USA > New York > Chenango County > Book of biographies : this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Chenango County, New York > Part 50
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Rev. Charles Chapman was a man of super- ior educational attainments. He was pre- pared for college in the public schools at Catskill, after which he entered Hamilton College and took a full four years' course. After graduating from that institution, he was prepared for the ministry at the Presby- terian Theological Seminary of Auburn, N. Y. He was ordained a minister at twenty- four years of age, and for the following fifty
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
years was continuously engaged in minister- ial work. He was a man of pleasing address, strong in his convictions, fearless in his ex- pression of them, and held the attention of his congregations at all times. He had a deep influence over his parishioners, and won many souls to the Standard of the Cross. He retired from active life at the age of sev- enty-nine years to pass the remainder of his career in the peace and quiet of home life. Four years later his beautiful life was spent and he passed to his eternal reward. He was united in marriage with Elizabeth H. Porter, and the following children blessed their home: Caroline Elizabeth; William P., the subject of this personal history ; Mary E., the wife of Moreau Newcomb, de- ceased; Sarah; and Charles B., who is a clerk in our subject's store. Mrs. Chapman was a granddaughter of Levi Hanford, a soldier of the Revolution, and a great-grand- daughter of Gen. Mead, of Revolutionary fame. She attained the age of eighty-six years, and to the last her intellect was not the least impaired, and she was bright and active as one many years younger. Benja- min, an older brother of Rev. Charles Chap- man, was born in Saybrook, Conn., and at an early age came to Norwich and clerked for Judge Charles York, one of the first merchants of the village, and a former owner of the store now conducted by our subject. After remaining in the employ of Judge York for a few years, Benjamin Chapman bought the store and conducted it for fifty years. He was succeeded by his son Wil- liam H., who later was associated in business with our subject. He took as his companion
in life Eliza Hayes, by whom he had the fol- lowing children : Benjamin D., who died in infancy ; Mary D., who died when aged about forty seven years; Harriett S .; and William H., who is living a retired life in New York City.
William P. Chapman received his intellec- tual training for life's battles in the Franklin Academy, Delaware County, after which he began clerking in a dry goods store in Mere- dith, N. Y., at the age of fourteen. He soon came to Norwich and clerked for his cousin, William H. Chapman. Later he became a part- ner in the firm, and in 1880 became the sole owner. After buying out his partner's inter- est, he enlarged the store and carried double the amount of stock as formerly. For many years he carried a line of groceries and ready made clothing, but later sold the stock in these departments, and handled dry goods, carpets, boots and shoes, etc. By his honor- able dealings and prompt attention to busi- ness he established a large trade in the village and country for many miles around, thus making it necessary to employ a large num- ber of clerks. In 1898, Mr. Chapman and his son, R. Curtis, formed a partnership with J. B. Turner, formerly of the firm of Turner, Reed & Co., and they expect to occupy new quarters, a short distance north of the store where Mr. Chapman formerly conducted business, by July 1, 1898, and enter upon a prosperous career as The Chapman & Tur- ner Co.
He formed a matrimonial alliance with Mary E. Curtis, a daughter of Roswell and Polly M. (Hale) Curtis. Roswell Curtis was a native of Madison County, and came to
1
CHARLES MALCOLM ADAMS.
MARION B. ADAMS.
LEWIS SHERMAN ADAMS, JR.
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CHENANGO COUNTY
Norwich when he was a young man. His trade was that of a tailor, but he later became one of the largest commission merchants in the county, shipping produce extensively to New York City. He also dealt in flour, feed, and coal, and owned canal boats and a warehouse. He had two children, namely : Mary E., the wife of our subject ; and Wil- liam R. As a result of their union, Mr. and Mrs. Chapman became the parents of three children, whose records are as follows: Wil- liam P. is a graduate of Cornell University, and is now practicing law in New York City; Mary died in infancy ; and R. Curtis, a graduate of Cornell University, who is now a member of The Chapman & Turner Co., successors to W. P. Chapman, and dealers in dry goods, carpets, boots and shoes, and kindred domestic furnishings and wearing apparel. They are earnest members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Chap- man is an unswerving Republican, and has served as trustee and treasurer of the village of Norwich. He is a public-spirited man with the interest of the village at heart, and has done much to make him a popular and respected citizen.
OLONEL MOSES GAYLORD BENJAMIN, one of the early resi- dents and merchants of the town of Bainbridge, Chenango County, became a resi- dent of this section in 1823, and died in Bain- bridge January 18, 1833. He was a man of excellent parts, enterprising and vigorous in the prosecution of business, and left an im-
press on the township that over half a century has not obliterated. In religious, political and social circles he was also a power, and recognized as such. His birth occurred in South Egremont, Mass., July 5, 1794.
John Benjamin, Esq., Gentleman, as he is styled in the early colonial records, was the first of the family to come to America. . It has been indubitably shown that he be- longed to the "Landed Gentry of England," and Burke is authority for it. That writer also states in his book of the above men- tioned title that the name was originally Bar- rington or Berryington. He was born in Wales, in 1598; he left Milford Haven, Wales, and made the journey to the New World in the vessel "Lion," with Sir Rich- ard Saltonstall, Gov. Winthrop, and Roger Williams, and arrived September 16, 1632, at Boston. John Benjamin, Gent., at once proceeded with Sir Richard Saltonstall to Cambridge, founded the year before, where he built a house, that was burned but a few years ago. He entered heartily into the life of the settlement, was made a freeman of the colony November 6, 1632, and was made the first bailiff, at that time a position equivalent to our title of Mayor. He possessed the largest library in the colony, and was an intimate friend of Gov. Winthrop. His will is recorded in probate court in Boston. The part of Cambridge where he lived has since been divided and called Watertown. To the family belongs a coat-of-arms, with insignia that indicate that some of the family took part in the Crusades. It was found with the motto " Poussez en avant " (" Push Forward ")
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
in a book, in which it had lain unnoticed for over a century and a half. It was bestowed at the battle of Shrewsbury, 1403, for brav- ery in defending Prince Henry in that bloody confliet with the rebels. Following is the deseription : Or, on a saltire quarterly pierced sa, five annulets eounterehanged ; Motto, - Poussez en avant; Crest, -on a chapeau, a flame of fire, all purple. Gov. Winthrop writes of him in substanee as fol- lows: The house of John Benjamin, Gent., (noted above as destroyed by fire) was unsur- passed in eleganee and provisions for eom- fort by any in the vieinity ; it was the man- sion of intelligence, refinement, religion and hospitality, visited by the elergy of all de- nominations, and by the literati from far and near. His wife, Abigail Eddy, was born in England in 1600, and died May 20, 1687, aged cighty-seven years. She was a daughter of Rev. William Eddy, viear of Cranbook, County of Kent, St. Dunstan's Church, from 1589 to 1616. The name Eddy or Eddye was found in the Dooms-Day Book of England, showing the ancestry goes back to the time of William the Conqueror. John Benjamin, Gent., died in Watertown, June 14, 1645, aged forty seven years. Of his eight ehil- dren, four were born in Wales and four in this country.
The fifth and eldest son of the preceding gentleman, born in this country, was Joseph Benjamin, who' entered upon this life in Watertown in 1634. On June 10, 1661, he married Jemima Lombard at Barnstable, Mass., and then removed to Preston, Conn., where he died, leaving seven children and widow, Sarah, his second wife. His oldest
son, Joseph, was born in 1664, and married Elizabeth Coke of Preston, Conn., August 25, 1698. He died in June, 1738, aged sev- enty-four years. His wife, Elizabeth, sur- vived him a number of years. The next in the line of deseent to our subjeet was the eldest son of the preceding, who was also named Joseph. He was born in 1699, and married Deborah Clark of Preston, Conn., April 3, 1722; Deborah (Clark) Benjamin died at her son Nathan's house in Egremont, Mass. Nathan Benjamin, the seventh son of Joseph Benjamin, named last, was born in Preston, Conn., April 19, 1737. He was a private in Ashley's Regiment, Berkshire, Mass., Militia, and during the Revolutionary War was ealled into serviee at Bennington and Stillwater. About 1755 he moved to Egremont, Mass., and obtained the eharter for the town of Mt. Washington, Mass., from the Massachusetts Legislature, in the year 1774. In 1761 he married his first wife, Abi- gail Dibble, who was born in the year 1741, and who died September 7, 1772, aged thirty- one years, receiving interment in Shutt's Burying Ground, Mt. Washington. He mar- ried for his second wife, in 1774, Hannah Wells, who survived him, and after his de- eease married Dr. Hopkins of Great Barring- ton. She died in East Bloomfield, N. Y., and was buried in the north-east corner of the old burying ground. Nathan Benjamin died July 1, 1785, aged forty-nine years, and was buried in the Cemetery of Egremont, Mass.
Joseph Benjamin, son of Nathan Benjamin, just mentioned, and father of our subject, was born at South Egremont, Mass., July 1, 1763, and died May 17, 1803. He married in
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CHENANGO COUNTY.
Stratford, Conn., Susanna Gaylord, October 12, 1788 ; she was born May 19, 1766, and sur- vived her husband, being twice married. Joseph Benjamin served in the War of Indc- pendence, and took part in the suppression of Shay's Rebellion, attaining by reason of his eminent services the rank of Major. The first one of the Gaylords (or Gaillard, as for- merly spelled) to come to America was Wil- liam Gaylord, who emigrated from Devon- shire, England, in 1630, and located in Dor- chester. The first Gaillards came from the north of France. He signed the first land grants in Dorehester, and his own grant was recorded in 1633. He was a Selectman, and a Representative to General Court in 1638. He removed to Windsor, Conn., where he was for forty sessions in the General Assem- bly, and died in 1643.
The subject of this sketeh married Sophia Adelia Chittenden of Guilford, Conn., daugh- ter of Dr. Ambrose and Sylvia (Watrous) Chittenden, November 20, 1817. He moved to Unadilla, N. Y., soon after his mar- riage, and went into business with Abial Williams ; in 1823, he became a resident and merchant of the town of Bainbridge, this county, engaging in a general mercantile business with Dexter Newell. His title of Colonel was gained by his service in the mil- itia in Unadilla and Bainbridge. He was one of the Episcopal Church founders of Bain- bridge, the first organization of the church having been made in 1827. Our subject's wife came from a family of almost as long a residence in this country as our subjeet's own. William Chittenden, who came to this country in 1639, was from Cranbook, in
Kent, not far from London, Eng. He was a soldier in the English Army, and reached the rank of Major. He was a man of superior ability, and wielded great influence ; he was Magistrate of the plantation and deputy to the General Court until his death. His prop- erty, which he selected 240 years ago, is still in possession of some one of his deseendants, and shows the eye of the old soldier and man of the world, for it is the most beautiful of all the Guilford sites. His wife, Joanna Sheaffe, was deseended from the ancient royal line of Scotland. Sergeant John Chit- tenden, son of the above couple, married Hannah Fleteher, and their son Joseph mar- ried Mary Kimberly, who bore her husband a son, Joseph, who married Patience Stone of Guilford, Conn. Ambrose Chittenden, son of Joseph and Paticnee (Stone) Chitten- den, married Zillah Hall, and their son, Dr. Ambrose Chittenden, married Sylvia Wat- rous. The last named couple were the par- ents of our subjeet's wife.
The widow of our subject married for her second husband Elisha Bishop, July 18, 1836. He was born September 18, 1790, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., May 8, 1872. They had one child by this marriage,-Sophia Adelia, who was born April 5, 1838, and who mar- ried Byron M. De Munn of New York, and died in 1885, leaving three children. Mrs. Bishop died in Bainbridge, N. Y., April 16, 1878, aged eighty-two years, four months and six days.
The children born to our subject and his wife were as follows: George Gaylord, born in Unadilla, N. Y., September 21, 1816, now living in Bainbridge; Clark Moses, born in
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Unadilla, N. Y., September 8, 1823, died in Wisconsin, February 9, 1867,-hc married Jane Van Duzen, and had these children, Gaylord, Joseph, Oliver, and Emma Louisc; Annc Jeanette was born in Bainbridge, N. Y., May 5, 1828.
Anne Jeanctte Benjamin married Edward Barrows of Dedham, Mass., June 25, 1851. Hc died in Lowell, Mass., February 1, 1881. When first married, Mr. Barrows was in the mercantile business in New York City ; he then removed to New Haven, Conn., wherc he went into trade. His next place of resi- dencc was Dedham, Mass., where he was agent for a large woolen mill. He then removed to Lowell, where he held a similar position, and was an active, successful busi- ness man. Hc was an expert in his line, and was the inventor of a number of mechanical contrivances that werc useful in the manu- facture of woolen fabrics and cloths. He was a celebrated manufacturer, and built up a considerable fortune. He was a son of Thomas Barrows, who was owner of both of the mills mentioned above, and a first-class cloth manufacturer. To Edward Barrows and his wife were born four children, as follows : Josephine Clark, born in New York City, December 12, 1852, now a resident of Dor- chester, Mass., a suburb of Boston; Jcannic Adcle, born in New York City, January 8, 1855, and died in Dansville, N. Y., at the Jackson Sanitarium, October 1, 1894 ; Sophia Benjamin, born in New York City, Decem- ber 23, 1856, married Lewis Sherman Adams in Lowell, Mass., September 26, 1883, and now lives in Dorchester, Mass .; and Edward, Jr., who was born in Dedham, Mass., Sep-
tember 15, 1860, and died in Minneapolis, Minn., March 26, 1882. Mr. Lewis S. Adams and his wife, Sophia B., have gathered about them the following children : Marion B., born in Lowell, Mass., December 29, 1884 ; Lewis Sherman, Jr., born in Lowell, Mass., July 17, 1887 ; and Charles Malcolm, born in Dorchester, Mass., August 16, 1889. On page 564 is shown a group picture of the three children, just named, grcat-grandchil- dren of the subject of this sketch.
R. GEORGE S. WEAVER, who has been engaged in the practice of his profession in the village of McDonough since 1883, has the confidence of the people, and numbers among his patients many of the leading citizens of the community. He is a son of J. Clark and Diana ( Chase ) Weaver, and was born in the town of Pitcher, Chenango County, Novem- ber 30, 1860.
His grandfather was Jonathan C. Weaver, who was a farmer and hotel keeper of the town of Pharsalia. He was twice married and was the father of seven children. J. Clark Wcaver, the only son born to his parents, first saw the light of day at Phar- salia, December 25, 1828. He followed that most honorable of all callings, farming, for many years, first in the town of Pitcher, later in Cincinnatus and still later in the town of McDonough, Chenango County, where he still resides. In 1884, he took up his residence in McDonongh, where he embarked in the hard- warc business, but after a short timc returned
1
CHARLES C. HOVEY.
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CHENANGO COUNTY
to his original occupation, that of a farmer. He is a man of great determination and in- dustry, and his success is mainly due to these characteristics. He now owns 500 acres of good farm land, and has one of the most de- sirable farms in the vicinity of McDonough. He formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Diana Chase, daughter of Benjamin Chase, late a farmer of the town of Pharsalia, and they became the proud parents of three children, whose names are as follows: Emma Jane, the wife of William H. Potter of Pitcher; Dr. George S., whose name heads these lines ; and Della, who died at the age of thirteen years.
Dr. George S. Weaver was reared on his father's farm and received his intellectual training for life's battles in Cincinnatus Acad- emy. At the age of seventeen, he began to study for the profession of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Amasa Quivey, an exper- ienced physician of Cincinnatus. He then took a three years' course in the Syracuse Medical College, from which he graduated in 1882. After his graduation, he practiced in a hospital at Syracuse for one year, and then came to McDonough and entered upon his present practice. Being a man of superior natural ability, and having received a thorough insight into the intricacies of his profession, he soon won his way into the con- fidence of the people. He has a large gen- eral practice, which will compare favorably with any other in the village.
July 8, 1884, he was united in marriage with Winifred Emerson, a daughter of Var- anes C. Emerson, a late merchant of McDon- ough, by whom he has two daughters : 27
Winifred ; and Genevieve. Socially, he is a member of the Chenango County Medical Society, and was president of that organiza- tion in 1884. He is also a member of Oxford Lodge, No. 175. F. & A. M. Religiously, he is an active worker in the Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee. In political belief, Dr. Weaver is a Democrat, and served as pension commissioner under Cleveland dur- ing both terms. In 1898, he was elected by a majority of 88 votes, supervisor of McDon- ough, which is a town, that normally has a Republican majority of 40. Ile is of a kind and genial disposition, and he numbers his friends by the score.
HARLES C. HOVEY. The business interests of Bainbridge township, Chenango County, have no more enterprising representative than the subject of this sketch, whose connection with the dairy and creamery interests of his section places him among the first citizens of the county. He is a member of the firm of Hovey, Clark & Co., manufacturers of fancy butter, wax, and paper sizings, operating the largest concern of its nature in Central New York. He is also president of the American Separator Co., an enterprise inaugurated in 1895 to manufacture and put on the market the American Cream Separator, an article of great merit, that is meeting with ready ac- ceptance by enterprising butter makers of the county. Besides these extensive indus- tries, in whose management Mr. Hovey has so large a share, The Bainbridge Express, a
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
ten page weekly paper of which he is part proprictor, claims no small portion of his time and talents. Hc is a wide-awake, alert, forceful, and upright business man, in whom all with whom he has business dealings place the greatest confidence.
Our subject is a son of William M. and Lucy Jane ( Whiting ) Hovey, and was born October 14, 1854, in the town of Guilford, about a mile and a half from the village. Hc comes of good stock on both sides of the housc, and possesses in his make-up the vir- tues and business talents of ancestors, who werc prominent in their day and generation.
Mr. Hovey's great-grandfather on his father's side was Moses Hovcy, who moved from Massachusetts to the vicinity of Sidney, Delawarc County, this state. His son, Simon Hovey, accompanied his parents, but when he struck out for himself in the sea of life he came farther west, and settled in the town of Guilford, where he lived and died a farmer.
William M. Hovey, the father of Charles C., was born in Guilford, July 23, 1823, and was reared on his father's farm, obtaining in his youth a better education than was com- monly the lot of the average boy. After completing his studies in the academy, he taught school for a while, and then went South, where he represented a Memphis firm as a traveling salesman. Afterwards he bccame a salesman on his account. When he returned to the town of Guilford to live and to settle down in business, he became an agri- culturist, and was especially successful in his speculations and dealings in live stock. During the last fifteen years of his life, he was a resident of the village of Norwich,
having retired from active life on a comfort- able competency, until his death, which occurred October 2, 1889. He married Lucy Jane Whiting, September 20, 1848; she was a daughter of Erastus B. and Arethusa (Mills) Whiting. There were three children born to our subject's parents, as follows: Eugene Whiting ; Franklin B .; and Charlcs C. The eldest was born January 28, 1850, and died when three years of age, January 26, 1853. Franklin B., born December 20, 1851, died at the age of eighteen, March 1, 1870, having been accidentally shot on February 23, 1870, in Richmond, Va.
Our subject traces his ancestry on his mother's side to Rcv. Samuel Whiting, scc- ond son of John Whiting. Rev. Samuel Whiting was born in England, November 20, 1597, and was a native of Boston, Lincoln- shirc. He graduated from Cambridge Uni- versity, where the efforts of a pious tutor directed his mind toward religion and a career in the church. On leaving college he became a domestic chaplain to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Sir Roger Townsend, in which capacity he served three years. He then removed to Lynn, in the County of Norfolk, where he spent another profitable three years as a colleague of the Rev. Mr. Price. At this time non-conformity with the Church of Eng- land became more and more common and widespread over the country, Puritanism broke out with the result a few years later of bringing forth such men as Oliver Cromwell and Fairfax, and Dissenters were to be found in all classes of society. It was a general movement. Rev. Mr. Whiting caught the spirit of the times, and became a Non-Con-
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CHENANGO COUNTY
formist ; complaints were made to the Bishop of Norfolk of this minister's heterodox teach- ings, and he was prosecuted in the high com- mission courts. Becoming convinced that he should find no rest thereafter in England, he came across the water to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arriving in Boston, May 26, 1636. He became settled as a pastor in Lynn, Mass., November 8, 1636. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three chil- dren, of whom two sons died in England ; the surviving daughter, Mary, married a Mr. Wilde, a pioncer settler of New England. Rev. Mr. Whiting's second wife was a daughter of the Rt. Hon. Oliver St. John, of Bradfordshire, England, who was Chief Jus- tice of England during Cromwell's Protector- ate. Four sons and two daughters resulted from this second marriage, of whom three sons lived to maturity. This first representa- tive of the Whiting family in America died December 11, 1697, having completed a cen- tury's existence. His son, Joseph Whiting, born 1641, graduated from Harvard College, then in its infancy, and married Sarah Dan- forth, daughter of Deputy-Governor Thomas Danforth. He was ordained to the ministry in 1680, and about 1682 moved to Southamp- ton, Long Island, where he settled as a min- ister, and preached until his death, April 7, 1723. One of his sons was Samuel Whiting, born July 3, 1674, who went to Southampton with his parents, and reared a family, among whom was Benjamin Whiting, who married Rebecca Parmalee, on May 30, 1723, and set- tled in Meriden, Conn. In 1734 Benjamin Whiting purchased three full rights of land in Torrington, Conn., most of it being in first
and second divisions. One of his sons was Deacon John Whiting, who was the great- great-grandfather of our subject. He was born November 23, 1726, married Sarah Fos- ter, and settled in Torrington, where he lived to an advanced age. Jesse Whiting, the son of the preceding, and great-grandfather of C. C. Hovey, was born February 4, 1768, and married Hannah Smith, September 10, 1784. He removed to Norfolk, Conn., and then to Guilford, N. Y., in 1810, where he died April 22, 1845. His son, Erastus B. Whiting, was born in Torrington, and removed to Che- nango County with his father. He married Arethusa Mills, who came of distinguished Revolutionary stock, and reared a family, of which the mother of our subject was one of the members.
Charles C. Hovey diligently attended the select and common schools of Guilford Cen- ter until he was about fifteen years of age, and then for two years was a student of the Norwich Academy during the fall and win- ter terms. He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he entered Felton & Bigelow's Business College in 1871. In the following spring he entered the employ of the engineer- ing department of the City of Cleveland, and continued to fill the duties of his position for four years, when he became a civil engi- neer on the Cuyahoga Valley R. R. On December 26, 1876, he married Ella F. Den- ham, a daughter of John L. and Elizabeth Denham, and to this union in the succeeding years of their married life were born the fol- lowing children : William Whiting, born August 29, 1878, in Cleveland, Ohio, now assisting his father in business; Lucy Eliza-
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