USA > New York > Niagara County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York > Part 51
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On December 26, 1889, Rev. Mr. Harring- ton was united in marriage to Ida Schwed- Jer, daugliter of Dr. E. F. Schwedler, of the city of New York, and this union has been blessed by the birth of one son, Frank H.
W LESLEY P. BROWN, a trusted en- ployee of the New York Central Rail- road Company for many years, and now engine dispatcher for that company, at Niagara Falls, was born October 15, 1838, in the town of Peru, Berkshire county. Massachusetts, and is the youngest son of Elijalı and Harriet (Payne) Brown. Sol- omnon Brown (grandfather) was a native of Connecticut, but removed to Massachusetts and settled in the town of Peru, where he
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died. He was a farmer by oeeupation, and married Harriet Gilbert, by whom he had eleven children, six sons and five daughters. The sons were: Allen, John, Reuben, Uriah, Orin, and Elijah (father). Elijah Brown was born in Peru, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, April 13, 1798, and died at Pittsfield, same county, in 1868, aged seventy years. He went to Boston in 1823, where he remained ten years, and was en- gaged in the stage business. He followed farming all his life except while in Boston. He was an old-line whig in polities, and married Harriet Payne, daughter of Lyman Payne, who was a native of Massachusetts, but removed to Oswego county, where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had seven children, three of whom died in infancy : Henrietta, married Charles Reed (deceased), and resides at Pittsfield, Massachusetts ; George L., is a locomotive engineer by trade, and resides at Niagara Falls; Lucy M. (dead), and Wesley P.
Wesley P. Brown was educated in the common schools of his native town, and commenced life for himself September 10, 1855, as fireman for the New York Central railroad, in whose employ he was afterward engineer for eighteen years. Since 1877 he has been engine dispatcher at Niagara Falls for the same company, and has com- plete charge of the locomotive department of this company's works at Niagara Falls. IIe has the full confidenee of the company and is faithful in the discharge of the duties of his responsible position, being an honest, industrious, and highly respected eitizen.
In 1863 Mr. Brown married Harriet Saekett, a daughter of Charles and Harriet Saekett, both natives of Massachusetts. Mrs. Brown was born in Cheshire, that State, in 1841, and they have been blest
with five daughters: Luey M., wife of Henry M. Clark (see his sketeh in this vol- ume); Jessie M., at home; Henrietta, who married Frank Dudley, a practicing lawyer of Niagara Falls; II. May, and Edith, who are both at home with their parents.
In polities Mr. Brown is a demoerat, but is inelined toward independenee in local affairs. He is a member of Niagara Fron- tier Lodge, No. 132, Free and Accepted Masons.
D ANIEL CROSSMAN, now deceased, was a native of Essex county, New Jersey, and was of German deseent. He eame to Niagara county, New York, when a young man, with his father, Abner Cross- man. They located in the town of New Fane, at what was then known as Kemp- ville, but is now called Oleott, and there Daniel Crossman lived until his death, which occurred in 1870, when he had reached the advanced age of seventy-six years. He was a farmer by oceupation, and very sue- cessful and prosperous. He was a prom- inent member of the Baptist church, and served as a deacon for many years. In politics he was an old-line whig, and was twice married. His first wife was Lydia Holmes, of Wilson, this eounty. She died in 1832, at the age of thirty-five years, and left seven children, of whom four still sur- vive-one son and three daughters. The son, Abel Crossman, is now living on the old homestead, in the town of New Fane. One of the daughters, Harriet Crossman, married Harvey A. Bourne, and resides at Winona, Minnesota. Rachel, the youngest surviving child, married Osborn Bailey, and lives at Monte Vista, Colorado.
Naney V., the eldest daughter, was mar- ried, in 1860, to John N. Curtis, a prosper-
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
ous farmer of the town of Somerset, who died in 1874, aged sixty-two years, leaving one child, Sarah, who is now the wife of William A. Sawyer, a successful farmer of the town of Somerset, residing on the old homestead tliere. In 1878 Mrs. Curtis was again married, this time wedding Alexander Pettit, of the town of Wilson. He died in 1884. He was a leading member of the Baptist church, and was serving as deacon of the church at the time of his death. In politics he was a republican, and always took an active interest in political matters. His widow now resides in the village of Wilson, where she is very comfortably situated. She has long been a devoted member of the Baptist church at Wilson, and is well known and very popular among a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
D AVID L. BARNUM, proprietor of the foundry at Wilson, and a man who has had a somewhat varied and extensive ex- perience in life, is the son of Richard and Electa (Lloyd) Barnum, and was born July 30, 1825, in the town of Brighton, Monroe county, New York. This family is related to P. T. Barnum, who was the world's most famous showman. The homestead where David L. was born is now called "Barnum's Terrace," and is laid out in city lots, being one of the suburbs of Rochester. Richard Barnum (father) was born in Danbury, Connecticut, about 1789, and removed to Monroe county, New York, in 1812, where he resided until his death, in 1863, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. He learned the trade of cooper, but was princi- pally engaged in farming. He once owned the lot in Rochester where Power's block now stands. He was one of the early set-
tlers of Monroe county, and a member of the Congregational church. In politics he was a stanch democrat, and took a deep in- terest in school matters. He married Electa Lloyd, by whom he had five children. Mrs. Barnum (mother) was born in Massachu- setts in 1800, and died at her home in Mon- roe county, this State, in March, 1862, aged sixty-two years. Her father, David Lloyd, removed from Massachusetts to the village of Charlotte, Monroe county, this State, at an early day. He was a sailor in early life, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812, dying while in that service. His remains lie entombed at Lewiston, this county.
David L. Barnum was reared in Monroe county, this State, and received his educa- tion in the public schools of that county. He learned the trade of cooper when a boy, and after leaving school conducted his fath- er's cooper shop for some time, and in 1845 removed to Wisconsin and located at Racine. Here he remained for six years, engaged in running a cooper shop, in which occupation he was very successful, and in 1851 returned to Monroe county, New York, and resumed the coopering business. He also purchased a farm, and continued to reside there until 1857, when he went to Oil Springs, Canada, where he became an oil producer, and re- mained six years. In 1863 he removed to Wilson, this county, where he has resided ever since. After coming here he pur- chased a farm in the town of Wilson and operated it for two years, when he removed to the village and opened a foundry. Three years ago he added evaporating appara- tus, and is now conducting the combined business. By industry, enterprise, and sound business management he has built up a large trade and been very successful.
June 16, 1851, Mr. Barnum was wedded
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to Elizabeth Dygert, and to their union was born a family of three sons: David C., who studied law, and is now in successful practice in the city of Rochester; Charles O., now the book-keeper of the Buffalo Car- riage Company, Buffalo, New York; and John E., ticket agent of the Rome & Ogdens- burg railroad at their State street office in Rochester. Mrs. Barnum was born in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer county, this State, and is descended from one of the old pioneer families of the Mohawk valley. Her great-grandfather was killed by the In- dians before the Revolutionary war.
Politically Mr. Barnum is identified with the Democratic party, and has always given it an earnest support. He is well posted on the history of the two great political organi- zations and the questions on which they differ. In religious opinion he is a Presby- terian, and has long been an active member of that church. He has been complimented by his fellow citizens at different times by election to town offices, and has always dis- charged such trusts with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people.
W ILLIAM C. WEBSTER, an aged and honored citizen of the town of Wilson, who is one of the few remaining links con- necting the present with the pioneer days of this section, is the tenth of eleven children born to John and Susan B. (Allen) Webster, and first saw the light on July 19, 1818, at Ogden, Monroe county, New York. The family is of English extraction, and is quite numerous in Massachusetts. In that State John Webster (father) was born about 1788, but removed to Ogden, Monroe county, this State, while yet a young man. He studied medicine, and became an active and popular
physician at Ogden, having a large and lucrative practice. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which for many years he was a licensed exhorter. He also owned a fine farm at Ogden, and superintended its operations. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and was a man who stood high in his com- munity, both as a citizen and as a physician. He married Susan B. Allen, also a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and reared a family of eleven children. His death occurred at his home in Ogden, Monroe county, in the fall of 1838, after an active life spanning half a century. His wife died in 1842, aged sixty-two years.
William C. Webster was reared on the farm at Ogden, Monroe county, and received a good practical English education in the public schools of that place. After leaving school he learned the trade of cooper, and carried on that business for a period of twenty years. In 1841 he removed to Ni- agara county, arriving here on the very day that General William H. Harrison took his seat as President of the United States. He at once located on the land now constituting his fine farm, but then an unbroken forest. The road by which he reached his farm was simply a trail marked by "blazed" trees, and wolves could still be heard howling through the woods. At night it was neces- sary to carry a torch to frighten them away, and Mr. Webster says that "more than once myself and wife were compelled to run in order to escape vicious varmints." The farm consists of fifty acres, located on the Daniels' road, five miles from the village of Wilson. It is now well improved, and has a handsome residence and commodious barn, and other necessary buildings, with good orchards of fine fruit. This transformation
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
has cost him the toil of a lifetime, and he has certainly earned the relaxation and comfort he is now enjoying.
On July 4, 1839, Mr. Webster was married to Mary Lusk, danghter of Wm. M. Lnsk, then of the town of Hartland, this county. She was born in Ontario county. To their union was born one son and one daughter: Jefferson A., now a farmer in the town of Wilson; and Elizabeth A., who married Lewis W. Robinson, a farmer of the town of Cambria. Mrs. Webster is the second of twelve children born to William and Rachel Lusk, and her natal day was January 25, 1820. She is a tall, stout lady, a typical pioneer, and very pleasant and agreeable in conversation. Her father was a native of the Mohawk valley, and came to this county in 1833, settling in the town of Hartland, where he lived until his death in 1850, at which time he was in his fifty-cighth year.
In politics Mr. Webster has always been an ardent democrat, and has been elected and served six years as road commissioner. HIe has also served as trustee of the town and as school director, besides filling other local offices. He is a member of the Baptist church, as is his wife, and takes an active part in the support of church interests. He is tall in stature, has a pleasant address, and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
E DMUND E. STEVENS, a prosperous farmer of the town of Wilson, and a respected and useful citizen of the eounty, is the son of Horaee E. and Maria (Gridley) Stevens, and was born June 18, 1837, in the town of Riga, Monroe county, New York. The Stevens are of English descent. Eber Stevens (grandfather) was born in Connecti- cut, and died in Onondaga county, this
State, where he had resided for some years. He was a blacksmith by trade, served as a soldier of the war of 1812, and lived to be cighty-two years old. Horace E. Stevens (father) was also a native of Connecticut, where he was born in 1801. In 1824 he removed to Niagara county, New York, where he continued to reside until his death in 1883, when he also had attained the age of eighty-two years. He was a re- publican in polities, and served in a number of offices in his town. He commanded a company of State militia in his younger days. By occupation lie was a farmer most of his life, but learned the trade of cloth dresser when a young man, and followed that business until he was thirty-six years of age. He married Maria Gridley, by whom he had a family of four children : Harvey H., of Monroe county, New York; Henry G., residing at Portland, Michigan; Mrs. Anna M. Hill, of Monroe county, New York, and one deceased. Mrs. Stevens was a native of Greene county, this state, and died in 1885, having reached the exact age at which her husband died two years before -eighty-two. She also was of English extraetion, and her family ean be traecd back for seven generations.
Edmund E. Stevens was reared on a farnı in his native town, and received a good English education in the common schools and academy of Monroe county. In 1872 he removed to Niagara county and located in the town of Wilson, on what is known as the Randall road. Here he owns a fine farm, consisting of eighty-eight aeres of valuable land, which is well improved and supplied with commodious farm buildings, including a handsome residenee.
On November 15, 1871, Mr. Stevens was wedded to Charlotte M. Smith, a
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daughter of Lonson Smith, of Monroe county, New York. To their union have been born seven children, five sons and two daughters : Charles A., Mary L., Horace E., Nellie M., Lonson S., Fred E., and El- bert A.
In his political affiliations Mr. Stevens is a republican, always giving that party an active support on questions involving State and National policy, but somewhat inclined toward independence in dealing with local issues. He is enterprising and progressive in his business as a farmer, and ranks among the prosperous and highly esteemed citizens of Niagara county.
D ANIEL A. VAN VALKENBURG.
There are those men who have lived and passed away in this world, whose highest ambition was to be active and useful, and such a man was the late Daniel A. Van Valkenburg. He was a son of Lambert and Freelove (Ellsworth ) Van Valkenburg, and was born on the Mohawk, in Herkimer county, New York, in 1810. He came, in 1830, with his father from Herkimer to Eric county, and shortly afterwards settled on Tonawanda creek, when the larger part of Niagara county and nearly all of western New York was a dense wilderness, where the sun never penetrated, and where wild beasts roamed undisturbed by man. He experieneed and underwent all the hardships of a pioneer life, but had scarce attained his majority ere he concluded to utilize the vast and magnificent forests around him to practical use, and accordingly engaged in the lumber business upon a small scale. With limited means, and but small profits, he struggled along for a few years, until his persistent efforts met better fortune, and his
pioneer enterprize in the forests of Niagara county assumed the proportions of a well established and prosperous business. With the rapid increase of settlement in New York came an unusual development of the lumber trade, in which Mr. Van Valkenburg had embarked when it afforded but little prospect of any remunerative return for an investment and years of hard labor. While others had ignored the lumber business and sought for wealth in many different enter- prises of far more promising results, yet his good judgment and remarkable foresight saw in the future the magnitude which the lumber trade was necessarily bound to assume. As the years swiftly came his pioneer efforts were rewarded with abundant suecess, and his logging camps and shipping yards were widely scattered throughout the western counties of the State, until he was one of the largest as well as one of the most successful lumber operators of western New York. He was an energetic and thoroughgoing business man, superintended all of his various plants, yards, and mills, and who never allowed the smallest detail of any branch of extensive operations to escape his notice. Thus he attained to his prominent position in the business world, and had accumulated at the time of his death, in 1873, a large estate. In a few years after engaging in the lumber business he removed to Lockport, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was extensively engaged in the lumber business, not only here, but in many places in the west.
He was thrice married. His first wife was Emeline Carey, who died and left two children : Harriet and Catherine, both of whom are deceased. Later he married Orilla Nash, and had four children by this second union, three sons and one daughter :
Daniel Ci. VanValkenG.gr
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
Lyman, Daniel, and Alice (both deceased), and Thomas. His third wife was Lucinda S. Bruce, of Lockport, by whom he had two children, of whom C. M. is in the real estate and banking business at Lockport.
Enterprising and progressive, Daniel A. Van Valkenburg did much for the early development and subsequent material pros- perity of the city of Lockport, whose many enterprises received his hearty support. He was a republican in political sentiment, but no office seeker, although when he was elected to a seat in the city council he served with great credit, and sought in every way to promote the best interests of Lockport. He was a willing and liberal contributor to every church which solicited his aid, and never refused support to any moral or religious cause whose claims were presented to him. He was a man of deeds more than words, although an entertaining conversationalist and a remarkably good listener to anything important or interest- ing. It is of the utmost importance for every one to make the journey of life a successful one, and in the full sense that God had given him unusual powers for exercise, he made his life a success in making it a life of labor for the benefit of others as well as for the advantage of himself. To live a life of purpose, of activity, of usefulness, is living real and earnest, and so lived the subject of this sketch until July 29, 1872, when his sands of life were exhausted, and he passed away when in the sixty-third year of his age. With appropriate ceremonies his remains were laid to rest in a selected spot in Glenwood cemetery, and while the marble shaft erected at his head is a tribute of respect and love from those to whom he was endeared by affection and the ties of
blood, yet a nobler tribute to his manhood and moral worth is the memory cherished of him in the hearts of the poor and needy to whom his hand and his purse were ever open in hours of need and affliction. At a special meeting of the directors of the Niagara County National bank, held on July 31, 1872, the following resolutions were passed :
" Resolved, That we receive with sorrowful emotions the tidings of the decease of Daniel A.Van Valkenburg, so long associated with ns in the management of this bank.
"Resolved, That while we bow to the Di- vine Providence which has thus removed our friend from his place at our board, we bear testimony to the faithfulness with which he ever devoted his time and effort to the prosperity to the institution of which he was one of the founders, sixteen years ago. "Resolved, That we unite in the expression of our sympathy with the family bereaved by this Providence.
"Resolved, That these proceedings be en- tered upon the official records of the bank, and that a certified copy thereof be trans- mitted to the family of the deceased."
In consequence of the absorbing character and extent of his own business, it was rarely that he could be induced to accept a public office. In the few cases where public posi- tion was accepted, he brought to bear npon the performance of the duties, the same wise discrimination and sound judgment and sagacity which marked the transactions of his private affairs.
For many years the deceased had been intimately associated with the most im- portant business operations of our city ; with its banking, with hydraulics, boat building, &c. He has been closely connected with the growth and prosperity of the city
27
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Lockport, and in this respect his loss will be regretted by all classes of people. Thus are passing away our early, public-spirited citizens, who have built up the city and made it what it is.
JAMES J. MOORE, a well respected citizen and business man of Gasport, was born near Augusta, Maine, March 28, 1813, and is a son of John T. and Betsey (Hooper) Moore. In 1600 the first fleet that ever came from Ireland brought over a Moore family, from whom all the Moores in America are descended. They located near Concord, New Hampshire. Robert Moore (paternal grandfather) was born in Goffs- town, Hillsboro county, that State, where he inherited his father's estate, and there lived until his death, at the advanced age of cighty-two years. He was a farmer by oc- cupation, and for forty years served as a deacon in the Congregational church. With an eye on the futurity of church affairs, he was ever ready to respond to the call of duty. At the beginning of the Revolution- ary war he enlisted as a private, having previously witnessed the Boston tea party, and aided in the struggle until our indepen- dence was acknowledged by Great Britain. He was a nephew of General Moore, of Revolutionary fame, and became a patriot noted for zeal and enthusiasm. He first married a Miss Todd, by whom he had three children, one son and two daughters. He then united in marriage with a Miss Jami- son, and had four sons and two daughters. He was pressed by the British and brought to America, and shortly afterward was forced into the British army at Quebec. He was first engaged in the battle of that city, in which he was taken prisoner by the
Americans, and feeling so indignant at En- glish treatment, he enlisted in the American army and served as a private until the close of the war. He then concluded to return to his native country, and after two days at sea he was shipwrecked and was picked up by a passing vessel and taken to Portland, Maine, where he remained a year. Not re- lieved of the anxiety to see his old home, he again embarked for Germany, and met with the same misfortune as before, and was res- cued by a cruiser, which brought him back to Portland. Giving up the idea of cross- ing the ocean to Germany, he soon married an English woman and removed to Au- gusta, and there resided until his death. They had a large family of children. John T. Moore (father) was also a native of the Granite State, and was born in 1781. He came to western New York in 1817 in search of a home. Pleased with the pros- pects of the country, he returned and brought out his family the following year, and settled in the town of Riga, Monroe county, twelve miles west of Rochester, where he resided about six years. At the end of that time he removed to the town of Bergen, Genesee county, where he remained until 1835, when he came to Niagara county and settled on a part of the Holland Land purchase. Retiring from business, he went to Orleans county, where he died in 1862, while with his daughter. He was a mill- wright by trade, and built all the mills on Black creek from Riga to the Genesee river. He was a member of the Evangelical Meth- odist church, and adhered to the principles of the Democratic party. He married Bet- sey Hooper, by whom he had five sons and five daughters. She was a native of Ger- many.
James J. Moore was the youngest of his
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OF NIAGARA COUNTY.
father's sons that grew to maturity. He re- ceived a good common school education, and removed from Bergen into Niagara county in 1850 and settled on the shore of Lake Ontario. IIcre he lived twenty years, when he went to the town of Ridgeway, Orleans county, and at the end of two years he came to Gasport, but soon returned to Ridgeway, and in 1878, came back to Gas- . port, where he has resided ever since. He is a carpenter and joiner by trade, and in 1887 retired from active work. He still re- sides in Gasport, and owns a farm of one hundred and forty-two acres in the town of Hartland.
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