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 51
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"HIS GREATER SON"-A WONDERFUL STORY OF A WONDERFUL MAN
Joseph P. Cochran, a Presbyterian Missionary to Burmah, by Dr. W. Holmes of Duluth, Minn.
Much of the world's work, in the higher sense of fulfillment of the world's noblest ideals, is done by men of whom the world seldom hears, men whose labors have been done in remote corners of the earth, of whose modesty and simplicity of character, have tended to hide, even from those who knew their worth, the superb quality and enduring character of the achievements they have wrought.
Such an one was Joseph P. Cochran, M. D., the tidings of whose death re- cently came by cable from Uramia.
Born in that Persian City, and familiar during his childhood and youth, with the daily life of the people. screened as he was from its more hurtful influences, by the atmosphere of his missionary home, he gained then, and later on in life. that most important of all qualifications for missionary service, next to personal consecration of the heart and life, an intimate and sympathetic knowledge of the people. their conditions. their customs, their social and political relations, their languages-and more important vet than these, their race diagnosis, a coming into touch, with their inner life, their modes and currents of thought. and mo- tives of action, their ideal, their prejudices, the secret springs of their racial. social and religious consciousness.
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These influences acting on a mind of exceptional powers of observation and receptivity, and developed along practical rather than speculative lines by the training he received at Yale. and his subsequent medical course at Bellevue and Long Island College hospitals, fitted him well for the career into which, during the next twenty-seven years work spent in doing work for the Master, and hu- manity, in Persia.
Located within a few miles of the Turkish frontier, the station had a large native Christian constituency dwelling on the plains on the higher side, and in the wide mountains of Kardistan beyond. who were subject to oppression and outrage, alike by the dominant race of Persia, and the savage Koord in Tur- key. The role of mediator was in consequence, early forced upon the American physician, whose professional skill and kindness of heart, was quickly recog- nized, and whose services, were freely given to all comers without distinction of station or creed. The influence he gained over men of every class was mar- velous-an influence exerted to allay strife, to right wrong and promote good will among men. The peasants relied on his friendship, he won the respect and favor of the mullahs and maglaheeds. while the village proprietors, the local rulers and the predatory Koords loved and yet feared him for his influence grew with the years, and was felt in restraining their exactions, in places of highest authority in the land.
The Governor General of Azarabaijan at one time asked him to assist in bringing about an interview, which he was trying to arrange with an enemy, a noted Koordish chief, saying that he was ready, to take an oath on the Koran to give him safe conduct. "But I would not trust your oath," was the Dr.'s frank reply. As soon as you got him in your power you would kill him, as you killed- The Governor did not press the matter further.
At the time,-the only missionary physician in Persia, he opened many doors, and with the zeal of youth and consecration, rejoiced in the unlimited op- portunities before him-taking up the work of the divine Master, in healing, in teaching, in social service, in preaching the word, in exemplifying the Christ life among men; in concilating rulers and ameliorating the condition of the ruled in the manifold and unwearying works of love and beneficence his name came to be known and honored from the hovel of the beggar, to the palace of the King.
The hospital he built he conducted with signal ability and success for a quarter of a century. The people called him "Big Heart" and great in heart and brain he truly was, to do so much as a surgeon, while his ministrations to the people in famines and pestilences, besides training successive classes of medical students, Christianized and equipped, to establsih new centers of light and healing. The late Shah granted him an interview, to the benefit of the Christian subjects of the King. He visited the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace in the interests of Missionary Comity; the present Shah paid distinguished honor on the latter's visit to Uramia in 1800: while the people of all classes, conditions and creeds, on the return from his last visit to America tendered him a wonderful ovation. There is a wonderful story told of this mar- velous man, that is historic, concerning his deliverance of the City of Uramia in the Koordish war in 1880. It exemplifies his influence with Sheik Obeid I'llah the commander of 30.000 warriors, the city was invested by this mighty
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force and lay defenceless, at the mercy of the Sheik, who had just massacred the entire population of Mianduab.
The Sheiks sent word to Dr. Cochran that the missionaries and the na- tive Christians of the city and villages would be spared, a promise he fulfilled. He yielded to Dr. Cochran's request for delay in his assault on the city and there- by lost his opportunity to take it. Sheik's son. balked on his prey, vowed ven- geance on Dr. C., whose life for years was imperilled. Eventually the oppor- tunity came to render a great service to his enemy, and a reconciliation followed. For the distinguished services in this affair he was afterward decorated by the Shah, with the Order of the "Lion and Sun." As was said of another martyr of a holy cause. so we say of this "grand soul" that only a few of our people saw, and none of them knew.
"Spirit of power pass on. thy homeward wing is free Earth cannot claim thee as her son She has no chain for thee, Toil may not bow thee now Nor sorrow check thy race. Nor pleasure win thy birthright crown, Go to thy own blest pace."
The author of this chapter on "Our Missionaries" is delighted to republish this record as a type of what missionaries have to do, and surely their sacrifices are unequalled by any class of men in these records, and their courage equals that of the bravest soldiers from our half regiment of Nunda heroes.
As the son of a Nunda principal, of our first Academy, who gave up his school for the Theological training for foreign serves. he is interesting to us. About five years ago, he came to Nunda to see the village in which his father lived, and the building in which he taught. but the family in whose home he boarded ( Utley Spencer on Church Street) were no longer here and the Aca- demy building ( the old Session house ) was on Fair Street, doing double duty as a dwelling and a barn : and now only here and there an elderly person who re- membered the young teacher. and his sister chiefly from their ride to Portage on that disastrous occasion, when the gifted and accomplished teacher Miss Mary Buck, met her death on the hill. when returning from the Lower Falls. Dr. Joseph P. Cochran died of typhoid fever August. 1904. at Uramia, a martyr to his profession : he aided his father while he lived. and took up and perpetuated his work, and left numerous native physicians, and missionaries to work for the good of their race.
There have been other missionaries from Nunda less known perhaps than Rev. Stilson and his last wife. Rev. T. Dwight Hunt spent several years on the Sandwich Islands in that capacity and he never wearied of recounting his ex- periences there. Once a real missionary, always one. in thought and purpose. ready to preach a gospel of faith, hope and love, to any who will listen. The writer had the privilege of hearing him the last time he visited his daughter. Mrs. D. S. Robinson. before his death. He preached by request in the Univer- salist Church from the text. "And now abideth faith, hope and charity (love). but the greatest of these is love." After hearing this sermon on the greatness of love. I am sure. that as a missionary he was successful. for a love for the hu-
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man race, is the key note of all missionary efforts : as truly as love is the heart of the Gospel. Rev. T. D. Hunt. A. B. and B. D., Yale, was a Presbyterian mis- sionary.
Miss Jane Van Allen of Oak Hill, was sent by a church in Gloversville, to Africa where she remained five years, she then went South and did the same kind of work, among the negroes of the South. She has devoted her entire life to this work, though a woman of nearly eighty she is still at work now in home missions, in the vilest districts of New York, while life lasts she will keep on doing the heavy tasks she is set to do as a disciple of the Master.
Miss Stilson has kindly written out for us the mission work done by Rev. James Work, a student of the Institute days.
Few, if any, of the old Institute students have rounded out so worthy a career as Rev James Work. A native of the Orkneys, Scotland, he came to America in youth, "to seek his fortune," but falling under religious influences his plans were radically changed. He prepared for college under Prof. Bar- rett in the Nunda Literary Institute, and later graduated from Rochester Uni- versity. During the war having been ordained to the ministry in the Nunda Baptist Church, he returned as a missionary to his early home, the Orkney Islands. Here he built up churches, organized schools, established libraries, in short engaged in a wide Christian philanthropy which was known afar as a "city set on a hill."
When over seventy. health having been impaired by his strenuous labors, he decided to come to America to give his sons and daughters broader oppor- tunities.
When he left Scotland the honors poured upon him by clergymen and people of all denominations, testified to their appreciation of his noble work for reli- gion, in the Orkney Islands.
Quite as creditable is it. that his children arriving strangers from a dis- tant land should so soon fill positions of responsibility, one is head of the Manual Training Department in the famed Normal Institute at Elgin, Ill., instructor in said line at Chautauqua, N. Y .: one in the Board of Asessors, Buffalo; two in the Bank of Buffalo: cne in Chicago University ; one long a teacher of Latin in the High School, Buffalo. Mr. Work is enjoying a nobly earned rest in Buffalo, N. Y.
PRESENT MISSIONARIES
Mrs. Annetta Thompson Mills, principal of a school in China for teaching deaf mutes to speak.
This new mission work of teaching the deaf to speak is a new departure, it has its sacrifices as well as its victories, for while the regular contribution, are freely sent in for ordinary work, this form of mission work does not seem to impress itself upon the American people, and the funds often run low, and the. discontinuance of this work of philanthropy seems imminent ; then some friend comes to the rescue and the work goes on. The teaching of the deaf to speak is attended with great difficulties, even the parents of the deaf are more inclined to regard the achievement as either an American trick or a miracle. . 1 native minister called it a miracle : after hearing a deaf child speak, he exclaimed "The age of miracles is not passed," I have seen my first miracle. Mrs. Mills tells this amusing story. Dr. Mills her husband, had become interested in a
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deaf boy. The father of the boy was from home, but the family were inter- ested in sending the boy to school. When the father came home an arrange- ment had been made for Mr. Li one of the teachers, and a talking mute, to spend a day with the family. They were well received, tea was served and other courte- sies extended to the guests. The dumb child, Tong Kii was put on exhibition, he did his part well, he would write and understand the Chinese characters. The family were pleased and willing to send their child to school, but when Tong Kii spoke and understood from the lips what was said to him, the family were indig- nant and drove the teacher and pupil away with imprecations ; they would not believe that Tong Kii was deaf. but considered the whole affair a wily foreign trick. With four hundred thousand deaf mutes in China. there is a great work to be done, and the big hearted clearminded Mrs. Mills has in operation a work that will ultimately do an imense amount of good.
"Good once put in action or in thought Like a strong oak does from its boughs shed down The ripe germs of a forest."
" REJOICE ! I HAVE FOUND MY SHEEP"
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LIEUT. DAVID BALDWIN War of 1812
MAJ. EDWARD HUND U. S. Army
CAPT. GEO. J. CAMPBELL U. S. Army 480
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BOOK IV DEPARTMENT I
PATRIOTIC NUNDA
CHAPTER I.
SOLDIERS OF FIVE WARS-NEW YORK IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
N EW YORK in the time of the Revolution was settled only in the East- ern part. Western New York. and even Central New York, was at this time the home of the Iroquois-"The Six Nations." It is astound- ing to all who consider the limited population of the Colony, that positive proof of the service of 43,645 men has been secured, with documentary evi- dence giving names of these patriots. These have recently been collected and issued from the archives of our State Capitol.
By this compilation, a great historic injustice, reflecting on New York Patriot- ism in this great life and death struggle for freedom and independence, has been removed.
General Knox. our first Secretary of War, accredited New York, with but 17,781, and this belittling statement has passed until recently for correct history. : By this modern investigation and its marvellous revelations New York proves to have been second to none in lofty patriotism, and only second to Massachusetts. in the number of troops furnished.
The probability amounts to a certainty that whole regiments of men, are left out of the list, excepting the Field Staff and Line Officers names which in several regiments are the only ones that are given.
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When we are reminded that towards the close of the war, even men of 60 years of age were included in the draft. and Quakers and other non-combatants were fined to the amount of 160 pounds sterling, we may conclude that all the men, excepting the Tories, were in the service. all but those in New York City where the British held possession and prevented hostile activity! It is, however. just to say, that Vermont was included in the State of New York, and it is easy to find the names of Vermonters like Col. Ethan Allen, in the New York lists.
Even negro slaves and Indians were found in the same companies with the white men of the state. As a reward for three years service the New York slave was given his freedom. All slaves killed in the service were to be paid for. The land bounty rights of a private soldier. serving until discharged, was 500 acres. and to officers a much larger area.
Even in the Militia one man out of 16 could be drafted into the line regiments or regular troops, and still after this. a second draft, of one out of every 35, could be ordered !
The meaning of Militia is-"The Military force of a Nation." The Militia of this continent had its origin in a law enacted in 1664 promulgated by James. Duke of York and Albany (afterwards King James) which included all males over 16 years of age, who were forced to equip themselves and serve without pay. His zeal for power. prepared successive generations, to fight against England. as well as to fight for her. Proving that "The best laid schemes of mice and Kings- gang aft agley."
NEW YORK, THE PRINCIPAL BATTLE GROUND OF THE REVOLUTION
New York, from its position, has been and always will be, the Battle Field of America, in any conflict on land, with Great Britain.
Most of our ancestors were soldiers of our former wars.
It is not egotism to affirm that the writer found the names of three Revolu- tionaries, from whom he derives his direct lineage.
First-His father's father. Marcus Hand who fought in the bloody battle of Oriscany (along with his step-father. Mathias Ward ) ; second-My mother's grandfather, John Jacoby; third-my mother's grandfather, Gilbert Finch. However, none of these ever lived in Western New York, and this list only makes evident the lesson the writer would impress. that in this struggle for national life, your ancestors, if they lived in the colonies, were probably as well represented.
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS WHO CAME TO NUNDA AS PIONEERS
Daniel Andrus, 17th Regiment-(Land Bounty Rights)
This veteran came from Albany County to the town of Grove while it was still a part of Nunda, and afterwards came to live with his son, Henry, on the Seaver farm. All that is known of his military career is that he was a "Land Bounty Rights" soldier. which indicates a long period of service, and his own statement that he was present at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Ilis granddaughter married Henry ( Harry ) Cleveland, who also lived on the State Road, near the village, and afterward in Portage and Grove. One of Cleve- land's sons, Albest, served for a time in the 104th Regiment, and one of his
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daughters married the gallant soldier, Lieut. Prosper Swift, who once lived in Nunda and whose son, Dr. Arthur Swift, was born in this town, and is now a prominent citizen of Belvidere, Ill., having been its Mayor. Daniel Andrus was a member of the Baptist Church of this place and died at the age of 90 on the Peter Townsend Farm in 1843, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. His grave is without marker and even its location is unknown.
There was also at Portageville a Revolutionary soldier by the name of Ira Buckman.
William Deake (Dake) Gould, Sixteenth Regiment, Albany County, Militia, father of the late Levi Gould. and uncle by marriage to Leonard Jackson, came to Nunda in 1819, lived for a time on the J. C. McNair's place. afterwards in a log liouse north of Oscar Willard's, opposite the Union Block. He dressed in con- tinental style and wore a queue. He died in Nunda in 1844. He was a member of the Universalist Church. His grave is unmarked, though its location is known.
William Gould Deake (Dake)-(See Sketch)-16th Regiment, Albany County Militia-(Land Bounty Rights)
This veteran, probably a cousin to Wm. Deake Gould, and the grandfather of the late Jonathan Dake, followed his sons to Portage, and finally died at the home of his daughter in our village. He was in the battle of Bennington with his father, and even with his mother, who acted as nurse to the wounded. He is buried at North Oak Hill, and his great grandchildren have erected a monument.
David Mosier-16th Regiment, Albany County Militia
The wife of Wm. Dake was a Miss Mosier, and hence we are led to believe that this veteran pensioner. the grandfather of Josiah Mosier of Oakland, was also a relative, as the name is spelled the same, and these Veterans belonged to the same Regiment, and came to the same town, Portage-Nunda, about the same time. David Mosier died in Portage, and is buried at Oakland. His grave is known but unmarked.
Zadock Sherwood was from Connecticut, hence his Regt. is unknown to the writer. He was the father of a large family of children. Granville, John, Nathan, Reuben and Harry lived in Nunda. Pratt C. Halstead, Ex-supervisor, and Sher- iff. is a lineal descendant of this Veteran. He enlisted early in life and is said to have taken part in the engagement when the gallant Putman plunged down the steep declivity, where none dared to follow! He is the best known of any of our Veterans as he lived in Nunda from 1823 to 1856. His name is next to that of Wm. Gould, on the list of charter members of the Universalist church. His method of proving that he was a good man was scriptural. After he became a nonage- narian lie would say, "The Bible says The wicked shall not live out half their days,' and I have lived out nine-tenths of mine, so I'm mighty good. I hope to live while a hundred." In my boyhood, he was my greatest hero, and the chief source of my amusement. I remember his words and looks very well. He died near Nunda, Illinois, in 1859, at the age of 99 years, 9 months and 9 days. His wife is buried at Nunda, N. Y. ; and for his sake I mark the spot where he pur- posed to be buried, with flag and flowers.
Josephi Hosford, born December 9th, 1761, at Westfield, Mass., enlisted 1776 in his 16th year as a drummer in Col. Van Court's Regt., the 2nd ( Regulars), served six years until the close of the war; married Miss Mary Williams, Newark, N. Y., 1793.
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.Joseph Hosford became a Pioneer of Portage about 1822 (Charles Dickens Farm). The father of Franklin Hosford A. B. and Abigail Hosford Erwin, (mother of Alfred W. Erwin, now of Omaha, ) both of whom were great teachers in pioneer days. Joseph Hosford died at the home of his son and was buried in Oakland. His grave is unmarked and I fear its location cannot be found. Died Jan. 5th, 1848, age 87.
Samuel Fuller, a Revolutionary soldier, emigrated to Portage-Nunda in 1816 and lived near Mudville. He was an uncle of Mrs. M. J. Bowhall, and a pensioner. He lived to be very old.
The Lowells
It would take several pages to record all the names of Revolutionary Soldiers belonging to this distinguished New England family. Of those who came to Nunda ( Dalton and Grove) at an early date. we have some of those who fought at Bunker Hill-where one son of Moses Lowell, Jr., was killed. The other son, possibly not a soldier at the time. Gideon, a boy, was said to have been in the battle. Moses Lowell. Jr .. born in Amesbury, Mass., lived in Maine, was a ship- wright, about 1800: he emigrated to Syracuse. He came later to Rochester, deemed it unhealthful, so came on and settled in Grove-Nunda. His sons. Gideon and David, came with him on horse back with their wives to New York. He married Mariam Knowlton, 1760. Died in Grove, N. Y.
Gideon, son of Moses. Jr .. born 1761, died at Battle Creek, Mich., Sept. 20, 1845. Tradition says he was in the Revolutionary War at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. though but 14 years of age. Before the war closed he would have been 22. He came to Nunda, N. Y., in 1822 (Dalton) and lived there until 1830.
Daniel Hamilton-then but a youth, served as a herdsman or cowboy during a part of the Revolutionary War. This did not entitle him to either pension or bounty land, but he filled a place of usefulness and deserves mention as a patriot.
Col. Philip Depuy
The Grandfather of Peter Depuy was called Colonel, but whether he served in this war or the war of 1812. or only at militia trainings is unknown.
Col. Carey of Hunts Hollow. then in Nunda, was a Pensioner of this war.
OUR SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND-1812 TO 1814
It is probable that Nunda (of county dimensions ) had representatives in this war, as the township had been organized for four years. However, we must look to the southern part of the town. Pike, Hume, Genesee Falls, Centerville and Eagle, for recruits for our Militia. It is known that there were companies from Angelica and Geneseo and Sparta : and. it is more than probable that some of the Nunda men were found in the Genesee and Allegany Co. battalion, commanded by Col. Pheletus Swift of Canandaigua. General William Wadsworth of Genesee, the ranking Militia Officer from this section. as well as Gen. Amos Hall of Bloom- field, and Col. Lyman of Geneseo, were there. Gen. Wadsworth was captured and afterwards exchanged and paroled. Lieut. Col. Micah. Brooks and Col. William Mills, afterwards a Militia General, the former from East Bloomfield and the latter from Mt. Morris, were in the service and took some part as field or staff officers. Lt. Col. George Williams then of Batavia, afterwards Colonel of Militia and Land Agent of Portage-Nunda, 1816, was on the Staff of Gen. Porter,
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the grandfather of our present Congressman who bears most of his name. The other soldiers in this vicinity or who became citizens of this town and this vicinity were :
John C. McNair, enlisted from Sparta, came to Nunda in 1836. He was the father of Capt. Jas. Monroe McNair and Capt. Jefferson McNair, and was a zealous patriot, during the Civil War : he offered a fine colt to the first man from Nunda to enlist in the Dragoons and Gilbert Freer, a shoemaker, was recipient of the gift.
Dr. Jabez Dake, son of Wm. Gould Dake, Rev. Soldier, who lived on Church Street in this village in pioneer days, was a soldier of the War of 1812. His monument in our cemetery fails to record this interesting fact of his life. His five sons became physicians.
Noah Warren, came to Nunda in 1816, and settled here in 1819. He was a soldier and took part in the battle of Plattsburg. He was the father of Porter Warren-perhaps named after his General. He is buried in our cemetery.
Silas Warren was at Lundy's Lane. Came to Nunda in 1819; was a car- penter and built several of the houses in this place.
Since writing the above I find that the town of Nunda had three soldiers in this war. Eli Griffith, its first supervisor, was one, also Jonathan Couch and Chandler Benton, all of whom lived at Nunda-Pike ; and all died of the fearful scourge that nearly annihilated the army of volunteers. All died before reach- ing home.
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