USA > New York > Livingston County > Nunda > Centennial history of the town of Nunda : with a preliminary recital of the winning of western New York, from the fort builders age to the last conquest by our Revolutionary forefathers > Part 19
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›*Hiram, the youngest, is not living. Mrs. Elizabeth Olney married (2) Capt. James Lemon, and her sons served in his company. Mrs. Olney had been a teacher, she was scholarly, patriotic and liberal in thought. Her family were Universalists. and sang in the choir.
Mrs. Lemon was thrown from a carriage. her head struck a boulder at the roadside and she was killed.
Omar Olney became an Allegany lawyer and ranked high in civil cases. He wrote two books, one an expose of Mormonism, and edited the confessions of Henry Wilson. the murderer of Henry Devoe, of Portage. He received as compensation the body of the murderer, which was sold to a physician in Nunda.
Omar Olney married the daughter of his neighbor, Philip Burroughs. Samantha, and their only child is Ernest C. Olney, who studied law with his father and at Albany Law School, and ranks well among the successful lawyers of Nunda. He has served his town as Supervisor and as Justice of the Peace. He resides with his family on Portage Street, with his office on the same street. His parents are both dead.
Charlotte (Lottie), only daughter of John and Fanny Adams Olney, was educated at Friendship Academy, came to Nunda during war times and has lived here since. She married Robert R. Wright in 1881.
Charles Olney grew to manhood, contracted consumption and died in Nunda. He was an exemplary young man. He died in 1874. The John Olney family were loyal Universalists.
Ransom Olney, also taught school successfully and became a lawyer. lived in Nunda. He died many years ago. He is survived by one daughter.
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Rebecca Olney, married Jonathan Burroughs, a successful farmer and prominent Free Mason. They were highly esteemed by all who knew them. They left an only son. Edwin Burroughs, who married Anna Sharp of Nunda. Mr. E. Burroughs. who also lived in Nunda, is a prominent hardware mer- chant at Bay City, Mich., but visits Nunda annually.
Jane Olney, also taught school a few terms, was married to William R. Tobey, a merchant and lawyer, who was Supervisor of his town, Granger.
Although the family was large and all were married, there is living but one of the children. Mrs. Jane Tobey, and six of the grandchildren. Mrs. Lottie Olney Wright. daughter of John F. and Fanny Olney; Alonzo and Mary, children of Silas and Elizabeth Olney; Ernest C., son of Omar and Samantha : May, daughter of Ranson; Edwin Burroughs, son of J. J. and Rebecca.
Hiram Olney, a pioneer teacher of Portage, was a brother to Nathaniel Olney, and Horton Fordyce, another teacher, was a brother of Mrs. Olney. Orange Brown of Nunda and Mrs. Amidon of Nunda, and her sisters, the Brown twins, were children of a sister of N. Olney.
THE BENNETTS
Seven brothers, Walter, Thomas T. and Joseph, settled in 1817.
Walter Bennett had eleven children, seven of whom were living until recently. The mother of these children was Huldah Coe, sister to Hon. Na- thaniel Coe of Nunda. She and her sister Mary, Mrs. David Bennett, were past 90 years of age when they died. Those who lived to be elderly were: Thomas F., of Missouri : Walter. an inventor: Flora, who was once principal of the Peabody Institute. Summit. Miss., who died in Nunda village in 1898. aged 80. J. H. Hobert, who is still living, M. Louise, Mrs. Johnson, who died recently at Baltimore, and Mary Ellen, who resides in Baltimore. J. Yates Bennett, best known of this household, was born in Portage, then Nunda, in 1822. In 1844 he went to the South as a teacher and remained six- teen years-taught school seven years, was postmaster five years and book dealer at Trebodica. La., two years, and two at New Orleans. He returned to Portage in 1862 and was married to Marietta Galusha of Arcadia, N. Y .. who died December 23. 1868. He married. in 1872, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Smith, daughter of Dr. G. W. Brauch. One son. Arthur Yates Bennett. is living. Mrs. Elizabeth Bennett died in 1877. This family of Bennetts were pronounced Democrats and zealous Episcopalians. Mr. Yates Bennett was Justice of the Peace for a number of terms. He built mills on the Spring brook near his home, and his saw mill was the last of the twenty or more mills run by water in the town. His father and N. B. Nichols, in 1817. built the first. Russell Messenger, at Oakland. built the next the same year.
Thomas Bennett had a woolen factory at Hunt's Hollow and sent cloth for a pair of pantaloons to Governor Clinton, who responded with a letter of thanks. The wife of William Tousey, a daughter of Thomas Tousey Bennett. was the only member of this family who remained in Portage. She was born about 1820 and lived to be about 80 years old.
The children of William and Sarah Tousey were Cornelia. Mrs. God- win, recently deceased. Emma : Carrie ( Mrs. J. J. Williams) and Lucian C ..
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one of the finest tenor singers this section has ever produced. He died in the West, where he was bookkeeper for his brother-in-law. John J. Williams. then a lumberman in Michigan. Mr. Williams died a few years later.
The family of Joseph Bennett went West also. excepting one daughter. the mother of the late Amos Clark of Portage, whose daughter, Mrs. M. E. Van Dusen, resides in Nunda.
THE OTHER BROTHERS
The family of David and Mary Coe Bennett, with a few exceptions, re- mained in Portage. and some of these were citizens of Nunda when they died.
Joel Bennett, teacher, farmer and town official, was born May 16, 1815. He came with his parents to Nunda ( Portage ) in 1821, and was educated in the schools of Portage and the first Nunda Academy, Church Street. He was the first teacher to introduce blackboards in schools in this section. He served as Town Commissioner of Schools and was Supervisor of the town in 1861, and kept excellent records of the soldiers who enlisted from that town. He married, in 1850. Cornelia Botsford. daughter of Ezra Botsford, Esq .. of Granger. They had four children, Ada E., Carl D., Nora M., and E. Warner. Carl and Nora alone survive.
Charles D. Bennett, local writer of historical sketches, and one of the most public spirited men of Portage, was born in Scipio. February 15, 1819. came with his parents to Nunda ( Portage) two years later, was educated in the public schools of Portage. attended Henry Chalker's Select School in Nunda, the Leroy High School and Canandaigua Academy. He went South to Louisiana for two years, returned home and remained four years, teaching and farming. and was town superintendent of schools for two years. He went to Texas (then recently annexed ) next, and settled at Gonzales and engaged in teaching for several years. He was president of Gonzales College. The Sons of Temperance movement about the year 1850 spread over Texas, and Mr. Bennett became prominent in the movement and was for several years Deputy Grand Worthy Patriarch of the order .. In 1853 he returned to the North, married Miss Huldah Olney of Scipio, and they returned to the South. Mrs. Bennett, after a few years' residence in Texas. preferred to return to society not dominated by the advocates of slavery. The hard times of 1857 made it impracticable to dispose of his property for money, so he exchanged it for a herd of cattle. which he drove to Chicago. a distance of 2.000 miles. This was about the beginning of the Texas cattle trade. now amounting to millions. In 1858 he drove a herd of Texas oxen to Leavenworth and then purchased of the heirs his father's farm -- still in the possession of the family. Mr. Bennett served his town as Highway Commissioner many years and to his energy is due the roads leading along the Keshaqua from Oakland to Hunts. He died in Nunda about 1890. His sisters, Emily and Rachel. com- pleted their lives here. Rachel was a teacher for forty years or more and commanded the same wages as were paid to male teachers.
The children of Charles D. Bennett were: Carrie, Mrs. O. F. Sharp of Hunts, Ellura. a professional teacher with Normal equipment, and Charles B .. who resides on the homestead and whose wife, Mary L. Parmalee, was also, as were the three Bennetts. students at the Genesee Normal School.
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NATHANIEL COE
Hon. Nathaniel Coe. an uncle of Charles D. and Joel Bennett, was born in Morris County, N. J., in 1788. His people came to Scipio in 1794 when it was still a wilderness. His father had a soldier's right to 640 acres, for which he paid a shilling an acre. Mr. Coe came to Portage in 1818, worked in saw mills and practiced surveying. In 1820, with his brother and Myron Strong, he went to Olean, and there procured a boat and went to New Orleans by water. In the South he taught school or classes in penmanship. He became acquaint- ed with the Lancasterian method of teaching. He taught school until 1828, when he and W. Z. Blanchard opened a store at Oakland. "No liquor sold to be drank here" was a notice conspicuously posted and was regarded as a rank temperance movement in those days when innkeepers and liquor dealers were leading church members. This year he married Mary White of Auburn, a lady with literary tendencies of the sentimental order, so common in that day. Mr. Coe was Justice of the Peace and served several terms as Supervisor. He was elected to the Assembly from Allegany in 1843, 1844 and 1845 and again from Livingston County in 1847. In 1851 he was appointed mail agent for Oregon. He selected a homestead at the mouth of Hood River on the Colum- bia. His sons, Lawrence and Eugene F., were the first navigators of that river above the Dallis. He died October 17, 1868.
The family of Roswell Bennett of Portage were the first of the Bennetts to reside in Nunda village. He had owned a farm on the Oakland and Dalton road previous to his business ventures in Nunda. The family consisted of three daughters, Elmina, who became Mrs Orsimus Bisbee; Flavilla, who never married, and Augusta, best known as Mrs. Charles W. Herrick, the only survivor of the family. Mr. Bennett bought of Morris Phillips the house now owned by L. P. Higgins, and a former store once known as the Tobey store, the first one built in the village, and moved it to his lot, where it has for years been known as the East Street market. He had the first bakery in town, and was an enterprising man.
There was also a Philo Bennett, one daughter who married Philo Mills, and a son, Zar Bennett, who manufactured. as did John and Oliver Tingley. wooden butter bowls. These two establishments made these useful articles. A daughter of Zar Bennett. Eliza, ranked high as a teacher of District schools, and was one of the first to command one dollar a day.
At one time a Bennett reunion would call together at least 100 relatives. As a family they were especially noted for their scholarship.
A Mary C. Bennett was one of two ladies to attend the Albany Normal School as early as 1854. She became president of a Female College in the South.
AN ENERGETIC FEMALE PIONEER
Mrs. Mary Fuller left her home in Connecticut with a team and load of goods. She left her husband behind, having no further desire to live with and support an indolent man. her son, Stephen being in college, and with her daughter, Sarah, started for Nunda. Most of the way through New York State she had to walk and find the way by blazed trees. She bought a farm and worked it herself or superintended the work. My father. William Hand,
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worked her largest farm in 1838 for one year. It happened to be the year the writer was born. Mrs. Fuller remained a hustler all her days, and celebrated her ninetieth birthday by mowing thistles along the highway. She died that night.
Stephen Fuller, her son, while teaching school in Rochester died of cholera. He left two interesting children, Stephen, Jr., and Mary A., who ntarried Abram Fuller of Nunda. Sarah Fuller died at the age of 96, in Nunda, where she was for many years a milliner. A grandson of Mrs. Fuller, John S. Lyon, succeeded her on the farm and was Supervisor of the town in war times. His children. grandchildren and great-grandchildren are still citi- zens of Portage and Nunda.
THE SPENCER FAMILY OF PORTAGE-NUNDA
Stephen Spencer. Sr .. came to Portage-Nunda in 1817. He had six chil- dren. He lived to a good old age and was buried in Nunda. Silas Angier, another aged man, was buried the same day. One funeral service served for both.
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The children of Stephen Spencer, Sr., were: Ralph Spencer, County Su- perintendent of Schools: Stephen Spencer. Jr. : Utley Spencer, whose sketch and picture will be elsewhere presented. and Mabel Spencer. Mrs. Jesse Adams.
Stephen, Jr., was an exception to the most of New England people. He was facetious and delighted in amusing his associates. He met. one day, a newly appointed deacon, whose dignity of position seemed to rest heavily on him. " Stop. deacon," said Spencer. "I want a little theological information. Adam was made of red clay and when made was stood up against a fence to dry ; it is all right, but who in h-1 made the fence." The disgusted deacon simply said. "You are going to hell." "Well." said Spencer. "do you want to send any word 'to some of the church folks there?" On another occasion he met Capt. Wilner, who also was jocose. Both men had long noses, so both simultaneously turned their noses aside so they could pass. This was not sat- isfactory so Spencer threw his jackknife toward his friend. "What is that for?" said Wilner. "Oh. I vowed years ago if I ever met a homelier man than myself I would make him a present-and I have found my man."
The children of S. Spencer, Jr., were Adelia. Nancy, Cynthia. Mary and Rhoderick, mostly teachers. Three of these young ladies were married with one ceremony. Rhoderick married, first, Miss Robinson and second, Mrs. Ann Mosher Clark. He was one of the finest looking men the town produced and as good as he looked. He died recently ..
Jesse Spencer died young. His widow came to Nunda to reside. Her sons, Clark and George, became lawyers. Clark, a handsome young man. courted all the nice looking girls in the town, but married elsewhere. He died very suddenly, when he was becoming a great lawyer.
Jane Adams became a famous teacher, and Frank. the youngest, whose facetiousness nearly equalled that of his uncle. became a lieutenant in the Civil War, and was the life of the officers' camp. The daughter, Jane, of the family survives.
For Utley Spencer. see sketch by her son in Modern Nunda.
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1817
George Gearhart. Sr., and his wife, Anna. with twelve children, came to Portage, then Nunda. in August. 1817.
Children's names, in order of birth, and who they married, are as follows : Anna, born 1794, married - Rowley : Elizabeth, married George Thomp- son ; Frederic, married Julia Pierce ; Diana, married John Bowers : Mary, mar- ried Edwin DeDeamer; John, born 1804. married Elizabeth Guthrie, born 1808; Margaret. born 1806, married Edward Peat : Sarah, born 1808, married Grove Andrus; Harriet, born 1810, married Asher Mosher; Henriette, born 1812. married Gustavus Palmer : Emmeline, born 1814, married Orrin Bald- win ; George, born 1816, married Sarah Baldwin.
Children of John and Elizabeth Gearhart: Charles H., born 1829, married Louisa Taber : Cordelia, married Alfred Taber : Sarah, married Lucius Palmer : Mary, married Augustus Beardsley : John, married Anna VanSlyke; Martha. married Amenzo Lowell : William, married. Nancy Orton ; Nathaniel. married Ella Gilbert : G. Adelbert. born 1845. married Lizzie Wing.
II. George Gearhart. Jr .. born November 11, 1816, married. in 1837. Sarah Baldwin, born July 3. 1817. daughter of Deacon David Baldwin. They had nine children and nineteen grandchildren, some of whom died in infancy. Children :
III. 2. George Monroe, born June 4. 1838, enlisted in Company A, Ist New York Dragoons, killed at Cedar Creek, October, 19 1864.
III. 2. Fayette Gearhart. born October 23. 1839, married Martha J. Doug- lass of Nunda.
IV. Melvin F. Gearhart (See N. H. S., G. N. S. and Coll. lists and clubs ).
III. 3. Sarah A. Gearhart, born July 11. 1841, married Albert M. Dunn, of Nunda.
IV. I. Fred E. Dunn and 2, Bert Dunn.
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IRON BRIDGE AND UPPER FALLS AT PORTAGE, N. Y.
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III. 4. Esther A. Gearhart, born July 3, 1847, married William R. Ward, son of *Roland Ward, veteran.
IV. I. Frank L., and 2, George R. ( Have lived at Dalton.)
III. 5. Merritt H., born 1848, married Alta J. Linzy of Portage.
IV. I. Edna M. 2. Asia B. 3. Ella. 4. Edwin J., born in New York State. (furniture dealer in Dalton. )
III. 6. Mary L. Gearhart, born July 25, 1851, married George L. White,
IV. 1. Mabel E., married E. Walter Moses (See Civil List ). 2. M. Lena. 3. Eva A. 4. Mildred J.
III. 7. Frank A. Gearhart, born 1853, married Ida M. Milliman.
IV. Ernest G., Bertha L., born 1857, died 1864.
THE WILNERS
George Wilner, a veteran of the War of 1812-14, came to Nunda ( Portage) in 1818 with his captain, James Perkins. They settled first near the river and afterward Wilner came to Oak Hill and purchased the farm on which he resided until his death, now best known at the Merriman Wilner farm. He was a man of genial temperament. always cheerful and full of humor, and ready to discommode himself even to accommodate others. The writer remem- bers going with the Universalist Sunday School to Silver Lake. about 1859. A four-horse team was hitched to a great hay wagon and all the youngsters were piled in that the wagon could hold. One of the horses gave out and it was at first a wonder how this serious trouble was to be overcome. I remember Samuel Whitcomb was in the load and he said if we can get to Captain Wil- mer's he'll let us have a horse if he has to stop work on the farm to do it. And so it proved-his team took the place of the ones that led, and he acted as if it were a privilege to do this act of kindness.
The children of Captain George, and of Betsy Moses. his wife, for he mar- ried one of the many children of his neighbor, Elisha Moses, were: Marcus, Merriman J., Malcom and Flavia. Marcus became a merchant in Portageville and was Supervisor of his town. He was a well read man and an interesting conversationalist. The Wilner families were Republicans.
The children of Marcus Wilner were: Frank A., who, after attending the Nunda Academy, was graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and passed through successive grades of promotion until he is now Captain in the United States Navy, in command of one of the best warships of the Navy, the Pennsylvania. See picture in his office at League Island.
Fred Wilner has served his town as Supervisor, and his early death is greatly deplored by all who knew him.
Nellie Wilner, since the death of her mother, has lived principally at Nunda, but spends part of her time with her brother, the Captain, when he has duties on shore.
Gaylord, the youngest son, lives in the West, and his brother. Fred, died at his home.
Merriman J. Wilner, who succeeded his father on the homestead, held various town offices and was Supervisor of his town. His excellent wife be- came partially, and then entirely. blind, and was also losing her hearing at the time of her last sickness. Both have passed away.
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This family were Universalists, as was the pioneer Wilner. Two children survive them : Merton, a journalist in the office of the Buf- falo Express, and Stella. Mrs. William Wilder. of Portage.
Malcome Wilner and one of his sons served in the Civil War.
THE NICHOLS-SLATER FAMILY-1816-1817
Nathaniel Booth Nichols was said to be the first settler in Hunt's Hol- low. Three of the seven Bennett Brothers were next. The place was called Nichols-Bennett Settlement. then Greggsville, afterwards Kashawa, from a tradition that that was its original name. After the Hunt store and saw mill became conspicuous the name of Hunt's Hollow was given to it. which is still applied to the old village, but the new one has changed from Hunt's Station to Hunts and finally to Hunt. The public square and the land about it was sold by N. B. Nichols to Eli Slater ( who had an inn at the upper part of the square). to William Alward ( who had a tannery next to the creek). the R. C. Hill store being the building used. and to Sanford Hunt, whose dwelling house and store were from this purchase.
Mr. and Mrs. Nichols had but one son, who also bore his father's name and was called Booth Nichols. He attended the first academy in Nunda. N. B. Nichols was the first elected Justice of the Peace of Nunda in 1827 or 1828. Previous to 1827 this office was appointive, as was County Judge. He died soon after and his widow married John Slater.
Vandalia Slater was the son of this marriage. He had inventive brains. but his patents were secured generally by some one else before he had them completed. A driven well was one of these. He owned a stone quarry but sold it, a few days before his death, for $10,000. He died in 1908.
Col. Olcutt was one of the early settlers of Nunda-Portage. He built a grist mill at the head of Spring Brook, not far north of the junction of the Cuba branch of the Erie with the main line. but when the tide of settlement and business tended towards the Keshequa, he rebuilt near the mouth of Spring Brook, not far from the site of the Hunt and Thompson Mill. The millwright was Mathias Jackson, father of Leonard Jackson. Olcott had several children.
COLONEL CARY
Col. Olcott and also Col. Cary were said to be Revolutionary soldiers, and it is traditional that they were in Sullivan's army, and admiring the lands they saw, came and settled, when the lands were salable. Col. Cary built the frame house in which Greenleaf Clark lived after his first marriage. The house is very old, built before there was a frame house in Nunda. It formed the prin- cipal part of the estate of Mrs. Gertrude Clark, who recently died.
Elias Alward, the potash maker, was an early settler here and at Grove. Simeon Alward was probably a son.
1816-THE STRONGS
The family of Zopher Strong were well educated. Several of them were teachers, and at least three of the family were collegiates at Oberlin, one of the family having married a citizen of that place. One of the elder daughters
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returned from there and astonished her neighbors by advocating a diet of graham and condemning the white bread as unwholesome, which was still regarded as a luxury. She was regarded by her neighbors as an educated crank, but Miss Lucina did not care. The pair of twins, America and Angelica Strong, were born here, grew to womanhood and went to Oberlin from Port- age. Their older sister went from the same house from Nunda. Both twins were living a few years ago, both had married well, and one was the wife of Judge Horatio Jones, who was living at the time of her sister's death, five or six years ago.
Mrs. Angelica Strong Beattie, daugliter of Zopher Strong, early pioneer of Nunda ( Portage, section 1816). was born at Oakhill, Portage, in 1828. She was one of a pair of twins who were named America and Angelica. She was married to a missionary named Beattie. at Oberlin, Ohio, and went with him to Jamaica. After his death she returned to Ohio, and thence re- moved to California in 1874. Her son. George W. Beattie, now superintendent of the Normal School. Manila. P. I., taught the first school in Redlands. She lived successively in Lugonia and East Highlands. Cal. She spent the last few years of her life in caring for an older sister, Mrs. Totten. She was a woman of great native ability and intelligence. Her many excellencies en- deared her to a choice circle of friends. She was ministered to in her last sickness by her twin sister. America. Mrs. Judge Jones. of St. Louis, the only surviving member of the family. She died November 5. 1906.
THE MESSENGERS, FITCHES AND HILLS
Russell Messenger and Azel Fitch had married sisters, the daughters of Elias Hill. They came to Oakland and settled there because of the water privilege, and first built a saw mill. and next year a grist mill. Both families were enterprising and a store was afterward conducted by Azel Fitch. A second store was erected over the mill race, nearly opposite the Edgerley place, some years later. A distillery was built by Fitch nearby where the mill is, but it went out of business and the building has been serving as a barn for many years on the farin of Jacob De Mocker. The Messengers were prominent Baptists and were relatives of Rev. Samuel Messenger. the first Baptist clergy- man of the Nunda (which included Portage and Grove ) Church. The family consisted of two sons, Harvey and Olitan, and several daughters, including Terenche and Harriet.
Harvey married Sarah ( Sally ) Barron. became a merchant. but died young. Olitan and Harriet never married. Terenche married Henry Ashley of Nunda.
The children of Azel Fitch were George, Elias and John. Elias married Sarah Miller and built the cobblestone house now known and owned by Mrs. Amelia Gould. He had one daughter. Carrie. a distinguished lecturer. John was born in Oakland in 1823 and married Ann Sweetman. He became a wagonmaker, was Superintendent of the Genesee Valley Canal and Super- visor of Portage and Justice of the Peace. His father. Azel Fitch, was Assem- blyman from Allegany County. Elias Fitch was also Justice of the Peace. Elias Fitch has been dead many years. John Fitch died in 1906.
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