Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 3

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256

USA > New York > Wyoming County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 3
USA > New York > Livingston County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 3

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Frank, Sarah, and Andrew. Six have passed to the life immortal; namely, an infant, Frances, Joseph, Rosa, Clara, and Willie. Mr. Romes- ser takes an active part in the management of local affairs, and has served as Assessor six years and Collector two years. In politics he is a strong supporter of the principles of the Democratic party ; and, religiously, he and his family are members of the Catholic Church.

EWTON S. BARKER, a wholesale and retail lumber dealer, carrying on an extensive business in the town of Nunda, is a man of great enterprise . and ability, and a conspicuous figure in the manufacturing and mercantile circles of this section of Livingston County. He is now in the prime of life, his birth having occurred July 5, 1852, in the town of Nunda, being the son of Jesse Barker, Jr., who was born in Oneida County in 1812, and the grandson of Jesse Barker, Sr., one of the early settlers of Oneida County.

Jesse Barker, Jr., gained his livelihood by tilling the soil, having been reared on a farm and well trained in its labors during his mi- nority. In 1834 he, accompanied by three of his brothers, came on foot to this county, and settled in that part of Nunda that has since been known as Barkerstown. After four years of incessant toil and wise thrift he found him- self possessed of enough money to warrant him in buying a fifty-acre farm. On this he built a comfortable frame house, and there he and his good wife reared their family and lived until called to their eternal home. He mar- ried Jane Bradley, the daughter of James Bradley. She was a girl of twelve years when she came to Nunda with her father and two brothers. Of this family the only living representative is Alonzo Bradley, of Avon. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Barker five children were born, as follows: Elizabeth ; Emory, who died at the age of sixteen years; Esther, who died when thirty-six years of age ; Amelia; and Newton S., of Nunda. The par- ents were held in esteem throughout the com- munity, and were faithful members of the Methodist church.

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The subject of this sketch spent the days of his boyhood and youth on the home farm, ac- quiring in the mean time a substantial educa- tion in the district schools and a practical knowledge of agriculture. While continuing his farming pursuits, he began dealing in lum- ber on a small scale, meeting with such profit- able results that he was encouraged to build a saw-mill and manufacture lumber. This busi- ness Mr. Barker has gradually enlarged until he is now one of the most extensive wholesale and retail lumber dealers of this section of the county.

In 1874 Mr. Barker was married to Miss Mary Clute, the daughter of James and Amanda (Eldridge) Clute. The name of Clute has long been prominent in the annals of Livingston County, the grandfather of Mrs. Barker, Thomas Clute, of Gibsonville, having been for many years agent for the Indians, and also land agent for the "white woman," Mary Jemison, who was the owner of a large tract of land, lying partly in this and partly in Alle- gany County. She is said to have been the daughter of white parents, and carried away captive when a small child by the Indians, and brought up by them. To Mr. and Mrs. Barker three children have been born ; namely, Asa J., Mary J., and Arthur C. The silent mes- senger of death has, however, cast his shadow across the threshold of this happy home, bear- ing away their little son Arthur C. at the tender age of two years. Their other son, Asa J., is in the employ of the Lehigh Railway Company. Mr. Barker cast his first Presiden- tial vote for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, and has always affiliated with the Republican party. A man of excellent financial judgment, of integrity, and honor, he has served his fel- low-townsmen with fidelity as Assessor and as village Trustee.

D. PHILLIPS, a citizen of Perry, is a man well known on account of his wide experience in various lines of business. He was born at Mount Morris, Livingston County, N. Y., July 3, 1842, son of Richard and Eleanor (Brown) Phillips, and grandson of Samuel and Sarah

(Schoby) Phillips. His grandparents were born in New Jersey and emigrated to the State of New York, settling first in Seneca County and afterwards in Mount Morris, Livingston County. Here Samuel Phillips bought two hundred acres of uncultivated land, which he cleared and improved, transforming a wilder- ness into a fruitful farm. He died at the age of eighty-four years. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he was a Democrat. Of their children, nine in number, but one daughter survives.

Richard Phillips was married at an early age to Eleanor Pamelia Brown, daughter of E. Brown, a farmer of Livingston County, after which he purchased a farm near Brooksgrove ; and there he resided until his death. He died in the prime of life, June 8, 1845, being at the time but thirty-three years of age, and left a wife and three children, namely : Marian, who married J. W. Duryea, a farmer, and re- sides in Richmondville, Mich. ; Sarah Eliza- beth, widow of George Werner, who resides in Hornellsville, and is the mother of three children ; and S. D. Phillips, the subject of this brief biography. The wife of Richard Phillips is still living, at the age of seventy- six years, and resides in Hornellsville, N. Y.

S. D. Phillips resided with his grandfather until sixteen years of age, when he made a start in the world for himself. At the age of eighteen, on April 20, 1861, he enlisted at Nunda, N. Y., in Company F, Thirty-third Regiment, New York State Volunteers, but was discharged August 5 by reason of injuries received in line of duty. Although entitled to an honorable discharge, he hired a substi- tute; and thus the ranks of his company suf- fered no loss. On February 19, 1862, Mr. Phillips married Ann Tallman, daughter of William Tallman, a farmer of Mount Morris. They had one child, Harriet E., who lives at home. When but twenty-five years of age, Mrs. Ann T. Phillips passed away; and on April 19, 1873, Mr. Phillips married Marian E. Richards, who was born September 25. 1849, daughter of Dana and Eliza (Hollister) Richards. They have resided in Perry, with the exception of a few years spent in Nebraska

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

and Ohio. Mr. Phillips is a stanch Republi- can, a member of John P. Robinson Post, No. 101, Grand Army of the Republic, and of Con- stellation Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 404.

AMES HATHAWAY JACKSON, M. D., proprietor and physician in charge of the Jackson Sanatorium at Dansville, N. Y., was born in Peter- borough, Madison County, June 11, 1841. His earliest ancestors in America came over from England in the "Defiance" in 1635; and from John Jackson, an innkeeper in Cambridge in 1675, who inherited from an uncle Richard his Brattle Street property, has descended the Jackson family. The great-great-grandfather of Dr. Jackson was Deacon John Jackson, of Weston, Mass., who was born in Cambridge, Mass., January 12, 1703, and married in 1727 to Mercy Chadwick, of Watertown. The Dea- con's son, Colonel Giles Jackson, born in Weston, January 12, 1732, was one of the striking figures on the stage of historical drama during the period of America's strug- gle for independence. He was a Colonel in the First Berkshire Regiment of Massachu- setts of the Revolutionary army, a Field Officer and Chief of General Gates's staff at the battle of Saratoga, and drew up with his own hand the articles of capitulation which were signed by Burgoyne. The original draft of this most interesting document is preserved as a treasured heirloom in the Jackson family.

Colonel Giles Jackson was married twice. His first wife was Miss Anna Thomas, who bore him fourteen children. The second wife was Mrs. Sarah Atwood Orton, a widow with five children, to whom six children were born of her second husband, so that under the pa- ternal roof a family of twenty-five sons and daughters were reared to youth and maiden- hood. Medical talent seems to have come down through several generations; for the pa- triarch Colonel's son, James Jackson, born in Tyringham, Berkshire County, Mass., was a physician and was Army Surgeon at Sackett's Harbor in 1812. He married Mrs. Mary Ann (Elderkin) Clark, a daughter of Vine Elderkin and Lydia Ann White, of Connecticut, and

a grand-daughter of Colonel Jedediah Eller- kin, a lawyer of great repute, and member of the Connecticut Committee of Safety. The widow Clark had a family of five children by a former marriage.

The next in the line now being considered is James Caleb Jackson, son of Dr. James and Mary A. (Elderkin) Jackson, born at Manlius, N. Y., March 28, 1811, who will long be re- membered as the founder of the celebrated hygienic institution, "Our Home," at Dans- ville, now known as the Jackson Sanato- rium. James C. Jackson studied medicine with his father, and received a diploma from a medical college at Syracuse, N. Y. In early manhood, taking an interest in the great ques- tions of the day, he was Corresponding Secre- tary in 1842 of the American Anti-slavery Soci- ety, and edited for a time the Madison County Abolitionist, which was a strong advocate of emancipation. Either through overwork or from some other cause he lost his health, and was given up to die. Being successfully treated at a water cure in Cuba, N. Y., under Dr. Gleason, after his recovery he became part- ner in a similar establishment at Glen Haven, Cayuga County, at the head of Skaneateles Lake. In the autumn of 1858 he came to Dansville, and opened the "Home, " from which has grown the present Sanatorium. He won a wide reputation, not only as a physician, but as an orator and writer, and as editor of an able and widely known periodical, The Laces of Life and Journal of Health. On September 10, 1830, he married Miss Lucretia Edgerton Brewster, a lineal descendant of Elder William Brewster, of the "Mayflower " band. She became the mother of three chil- dren, of whom only one, James Hathaway, the special subject of this sketch, now survives.

James Hathaway Jackson was graduated at the age of thirty-five from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City. In 1876 he assumed charge of the Jackson Sanatorium at Dansville, so successfully carried on by his father for nearly twenty years. This Sanato- rium is a model institution, designed for the recuperation of minds and bodies that have been enfeebled by disease or shattered by over- strained nerves, and sets forth its purposes,

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ends, and motives in the eight propositions of its announcement to the public : -

"God has so created and related man to life on earth -- casualties aside - that, in order to live free from sickness and to die from old age, he needs only to obey the laws upon which life and health depend. Therefore as Christians, as well as advocates of a new medi- cal philosophy, we insist : first, that sickness is no more necessary than sin; second, that the gospel demands that human beings should live healthfully as well as religiously; third, that within the sphere in which they are to operate physical laws are as sacred as moral laws, and that mankind is as truly bound to obey them; fourth, that obedience to physi- cal laws would do away with disease and the countless number of ailments that smite hu- manity from infancy to maturity, and that by such obedience -- casualties aside - man would die of old age; fifth, that, in order to be cured of any curable disease, one needs simply to be brought within the range of the opera- tions of the laws of his organism, and to be so related to them that they may work unobstruc- tively in order to get well ; sixth, that therefore the only sound philosophy upon which to pro- ceed to treat the sick, with a view to their restoration to health, is to employ such means and such only as, had they been properly used, would have kept them from becoming ill ; seventh, that the right to use one's powers and faculties neither originates in nor depends upon sex, but upon the possession of an intellectual and moral nature, and, inasmuch as woman possesses this as truly as man, her right to use whatever powers or faculties which belong to her is equal with man's; eighth, hence we advocate such reformation in our government as will place women in all respects on equality with men before the law.

"Such are our principles; and we respect- fully commend them to the public, and beg that the Wise and Good assist us in their promulgation. "

The spacious and handsome building stands on the site of the old Sanatorium known as "Our Home Hygienic Institute," which, with its valuable library and medical appli- ances, was totally destroyed by fire on June 26,

1882. It is entirely fire-proof, and in its equipment one of the most thorough in Amer- ica, and to-day is filled with all sorts and con- ditions of invalids from all quarters of the globe. Situated twelve hundred feet above the sea level, among the hills of the lovely valley of the Genesee, the surroundings of the Jackson Sanatorium seem to have been spe- cially devised by nature for those purposes to which the intelligence of man has applied them.

The quiet stretches of forest, the pure moun- tain streams, the genial climate, and the pict- uresque beauty of the scenery, all combine to offer the most advantageous conditions to those who are seeking for health. The remarkable exceptional purity of the water of this region has been proved by its careful analysis, which certifies that it contains only six hundred and forty-one thousandths of a grain of organic matter to each gallon. About the main build- ing, which is three hundred feet long and five stories high, cluster a dozen pleasant cottages with light, airy, steam-heated rooms, com- manding charming views of hill and valley, and the village of Dansville nestling below. All of the most approved forms of baths are employed in the institution, including the Molière, thermo-electric, Turkish, Russian, electro-thermal, and salt baths, also massage, Swedish movements, inunction, vacuum treat- ment, and all forms of electricity, as seems most suitable to the individual case. The asphalt roof of the building, which serves as a sort of boulevard, even in winter presents a lively appearance after the breakfast hour, when the patients are out in their chairs or cots, gay with bright rugs or shawls, for fresh air and exercise.

Dr. James H. Jackson was married Septem- ber 13, 1864, to Miss Kate Johnson, a medical graduate, and a woman eminently fitted to be a helpmate to her husband. Their son, Dr. J. Arthur Jackson, is Secretary and Manager of this institution, and Helen D. Gregory is the able and efficient Treasurer. Besides attend- ing to his manifold duties at the Sanatorium, Dr. J. HI. Jackson is actively interested in local public affairs. He has been a member of the Board of Education of Dansville, Wor- shipful Master of Phoenix Lodge, No. 115,

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A. F. & A. M., was the first Republican President of the village of Dansville, being elected February 12, 1895, by the first Repub- lican majority ever obtained in the history of that town. The portrait of Dr. James II. Jackson accompanying this sketch will doubt- less be viewed with interest by many readers of this volume.

HIAUNCEY K. SANDERS, the old- est publisher in Livingston County, who has been continuously on the same paper, the Nunda Newes, since its establishment in 1859, was born in Pavil- ion, Genesee County, N. Y., October 27, 1837. His father, Benjamin Sanders, was born in Pennsylvania, and, being left an orphan, came to New York and engaged in the cabinet- maker's trade in Dansville. Later he fol- lowed the same occupation for many years at Pavilion, and in 1862 moved to Nunda, where he died. His wife was Hulda Knapp, of Ver- mont ; and she became the mother of four chil- dren, namely : George A., who is employed on the Utica Press; Chauncey K. ; Pamelia J. ; and Alanson K.

Chauncey K. Sanders was educated at the district and select schools of Pavilion, and later attended Shader's Commercial College in Lima, N. Y. He then found employment in the office of the Geneseo Democrat, of which paper his brother was publisher, and in 1857 entered the office of the Dansville Her- ald. In 1859 Mr. Sanders removed to Nunda, where he started the Nunda News, which he has since continued to publish, his office being in Union Block. He was in the State militia at the time of the war, and was engaged in doing guard duty over the sixteen thousand rebel prisoners confined in the Elmira Prison. In 1861 he married Harriet E. Tousey, daugh- ter of Orville Tousey, of Dansville; and they have reared three children : Fannie, Chauncey K., Jr., and Walter B. One son, Harry F., was drowned at Silver Lake, July 3, 1880, when eighteen years of age. Fannie, the only daughter, married Frank S. Thomas, of Mount Morris, and has three children - Faith, Harry, and Frank.

Mr. Sanders cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and has always supported the Republican party. He was ap- pointed Postmaster in 1861 by President Lin- coln, serving four years; was again appointed to that office by President Hayes in 1879, and so faithfully did he perform his duties that the position was again given him by President Arthur, making his time of service in that capacity fifteen years. For many years he was a member of the Board of Education, and he was Assistant Journal Clerk of the Assembly in the year 1867. He is a charter member of Craig W. Wadsworth Post, No. 417, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was Com- mander in 1894. He is a member of the New York State Press Association, the Republican State Editorial Association, being one of its first Vice-Presidents; and for two years, in 1892 and 1893, he was President of the Liv- ingston County Press Association. Mr. San- ders is now President of the Livingston County Historical Society, having been chosen at the annual meeting of this important organization held in January of the present year, 1895. The family attend the Universalist church, of the Board of Trustees of which society Mr. Sanders is Chairman. He is prominent in town affairs, taking an active part in all matters pertaining to the general welfare, and is universally respected by his fellow-citizens.

ILLIAM H. EWELL, one of the leading citizens of his native town of Middlebury, Wyoming County, was born December 1, 1830, being a son of Eli and Charlotte (Walker) Ewell, grandson of James and Sarah ( Holbrook) Ewell, and great- grandson of John Ewell, who was of Scotch de- scent, and who was a sailor. James Ewell was born in Massachusetts, came to Middlebury with his sons, and lived here until he died, at the age of sixty years. His wife survived him for twenty years, living until the ripe age of eighty years. Their children were: Samuel, Henry, Peleg, Eli, Nancy, Mabel, Luther, Deborah, James, John, Mercy, and Louise. Mr. Ewell was a farmer; and, doubtless, from him descended the love of tilling the soil.

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which has marked the character of his descend- ants. He was a Whig in politics.

Eli, the fourth son of James and Sarah, and the father of William II., was born March 5, 1793, and was about twenty-three years of age when he came to this place. His elder brother had preceded him, coming to Middlebury some time before and buying a farm. Possibly sto- ries of the fertility of the soil and the prospect of earning themselves a home induced the father to share their fortunes. .Certain it is

that he soon followed his sons. Eli sold him his farm and moved to Wolf Creek in the town of Castile, where he erected two saw-mills and did a thriving lumber business. Soon after the death of his father he came back to Mid- dlebury, and, living on the old home estate, built the house and barn which now stand, planted orchards, and lived a life of peace and prosperity, owning land to the extent of six hundred acres. His wife was Charlotte Walker, daughter of Obadiah Walker, who was of Vermont birth, and lived in the town of Bethany, Genesee County, N. Y. Mr. Eli Ewell raised a flourishing family of eight chil- dren, as follows: Lovina, deceased, married for her first husband Marvel J. Marsh, and after his death married for her second J. S. Chase. Angeline married S. Howes. Harri- son married Eliza Larmore. Clarinda married S. Howes. All of the above are now de- ceased. Mary married D. Cartwright, and is now living in Allegany County. George died at sixteen years of age. William H. is still living. Carlos married A. Wilson, now deceased. Mr. Eli Ewell died at the age of fifty-three years, while still in the prime of his life. He was a supporter of the Christian church, and belonged to the party of Whigs, serving their cause loyally. Two older brothers came to Wyoming County in 1803, and in 1812 served in the war.

William H. Ewell received his education in the district school and Wyoming Academy. That he improved his advantages to the utmost is shown by his adaptability for the public offices to which his fellow-townsmen have elected him; namely, Superintendent of the Poor for this county, Highway Commissioner, and Assessor, which last position he held for

fifteen years. Mr. Ewell lived at home until he was eighteen years old, when he took the portion of his father's farm allotted him, about seventy acres, and set about making a home. Four years later, when twenty-two years of age, he married Miss J. E. Miller, daughter of Jairus and Jane (Quail) Miller. Mr. Mil- ler was born in Massachusetts. The family came here and settled just south of where the Ewells resided. Mr. Miller and his wife had six children - J. Emerancy, Orville W., Ro- setta, Emma, Ella, Lucretia. Mr. Miller was a strong Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. William H. Ewell has added to his land, until at the present time he owns an extensive farm of one hundred and fifty acres, lying about two miles from the village of Wy- oming. He devotes most of his time to stock- raising, in which pursuit he is very successful, as is evinced by his flock of one hundred sheep, his fine horses, and droves of sleek cattle, his barns filled with hay and grain. In fact, every detail of this prosperous farm shows the practised hand and the well-trained eye of the proprietor. Mr. Ewell owns eight acres of orchard and also six hundred peach trees. Surely, as he rests from his labors at the close of the day, and looks around him over his broad acres, he may well exclaim, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places!" Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ewell, namely : Charlie H., who died at the age of eight years; Manie C., living at home; Fred D., now residing in North Dakota; George E., at home; Frank O., who died at the age of twenty-eight years; Ella J. who married E. J. Kennedy, and lives in Erie County; Elmer R. and Meed A., living at home. Mr. Ewell is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Wyoming, and also belongs to the Equitable Aid Union.

NDREW J. WILLIARD is a well- known merchant of Geneseo, N. Y., whose extensive coal and lumber yards, with offices attached, are con- veniently situated at the railroad depot. He was born in Portage, Wyoming County, No-

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

vember 1, 1828. His father, Alvasis Williard, was born in New England in 1790, and was reared a farmer and lumberman. In 1826 he moved to the town of Portage, Livingston County, N. Y., and established himself in the lumber business so successfully that he re- mained there until 1847. In that year he con- cluded to change his headquarters to Geneseo, where, with that capacity which is born of ex- perience, he was able to follow his business even more prosperously than before. He died in Geneseo August 1, 1862, having passed the allotted threescore years and ten, and leaving behind him a record of faithful industry worthy of the highest respect. The wife of Alvasis Williard, mother of the subject of this sketch, was before marriage Miss Lydia Albee, a native of Massachusetts. She reared nine children - Melissa, Frederick, Clarissa, Ephraim, Lu- cinda R., Andrew J., Levi A., Lovett J., and Samuel. This devoted mother of so large a family was not unmindful of her Christian duties, being an exemplary member of the Presbyterian church. She died in the town of Geneseo, at the age of sixty-two years.

Andrew J. Williard spent his early years in Portage, attending the district school there. When he was fifteen, the family moved to Gen- eseo. He assisted his father for a time; but at eighteen, with the love of change incident to youth, he concluded to go to work on a farm. He followed this occupation, working by the month and learning agriculture, till he was twenty-six years old, when he rented a farm for himself. At the end of eight years he moved to Avon, and remained in that pict- uresque and somewhat noted locality about three years. Circumstances then making a change desirable, he returned to Geneseo and leased a farm of fourteen hundred acres known as the "big-tree farm," where he branched out into the cattle-raising industry. This exten- sive enterprise he carried on with his accus- tomed zeal and sagacity for fourteen years, and then turned his attention in a different direc- tion by purchasing, in connection with Mr. Shaffer, his present property, consisting of a large coal yard, a saw and planing mill, lum- ber yard, and accessories. After a few years Mr. Shaffer sold his portion and interest in

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 3

Author: Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review Number of Pages: 1256

Author:
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Boston : Biographical Review
Number of Pages: 1256