Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 64

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 64
USA > New York > Livingston County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y > Part 64

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Mr. Fridd is a living example of a self-made man, having begun life at the foot of the lad- der, and by persistent energy worked his way upward. His course has been one of patient toil, and his present prosperity has been justly won. He is a man of correct habits, and possesses a profound faith in the Chris- tian religion, being a member of the Presby- terian church, as was his wife. He has been an Elder of the church for upward of twenty- five years.

R EUBEN J. TILTON, the subject of this sketch, resides at Arcade, and is a merchant, being the senior mem- ber of the firm of Tilton & Francis. Mr. Tilton was born in Orangeville, Wyo- ming County, August 22, 1847, son of Oba- diah and Lois (Stone) Tilton. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors were of Puritan stock, many of them having been prominent figures in early Colonial affairs. Cornelius Tilton, great-grandfather of Reu- ben J., was for many years a resident of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where was born his son, John Tilton, who moved to Kennebec County, Maine, and later coming to New York State remained in Albany County a year, and in 1811 took up his abode in Orangeville. Here Obadiah Tilton was born ; and here, with the exception of five years spent in Indiana, he passed his entire life, dying in 1886.

Russell Stone, great-grandfather of Mr. Tilton on his mother's side, was a Revolu- tionary patriot, and was wounded in the battle of Stillwater. He was a resident of Massa- chusetts and a descendant of John Stone, who was a member of the Rev. Henry Whitfield's famous first Guilford Company, the ship in

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which they came to this country being the first vessel to drop anchor in the harbor of New Haven, July, 1639. In 1790, his son Reuben being then an infant, Russell Stone moved to New York State. When twenty- three years of age Reuben Stone settled in Orangeville, where he lived until his death, in April, 1869. Lois, the wife of Obadiah Tilton and mother of Reuben J., was the eldest daughter of Reuben Stone.

At the age of seventeen years Reuben J. Tilton, having passed his youth upon the farm of his father at Orangeville, enlisted as a private in Company G, Ninth New York Cavalry, and with that regiment served with Sheridan in the memorable campaign of the Shenandoah valley. He was made a Cor- poral, was mustered out after a year's service, and returning home remained there until 1866, when he removed to Michigan. In 1870 Mr. Tilton returned to Wyoming County, and married Miss Antoinette Royce, of Johnsonsburg. In 1883, having up to that time engaged in various commercial pursuits, Mr. Tilton formed his present partnership with James H. Francis, of Arcade.

Mr. Tilton has always been actively in- terested in political affairs, and as a stanch Republican has been identified with the promi- nent movements of that party in Wyoming County. He has represented the Republican organization frequently in county, district, and State conventions. The characteristics of energy, good judgment, and practical knowledge of affairs, which have assured his success in business, have commended him to the favor of his fellow-townsmen; and he has been several times the incumbent of public office. In 1886 he was elected Collector of Arcade, and three years later was chosen President of the village. In 1891 and 1892 Mr. Tilton represented the Democratic town of Arcade upon the Board of Supervisors, being with one exception the only Republican Supervisor ever elected in this community. He was unanimously selected as Chairman of the Board at the commencement of his second term. His meritorious service in the capac- ity of Supervisor, together with his life-long and valuable efforts in behalf of the Republi-

can cause and for the maintenance of party principles, rendered him a logical candidate for the Assembly nomination in 1893, for which office he was nominated and elected by an unusual plurality over an exceptionally popular opponent. Mr. Tilton was again made the party's nominee for member of As- sembly in 1894, both times by acclamation, and was elected by twenty-four hundred and ninety-five plurality, the largest ever given to a candidate in Wyoming County. As a mem- ber of the legislature he gained recognition as an active, earnest worker and a firm advocate of good government and of the policies of the party. His committee assignments were most important, being banks, affairs of villages, Indian affairs, and prisons. He was a mem- ber of the notable Prison Committee which in 1894 conducted an elaborate investigation into the system, methods, and management of the various penal institutions of the State.

Mr. Tilton is included in the membership of several social and fraternal organizations, among them being Torbett Post, No. 218, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is Past Commander, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, China Lodge, of Arcade. For a period of fourteen years he was a mem- ber of a local volunteer fire company, being its foreman a number of years, and during his service twice represented the department at State conventions of the Firemen's Associa- tion of New York. Mr. Tilton's lengthy busi- ness career, his untiring labors in the sphere of politics, his qualities of good sense and fair- ness, and his record as a faithful official, have given him the confidence of the community; and he is regarded as one of the most loyal and public-spirited citizens of Wyoming County.

ILLIAM BALLSMITH, a promi- nent grocer in Attica, was born in Germany, in 1839, and is the son of Christian and Mary ( Henschel) Ballsmith. Christian Ballsmith was a stone-cutter, and died in 1854, leaving his widow with five children. After the death of her husband Mrs. Ballsmith decided to emigrate to the United States, and in 1857 arrived in this

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country with the subject of this sketch and F. C. Ballsmith, another son, who is now a resident of Attica. She died in Attica, at the age of sixty-three years, in 1863. Her first-born, who was a son named John, died in Germany at the age of twelve years. Her daughter Christina, now a resident of Batavia, with her children, came to America with her late husband, William Buckholz, in 1852, having been about ten weeks upon the pas- sage, which was made in a sailing-vessel. Charles Ballsmith, another son, came in 1855, and is now a farmer in Attica.

William Ballsmith, after leaving school at the age of fourteen years, having attained a fair education, learned the stone-cutter's trade, and on his arrival in America first worked for monthly wages on a farm, as the family had exhausted their small means de- fraying the expenses of the journey to the United States. The season following he ob- tained employment at his trade in a marble- shop in Attica, and later relinquished this to accept a position as clerk for John Belden & Co., with whom he remained for some years. In the spring of 1865 he, in company with Timothy Loomis, purchased the business of his employers under the firm name of T. Loomis & Co. He continued in the above partnership until the death of Mr. Loomis, when the latter's brother, Mr. James H. Loomis, succeeded him, the firm becoming William Ballsmith & Co., with Mr. Ball- smith as manager. About three years later the firm was changed to Ballsmith & Volck- ens, which name was retained until 1881, when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Ballsmith was occupied about a year in set- tling its affairs. He then engaged as a sales- man for Loomis & Tolles in the hardware business, remaining with them for three years. In 1884 he became a partner with Mr. Brechenheisen, who a year later sold his interest to Mr. Driker, and the firm became Ballsmith & Driker, continuing for two years, when Mr. Ballsmith succeeded to the entire business. He has continued ever since at the old stand, No. 1I Main Street, and has a prosperous trade, which he has held in the face of strong competition. He now carries

a stock worth about three thousand dollars, consisting of groceries, provisions, etc.

Socially, Mr. Ballsmith is exceedingly pop- ular. He is a Master Mason, and has been Secretary of the lodge and held other offices. In politics he was a Republican until 1868, when he espoused the cause of the Prohibi- tionists. He was elected Town Clerk in 1866, and served three years, having been twice re-elected. In 1875 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and re-elected in 1879, serving in all eight years. Mr. Ballsmith and family are members of the German Prot- estant church, in which he has been an Elder for many years.

On December 16, 1864, Mr. Ballsmith married Miss Sophia Dickelman, of Attica, who is a native of Germany, but came to America at the age of fourteen years with her father, Louis Dickelman. Mr. and Mrs. Ballsmith have two children - Henry G. and Winona. Henry G. Ballsmith is employed as a salesman in his father's store, and re- cently lost his wife, who was Miss Katie Seitz; and Winona Ballsmith is a miss of fourteen years. The family reside at their comfortable home at No. 11 North Street, which Mr. Ballsmith purchased in 1881.

D R. JAMES W. COWAN, dentist, was born at Guelph, Ontario, Can- ada, July 9, 1863. He was grad- uated from the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1887, since which time he has been in constant practice at Genesco.

Dr. Cowan was married to Miss Alice M. McCurdy, June 25, 1890. They have one daughter, Margaret, born June 18, 1892.

HARLES A. STEWART, a native of York, N. Y., in the County of Liv- ingston, was born on the 13th of April, 1814. His father, Alex- ander Stewart, was a Scotchman, who was born in Perthshire, came to America in 1805, and settled in Caledonia. He secured a posi- tion in Cameron's store as clerk, which he held for four years, at the end of which time

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he married, and took possession of the east part of the McBean farm. On this place, which comprised one hundred acres, he built a log house and barn. After clearing the land and putting it into a cultivable condition, he sold it, and went to Canada, where he re- mained two years. Mr. Stewart was most un- fortunate here, and lost all of his accumulated earnings. His next purchase was a place west of York Centre, where he lived during the rest of his life, glad to be in the neigh- borhood of so many of his country-people. His wife was Miss Isabella McBean, a daugh- ter of Francis McBean, one of the first set- tlers in this vicinity. Of their five children Charles A. Stewart is the only surviving one. The father lived to be seventy-three years old.

Charles A. Stewart was sent to the district schools of York, and also mastered the car- penter's trade, which he followed industri- ously for twelve years. The farm upon which he now lives was purchased forty-five years ago, and has become endeared by all the ties of early association and long residence. Here the first years of married happiness were passed. Here his children were born, and his wife died, March 31, 1882; and here the eventide of a placid life has come upon him. The family name of his wife, Margaret, was the same as his own; and, singularly enough, the names of the two fathers were identical. Mrs. Charles A. Stewart was a daughter of Mr. Alexander Stewart, of York. Their four children were: Isabella, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Neil. Margaret married Mr. Chester Root, of Rochester, and is the mother of two children ; Elizabeth is the wife of C. H. McPerson; Neil married Catherine Milroy, and their one son bears the name of Milroy N. Stewart.

Charles A. Stewart has held the office of Assessor for two terms. He has been a Re- publican since the formation of that party, casting his first vote in 1836.

RIN DAVIS, M. D., proprietor of the Health Institute at Attica, N. Y., and for more than forty years a resident physician of this village, was born in the town of York, Livingston County, N. Y.,

June 26, 1823, being a son of Asa and Sally (Clark) Davis, of Connecticut, who in the year 1800 moved to Jefferson County, New York.

Asa Davis, father of Dr. Davis, was born about the year 1773, and married in 1799. After his arrival in this State he engaged in farming, milling, and distilling. Through his willingness to serve friends he became finan- cially involved, and in 1816 removed to Liv- ingston County, which was at that time being reclaimed from the wilderness. Here he started anew, following agricultural pursuits. He was an honest and conscientious man, an Elder in the Presbyterian church at York, Livingston County, standing high in the estimation of his neighbors, who knew his worth and respected him. He and his wife raised a family of six children, two sons and four daughters, the Doctor being the youngest of the family, by twelve years. He was reared in the evangelical faith, and early united with the Presbyterian church. One daughter, Clarissa, married Samuel Dorris, a leading Methodist.

Orin Davis, who is now sole survivor of the family, assisted his father in his early years in farm work, when not employed in a nursery. Farming, however, was not young Davis's aim in life. His natural inclination pointed to professional exertion for a livelihood, and at the age of nineteen he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Durrell, of York. After continuing preliminary study for three years, he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained through two full courses, and received the degree of M. D. Later he returned to the medical col- lege, and attended two courses more of medical lectures, afterward taught medicine in a medi- cal college in Rochester, and also in New York City. In 1846 and 1847 he began the practice of his profession.

For more than forty years Dr. Davis has been constantly occupied in attending to the requirements of his Health Institute at Attica, N. Y., and in prescribing and sending out his special remedies, known and valued in all parts of the United States. The Health Insti- tute was originally started in a well-built brick house, which the Doctor purchased for this purpose. This has been enlarged and re-

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constructed, so that at the present time he has an extensive and commodious establishment, wide- ly and favorably known throughout the country.

Dr. Davis in 1874 delivered a course of medical lectures in Eclectic Medical College, New York City, and was appointed to a profes- sorship of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and has a second time been called to a simi- lar position, but declined to accept.

On August 16, 1843, he married Miss Ruth Edson Goddard, daughter of Levi Goddard, of Mount Morris, N. Y. ; and they have had four children. One son died at the age of eighteen months. Sarah Clark Davis is at the present time in the Pension Bureau at Washington. She was formerly a music teacher at the na- tional capital, and is a talented woman. Asa, the eldest son, is a mechanical expert and sten- ographic reporter at Baltimore, Md., is married, and has two children - Orina and Elmer C. Another son, Orin Davis, Jr., M. D., is a te- legrapher, resides in St. Louis, Mo., and has three children - Bert C., Edith G., and John Orin. The Doctor's grandson, Elmer C. Davis, a young man of twenty-two years, ex- cels in outdoor sports, being a proficient bicyclist, and has made one of the best twenty- four-hour records.

Dr. Davis has been a Master Mason for more than twenty-five years. He has always taken a deep interest in church music, and for a period of more than fifty years led choirs in different churches.

The Doctor is a genial and kind-hearted gentleman, and by his attendance upon patients at his Health Institute, as well as through his extensive medical correspondence, has been able to advise, prescribe, and relieve thousands of invalid sufferers living in different States and Territories of the Union. He has em- ployed able assistants in the Scientific Bureau of Health in carrying out this important work, while he still remains at its head as Physi- cian-in-Chief.

EORGE MATTESON, well known throughout Wyoming County as a capable and practical man of busi- ness, is a native of the Prairie State, having

been born in the town of Guilford, Winne- bago County, Ill., November 9, 1844, son of Noel and Elsie (Spink) Matteson. The first of the family of whom there is any record in this country was Captain Peleg Matteson (or Mattison, the spelling of the name being varied at pleasure), who is said to have been of Welsh descent, and who moved from Rhode Island to Vermont, where he settled with three of his brothers - George, Jeremiah, and Thomas. They were of a hardy, vigorous, and long-lived race. It is said of George, who was a small man of one hundred and forty to one hundred and forty-five pounds in weight, that he once laid a larger stone in a stone wall than any other man could be found to lift, though many visited the place on pur- pose to test their strength. He lived to be a very old man; and on one of his latest birth- days he milked a fractious cow, remarking that she would have to stand where she be- longed if he were a hundred years old that day

Isaac Matteson, son of Captain Peleg, was born in Vermont, and married a Miss Phoebe Olin, daughter of Jonathan Olin, whose father was John Olin. She died while yet a resi- dent of the Green Mountain State, leaving two sons, Noel and Frank, and five daughters - Lurana, Almira, Susan, Genet, and Lucy, all of whom, except the eldest daughter, went as far west as Illinois, one son, Frank, even extending his wanderings to California, where all trace of him was lost. After the death of his first wife Isaac Matteson married again, and moved to Illinois, going first to Nauvoo, and later buying a farm on the Du Page River, near Joliet, where he settled and remained for the rest of his life, dying at an advanced age. His daughter Lurana married Martin S. Lane, a prosperous farmer of Shaftsbury, Vt. Almira became the wife of a Mr. Spencer, of Vermont, who removed to Will County, Illinois, where he became wealthy by holding property bought in Chi- cago at an early day, when land was cheap in that vicinity. Their only son, Parker Spen- cer, was graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio, enlisted as a soldier soon after the com- mencement of the Civil War, participated in

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many of the hard-fought battles in the West, and was killed at the battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 1863. Mrs. Spencer had be- come a widow previous to the war; and she married for the second time Myron Spencer, a brother of her first husband. Susan Matteson married a Mr. Wagoner, by whom she had one son, Frank. She was also left a widow, and removed from Ohio to Illinois. Genet mar- ried William Blair, and removed to Will County, Illinois. Lucy became the wife of a Mr. Henry, a railroad man, was early left a widow with several children, and made Mor- ris, Ill., her home.

Noel Matteson, son of Isaac, inherited the physical vigor of his ancestors. It is said of him that when a young man he could stand on the ground, and spring into the saddle squarely at one bound, and when mounted could pick up his whip from the ground with all the agility of the modern cowboy. It is also said that he could jump fourteen feet at one jump or thirty-six feet in three jumps, and when a string was held as high as his head (about six feet) would step back a few paces, and leap over it without touching. His son James could run and jump twenty- two feet on the level. The union of Noel Matteson with Elsie Spink, of Vermont, was solemnized in Orangeville, Wyoming County, N.Y .; and the young couple soon afterward removed to Ohio, where they resided six years, and where the birth of their first child, Henry, occurred, July 5, 1842. They then went to Winnebago County, Illinois, where Mr. Matteson engaged in general farming for fifteen years. In 1857 he returned to Wyo- ming County, New York, and resumed his agricultural pursuits in the town of Attica, where he became the possessor of a valuable farm of two hundred and fifty-four acres, which he subsequently sold to his sons, Henry and John, for ten thousand dollars. He spent his last years in Varysburgh, and died there in July, 1892, his wife having died previ- ously on their farm in Attica.

Of the eight children born to them the fol- lowing is a brief record: Henry, a resident of Syracuse and a clerk in the Railway Postal Service, served three years in the late Civil

War, belonging to Company C, First New York Dragoons, in which he was a bugler and afterward Orderly Sergeant. He was capt- ured near Beaver Dam Station, a base of sup- plies for Lee's army, during the Wilderness campaign, May 11, 1864, while acting as Orderly for Adjutant-general Emmonds, who was sent to call in a force which was operat- ing against Stuart's cavalry. Mr. Matteson was cut off and made prisoner by the rebel cavalry, but before being dismounted availed himself of an opportunity to escape, and al- though taking big chances succeeded, thanks to a good horse. The First New York Dra- goons took part in the following engagements, in nearly all of which Henry Matteson par- ticipated: Deserted House, Siege of Suffolk, South Quay, Franklin, Baltimore Cross- roads, Manassas Plains, Culpeper, Todd's Tavern, Yellow Tavern, Meadow Bridge, Mechanicsville, Hawes Shop, Old Church, Cold Harbor, Cold Harbor second, Trevilian Station, Deep Bottom, White Post, New- town, Kearneysville, Shepherdstown, Smith- field, Opequan (Winchester), Fisher's Hill, Mount Jackson, New Market, Port Republic, Tom's Brook, New Market Races, Strasburg, Liberty Mills, Gordonsville, Dinwiddie Court- house, Five Forks, Sutherland Station, Amelia Court-house, Sailor's Creek, Appo- mattox. During the last five battles Henry Matteson was away on a trip to City Point, in charge of fifteen men, to bring up one thou- sand head of cattle for the Quartermaster's department. He has now been employed in the Railway Postal Service eighteen years, and since the fast mail service began has been on one of the New York Central flyers from Syr- acuse to New York. The next child of Noel Matteson was George, the special subject of this article. James is a resident of Varys- burg. John is a farmer in Attica. Noel, another brother, is engaged in farming near Varysburg. Daniel died at the age of eleven years. Miriam is the wife of Job T. Peck, a miller and farmer at Gainesville. And Arthur is a farmer in Sheldon. George Matteson had just entered his teens when his parents settled in Attica; and his education, begun in his Western home, was completed in Wyo-

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ming County, Genesee and Wyoming Semi- naries, Alexander, N.Y. He assisted on the farm until after attaining his majority, when he started in business for himself, en- gaging at first in the manufacture of cheese, which he afterward carried on for awhile in Vermont. Mr. Matteson has built several cheese factories, one having been located in Attica, two in Darien, Genesee County, and one in Bennington. He lived three years in the town of Perry, where he did an extensive business evaporating apples, employing dur- ing the last season sixteen hands, and working up six thousand bushels of apples. He also owned a store, which, after conducting it for one year, he exchanged for the mill property and fifty acres of timber land in Orangeville, fifty-eight and one-half acres in all.

He came to this place in June, 1885. He has a large steam saw-mill, and is engaged in the manufacture of lumber, barrel heading, etc.

On July 21, 1875, Mr. Matteson was united in marriage to Mrs. Melissa Wilcox Prentice, a daughter of Captain A. S. Wilcox; and by this marriage five children were born; but the Angel of Death has crossed their threshold, bearing to heaven four of their little ones; namely, an infant daughter, Nellie, Cora, and Carl A. They have one son living, Ray E., a bright lad of twelve years, whose birth occurred November 3, 1882. Both Mr. and Mrs. Matteson are valued members of the First Baptist Church of Orangeville and active members of the Sunday-school, of which Mr. Matteson has been superintendent. Socially, Mr. Matteson is prominent in the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically is an ardent worker in the ranks of the Prohibi- tion party, having left the Republican ranks in 1884, that he might better advance the cause of temperance.

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Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Livingston and Wyoming counties, N.Y, Part 64

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

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