USA > New York > Delaware County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Delaware County, New York > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
J WV. SHEFFIELD, M. D., is one of the ablest and most favorably known physi- cians of Sidney, Delaware County, N. Y. He was born in St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, on September 7, 1857, a son of George, and a grandson of James Sheffield. The grandfather was born in Con- necticut, May 2, 1788, of English and German parentage, and was still a boy when his father and all the family moved to Deerfield, N. Y., near Utica. Later they went to the town of Clay, Onondaga County, where the father of James died about 1810. James remained at Deerfield, married Miss Anna James, March 21, 1813, and moved to Manheim, Herkimer County, and later to Dolgeville (then known as Winton's, later as Brockett's Bridge, but now as Dolgeville), Fulton County, where his son, George Sheffield, was born June 10, 1818.
He married on March 30, 1843, Caroline E. Higbie, daughter of Jacob Higbie, of St. Johnsville. In this town Mr. and Mrs. George Sheffield made their home, and reared their large family of ten children, seven of whom are still living. Charles Wesley, their first son, died July 14, 1849, aged five years. William James, their second son, died Decem- ber 17, 1875, aged twenty-nine years, leaving a wife and two children, a son and a daughter. Mary Elizabeth, wife of Harvey Fox, of St. Johnsville, is the mother of one son. Sarah Jane Sheffield died July 10, 1877, aged twenty-six years, unmarried. Caroline Adelia, wife of Henry Fical, is the mother of a son and a daughter. George Washington Sheffield lives near Dolgeville, is married, and has a son and two daughters. John Wesley is the subject of this sketch. Albert D., who has been principal of the Nelliston public school for a number of years, is married, and has one daughter. James Erwin Sheffield, who lives in Montgomery County, is recently married. Hattie is wife of Clark Leek, an engineer of Johnstown, Fulton County, who has one son. George Sheffield, the father of this family, died at Lassellsville, Fulton County, May 26, 1883, aged sixty-six years. His widow is still living at the same place, now aged seventy-one years.
John Wesley Sheffield was reared on his father's farm, attending the district school, the high school at St. Johnsville, Fairfield Academy, and Eastman's Business College, of Poughkeepsie. He followed the profession of teaching for eight years, and in 1883 began the study of medicine with Dr. Daniel Small, of St. Johnsville, as preceptor. He entered the Albany Medical College in the autumn of that year, was graduated on March 3, 1886, and soon after began to practise at Trout Creek, Delaware County. Here he remained for five years, with the exception of a few months spent at Wampsville, Madison County. In the spring of 1891 he removed to Sidney, where he is regarded as a most skilful member of his profession.
October 19, 1887. Dr. J. W. Sheffield was married to Miss Zana M. Clarke, a daughter of the late Luman P. Clarke, of Addison, Vt., her mother being a great-grand-daughter of
486
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Lord Dudley, of Wales. She had been a successful teacher, and is also a graduate of the Mary Fletcher Hospital Training School for Nurses, in Burlington, Vt. Dr. and Mrs. Sheffield are the parents of two children : Bernard Clarke, born September 5, 1889; and Wesley Thare, born February 18, 1891. The Doctor is a Master Mason and a Knight of Pythias, but takes no active part in politics. He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, giving to that organization their hearty support. Dr. Shef- field is a rising young physician of remarkable adaptability for his calling, his kindly, pre- possessing manner, combined with his cheer- ful, sympathetic disposition, making him a welcome visitor in hours of health as well as illness ; and the success he has attained in the short period of his residence in the town of Sidney gives unquestionable assurance of a bright and prosperous future.
EV. ISAAC HEWITT was a Baptist clergyman, and an influential resi- dent of Halcottsville, in Middle- town, Delaware County, N. Y., where he died on January 7, 1892, full of years and worth, respected by a large number of asso- ciates, both in religious and social circles. In this town also was he born, on August 25, 1810. His father, Russell Hewitt, was born near Albany, married Ziporah Wheeler, was a Democrat, came to Halcottsville in his later years, and lived to be eighty-four. He reared eight of the nine children born to him, whose names were Merritt, Orin, Isaac, Wheeler, Norman, William, George, Emeline.
Isaac, the third son, was a self-made man, having been born with a disposition to get all the education possible, and so be of some use in a public way to his country. The neigh- borhood did not afford the desired facilities for culture; yet he managed by hard work to fit himself for the pulpit at the early age of twenty, at which time also he married, the lady of his choice being Julia Maria Weld, who was born on the last day of the year 1806, and therefore was her husband's senior by nearly four years. She was the daughter of David Weld, born February 15, 1773, and his
wife, Hannah Foster Weld, born January 16, I 787.
David Weld's birthplace was in Massachu- setts. In early life he was bound out to a farmer, who treated him so harshly that David ran away to Connecticut, where he found a home with a shoemaker named Earl, whose trade he learned. There also he subsequently married, and then came to Hubbell Hill in Delaware County, where he took up a tract of land, and built a log house amid the acres he was gradually reclaiming from the wilderness. There were neither shoe factories nor shoe stores in those pioneer days; and David Weld found plenty of employment among the farmers of the district, his services being in requisi- tion far and near. By his union with Miss Foster fourteen children were added to the population of the town: the eldest, Julia Maria Weld, before mentioned, the wife of the, subject of this sketch; Harvey Weld, born February 12, 1808; Matilda Weld, January 26, 1810; Huldah Weld, November 11, 1812; David Foster Weld, January 4, 1814; Clar- ence A. Weld, November 19, 1815; William W. Weld, July 29, 1817; Eli T. Weld, May 7, 1819; Delilah Weld, December 19, 1820; Jarvis J. Weld, the first day of October, 1822; Jeannette Weld, the second day of June, 1824; Augustus Weld, June 21, 1827 ; Fanny Weld, December 5, 1829; Isaac W. Weld, July 28, I'832. At the end of a dozen years, about the year 1817, Mr. Weld bought two hundred more acres adjoining the farm he already owned; for there were boys and girls enough growing up to attend to every department of farm work, both outside and inside. On this homestead he died January 18, 1853, at four- score; but his wife lived twelve years longer, dying on June 19, 1865, just at the close of the Civil War, aged seventy-eight. They were members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Weld was a Democrat.
The marriage of Isaac Hewitt and Julia Maria Weld took place November 5, 1830. He at once bought one hundred and fifty acres of land at Bragg Hollow, and also began preaching in various places within the limits of what was known as the Lexington Associa- tion. At different times he was the stated supply in a dozen different churches, and with
ISAAC HEWITT
489
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
four of them he was continuously connected for many years. The Second Church of Rox- bury, N. Y., located in Halcottsville, was built at the expense of the Rev. Mr. Hewitt; and the first sermon in it was preached by him, his text being Obadiah i. 17. His last discourse was fittingly delivered in the same church, from the text, John iii. 14. In the course of his ministry Mr. Hewitt baptized over four hundred persons, married about four hundred couples, and preached about the same number of funeral sermons. Like a veritable Baptist apostle, he went from State to State, even as far west as Illinois; nor did he give up the good work till his death, at the same advanced age as his father, eighty-four.
Not long before the centennial year he removed from Bragg Hollow to Halcottsville, buying the farm of two hundred acres, where he spent his last days, and where his widow still lives, lacking only two years of ninety, but enjoying excellent health, as indicated by the fact that as late as 1894 she was able to drive to Middleburg, a distance of thirty miles, to attend the yearly meeting of the Baptist Association, greatly enjoying the services, and not overtasked by the journey. Like her hus- band, she is large-hearted, always ready to help the poor, and interested in whatever tends to promote the public welfare. The religion of Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt found expres- sion in their good, hearty music. With full heart could they sing the couplet : -
" I'll drop my burden at his feet, And bear a song away."
An excellent likeness of the able and faith- ful Christian messenger whose career is briefly outlined in the foregoing sketch is presented on another page of the "Review."
SCAR J. SLATER, a well-known and expert mechanic of Deposit, was born May 28, 1840, in the town of Bain- bridge, Chenango County, N. Y., being the son of Joseph Slater and his wife, Sally Sylvius, of Northampton County, Pa., a descendant of one of the early Dutch settlers of that section.
Israel Slater; the father of Joseph, was born
in the town of Windsor, Vt., where he received his early education, and where he resided until after his marriage. He studied medi- cine, and followed that profession with marked success in the town of Windsor, also later on in Bainbridge. From early youth he showed marked ability in mechanics, and, after com- ing to New York, used to work as a black- smith as well as a farmer. At one time, hav- ing built a forty-foot barn, he made by hand all the nails used to shingle it. He married Susanna Gage, of Washington County, New York, and with his wife made the journey through the wilderness to Bainbridge, bought a tract of timbered land, and erected with his own hands a log cabin, which was the only shelter for his family for many seasons. Many were the hardships and discouragements ; and caution had to be taken against the wolves, bears, wild-cats, and panthers which in those days abounded. On one very dark night Mr. Slater was followed by a pack of wolves a dis- tance of three miles through dense woods to his own door, although for some reason they did not dare attack him. Israel Slater served his country at the time of the War of 1812, being one of the brave minute-men stationed at Sackett's Harbor when the British threatened that place. Mrs. Slater died when sixty-two years of age, in 1854, and left a family of eight children : Joseph, the father of the subject of this sketch; Marcus; Benjamin; Nathan ; Albert ; Delia; Caroline; and Charlotte. Her son Albert served under Sherman in Wood's division, and was killed in the battle of Resaca, having had his thigh shattered by a shell.
Joseph Slater was born at Bainbridge in 1810, and received his education in the schools of his native town. When he had attained sufficient years, he learned the trades of mill- wright and joiner, in which callings he actively engaged for himself in the town of Greene, Chenango County, and was consid- ered one of the best mechanics in the country. Mr. Slater was a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Universalist church. His career was a short one, as he was cut down in carly manhood, and left a wife and four chil- dren - Lydia, Louisa, Oscar, and Julia. At the death of Mr. Slater the home was broken
490
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
up. Oscar, the subject of this sketch, went to live with his grandfather, Israel Slater; Lydia lived at the home of Hiram Bennet, of Bennettsville; and Louisa, at the home of Milton Bennett, of the same place. Mrs. Sally Slater, with her daughter Julia, re- turned to her old home in Pennsylvania, where she later married for her second husband Urias Holenbeck, of Belvidere, Ill., and went West, taking with her Julia and Louisa, who therc married and settled. Louisa became the wife of Seth Blood. Julia married David M. Gibbs, who soon went to the front in the war of the Rebellion. After his return at the close of the war they finished their educa- tion at Normal, Ill., and then taught for nine ycars, as principal and preceptress, the high school at Rosemond, Christian County, Ill., and later, for eleven years, the graded school at Genoa, Ill., where they now reside. Lydia married William L. Axtell, a brother of Mrs. Oscar J. Slater, and lived near the home of her brother's family until she died, in 1892, greatly lamented.
Oscar J. Slater received his education in the schools of Bennettsville and Sanford, where he lived with his aunt Charlotte, wife of Hiram B. Fuller. In 1861 Mr. Slater started in active business life in the town of Sanford, Broome County, N. Y., as a car- penter and joiner, which trade he followed until 1864, when he went to Masonville, and there learned the cooper's trade. In 1866 he started in the cooper's business at Deposit with a cousin, Orville Wilson. The partner- ship continued for about two years, and then Mr. Slater bought the place where he now resides, and carried on his business for over twenty-five years, up to August, 1894.
When twenty-four years of age, he married July 17, 1864, Margaret Axtell, daughter of Joseph and Caroline (Harper) Axtell, of China. Mrs. Slater received a district-school education, and was brought up at home, assist- ing her parents in the work of the farm, and learning to spin wool and flax. The training which she received in all domestic pursuits excellently fitted her to oversee the home which she now possesses. Mr. and Mrs. Slater have one child, Stella Olivia Slater. She was graduated at the Deposit High
School in the class of 1888, and is an accom- plished musician, having received her musical education at Clinton Liberal Institute, at Fort Plain, N. Y. She has large classes of pupils on the piano, both in her own and neighboring towns, and enjoys an enviable reputation as a teacher.
Mr. Slater inherits his skill as a mechanic from his grandfather and father, and through his success in his work has made for himself a pleasant home. Changes in the butter trade having made the cooper business unprofitable, he has now, January 1, 1895, abandoned it, and accepted a pleasant and responsible posi- tion in the employ of the New York Con- densed Milk Company in their condensery in Deposit. Mr. Slater's family are members of the Baptist church in Deposit, working for the interest of the people among whom they live, and holding the respect of the whole community. Mr. Slater is a Republican in . politics, and as a representative of this party has been offered several times the most im- portant town offices, all of which he has re- fused. He has stood like a rock for the principles of his party, successfully combat- ing, through the press and in public debate, what he sternly characterizes as "the false claims of the Democrats, the heresies of the Greenbackers, and the hypocrisy of the leaders of the Prohibition movement." He has also done some good work as a lay preacher.
B ENJAMIN J. WHITE was born on the old White homestead on April 4, 1827. His grandfather, Benjamin, who was born in Wales in 1746, came to America with the British soldiers during the Revolution, and was taken prisoner at the battle of. Bunker Hill. While in the soldiers' hospital, he fell in love with a young nurse who came each day to render her sweet services to those suffering from wounds and illnesses. The attraction seems to have been mutual ; for the young lady, Miss Lovina Tottin by name, afterward became his wife. Miss Tottin was a native of Dutchess County, New York, where she was born March 7, 1761, and was the daughter of Jonas Tottin,
49 1
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
a Hollander. To Benjamin and Lovina White eleven children were born - Mary, Lovina, William, John, Benjamin, George C., James, Peter V. G., Richard, Susan, and Phœbe.
Benjamin learned the hatter's trade, which he followed after the war in Strong Ridge, Ulster County, N. Y. ; but in 1795 he yoked an ox team, and, bundling up bag, baggage, and family, journeyed in true. pioneer style to Delaware County. Arriving in Colchester, on the Delaware River, he purchased a hundred acres of land, and built a log house in which to abide. This was burned to the ground; and subsequently he erected a clapboard house, which is still standing, in a fairly good state of preservation. Here he established a hat factory and built a cider-mill, the nearest mill and market being at Kingston. Al- though the distance was not great, it took quite a week to make the journey back and forth, and necessitated great inconvenience now and then. He was a Democrat, and lived to be eighty years old. His wife died October 13, 1857, at the age of ninety-six years.
Peter Van Gasbeck White was born in Ulster County, and came to Delaware County with his father when a lad. Here he was educated ; and, as he grew older, he took tender care of the aged father and mother who leaned upon his youth and strength. Upon coming into possession of the homestead, he married, July 9, 1826, Miss Charlotte Sutton, a daughter of Caleb and Sarah Sutton, formerly of Dutchess County, but now living near Han- cock. A family of eight brothers and sisters filled the Sutton home with sounds of fun and frolic. Their children were James, Abraham, Polly, Lettic, Hettic, Abby, Charlotte, and Sherman. The latter is still living, at eighty- three years of age.
Peter V. G. White was known for his skill as a pilot, displaying great dexterity and energy in floating his lumber rafts down the river. Seven trips were accomplished in one year. In the early days this rafting was an arduous enterprise, the return trip being made by water to Kingston, from which point the rest of the journey, a distance of sixty-five miles, was made afoot. Railroad travel now renders the journey a short and easy one.
Nine children were born to Peter V. G. White and his wife Charlotte. The eldest, Benjamin J., born April 4, 1827, married Lovina Hurd. William G., born April 25, 1829, married Sarah A. Holiday. Jeremy T., born February 24, 1832, married Caroline Schoonmaker. John S., born June 24, 1834, married Mary E. Radiker. Eunice Page, born January 24, 1837, married Wesley Terry. Phoebe Jane, born March 12, 1839, married Nicholas Barn- hardt. Peter Harrison, born April 19, 1841, is dead. Hettie Maria, born December 15, 1843, married John Warren. Mary Cornelia, born September 9, 1846, married James Berhim. Mr. Peter Van Gasbeck White served in the War of 1812. He died October 25, 1862. His wife died May 19, 1866.
Benjamin J. White, their eldest son, grew to years of discretion in his native town, and received his education in the common schools. He was married in 1854 to Miss Lovina Hurd, whose father came from Connecticut in the early days of the settlement of Sullivan County, and who married a Miss Mallory. Mrs. Lovina White had five sisters - Olivia, Mary, Charlotte, Minerva, and Harriet - and three brothers - John, Curtis, and Charles. Mrs. White died, leaving these children to solace her husband in his grief. The eldest of these, Fred G., born January 26, 1859, is a carpenter in Delhi, married Mary A. Hawks, and has two children - Bell and Bessie. Charlotte, born September 16, 1860, married George Knoll, a farmer of Parksville, Sulli- van County, to whom she has borne two children. Bell, born September 18, 1863, married Herman Wilson, a farmer in Wal- ton ; and they have two children. Wilson P. lives in Indian Territory.
Mr. Benjamin J. White at one time owned a farm of one hundred and forty acres near Walton. Later he lived for seven years at Brock Hollow, afterward farming at Trout Brook. He married for his second wife Mrs. Hannah Hawk, widow of Daniel Hawk, and a daughter of David and Mary Ann (Cauniff) Hawk. Her parents raised a family of seven children - Susan, Hannah, Caroline, Charles, Eliza, Venice, and Everett -all of whom live in Matteawan, Dutchess County. Mrs. White's first husband, Daniel Hawk, was a descendant
492
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
of Eben Hawk, who settled in this section when there was only an Indian trail through to Newburg. Only one child, a daughter, was born of Mr. White's last marriage. This daughter, Susie L. by name, was born on the first day of May, 1879, and lives at the paren- tal home. Mr. White is one of the seven men who formed the Masonic Lodge of Wal- ton. He is a Prohibitionist, and a Democrat in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has filled several small offices in the town, and is now Notary Public of Colchester.
NDREW T. STRANGEWAY was born in Bovina, Delaware County, in the year 1840. His grandfather, Thomas Strangeway, the progenitor of the Strangeway family in America, was a native of Scotland, who settled in Middletown, where he bought a farm and raised a family of three sons and two daughters. He died in Walton. Christopher, the father of Andrew, was also a Scotchman, and was evidently quite a lad at the time of his father's emigration to America, as he had been apprenticed to a black- smith in Scotland, and had acquired great skill in his craft. The vast agricultural facilities of the new country encouraging him to turn his attention to husbandry, he bought a farm of one hundred acres, whence he moved several years later to take possession of a small estate known as the "turnpike farm," upon which the remaining years of his life were spent. The steady, strong hand of the smith was turned with equal success to the plough, spade, and scythe; and Christopher had accumulated a fair share of worldly goods and chattels within his allotted years. He married a Miss Margaret Thompson, of Bovina; and the five children born of the marriage are all living. They are: William T. Strangeway, a farmer in Delhi; Andrew, the central figure of this family group; Helen, the wife of Mr. George Gladstone, of Bovina; Thomas C., who resides on the old place; and James, a farmer of Andes. Christopher Strangeway was a Re- publican in politics, and a United Presbyterian in religious faith.
Andrew T. Strangeway was educated in the
schools of his native town, and at about thirty years of age engaged in mercantile life in Bovina with Mr. John Hilson. This partner- ship continued for three years, when Mr. Strangeway went into business for himself, in which he has prospered throughout the period of twenty-three years of close application. It seems that Mr. Strangeway must have had in a large degree that pertinacity of purpose and clear foresight which combine to produce what is known as business talent, and this aptitude for the practical details of life is doubtless an inheritance from his Scotch ancestors. At all events, he is what is called a "success."
In 1874 Mr. Strangeway consummated his youth's ideal of happiness in his marriage with Miss Margaret A. Doig, of Bovina. The young lady was the youngest daughter of An- drew and Margaret Doig, her father being a well-known farmer in the neighborhood. Only six years of wedded union followed; for in 1880 Mrs. Strangeway died, leaving three little motherless children to her husband's care : Maggie D. and Elizabeth J. Strangeway, and Harvey C., the last named being now de- ceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Strangeway were members of the United Presbyterian church at Bovina Centre.
In politics this gentleman has always been Republican. The people of Bovina have given proof of their confidence in him by electing him to the office of Town Clerk, a position he has filled creditably for several terms; while in the church he has also been a prominent official. The elder of Mr. Strange- way's daughters is a graduate of the Delhi Academy, and both young ladies are teachers in their native town.
ILLIAM REED, an enterprising farmer and dairyman of Union Grove, in the town of Andes, Dela- ware County, is a man of good judgment and foresight, having by his energy and industry won well-deserved prosperity. His father, Samuel H. Reed, was a son of Samson and Rebecca (Hammond) Reed, natives of New Hampshire. Their other children were Eliza- beth, William, and Levi Reed. Samuel H. was born in Hamilton, Madison County,
493
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
N. Y., June 1, 1830, and married Elizabeth M. Baker, daughter of John M. and M. B. (Miller) Baker. . Her parents were both born in Rhode Island; and they had five children - Elizabeth M., Sarah A., John M., Warren A., and Susan L. Mrs. John M. Baker was a daughter of John R. and Elizabeth (Wilson) Miller, both of Rhode Island. Samuel H. Reed and wife Elizabeth had three children. James, the eldest, was born October 22, 1847, William was born November 5, 1852, and Elizabeth November 19, 1855. Mr. Reed's occupation was farming and lumbering. He resided in Sherburne, Chenango County. In 1863 he enlisted in the Twentieth New York Cavalry. Soon after the war he moved with his family to the town of Andes. Here he helped to erect a saw-mill at Big Pond, now called Mountain Lake, and also aided in building a road from that place to the Barka- boom road, a distance of three miles. He worked at lumbering for a number of years, and then sold out to James Murdock and W. H. Ellsworth, and with his son William bought the farm of four hundred acres which is the present home of the family. The land was then entirely uncultivated; but by un- ceasing toil it was cleared, and substantial buildings, including a saw-mill, were erected. Samuel H. Reed died December 17, 1892. His widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Reed, still lives, making her home with her children. She is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.