USA > New York > Madison County > Biographical review : this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Madison County, New York > Part 11
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immediately began to clear. As saw-mills were rare institutions in those days, and there was little or no demand for timber, he burned the logs, extracting salts from the ashes, the salts being sent to Albany, where they sold readily for cash. By sturdy effort and unre- mitting toil he at last succeeded in clearing the greater portion of his land, transforming the rugged barrenness of primitive nature into a scene of fruitfulness and domestic comfort. The summer sun ripened the waving grain, here the sheep nibbled the luxuriant herbage, and in the fields could be heard the low of cattle. Amid such peaceful scenes, the fruit of his own industry, he passed the rest of his days, cheered by the companionship of his loving wife, and enjoying the society of his children.
Of these was Horace, the father of our sub- ject. His birth occurred, as above stated, in Hawley, Mass. ; and at the age of ten he com- menced to learn the trade of a tanner and shoemaker. He accompanied his father to Georgetown, where, however, he remained but one year, when he returned to Massachusetts. After a year's residence in that State he was united in marriage to Hannah Bordwell, a daughter of Gideon Bordwell, of Shelburne, Mass., and, returning to Georgetown, pur- chased the home farm of his father, who thenceforth resided with him, being at that time well advanced in years. He managed the farm with great success, in course of time adding to it over one hundred and fifty acres of land, and being engaged largely in the buying and selling of stock. He was a man
of widely extended influence, and very promi- nent in public affairs. In the year of his return to Georgetown he was elected Con- stable and Town Collector, served seven years as Supervisor, was appointed Census Enum- erator, and was Justice of the Peace for twenty years. He was also Land Appraiser in Madison County for the Central Railroad, which was built in 1833, and was elected a Member of Assembly, his period of service commencing in 1846, and was in addition President of the Plank Road Company, for thirty years known as the Georgetown, Eaton, and Pexport. His marriage occurred in 1819; and he and his wife became the parents of nine children, namely: Gideon B., who was born February 26, 1821, and died September 17, 1823; one child who died in infancy, in 1822; Polly, born February 24, 1823; John Q. A., March 31, 1825; Rhoda, January 15, 1827; Eli, January 15, 1829; one other child who died in infancy, born in 1831; Austin A., our subject; and Sally B., whose birth occurred June 17, 1835. After the death of his first wife Mr. Hawks was again married, in 1845, to Tryphena Bordwell, of Colerain, Mass. She died March 22, 1863.
Austin A. Hawks, our subject, was born on the farm where he now resides, January 30, 1833, and received his education in the dis- trict school. The duties of the farm engaged his chief attention, the management devolving entirely upon him. He purchased over one hundred additional acres of land, and soon became widely known as a prosperous and substantial farmer and stockman. He has
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followed these occupations up to the present time, extending the scope of his operations and adding to and greatly improving his prop- erty, until now he has an elegant home with fine barns and commodious outbuildings, and a thoroughly improved and highly cultivated farm, well stocked with high grades of cattle, together with a flourishing hop-yard. Most of this he has acquired by his own industry and conspicuous managerial talents.
Mr. Hawks was married January 3, 1855, the maiden name of his wife being Susan Wadsworth. She was a daughter of Harry Wadsworth, of Georgetown. Her death oc- curred but four months after her marriage, she passing away the 2d of May following. Some years after the death of his first wife Mr. Hawks again married, his second wife being Arvilla Amsbury, daughter of Truman Ams- bury, of Georgetown. This marriage occurred on the Ist of June, 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Hawks have reared two adopted children, a boy and girl, both of whom are now married and have homes of their own.
In addition to his farming and stock-rais- ing, Mr. Hawks has been a director in various stock companies, and in fraternal matters is a member of Georgetown Lodge, No. 726, F. & A. M., of Cyrus Chapter, No. 50, at Hamilton, and of Norwich Commandery, No. 46, K. T. He has also held and filled accept- ably various town offices throughout the greater part of his life, and has always brought to the performance of his public duties a keen intelligence, supplemented by sterling common sense. Both he and his wife
are held in high regard, as being among the most useful and representative citizens of their town and county.
ILSON L. PERKINS, a prominent and well-to-do farmer, has resided
on his' one-hundred-and-thirty-acre farm in the town of Cazenovia, one and one-half miles south of Cazenovia Lake, for the last seventy years. He was born within half a mile of his present home, October 8, 1816, and is a son of Elemander Perkins, who was born in Mas- sachusetts in 1792, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. Elemander Perkins came to this county in 1803, when a lad of eleven years. He married Nancy Coley. His father- in-law, Joseph Coley, an Englishman who came to America in his early years, was a farmer, and in middle life became a Baptist preacher. The paternal grandfather of Wil- son L. Perkins was Abizer Perkins, a Revolu- tionary soldier of Deerfield, Mass., where he was born in 1754. He came to Madison County in 1803, bringing with him his fam- ily, consisting of a wife and seven children, - five sons and two daughters, -of whom Elemander was the fourth child. They came with small means, and settled on a farm heav- ily timbered and with. but few improvements, which Mr. Perkins had purchased upon a pre- vious visit.
Our subject was trained to agricultural pur- suits and accustomed to habits of industry in early youth. On March 11, 1840, he married Miss Lucretia Rice, daughter of Isaac and
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Anna (Ware) Rice. A son was born to them on the 6th of May, 1841, and named Franklin R .; and on the 17th of the same month the mother died. This was a sad bereavement for Mr. Perkins; but in 1843 he again married, the maiden name of his second wife being Sarah M. Salisbury. She was a daughter of Mason and Rhoda Salisbury, of Cortland, N. Y., and was twenty-two years of age at the time of her marriage to Mr. Perkins. After his second marriage our subject moved to Lyons, N. Y., where he was engaged for three years in the hardware business. He then sold out, and in 1846 came to his present home, his father being alive at the time. Soon after he and his brother Willis pur- chased a tract of land, consisting of one hun- dred and fifty acres, for thirty dollars per acre. This land adjoined his present farm, and the price was considered very low for that period. Here Elemander Perkins died, April 10, 1854, in his sixty-second year. His widow survived him many years, and died here of pneumonia after a painful illness of some ten days, December 21, 1876, at the age of eighty-one. She came of sturdy English stock, and was a remarkable woman, both mentally and physically, preserving her facul- ties to the last. She and her husband sleep in the beautiful evergreen cemetery at Cazenovia.
On August 10, 1853, Mr. Perkins had the misfortune to lose his second wife, who died, leaving him two sons; namely, Judson O. and Charles H. October 28, 1856, he married Sophia E. May, of Akron, Ohio, a young lady
in her twenty-first year, a grand-daughter of Luke and Patience May, of Cazenovia. Mr. Perkins has no children by his third marriage. His living children are as follows: Franklin R., who owns a good farm in the vicinity, a present from his father, married Louise Wright; and they are the parents of three living daughters, - Marion, Eleanor, and Rachel. Three other daughters died in child- hood, - Irene, when quite young; Lulu, at twelve years of age; and Doris, -the last two dying within two weeks of each other. Franklin R. Perkins was educated at Caze- novia, studied for the legal profession, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. That same year he volunteered, and went to the front as Captain of Company E of the Twenty-second New York Cavalry, S.V. He raised this company himself at the cost of much personal exertion, and served until January, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. He and his family spend a part of their time in Buf- falo, where he has a large legal practice. Judson O. Perkins, a Baptist clergyman of Chittenango, was graduated at the Madison (now Colgate) University in 1872, with high honors, and later, in 1874, from the Hamilton Theological Seminary. He was ordained, and went to the Baptist church of Copen- hagen. November 4, 1874, he was united in marriage to Ella M. Newton, daughter of Christopher and Mary Newton, of Cazenovia. They have two children, - May Louise and Wilson N. Charles H. Perkins resides upon an adjoining farm. He has been twice mar- ried, and has one son by his present wife,
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Charles W. Tabor Perkins. His first wife, Alice Kingsley, left him one daughter, Alice Cary,- an intelligent and cultured young lady of nineteen, who has resided with her grandparents since her infancy. She was graduated at the Cazenovia Seminary in June, 1893.
Our subject and his brother, Willis C. Perkins, at one time owned nearly five hun- dred acres of land in this vicinity. The last- named died at his brother's home, in March, 1890, when in his seventy-sixth year. He was a strong man physically, and had not his equal at labor for many miles around. Al- though remaining a bachelor all his life, he was a most genial and pleasant man and a faithful member of the Baptist church. His death was greatly mourned by all who knew him. Wilson L. Perkins erected a cheese factory on his farm, now the property of his son Charles, which he managed successfully for over twenty years, making butter and cheese from his own large dairy of from sixty to seventy cows, and also for his neighbors. He used to own one hundred head of cattle, but now has but ten head of horned cattle, forty head of sheep, and three horses. His son cuts many tons of hay in his sheep past- ure. He was for about three years largely engaged in the slaughtering of sheep, at a time when the finest could be bought for one dollar each. He has been successful in his life-work, and is passing his declining years in comfort in the congenial society of his faithful wife, his children and grandchildren. He is a Baptist in his religious belief and
Republican in his political opinions. Madi- son County can produce no more worthy citi- zen than he whose life history we have thus briefly narrated.
OEL S. WHITMORE. The venera- ble subject of this sketch is one of the oldest native citizens of Madison County now living within its boundaries. He has witnessed its growth from the wilder- ness; by his industry and skill as a farmer has aided its development into a rich and finely improved farming country; and now, as the shadows of the evening approach when no man laboreth, he is pleasantly passing the declining years of a long and honorable life in retirement in one of its comfortable homes in the town of Hamilton. Hle is a native of Lebanon, born December 23, 1806, a grand- son of Jacob Whitmore, supposed to have been a life-long resident of Connecticut.
Francis Whitmore, son of Jacob, was a na- tive of Connecticut, born in Windham County, where he grew to manhood and married. In the spring of 1806, accompanied by his wife and one child, he emigrated to New York, making the removal over land with teams. He came to Oneida County, where he re- mained through the summer, then, with a brother-in-law, Joel Stebbins, came to Madi- son County, and bought a tract of wild land in the south part of the town of Lebanon, and at once built the log house in which his son Joel, our subject, was born. Both families occupied the cabin for a time. Then Mr.
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Whitmore erected another one near by, which he and his family occupied several years. In the autumn of 1815 he disposed of this first farm, and purchased of Justice B. Smith, a large land-owner for whom he was doing busi- ness at the time, one hundred and ten acres of timber land, situated in the north-east part of the town, only one mile and a half from Payne's Settlement, now the village of Ham- ilton. Here he erected a frame house, into which he moved his family in the ensuing fall of 1816. Industriously continuing the im- provement of the farm, he at length built on the premises a substantial brick house, which remained his home till his death, in May, 1842. His wife, surviving him a little less than seven years, died in March, 1849. She was the mother of eight children: Yates, Moranda, Roxana, and Almira dying while young ; and Caroline, Joel S., Francis, and Alexander living to maturity.
Joel S. Whitmore received his early educa- tion in the typical log school-house of that period, ere the excellent educational system of New York, now in vogue, had been organ- ized. During the time of his earlier recol- lections there were neither railways nor canals in this part of the State, and the produce of the country had to be taken to Albany with teams. The family, like all pioneers, sub- sisted on the products of the land and the wild game found in the forest, and dressed in garments of homespun, woven and made by the industrious wife and mother. The sub- ject of this narrative was early initiated into the labors attendant upon agricultural pur-
suits, and remained at home with his father until attaining maturity. In 1836, leaving Lebanon, he emigrated to Illinois, journeying with teams to Buffalo, by boat to Detroit, thence with teams to Stephenson County in that State. Chicago was then a small village, with no promise of its present greatness as one of the leading cities of the commercial world. All Northern Illinois was sparsely settled, the greater part of the land being owned by the government, and for sale at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Mr. Whitmore bought a squatter's claim a few miles east of Freeport, on which a log cabin and sixty acres of cleared land constituted the improvements. The following winter he made a visit home, performing the journey in a sleigh. In the spring he returned to Illinois, and remained there, engaged in farming, until 1842, when he rented the place, and returned to his native State. He settled on the part of his father's farm which he inherited, and resided there until 1867. He then sold that property, and purchased the home in Hamilton which he has since occupied.
In 1844 Mr. Whitmore was united in mar- riage to Miss Marlitta Newton, a native of Oneida County, born in the town of Marshall, a daughter of Jotham and Sarah Ann (Titus) Newton. A history of the Newton family, which is widely known in the State, has been compiled and published by Pitt M. New- ton, of Sandy Creek, Oswego County. Mrs. Whitmore died in 1886, leaving two children, Frank Y. and Newton J. One daughter, Mrs. Flora L. Markham, died in October, 1878.
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Frank married Alice Beach, and resides in West Union, Ia. He has three children, --- Frank B., Flora, and Alvah. Newton J. re- sides with his father. Mr. Whitmore is a man of sterling worth, honored and respected throughout the entire community. Relig- iously, he and his family are firm believers in the Universalist faith.
DELOSS NORTON, a prominent man, living in the vicinity of Morris- ville, N. Y., was born November 18, 1851, son of Captain Albert S. and Eliza (Sherman) Norton. Captain Norton was of Massachusetts parentage; but his birthplace was in Onondaga County, New York. His mother was an own cousin of ex-Secretary of State William F. Seward, of President Lin- coln's cabinet. The family on both sides were eminently respectable people.
The father of our subject was a young man when he came to Madison County, New York, and married Miss Eliza Sherman, who was born and educated here, having come from good old stock. After their marriage they lived in the neighborhood of Morrisville, Captain Norton being one of the foremost men in these parts, a very successful farmer, and held by all in high estimation. At the open- ing of the Civil War he enlisted, and raised Company F of the One Hundred and Seventy- sixth New York Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of General N. P. Banks's and General Benjamin F. Butler's command. This company served for nine months, being
the term for which they enlisted, and were honorably discharged. Captain Norton then returned to his home near Morrisville, where he lived an even and quiet life until his death, in February, 1891, at the age of seventy-six. His wife, the mother of our subject, died about 1872, aged fifty years. She was a true, good woman, a devoted parent, a thorough Christian, doing good to all around her, firmly devoted to the Methodist church. Her death was universally lamented.
A. DeLoss Norton, the only surviving member of a family of seven children, is a farmer, dairyman, hop - raiser, and stock- breeder. He owns seventy acres of finely improved and well-watered land, on which are good, substantial buildings. He was reared and educated in Madison County, and for some years after finishing his studies at school was a clerk; but, preferring to be a farmer, he took up that occupation, and has followed it profitably ever since. His first wife was Miss Isabell B. Armour, who was born in Smithfield, Madison County, daughter of Vigil M. Armour (of whom see sketch on another page of this volume). She was an excellent wife and mother; and her early death, which took place June 9, 1885, was a sad blow to her husband and family. Two children survived her: Linn S .; and Ada B., now deceased, July 31, 1893, age fourteen years.
Mr. Norton married for his second wife Miss Ada Park, who was born in Stockbridge, N. Y., but brought up and educated in Morris- ville, attending the Cazenovia Seminary for
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a short time. She is an elegant, refined, and intelligent woman, and holds a very superior position in social circles. They have one child, Avis M. Mr. and Mrs. Norton attend the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Norton is a member, always evincing the greatest interest and activity in its relig- ious and charitable work.
Mr. Norton, like his father, is a Republi- can in politics, and has held several important local offices. There are but few men, if any, in or around Morrisville who have attained a better reputation for honesty and integrity than this gentleman, whose life is a shining example to the growing generation.
R EV. JOHN SMITZER, deceased, who was one of the most earnest and suc- cessful Christian workers ever known in Madison County, was born in New York, September 6, 1799, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Baptist church December II, 1816. In early life he was deprived of the care, counsel, and sympathy of both parents, his mother dying when he was five years old, and his father when he was eleven. He was licensed to preach in 1817, and, after a course of literary and theological study in the Baptist Theological Seminary of New York City, was ordained December 21, 1820. Soon afterward he was settled as pastor of the churches in Bethany and Damascus, in Wayne County, and was for some time the only min- ister of the gospel in that part of the State, his field of labor embracing sixteen miles
from north to south and thirty-eight from east to west. This field he occupied until 1826, when he went to Delphi, Onondaga County, where he remained seven years. Removing thence to Eaton, Madison County, in 1833, he stayed there six years, and was subse- quently pastor of churches in Fayetteville, Albion, Chittenango, Elbridge, Manlius, and Springville. During his extended ministry he baptized nine hundred and ninety-eight persons.
Much of the later life of this distinguished preacher was devoted to the work of the New York State Baptist Convention, which he served for nine years as its secretary, after- ward for twelve years giving his entire time to that office. His early missionary labors and his extensive acquaintance with the churches in different parts of the. State peculi- arly qualified him for that responsible posi- tion, and rendered him especially effective in directing missionary work, while the reveren- tial affection and confidence which his charac- ter inspired gave emphasis and acceptance to his appeals for help. His preferences were for pastoral work, and in the performance of such labor he was always successful; but he was almost compelled to take up the work of the Convention, there not appearing to be any other man fitted therefor. In the performance of the duties of this latter position he was obliged to travel into almost every part of the State, and was very active and effective in advancing the interests of the organization. He was also extensively engaged in revival work, not in the character of an evangelist,
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but rather laboring upon invitation, as his efficient services seemed to be desired. His death occurred in the village of Oneida, Sep- tember 7, 1876, in which place he had settled some years previously. In 1824 Rev. John Smitzer took to himself a wife, Mary Hatch, daughter of Daniel and Bethiah (Root) Hatch, the date of whose marriage was January 31, 1797. They were the parents of eight chil- dren, seven daughters and one son. Daniel Hatch, the father of Mrs. Smitzer, was born in Winchester, N. H., April 20, 1771, and lived there until he was eighteen years of age. Then removing to Montpelier, Vt., he re- mained there about a year, working most of the time for a lot of new land, on which he intended to settle. Failing to obtain a title, he came to the State of New York the follow- ing year, and began working in Sherburne, where he made a bargain for another tract of land, but for some reason failed also to secure that. He finally effected a purchase of land in the town of Eaton, then a part of the town of Hamilton, and upon this lot made a perma- nent home for himself, living there until his death, which occurred September 1, 1845. Mrs. Hatch was of Oxford, Chenango County. She experienced religion in 1806, and became a member of the First Baptist Church of Hamilton. When the church in the village of Eaton was organized, in 1816, she was one of the constituent members, and had the privi- lege of seeing all of her daughters baptized into the fellowship of that church. She was a woman of deep and abiding piety, and her house was long regarded as the home of min-
isters and of students of Madison University at Hamilton. She reached the venerable age of ninety-seven years.
Mrs. Mary H. Smitzer, the widow of the subject of this sketch, at the present time (1893) is ninety-one years old. She is still active and in the full possession of her mental faculties; and her physical strength, consider- ing her advanced age, is quite remarkable. She is pleasantly situated on Main Street, having with her an adopted daughter, Katie, and, notwithstanding her great age, is con- tented and happy, having no fears of what may come after passing from this earthly life, but looking forward with the serenest confidence to a never-ending eternity of hap- piness and peace.
HOMAS ENSIGN, born October 27, 1812. This worthy citizen of the town of Nelson is one of the oldest and most re- spected in the place. His parents, Isaiah and Eunice (Vining) Ensign, were natives of Connecticut, and went with their children to the town of Nelson in 1824. Madison County at that time was nearly all a virgin forest. Farmers moving there had to make the jour- ney by ox-team through a country in which bears, wolves, and panthers claimed the right of way; and almost the first work of the settler would be to build his stockade, or pen, to enclose his family and his cattle from these midnight prowlers.
There were ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ensign, but the subject of our sketch is
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the only one at present living. The father died on his farm at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife when she was forty years old. They were Presbyterians in religion, and he was a Whig in politics. Isaac En- sign, father of Isaiah and grandfather of Thomas, was a native of Connecticut, was a blacksmith by trade, and died at the age of sixty-six. His wife was ninety-six years old when she died. They had a family of nine children, all of whom have passed into the higher life beyond.
After our subject had grown to manhood, he remained on the farm, assisting his father until his union in marriage with Miss Laura Bailey, July 4, 1838. She was born in the town of Nelson, May 15, 1815, daughter of James and Betsey Bailey, natives of Saratoga County, where her grandfather, Enoc Bailey, was among the first settlers. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episco- pal church. They died in the town of Nelson, when they were quite aged. Mrs. Ensign's father was also a prominent man of his day. He owned a fine tract of land, where he car- ried on general farming and a large industry in honey, having an extensive colony of bees. Of his family of four children, two are still living: David, who lives in Michigan; Sophia, widow of Sumner Williams, residing at Nelson Flats. Another daughter, Polly, died at the age of twenty-three. Mr. Bailey died in Nelson at the age of sixty-nine, and Mrs. Bailey at the age of seventy-seven.
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