, and took a deep interest in all political matters. He was a leading member of the Christian church, of which he was a deacon for a number of years. He married Mary F. Drake in 1829, who was born in Augusta, Oneida county, this State, June 6, 1811, and died in Middleport, January, 1890. They had nine children, four sons and five daughters.
Leander A. Coon received his education in the common schools and academy, and has followed several occupations. He was a book-keeper for one year at Alden, for a railroad contractor, and resided at Ridge- way for some time. He removed from there to the town of Royalton, and from there to Michigan, in 1869, where he re- mained four years, after which he returned
to Royalton, where he has since resided. He is a farmer, but is now agent for the Plane Manufacturing Company, and sells hundreds of mowers, rakes, and other im- plements, and has been very successful in this work. He was formerly a democrat, but when Horace Greely was nominated for president by that party, he became a repub- liean, and has always taken a deep interest in politics. He is a member of Cataract Lodge, No. 295, Free and Accepted Masons. He married Charlotte Sleeper in 1865, and by this union had one child : Lottie C., who married Harry Jackson, of Ridgeway, where he now resides, a farmer. His first wife died in 1867, at the age of twenty-one years, and after her death he married, in 1874, Emnia G. Secor, by whom he has five chil- dren : Eddie L., resides with his father, and is engaged in retailing kerosene oil; Gertie E., Clara C., George W., and Jennie J.
L. A. Coon is well posted in the current news of the day, and is an intelligent farmer, and has been very successful in everything that he has undertaken. By economy and industry he is fast adding to his worldly goods, being now only forty-eight years of age, in the prime of life, and has many years yet of active business life before him. He ranks among the live, active, and intel- ligent young farmers of Middleport.
L EWIS H. SPALDING is a good ex- ample of the successful business man, who, beginning with no capital but energy and native ability, achieves position and wins recognition, in defiance of adverse circum- stances. He was born at Upper Lisle, Broome county, New York, on the 1st of October, 1836. IIis family is of English origin, but has been planted in America for more than
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a century. His grandfather, Linus Spalding, Sr., was born in Vermont, in the year 1787, and at the age of fourteen removed to New York, living first in Monroe county, where he married, and afterwards in Broome and Niagara counties. He came to the latter county in 1818, and took an active part in the early development of that section. He died in October, 1871, full of years and greatly respected and beloved. Jeddiah Spalding, son of Linus Spalding, Sr., and father of Lewis H., was born in Vermont in 1803, and removed with his parents to Broome county, New York. From there he went to Hartland, Niagara county, in 1837, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1854. By occupation lie was a farmer, in politics an old-line whig, and while he was an upright and pious man, he never became connected with any religious denomination. He was a close student of the bible, and acquired a vast fund of scrip- tural knowledge, which enabled him to discuss religious topics intelligently with the most learned ministers he encountered. His wife was a native of Vermont, and to their marriage was born a family of six children, four sons and two daughters. After his death, his widow married Linus Spalding, Jr., and by this marriage had one son, named Austin. She died in February, 1886, at the age of seventy-two years.
Lewis H. Spalding enjoyed only the edu- cational advantages afforded by the common schools of his section, and in 1852, at the age of fifteen, he engaged as clerk with the firm of Fenn, Craig & Spalding, general merchandise, Middleport, this State, and re- mained in this capacity until 1856, when the firm dissolved. He then went to the city of Rochester, and became a salesman for the firm of Burk, Gaffanly & Horne, re-
maining with then one year, at the end of which time he returned to Middleport and entered the employ of W. S. Fenn. Here he remained until Mr. Fenn's death, in 1869. In 1871 he began business on his own account in Middleport, as a general merchant. In 1878 he suffered the loss by fire of a good frame storehouse, but the next year erected two fine brick store-rooms, 25 x70 feet, and two stories high, on the same lot. These lie rents. In 1881 lie opened a general store in what was then known as Compton's Opera Block, and con- tinued it for about one year, carrying a stock valued at fifteen thousand dollars. At the end of that time a disastrous fire destroyed the store and burned about six thousand dollars worth of the stock. He removed the remnant of goods into another building and immediately began business again. At the end of six months, a new building hav- ing been erected on the site of that burned, he returned to his former location, and has continued to do business there to the pres- ent time, carrying not less than sixteen thousand dollars worth of goods. He also owns and operates a fine farm of one hun- dred acres in Hartland, and takes an intelli- gent interest in agricultural affairs.
Lewis H. Spalding was married to Vilette M., daughter of William and Emily M. Fenn.
Politically Mr. Spalding is a democrat, and takes an active interest in local affairs. For twelve years he has held the important and responsible position of treasurer of the village, and was also village trustee for two years. He has been sole trustee of Middle- port school for over six years, and in this capacity has done much to advance the edu- cational interests of the village. He is a leading member of Middleport Universalist Association; also of Cataract Lodge, No.
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295, Free and Accepted Masons, and has at different times held all the offices in the lodge. As has been said, he began life with no eapital but a willing hand and a clear head, but by diligent application to business, and the shrewd management which marks the man of affairs, he has accumulated a com- peteney, and won an honorable place among the leading citizens of Niagara eounty.
B ENJAMIN F. FREEMAN, now a resident of Middleport, and one of the sueeessful farmers of the town of Royalton, is a son of Asher and Sophia ( Eddy) Free- man, and was born one mile south of the village of Middleport, in the town of Roy- alton, Niagara county, New York, August 5, 1822. All the Freemans of America traee their genealogy back to one of the three Freeman brothers, who left Wales in 1690, to establish homes for themselves in the new world, and in all probability settled in the province of New York. One of the descendants of one of these brothers-and in all likelihood a son-was James Free- man, the paternal grandfather of Benjamin F. Freeman. He was born in 1702, followed farming as an occupation, and served as a soldier in the Continental armies during the Revolutionary war. One of his sons, Asher Freeman (father), was born January 4, 1774, in Dutehess county, and removed to Washington county, which he left to settle in Saratoga county, where he remained a short time, and then after a short residence · in Cayuga county, he came in 1814 to Niag- ara county, in which he permanently settled one mile south of Middleport, in the town of Royalton, on a farm of six hundred and forty aeres of land, which he purchased of the Holland Land Company, at two dollars
and fifty cents per aere. He cleared out a large part of this tract of land, and by suc- cessive purchases added to its productive acres, until he owned over one thousand acres. He was an old-line whig and a pro- nouneed abolitionist, and held for several years the offices of justice of the peace and supervisor of the town of Royalton. He lived to the advanced age of seventy-nine years, and passed away in 1853. He was twice married. By his first wife, Basheba Russell, he had five sons: Samuel, Philip (see sketch ) ; William (now dead ) ; Daniel, and Isaac (now deceased). After the deatlı of his first wife he married Sophia, daugh- ter of Benjamin Eddy. To this second marriage were born six children, three sons and three daughters: John, Polly, Benjamin F., Olive, James, and Sophia.
Benjamin F. Freeman grew to manhood on his father's farm, received his education in the schools of his boyhood days, and then engaged in farming on the homestead farmi, on which he resided until 1875, and of which he now owns one hundred and seventy acres, including the first improvement made by his paternal grandfather. As a farmer and stoek-raiser he was very successful up to 1875, when he retired from active busi- ness and removed to the village of Middle- port, where he now resides.
October 5, 1842, he married Harriet Wat- erman, daughter of John and Catherine Waterman. She died in 1846, and left one child, Harriet, wife of J. II. MeNale, of the drug firm of MeNale & Merrill, of Ithica, Michigan. For his second wife Mr. Free- man married, on June 7, 1848, Anne E., adopted danghter of James Freeman. By this marriage he had three children, one son and two daughters : Asher S., of Mid- dleport, who married Kate Kelly, and is a
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clerk in the Lakeside hotel, a summer re- sort; Lydia L., who married W. W. Steele, a wholesale liquor dealer of Lockport, this county ; and Mary A. Mrs. Freeman died November 24, 1859, and on May 30, 1860, Mr. Freeman united in marriage with Laura Lee.
In polities Mr. Freeman is a conserva- tive republican. He makes fishing his fa- vorite pastime and amusement. He is an affable and courteous gentleman, quiet and unassuming in manner, and enjoying the good-will and respect of his fellow towns- men.
R EV. ASAHEL STAPLES, a popular divine and present pastor of the Exley Methodist Episcopal church at Wilson, this county, is a son of Manning and Sallie (Mudge ) Staples, and was born at Plymouth, Windsor county, Vermont, on November 25, 1826. His grandfather, Jacob Staples, was a native of Massachusetts, and removed to Vermont about 1803, locating at Ply- mouth, where he resided until his death in June, 1837, being at that time nearly sev- enty years of age. He was a farmer by oceupation, owning an extensive farm, em- ploying a number of tenants, and meeting with more than ordinary success. In poli- tics he was an old-line whig, and married Lucy Willard, by whom he had a family of two sons and two daughters, who grew to maturity. His son, Manning Staples (father), was born in Massachusetts, but when only two years of age removed with his father's family to Plymouth, Vermont, and in the spring of 1845 came to the town of New Fane, Niagara county, New York, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty-six acres from a lawyer named Woods, located on what is known as the Hess road. In politics he was a whig, until
the organization of the Republican party, when he became identified with that politi- cal body, and was ever after a staneh and active republican, willing to do his share of hard work to seeure success at the polls, but never aspiring to official position for himself. There was a military side to his nature, and he took great pride and inter- est in military affairs, serving in the State militia of Vermont as a lieutenant of a company of infantry. In 1821 he married Sallie Mudge, and to them was born a family of five sons and four daughters, of whom eight grew to manhood and womanhood. One of these is Rev. A. W. Staples, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at South Byron.
Asahel Staples attended the common schools of his native State, and after coming to New York continued his studies in the academy at Wilson, this county. When his education was completed he began teaching, and for fourteen consecutive winters de- voted his best energies to the noble work of developing and training the intellects of the rising generation in Niagara county, seven winters of which time were employed in the schools of Wilson. In 1859 he began preparing for the ministry, and by hard study and close reading, supplemented by the instructions of a private tutor for a short time, he made such progress as pre- pared him for ordination in 1861, when he became a regular minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church, and filled the position of supply of the town of Hartland. He preached his first sermon December 17, 1859, at Royalton. His first regular work was in the county of Yates, among the Wesleyan Methodists. In 1867 he joined the Genesee conference, being assigned to a field of la- bor in Niagara district, in which he has now
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preached for a quarter of a century, being at present the pastor of Exley Methodist Ediseopal church at Wilson, this county.
October 16, 1851, he was united in holy wedlock with Sarah A., daughter of Southworth and Almira Harwood, of New Fane, this county. This union was blessed by the birth of seven children, of whom three, Elden C., Ida D., and Edwin O., are deceased ; Eva J. married William H. Higgs, of the firm of Higgs & Staples, of Lock- port, this county ; Albert W. married Edith Murphy, who is now dead; Elsworth L. married Anna Woodworth and lives at Loekport, where he is engaged in the hard- ware business; Mary E. married Cyrus Beach, a prosperous farmer of Cambria.
In addition to his ministerial labors in this part of New York, Rev. Asahel Staples is also identified with the business interests of Niagara county, being a member of the firm of Higgs & Staples, hardware mer- chants at Lockport. As a minister he is greatly beloved and honored, and has won considerable reputation as a pulpit orator, but what lies closer his heart, and has given him greater satisfaction, is the fact that he has been to a good degree successful in the work of leading sinners back to God, and making the world a little better for his having lived and labored in it. He enjoys the confidence and estecm of his people to a marked degree, and what has already been an extended day of faithful, earnest toil, bids fair to be lengthened by a long mellow evening and a golden sunset.
THOMAS V. WELCH, a man prom- inently identified with the business interests of Niagara Falls, and extremely popular with his people, is a son of Thomas
and Honora (Holland) Welch, and was born October 1, 1850, in Onondaga county, New York. His grandfather, Edward Welch, was a native of Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, where he lived and died. He took part in the rebellion of 1798, was a farmer, and reared a family of three sons and a daughter. Thomas Welch (father) was born August 11, 1815, in County Mayo, and came to this country in 1839, settling first in Canada, but removing to Niagara Falls in 1857, where he died in 1877. Ile was a democrat, and married Honora HIol- land, by whom he had three sons and as many daughters: Edward, John, Honora (deceased), Thomas V., Ellen, and Ann (de- ceased).
Thomas V. Welch was educated in the public schools of Niagara county, and at an early age set sail for himself on the sea of life as time-keeper in the shops of the New York Central Railroad at Niagara Falls, from which he was promoted to be freight agent three years, and then engaged in the dry goods business ten years, after which he was appointed to the position of superin- tendent of the State reservation at Niagara Falls. IIe is a democrat in politics, and has served as clerk and supervisor of the vil- lage; and for three years was a member of the State assembly from the second district of Niagara county, where he had charge of the bill for the establishment of the State re- servation at Niagara Falls. He was one of the prime movers in the tunnel enterprise .. is president of the Niagara County Savings bank, and a director in the Cataract bank. He is also a director of the Niagara Falls Power Company, and a member of the firm of H. E. Slocum & Co., dry goods dealers at Niagara Falls. Few men are more popular in the village or county.
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H ON. LEWIS P. GORDON, a descend- ant of two old distinguished families of Scotland and England, and the third in a family of two sons and three daughters, is a son of Colonel Henry B. and Mary (Plimp- ton ) Gordon, and was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, August 9, 1847. His paternal grandfather, Richard B. Gor- don, was born November 19, 1786, in Ware- ham, England, from which country he sailed with his parents April 15, 1793, and landed June 9, of the same year, at Quebee, Canada. In 1798 he came to Champlain, in Clinton county, which he left in June, 1817, to settle at Potsdam, where he engaged in a grist-mill until January, 1863, when he returned to Champlain, at which place he died in June, 1871, aged eighty-five years. One of his sons was Colonel Henry B. Gordon ( father), of Potsdam, New York, who was born October 16, 1816, and died at Perry's Mills (town of Champlain), June 16, 1868. He was of Scotch-English descent, a miller and baker by trade, and served as a colonel in the New York militia, and for many years had served as a warden of the Protestant Episcopal church. He was a school teacher during his early life, but afterwards engaged in the baking business at Potsdam, New York, and then in farming at Champlain, until his death. IIe, as well as his father before him, always supported the Democratic party. He was a tall, fine looking man, of command- ing appearance and superior ability. His wife, a most excellent and capable woman, Mary Pond Plimpton, daughter of Lewis Plimpton, a farmer, was born at Potsdam, July 2, 1822, and passed away December 3, 1883. The Plimpton family is one of the oldest titled families of England, and its his- tory ean be traced back over eight hundred years, to Nigell de Plimpton, who died in
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