USA > New York > Chenango County > Book of biographies : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Chenango County, New York > Part 49
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
Wellsboro, Pa. Tabitha A., born October 17, 1832, married C. C. Wilcox, and lives in Tioga County, Pa. Lot W., born October 30, 1834, married a Miss Catlin, sister to his brother's wife ; he has been twice married, and is now a widower, living near Wells- boro, Pa., where he is engaged in farming. Ransford B., born June 14, 1838, is married and lives in Wellsboro, Pa. Artelissa C., born in Tioga County, Pa., September 30, 1843, married Edwin Wilcox, a farmer, and lives in Tioga County. When Orson Webb moved to Pennsylvania, he commenced his farming operations in the midst of an exten- sive forest, living at first in a rude log house. He cleared the farm, and raised and educated his large family. His children, grandchil- dren and great-grandchildren now number more than seventy persons. His three sons all took part on the side of the Union in the War of the Rebellion : the eldest son, W. W. Webb, M. D., was assistant surgeon in the 187th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf .; L. W. Webb was in the U. S. Navy; while R. B. Webb was captain of Co. I, 187th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf.
John Buckley, the grandfather of our sub- ject on the maternal side, followed the varied occupations of a carpenter, millwright and farmer ; he settled on the western edge of Oxford, on the farm afterward occupied by his son, Jacob, where he died February 28, 1861, aged eighty-nine years. He married Hannah Decker, who was born in 1778, and died July 6, 1853, aged seventy-five years, by whom he had eight children, namely : Cynthia, born September 12, 1801, and died in 1891, aged ninety years; Jacob, born Oc- tober 30, 1804, and died October 15, 1884,
aged eighty years; Hannah, the mother of our subject, born February 6, 1807, and died March 20, 1889, aged eighty-two years, one month and fourteen days; Peter, born No- vember 23, 1809, and died November 8, 1856, in Tioga County, Pa .; Mary, born June 10, 1812, and died August 23, 1888, aged seventy- six years; Rebecca, born June 4, 1815 ; and Sally Ann, born June 19, 1796, died in 1875.
Cynthia, the oldest child of John Buckley, married Agustus Bartle, and had ten chil- dren ; they lived and died in Tioga County, Pa. Jacob, who was a farmer, carpenter and millwright, married Clarinda Hastings, who was born February 11, 1807, and died Janu- ary 8, 1895, and they too lived and died on the homestead in Oxford. They - had five children : Marion L., born March 16, 1837 ; William P., October 2, 1838; Almeda M., March 6, 1841 ; Alice Anvernette, October 20, 1842; and Mary Amna, July 15, 1844. Han- nah, the third child, married Uri Bartle, April 5, 1826. In the spring of 1833, about the time that Denison was hung in Norwich for shooting and killing a man, Uri Bartle moved with his wife and family from the town of Pharsalia to the town of McDon- ough, about half a mile north of East Mc- Donough, and there took up his residence on land purchased by him, where he lived twenty one or twenty two years. He was six feet one inch in height, not fleshy, but muscular and strong, and had a good deal of push, vim and energy. He started out in life poor, but met with good success, and added to his real estate possessions until he owned 200 acres or more of land, well cleared and well stocked. His father-in-law, John
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CHENANGO COUNTY
Buckley, and brother-in law, Jacob Buckley, built a saw mill for him on a brook that ran through the farm, which mill he ran in con- nection with the farm. He finally sold the farm to Ransom, his oldest son, and bought the old tavern stand at East McDonough, but kept no tavern or public house. He moved there in the spring of 1855 or 1856, and made his home there only two or three years, when he sold the property and bought a place on Panther Hill, where he lived a few years and then sold out, and bought a farm on the west side of the river, on the river road two miles below Oxford village, where his uncle, Philip Bartle, and wife died. On this farm, where the Smithville road branches off from the river road, he built a new house, in which he and his wife lived until they died. She died March 20, 1889, aged eighty two years, one month and fourteen days, and he died February 8, 1890, aged eighty six years, seven months and twenty-two days. They raised a family of eight children, an account of whom is given on a following page. Peter, the fourth child of John Buckley, was a farmer and millwright by occupation. He married Ruth Ann Bartle, born April 5, 1817, by whom he had six children, as follows : John Henry, born June 16, 1839; Byron Cook, born March 7, 1842, died in January, 1868 ; Huldah A., born November 19, 1849, died in January, 1852 ; Jerusha Annette, born June 24, 1853 ; Charles Anderson, born June 8, 1857: and Uri, born November 8, 1856. He lived on Middle Ridge, Tioga County, Pa., and like his brother Jacob, was a quiet, industrious, honest and upright man. He died from injuries received from a fall, that
happened to him when building a mill. Mary, the fifth child, married, September 28, 1835, David Hull Bixby, a farmer, who was born August 30, 1809, and died May 8, 1895, aged eighty-five years; they had three chil- dren, as follows: Huldah Ann, born Septem- ber 24, 1837, who married John H. Phelps, June 2, 1863, and bore him seven children,- Mary B., David W., Guerdon J., Maurice A., Bertha M., Agnes G., and Theodore A .: Henrietta, born November 9, 1838, who mar- ried Jesse Bartoo, a wagon maker, September 29, 1858, and had four children,-Kneelon H., Alfred H., Cora G., and Arthur K .; and Helen Gertrude, born April 26, 1850, who married John E. Wagner, November 5, 1868, and has one child, Clayton Buckley .. Re- becca, the sixth child, who learned the trade of a tailoress, married Thomas Baldwin, born July 4, 1805, a farmer, living on the edge of Oxford village, and had two children : Mary, who married Charles Bennett, Jr., and bore him two children, Rebecca and Thomas ; and Addie, who is unmarried. Sally Ann, the youngest child, married Eliakim Bixby, and lived in Elmira, N. Y., where she died.
The eight children of Uri and Hannah Bartle were all born in Chenango County. Ransom, the oldest child, was born June 20, 1827, in the town of Oxford, was brought up on his father's farin, and went to school a few terms at Oxford Academy. When about twenty-one years of age, he and his uncle, David H. Bixby, bought a patent right, the hydraulic or water ram, for half the State of Ohio, out of which investment he made $1,000.00, the most of which he immediately invested in more territory for the same pat-
26*
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
ent, including some of the Southern States. Much of this territory he never went into, for the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion virtually ended the business. He then bought his father's farm of some 200 acres in McDonough, N. Y., but sold it after a year's occupancy, and bought a farm of about 190 acres on Panther Hill in the town of Oxford. In a few years he moved to In- dependence, Buchanan County, Iowa, where he now lives. He there went into a drug store and banking business with his half- uncle, Thompson C. Bartle, his brother, Philip L. Bartle, and Charles Pudney as partners. Hard times made business dull ; in a few years he bought out his partners, and still later disposed of the business, going then into the business of a dealer in all kinds of agricultural implements and machinery. At one time he bought about $100,000.00 worth of various kinds of ma- chines; hard times, together with a grasshop- per raid, that destroyed a great part of the far- mers' crops so that many debts became uncol- lectable, caused a loss to him of several thou- sand dollars. Now in his old age he is living in comfortable circumstances, but is not rich. On February 9, 1853, he married Martha Newkirk, who was born October 10, 1829, at Big Prairie, Wayne County, Ohio, by whom he had four children, as follows: Addie Lillian, born January 20, 1855, at Big Prairie, Ohio, married F. L. Harvcy, a professor in an agricultural college in the State of Maine, and they have five children, three boys and two girls; Carrie Elvena, born April 29, 1857, on Panther Hill in the town of Oxford, N. Y .; Florence May, born May 2, 1859, at
Independence, Iowa, died October 1, 1870, aged eleven years, four months and twenty- nine days; and Edgar Ransom, born at Inde- pendence, Iowa, May 6, 1862. Hannah Loania, the second child of Uri Bartle, was born April 9, 1829, and died April 15, 1878. She was married February 1, 1849, to Fran- cis W. Comstock. On May 19, 1861, she married Clarke L. Willcox, a speculator who lived in Wellsboro, Tioga County, Pa., by whom she had two children: Nellie B., born September 27, 1862 ; and Louis C., born May 27, 1870, now a merchant in Wellsboro, Pa. Philip L. Bartle, the subject of this sketch, was the third child; his life narrative will be given farther on. Rebecca Adelia, the fourth child, was born in McDonough, N. Y., October 3, 1834; she was married February 25, 1855, to Ira Oscar Fish, born December 28, 1830, and had three children : Cora May, born May 4, 1858, died Septem- ber 25, 1863, age five years, four months and twenty-one days; Oscar Philip, born May 30, 1862, died October 16, 1863, aged one year, four months and sixteen days; Rector Bartle, born October 19, 1864, married December 25, 1894, Margaret Robb of New York City, by whom he has two children- Ronald Bartle, born July 13, 1895 ; and Allen Hamilton, born May 8, 1897. Peter Francis, the fifth child, and attorney of Des Moines, Iowa, was born in McDonough, N. Y., March 31, 1837. Hc married in Des Moines, Iowa, March 28, 1866, Eliza Bausman, who was born January 8, 1840, by whom he had four children, all born in Des Moines, Iowa : Bonnic Loania, born July 28, 1867 ; Ernest Elwood, February 8, 1870; Ralph S., March
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CHENANGO COUNTY
20, 1872 ; and Bessie, born July 23, 1874, died March 14, 1880, aged five years, seven months and twenty-one days. Ruth Ann, the sixth child, born in McDonough, Decem- ber 21, 1840, died August 29, 1892, aged fifty- one years, eight months and eight days. On March 22, 1865, she married William P. Buck- ley, a carpenter, who was born October 2, 1838, and they had one child, Jay Burr, born April 2, 1866. Frances Anvernette, the sev- enth child, born in McDonough, December 22, 1843, married, December 15, 1870, Martin Church, who was born September 2, 1840, by whom she had three children: Cora H., born February 25, 1882, died young ; Ran- som Bartle, born in the town of Oxford, September 10, 1883; and Ray M., born in Oxford, July 21, 1888, and died October 8, 1888, aged two months and seventeen days. Rexford Alvarez, the youngest of the family of Uri Bartle, was born May 19, 1846, and died December 26, 1871, aged twenty-five years, seven months and seven days. He married, January 1, 1868, Margaret Wessels, who was born October 15, 1846, by whom he had two children : Bertha Hannah, born in Oxford village October 14, 1868, died April 7, 1875, aged six years, five months and twenty-two days; Nellie Irene, born in Ox- ford village March 26, 1870, married on April 25, 1891, Oliver C. Taylor, who was born March 16, 1870, and has one son, Gleason Bartle, born in Oxford village November 14, 1891. Margaret Bartle, Rexford's widow, married Alvin Hill, December 25, 1873.
Philip Lot Bartle, our subject, was the third child born to Uri and Hannah (Buck- ley) Bartle. His birth occurred in the town
of Pharsalia, but his father moved to McDonough in the spring of 1833, where he was brought up a farmer's boy ; he ran his father's farm one year, while his father was traveling in the Southern States with his son Ransom, selling the water ram. Hc went to school several terms at Oxford Academy. In the winter of 1851-52 he taught his first term of school, and it was on Middle Ridge, in Tioga County, Pa. After his school closed for the vacation, he went about a half term to the academy in Wells- boro, Pa., boarding with Dr. Packer, and doing chores for his board. He went there because his cousin, Wellington W. Webb, was there at that time, studying to be a doc- tor. He then returned to Oxford and McDonough, worked on a farm summers, went to school falls, and taught school sev- eral winters. He was elected town superin- tendent of schools one year in McDonough, receiving a greater majority of votes than any other officer elected on the winning ticket. He went from Oxford to Ohio in the fall of 1856. He made a visit with his bro- ther Ransom's wife's folks at Big Prairie, Wayne County, Ohio, and then went to Almon Aylsworth's, Ransom's brother-in- law, place six miles west of Columbus on the great macadamized road. The next winter he taught school in a new school house just finished near Mr. Aylsworth's. The next spring, in 1857, he went on west to Inde- pendence, Buchanan County, Iowa, where he stopped with his half-uncle, Thompson C. Bartle, a man six feet and seven inches in height, and well proportioned. During the winters he taught school, and in the summers
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busied himself at various employments. One summer he was with surveyors on a railroad that was being built in that vicinity. He taught one summer term of school in a church building. For a few years he was a partner in a drug store and banking business, his interest in which he sold to his brother, Ransom, and in the spring of 1863 returned to his father's place, who was then living on Panther Hill, stopping on the way at Wells- boro, Pa., to visit his sister, Mrs. Clarke L. Willcox and other relatives living near there. He had been gone from home for six and a half years. The winters of 1863-64 and 1864-65 he taught school, and brought to a conclusion his work as pedagogue, having taught in all thirteen ternis. He bought a farm of 190 acres of his father, the property being located on Panther Hill, the estate formerly owned by his brother Ransom, and let this farm for one year, ending March I, 1865, to Lora Ward. On February 22. 1865, he married Susan Nicholson, who was born in McDonough, N. Y., September 25, 1836, a daughter of John and Roby (Steere) Nichol- son.
John Nicholson was born in Stonington, Conn., March 21, 1793, and lived in Mc- Donough most of his life, dying there April 7, 1863, aged seventy years and sixteen days. He was a Baptist minister. His wife, Roby Steere, was born January 17, 1798, and died October 8, 1840, aged forty years, eight months and twenty-two days. By her he had ten children : Anna, born February 9, 1815, died March 8, 1868; Israel Palmer, born January 5, 1817, died July 5, 1878; Rufus T., born November 13, 1818, deceased;
Julia Ann, born September 6, 1819, deceased; Electa, born March 11, 1822, died September 20, 1890; Lucy Ann, born July 22, 1827 ; John Tracy, born November 4, 1829; Lois Delilah, born June 22, 1830; William Martin, born October 29, 1833; and Susan, the wife of our subject, whose birth has already been chron- icled. On February 8, 1841, John Nicholson married for his second wife Mrs. Mary Webb, widow of Sylvester Webb, who died December 14, 1839, and by her he had three children, namely : Henry Allen, born August 20, 1842; Catherine Elizabeth, born July 16, 1844, died November 16, 1878; and Daniel Norris, born January 30, 1847. When he married Mrs. Webb, she already had by her first marriage two children: Mary Emily, born December 1, 1835, who became the wife of Leroy Brown, September 8, 1853; and Betsy, born September 8, 1837, who married Windsor Baldwin, January 1, 1861. Anna Nicholson, the eldest daughter and child of John, married Edward Calvert. Israel P. married Maria S. Thompson, and had one child, Roby Almira. Electa became the wife of Nathan Lewis, and bore him eight chil- dren: Nathan Davis; Nancy Ursula ; Nelson Ray ; Norman Anson; Hiram Mason; Mar- tha Ann; John; and Mancel. Lucy Ann married Chauncey Hill, and had two chil- dren ;- Helen Maria and Thomas Bird. John Tracy married Phoebe Thorp, by whom he had three children : Mary Elizabeth ; Susan Ida; and Minnie Belle. Lois S. married Lewis A. Rathbun, and had eight children, as follows: Anna Lucetta; Lucy Augusta ; John Ansel; Flora; George; Julia : Jennie ; and Mary Victoria. After the death of her
DELOS L. ATKYNS.
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CHENANGO COUNTY
husband, she married Rev. L. Dexter Howe, with whom she is now living, about two miles east of Smithville Flats. William M. married Rozilla Lamb, by whom he had four. children : Albert Clarke ; George; Lovisa; and John Ray. They now live in Ketchum- ville, Tioga County, N. Y. Henry A. mar- ried Maria Wales, by whom he had one son, Charles Ensign, who is now in the grocery and milk business in Hyde Park, Mass. Catherine E., March 28, 1861, married Lewis N. Simpson, who was born February 11, 1842, and has three children, as follows: Car- rie E., born in McDonough, April 30, 1864 ; Lewis Mertalow, born in Preston, N. Y., January 10, 1867 ; and Lottie, born in Nor- wich, N. Y., November 24, 1876, and died August 26, 1877. Daniel N., a clothier and furrier of Burlington, Vt., married, October 7, 1873, at Plattsburg, N. Y., Lottie F. Phil- lips, who was born in New York City, July 6, 1854 ; they have one child, Ida Fray, born October 21, 1876, in Burlington, Vt.
After our subject's marriage with Susan Nicholson, he on March 1, 1865, moved on his farm, which he successfully conducted for five years, when on account of a lame knee, caused by a wrench or strain, he leased his farm to James W. Warn for a year, and hired for his own use a house of Charles Stratton for a year. In the summer of that year (1870) he went to Iowa to visit his brothers, Ransom at Independence, and Peter F. at Des Moines, and other acquaint- ances. The next spring, in 1871, he bought a place in Oxford village, on Buttler Street, then called New State Street, containing five acres of land, purchasing it of Warren
Eaton. He moved on the property about the middle of April, and has lived there ever since, altogether at this writing a term of twenty-seven years. He rented his farm to H. C. Manzer, who remained on it for thir- teen years; his present renter, John M. Crumb, is now occupying it for the eleventh year. The eldest son of our subject, Fred Wilcox, born on Panther Hill, in the town of Oxford, N. Y., January 8, 1866, married, July 6, 1888, Mary Camilla Hovey, who was born in Guilford, this county, November 2, 1867, by whom he had three children, namely: Albert Elery, born April 19, 1890, and died August 28, 1890, aged four months and nine days; Carrie Bell, born April 7, 1891, died April 9, 1895, aged four years and two days; and John Ransom, born May 23, 1896. The remaining members of the family born to our subject and wife are as follows : Elmer Philip, born on Panther Hill, March 24, 1867 ; Chester Uri, born in Oxford village, December 2, 1871; Cora Hannah, born in Oxford village, May 23, 1876, died Septem- ber 7, 1877, aged one year, three months and fifteen days; Erma Loania, born January 30, 1878 ; and Anna Louise, born January 29, 1880.
ELOS L. ATKYNS, one of Che- nango County's highly esteemed citizens, and one of her most dis- tinguished attorneys, was born in the town of Pharsalia, this county, September 30, 1840, and is a son of William S. and Eunice (Bab-
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cock) Atkyns, and grandson of Asahel At- kyns.
Joseph Atkyns, who was the father of Asahel, and who served in the Revolutionary War, came from Farmington, Conn., his na- tive state, to Chenango County about 1810, and settled in the town of Smyrna, where he purchased a large tract of land, and engaged in farming. His farm was covered with a dense forest, and with the aid of his three sons, Joel, Joseph and Asahel, the farm was cleared, and is to-day one of the thrifty farms of that town. Asahel Atkyns became a practical farmer, although the earlier part of his life was spent in teaching school ; he aided materially in the securing of the erec- tion of the first Presbyterian Church in Plym- outh village, of which he became a deacon. He was twice married ; his first wife bore him five children : Charles D .; Fordyce; Selma ; William S .; and Aaron G. As a re- sult of his second marriage, four children were reared, who were as follows-Mary ; Sarah ; Eliza ; and Alvira.
William S. Atkyns, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Farmington, Conn., Decem- ber 8, 1805. He was but a small boy when his father moved to Chenango County, and was reared to follow the pursuits of an agri- culturist ; attaining his majority he purchased a farm in Pharsalia (now owned by Mr. Fair- banks), joining the one owned by his father, and farmed his property judiciously and well, and by the exercise of economy saved his hard earnings, and later purchased the farm then owned by his father. He was one of the energetic and progressive farmers of his day, and was an honor to his chosen vocation.
He was a man who took pride in the maxim that " His word is as good as his bond." He married Miss Eunice Babcock, a daughter of Lodowick Babcock. She was born at Ston- ington, Conn., in April, 1811, and died in 1889. Mr. Atkyns died in 1883 at the age of seventy-eight years. Their family consisted of the following children, only two of whom are living : George H., deceased, was a soldier for three years in the late Rebellion and was a corporal; Pluma, who died in 1890, was the wife of H. T. Robbins; Delos L., the subject of this personal history; and James Carlos, who resides in Pharsalia, and is an esteemed and prosperous farmer.
Delos L. Atkyns assisted his parents on the farm, and only had the advantages of a district school education, and district schools in those days were not the most perfect in- stitutions. There was nothing then in his character to indicate the brilliant career upon which he was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy, good looking, intelli- gent and kind-hearted. Inspired with a lofty ambition, and conscious of his own powers, he pursued his studies with indefati- gable industry. He entered the law-office of Rexford & Kingsley at Norwich, and, after a short term of study, was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor of the Supreme Court in 1864. In October of the same year he moved to Sherburne, where he began the practice of his profession. His elevation of character, his untiring industry, his legal ac- quirements, and his skill as an advocate, gradually attracted attention, and eventually secured him a large clientage. His office is well furnished, and has a well selected and
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CHENANGO COUNTY
valuable library of over 3,000 volumes, the first half dozen of which were paid for by chopping wood at thirty cents per cord. Mr. Atkyns has had many students study under him and follow his instruction, some of whom are to-day noted lawyers in various cities. Some of them are as follows : Robert A. Kurschbach of New York City; M. Van Buren of Denver, Col .; Delos D. Jaynes of Detroit, Mich .; George P. Pudney of Smyrna, N. Y .; the late Ernest C. Dart of Earlville, N. Y .; and Bartholomew A. Stack, now a Catholic priest at Camillus, N. Y. Our sub- ject has assisted in the prosecution of many murder cases in the county, and, with the ex- ception of one acquittal, there has always been a conviction in the first or second degree; he has also assisted in capital cases in other counties, and to-day has one of the largest practices of any attorney in Che- nango County. In 1876, Mr. Atkyns was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary C. Sholes of La Salle, Illinois, and two children have blessed their home, namely : Duane L., born September 25, 1877, who is a student in his father's office; and Paul W., born Au- gust 16, 1880, a student in Sherburne Academy.
Although he has never taken a very active part in politics, Mr. Atkyns has always voted with the Republican party. He has several times refused to accept the nomination for district attorney of his county, because of the arduous duties of that office, and the small compensation paid therefor. For the past twenty years he has been a member and secretary of the board of education of Sher- burne Academy, and since 1895 has been
president of the above board. The publish- ers of this volume of biographical records present a portrait of Mr. Atkyns on a pre- ceding page, in connection with this sketch of his life.
ILLIAM P. CHAPMAN, of Nor- wich, until recently was proprietor of the largest dry goods house in Chenango County, which was one of the first to be established in this county. He is now senior member of The Chapman & Turner Co., which now has charge of the old trade, and is building up a large business in addition. He is a son of Rev. Charles and Elizabeth H. (Porter) Chapman, and was born December 23, 1836, in Walton, Delaware County, N. Y.
William Chapman, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Saybrook, Conn., and served as a captain in the colonial army. He took an active part in many hotly con- tested engagements, chief of which was the battle of Long Island. His wife's maiden name was Jones, and they reared eleven children, the youngest being Rev. Charles, the father of our subject.
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