Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 47

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 47
USA > New York > Livingston County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 47

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Hunting S. Miller was twice married. His first wife, who bore him six sons and three daughters, died at fifty-seven years of age in 1850. His second wife was Miss Kate Perry. Six of his nine children grew up and were married. David, who was a cripple, died in 1855 at the age of twenty-seven. George S. and Dr. W. W. Miller are also deceased. The surviving children are: Bet-

sey, now Mrs. James Bush, in Wales, Erie County ; Phoebe Miller, who has been a suc- cessful teacher for forty years in New York, California, and Iowa, and still retains her youthful vigor of mind and body; Dr. Samuel S. Miller; Erastus R., a bachelor in Fayette County, Iowa, who has accumulated a large property, and has served for many years as a Justice of the Peace; A. J. Miller, a farmer of Iowa; and Julia D., Mrs. Columbus Mitchell.

Dr. Miller was educated at Geneva, N. Y., and was married on November 29, 1859, to Sarah F. Lawrence, of Sheldon. Mrs. Mil- ler's parents, L. P. and Catherine (Parker) Lawrence, came to Sheldon from Marcellus, Onondaga County, where Mrs. Lawrence was born, reared, and married. Mr. Lawrence was a Justice of the Peace in Sheldon for many years, and was at one time a man of considerable wealth. Only three of their seven children are now living - Candace Law- rence, in Varysburg; Mrs. Miller; and Mrs. J. Coughran, of Varysburg. Mrs. Miller was educated at the Alexandria Seminary, and taught school for fourteen years before her marriage.

Six children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Miller. Guy L., who is married, is a manufacturer of lumber headings and barrels at Java; U. S. Grant Miller, who was edu- cated in Lima, and has adopted teaching as a profession, married Miss Maud Church, of Pennsylvania, and has a son and daughter; Grace, the wife of Mr. H. Cheney, is the mother of a bright little boy of four years, Robert, who is a pet with his grandparents ; Gertrude Miller is a gifted artist and a teacher; Grover, a young man of twenty, is a student at Lima, and has not as yet entered the arena of life; Glenn C. Miller, aged eigh- teen, is also preparing for the future, and is a student at Aurora.

Dr. Miller has accumulated a large property during the years of his professional work. He owns a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Sardinia, N. Y., which is tenanted, and two smaller farms, one of which is con- nected with his residence in the village. He has been an active politician and warm

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

supporter of Republican principles, but has never been an aspirant for an office. Having by his arduous labors as a popular village and country doctor secured a competency and assuredly earned a respite from toil, he has, while still in the prime and vigor of life, virtually retired from active practice, al- though some of his old friends and patrons still continue to claim his services. Dr. Miller's reputation as a surgeon is well known far and near, and in cases of extreme urgency his judgment and skill are always in demand.

IRAM SMITH, a prominent citizen and prosperous farmer of the town of Portage, was born in Westchester County, New York, January 7, 1819, and is a son of Levi Smith, who was a native of Fairfield County, Connecticut. The grandfather, Abel Smith, who was also a na- tive of Connecticut, was a farmer all his days, and with his wife, Sarah, occupied one house for seventy-one years. He was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary War. He died at the ripe old age of ninety-three, and she when ninety-seven years old.

Levi Smith, the father of Hiram, was edu- cated in his native State, and subsequently removed to North Salem, Westchester County, N. Y., where he engaged in the occupation of wool-carding and cloth-making, carrying on a mill for the purpose, the machinery of which was of a kind now nearly, if not quite, ex- tinct. He continued to reside at North Salem for the remainder of his life, and died at the age of sixty-nine. He married Ann Dibble, and reared eight children -- Russel, Cynthia, Lyman, Ammon, Julia A., Hiram, Norman, and Cornelia. Julia and Cornelia are living in Fairfield County, Connecticut ; and, with the exception of Hiram, the others are all deceased.

Hiram Smith was educated at the district schools of Westchester County, and after com- pleting his studies taught school for fourteen winters in succession and nine summers. In 1850 he came to Portage, and took up his residence upon the farm he now cultivates.

He has renovated and enlarged the buildings, and has made many other necessary and im- portant improvements.

In 1846 Mr. Smith married Miss Eliza Jane Sanford, a daughter of David and Esther (Staples) Sanford, of Redding, Conn., David being a son of Daniel Sanford and Esther a daughter of Elihu Staples and Abigail Hill. Daniel Sanford's wife was Olive Morehouse. These families were directly descended from Puritan parentage, and were the very earliest settlers in Redding, Conn. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was blessed by the birth of six children, as follows: Gertrude, Cyn- thia, Ella, Cornelia, Ernest, and Sanford. Ernest died at the age of eight months. Cyn- thia became the wife of Samuel Davis, and removed to the State of Michigan, where she died, leaving two children - Ernest and Myron. Ella is the wife of Gilbert Bliss, and resides at Genesee Falls, Wyoming County ; they have one son. Cornelia is the wife of George W. Batsford, and has two chil- dren - Irving G. and Gertrude. They reside at Warsaw, Wyoming County. Sanford mar- ried May Wheeler, and resides at home.

Mr. Smith has led an upright useful life, bringing up and educating his family, and lives in the enjoyment of seeing his children well started upon life's journey. Besides attending to the many duties incident to the successful carrying on of agricultural pursuits, he has found time to acceptably fill many positions of public trust, and has been school superintendent three years, Assessor seven years, and Justice of the Peace for twenty-four consecutive years. Both he and his family are members of the Universalist church of Genesee Falls. His first Presidential vote was cast for William H. Harrison, and he has been a Republican since the formation of the party.

OHN PERKINS is a venerable and in- fluential citizen of Cuylerville, in the town of Leicester, Livingston County, N.Y .; but he was born in Orange County, Vermont, in the town of Chelsea, on the first day of August, 1804. His grand-

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father, Jacob Perkins, removed from Connect- icut to Vermont in 1789, and settled on the West Hill in Chelsea. Jacob's son, Elisha Perkins, was born in Connecticut, where he grew up and married, and then removed to Vermont with his father, as a Chelsea pio- neer, building a log house and clearing away the timber. There were no railways in those days, and the early settlers had to cart their marketable produce all the way to Boston.

In Chelsea Elisha Perkins stayed until the War of 1812 was over, but in the fall of 1815 sold his land, and started for what was then considered the Far West, intending to locate in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The family started with four horses and two wagons and all their household effects, and it required three weeks for the overland journey. When they reached Moscow, Livingston County, the Alleghany River was so low that boats were not running, so Mr. Perkins left his family, and went forward on an investigat- ing tour. He found that the difficulties had not been exaggerated, and as travelling down the river was out of the question decided to settle in Livingston County. His means were limited; and he found employment at farming, but finally bought two hundred acres in Geneseo, where he remained the rest of his days, his death occurring at the age of seventy-seven. His wife was Elizabeth Hill, a Connecticut girl, who also died on the home- stead, at the age of seventy-six. Both are interred in Temple Hill Cemetery. They reared nine children.

Their son John was eleven years old when he came to Livingston County with his par- ents; and he can perfectly recall the incidents of the trip and the primitive mode of life, when Squawkey Hill was still the abode of Indians, and deer and bears were occasionally seen, though not numerous. Before the Erie Canal was constructed, the farmers had to cart their wheat to Albany, and bring back what- soever goods might be needed by the family. John attended the first school, taught in the neighboring log cabin, where the furniture was of the most primitive description, the benches being slabs, with wooden pins for legs. Of course the boy worked on the land

almost from his cradle; and it was hard work, when so little agricultural machinery had been invented. Grass had to be mown by hand with scythes. Grain had to be cut with the sickle, and was trampled out under foot in- stead of being threshed. The members of the family, especially the children, were clad in homespun; and the wool had to be carded, spun, dressed, and woven by the women.

In 1836 Mr. Perkins went to Michigan on an exploring expedition, accompanied by his brother. They walked to Buffalo, and thence went by boat as far as Detroit. Then they again took to their feet, and went to Kent County. There they purchased a thousand acres, but after a time returned to Livingston County, where John bought the farm of a hun- dred and eighty acres where he still lives, in the Genesee Valley, two miles from the vil- lage of Geneseo. In 1828, eight years before this Michigan expedition, John Perkins mar- ried Eliza Beebe, a native of this town, and a daughter of Hopestell Beebe, a pioneer here. She died in 1842; and Mr. Perkins married her sister, Jane Beebe, who died January 4, 1888. By the first marriage there were five children - Miles, who was born in 1831; Frank, in 1836; Artilisa, in 1838; Washing- ton and Warren, twins, in 1840. Of the sec- ond marriage there were three children - John, born in 1844; Alice, in 1852; and Francis, in 1854. Frank served his country throughout the Civil War as a member of the Second Michigan Cavalry. Warren also went to war, was captured by the rebels at Plym- outh, N.C., April 20, 1864, and starved to death in Andersonville Prison, where he breathed his last on the 28th of August of the same year. Their father has living fifteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Though ninety years of age, and with hear- ing somewhat impaired, Mr. Perkins is a very bright gentleman, with sound mind and mem- ory, and able to take care of his stock. He is one of the few living witnesses of the exe- cution of the Thayers in Buffalo for arson and murder, in 1825. Such men as Mr. Perkins are the bone and sinew of American prosper- ity. Well was it said by Sir Philip Sidney, "True bravery is quiet, undemonstrative."

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RS. SARAH NORTON SHEAR- MAN resides on the farm in Gainesville, N. Y., which was owned and conducted for nearly thirty years by her husband, the late Robert Shearman, who died January 12, 1885, at the age of fifty-six. Mrs. Shearman's parents were Edward and Lucina (Wells) Norton. Her paternal grandfather was John Norton, a native of Vermont, who was a pioneer settler in Erie County, New York. He was a farmer and miller, and resided in Erie County up to the time of his decease.

His son Edward was reared to agricultural pursuits, and also learned the trade of a miller. He remained at home until attaining his majority, and after his marriage in 1829 settled in Gainesville, where he purchased a farm, upon which he resided until his decease, which occurred at the age of fifty-nine years. Edward Norton's wife, Mrs. Shearman's mother, was Lucina Wells, daughter of Will- iam Wells, born in Washington County, where her parents passed their entire lives. She was the mother of six children - Harris, Sarah (the subject of this sketch), Betsey, and Merritt, now living; and Ellen and Laura J., who died in infancy. Mrs. Lucina W. Norton spent her last years mostly in Castile, but died at the home of her daughter in Gainesville at the age of sixty-three. Mrs. Shearman's parents were members of the Bap- tist church, of which her father was a Deacon.

The marriage of Miss Sarah Norton and Robert Shearman took place on March I, 1854. Mr. Shearman was a son of Gideon Shearman, who came to Wyoming County from Vernon, Oneida County, at an early date, settling as a pioneer in Perry. He resided there for a time, but finally removed to Castile, where he died. Robert Shearman was born in the above-named town, and reared to agricultural pursuits upon his father's farm, being one of a family of twelve children. On reaching manhood, he inherited a farm in Castile, upon which he resided for one year.

In 1855, the year after their marriage, he and his wife settled on the farm in Gaines- ville, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. Mr. Shearman was a

thorough Democrat. He was a Justice of the Peace for many years, also Justice of Ses- sions, Railroad Commissioner, and Assessor, and Loan Commissioner for three years. He was a prominent Mason, a member of Oakland Lodge, No. 379, of Castile. He was an able and high-minded citizen, a faithful public servant, and a thoroughly honest man, and died regretted by a large circle of friends.

Mrs. Shearman has one daughter, Inez M., a young woman of much practical ability in affairs, who was of great help to her father, and who since his death has assisted her mother in managing the farm, which consists of one hundred and seven acres, devoted to dairying and general farming. She was care- fully and liberally educated at Perry, and is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which her father was an attendant. Mrs. Shearman is a well-preserved lady, who bears the added burdens of later years with quiet dignity and grace. With the loving help of her daughter, who has been to her a source of much comfort as well as a strong stay since the death of her husband, she not only "looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness," but she has constant over- sight of the farm, well knowing that the only sure way of preventing a place from running to waste is by exercising constant vigilance.

D R. CHARLES J. MILLS, a popular and well-known dentist of Mount Morris, has achieved excellent suc- cess in the practice of his profes- sion, in which he has enjoyed a large experience and gained a valuable reputation for skill and superior workmanship. Living- ston is the county of his nativity, his birth having occurred in the town of Springwater, January 12, 1844. He is a son of Dr. Charles Mills, who was born in Rochester, N. Y., and a grandson of Jesse Mills, a native of Connecticut.

Jesse Mills left the State of his birth on ac- count of his health, removing to the State of New York, hoping that a more inland atmos- phere might prove of physical benefit to him, and located in Rochester, being one of its

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carly settlers. He purchased real estate in the then growing village, a part of his prop- erty being now included in the site of the Third Presbyterian church, and there passed the remainder of his life. He married a Miss Popeneau, a native of France, where she grew to young womanhood, and then came to this country as a music teacher.

The father of the subject of this brief biog- raphy received a thorough classical education, and when a young man studied medicine, but afterward turning his attention to dentistry practised in Rochester until his death, being one of the foremost dentists of that city. He was twice married, the maiden name of his first wife, mother of the Doctor, having been Adeline Jennings. She was a native of Macedon, Wayne County, and a daughter of John Jennings, who was born in Vermont, but emigrated from there to Wayne County, per- forming the journey with teams, and located in the town of Macedon, where he lived for a number of years. Mr. Jennings subsequently came to Livingston County, and for several years kept a public house in Springwater, liv- ing there until after the death of his wife, when he made his home with a daughter at Sparta. In January, 1844, a few days after the birth of a son, Charles J., Mrs Mills died, being then but twenty-two years old. Dr. Mills afterward married Harriet Chap- man, of New York City, the Doctor being a boy eleven years old at the time of his father's second marriage.

Dr. Mills was tenderly cared for by an aunt in his younger years, living with her until the advent of his step-mother, when he returned home. He began his school life in the dis- trict schools, and afterward attended the Rochester High School, which he left to enlist in the service of his country, May 2, 1861, joining Company E of a New York regiment, which was immediately ordered to the front, and was in the battle of Bull Run. After serving for a year with his regiment, Dr. Mills had an attack of typhoid fever, and being discharged returned home. As soon as he was able to be about, he assisted Major Downey to raise Company E of the Thirteenth New York Volunteer Infantry, and received

the commission of Second Lieutenant. Pre- ferring the cavalry service, however, he re- signed his commission, and joined the Eighth New York Cavalry as Sergeant of Company M, remaining with that regiment, which was one of the most active in the service, until the close of the war. Sixty-eight different battles, engagements, or skirmishes were par- ticipated in by the famed Eighth New York Cavalry; but Dr. Mills never a moment flinched from his duty during the time of activ- ity, and was twice wounded. After the close of the war he and his comrades were present at the grand review; and he received his honorable discharge in June, 1865. Return- ing to the home of his father, Dr. Mills began the study of dentistry, and commenced the practice of his profession at Lima, where he lived until 1882, busily engaged. He then opened his present office at Mount Morris, and during the interim has secured an exten- sive and lucrative practice.

On the 16th of July, 1867, the union of Dr. Mills and Anna J. Artman was solemnized. Mrs. Mills was born in Sparta, Livingston County, and is a daughter of Abram Artman, of that place. Socially, the Doctor is Past Commander of J. E. Lee Post, No. 281, Grand Army of the Republic, and belongs to Union Lodge, No. 145, at Lima, and to Mount Morris Chapter, No. 122. He is also a member of Genesee Valley Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen.

ILLIAM DANA FITZHUGH, late of Groveland, was a descendant of an old and highly esteemed Colonial family, and was well known in Livingston County. He was born at Sonyea, and died at the "Hermitage," March, 1889, at the age of sixty-five years. His father, Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh, was a native of Washington County, Maryland. He came to Livingston County, New York, in 1814, to superintend the build- ing of Hampton for his father, Colonel Will- iam Fitzhugh, who moved here with his large family in 1816.

Colonel William Fitzhugh served as Aide- de-camp on the staff of General Washington

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through the Revolutionary War. His father, Captain William Fitzhugh, was a British offi- cer. Too old and infirm himself for active service in 1776, he forwarded the resignation of his commission in the Horse Guards, and sent his two sons, Perry and William, to Gen- eral Washington, whose affection and confi- dence he enjoyed to a remarkable degree. Both sons served with gallantry through the entire war. Colonel William Fitzhugh, after his marriage with Miss Ann Hughes, resided for a number of years on his beautiful estate, "The Hive," the birthplace of the seven sons and five daughters who came with their par- ents to live at the home in Groveland, near Mount Morris, called Hampton.

Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh in 1826 located at Sonyea, and became the owner of large tracts of land in that vicinity, part of which he afterward sold to the Shakers, and which was later purchased by the State for the Craig Colony for epileptics. He was an extremely vigorous man, full of enterprise, and lived to be eighty-seven years old, being active and in full possession of his mental faculties to the time of his death, which was the result of an accident, and not from disease or old age. The maiden name of his wife, the mother of our subject, was Anne Dana. She was a native of Sodus, N. Y. ; and her father, Cap- tain William P. Dana, born in England, was an officer of the British army. He came to America with his uncle, Sir William Pulte- ney, proprietor of the Pulteney tract, and mar- ried the daughter of Colonel Perry Fitzhugh. She died at the birth of a child; and Captain Dana, leaving his child with its grandparents, returned to England, where he passed the remainder of his days. His daughter married at the age of seventeen, and died at the age of forty-six, in 1850.

William Dana Fitzhugh, the subject of this sketch, married Anne Carroll, the daughter of Charles H. Carroll and Alida Van Rensselaer Carroll. In 1849 he, with his wife, removed to Michigan. They drove in their own con- veyance to Buffalo, and from there went via the lake to Detroit. Thence Mr. Fitzhugh drove; and Mrs. Fitzhugh accompanied him, riding on horseback through the woods to

Saginaw. This place, now Bay City, Mich., was then a small village containing but ten houses, one of which belonged to the Hon. James G. Birney, who from this little place, then called Lower Saginaw, was nominated as the first Abolition candidate for President. Mrs. Birney was a daughter of Colonel Will- iam Fitzhugh, and went with her husband to live there in 1840. William D. Fitzhugh engaged in the real estate business, including surveying, and also in the lumber business, and remained there four years. He then re- turned to New York State, and lived at the "Hermitage " in Groveland. His death oc- curred there in March, 1889. Since her hus- band's death Mrs. Fitzhugh has occupied the beautiful homestead known as "Hampton," which has been in the family ever since it was built, in 1814.

Mr. and Mrs. Fitzhugh reared six of their eight children. Anne, Alida, Cornelia, and Edward are now living. Charles Carroll Fitz- hugh, the eldest son, died at the age of twenty- six years, and Willie at sixteen. Samuel and Archie died young. Anne Fitzhugh is the wife of the Hon. Hamilton M. Wright, of Bay City, Mich.

ON. CHARLES HI. CARROLL, the first Judge of Livingston County, New York, was born at Bellevue, Georgetown Heights, D. C., May 4,

1794. He was a worthy descendant of a long line of illustrious ancestors, some of whom bore a conspicuous part in laying the founda- tion and establishing the republic of the United States, being the son of the Hon. Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, whose father, Charles Carroll of Duddington, was the son of Daniel Carroll, born in the neighborhood of what is now the District of Columbia, and grandson of Charles Carroll, a native of England, who emigrated to Maryland in the year 1689, and was the original founder of the family in America. He was appointed Judge and Register of the Land Office, and agent and receiver of rents for Lord Baltimore. He married in America, and reared two sons, Daniel and Charles. A son of the latter was

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the famous patriot, Charles Carroll, of Carroll- ton, who was one of the signers of the Decla- ration of Independence. Daniel Carroll mar- ried Ellen Rosier, and settled upon what is now Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C., where he built a fine residence, his farm including the site of the city. He was a man of large means, and very prominent in public affairs, being a member of Congress in 1789-91. He reared three children - Eleanore, Mary, and Charles. Eleanore married the brother of Archbishop Carroll. Charles married Mary Hill, and reared three children - Daniel, of Duddington ; Charles, of Bellevue; and Henry Carroll.

Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, was the founder of the Genesee branch of the family. In 1798, accompanied by his brother Daniel and Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, he pene- trated the wilds of Western New York; and upon this trip they purchased a one-hundred- acre tract at the falls of the Genesee River, where the city of Rochester was originally laid out. In the year 1800 they founded the city and named it Rochesterville, in honor of Colo- nel Rochester. About the same time Mr. Carroll, with Colonel William Fitzhugh, pur- chased the Hermitage tract of twelve thousand acres, in the vicinity of Mount Morris, which included the site of Williamsburg, then quite a village. In 1814 Daniel Fitzhugh and his sister Rebecca, who afterward married Dr. Frederick Backus, went there for the purpose of locating the site and preparing the home for their father and mother. They journeyed upon horseback, their slaves accompanying them with teams loaded with provisions and other necessary supplies. They selected a tract which had been partially cleared and improved by one John Hampton, and this estate has since been known as Hampton.

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 47

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

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