Genealogical and Family History of Western New York, Volume I, Part 32

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: New York : Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 680

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The Parkers came originally PARKER from England, settling in the American colonies at an early day. As a family they are numerous and widely dispersed over the entire union. The name is a distinguished one in the history of our country not only for the frequency of its mention, but for the merit of the deeds of the

men bearing it. The new family herein re- corded spring from the early emigrant, Abra- ham Parker, of Massachusetts, through the Vermont branch. Silas Parker, a native of Vermont, settled in New York at Arcade, Wyoming county. He had a family of eleven boys and three girls. His wife was Abigail Foster; their Vermont home Cavendish. Two of their children were born there, the others in Arcade, where Silas was the first merchant and leading man of the town. For thirty years he was justice of the peace, doing the legal business of the town; was also super- visor of Wyoming county. His fourteen chil- dren all survived him.

(II) Chauncey A. Parker, son of the Ver- mont emigrant, was born January 9, 1828, died November 13, 1866. He grew up on the farm in Arcade, New York, and obtained a good education. He taught school for several terms, then purchased land and began farming. Later he removed to Machias, Cattaraugus county, New York, as did others of his family. For a short time he was in Kentucky and on his re- turn settled in Little Valley. September 30, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Ninth Regi- ment, New York Cavalry. He was mustered in as sergeant of Company B. October 15, 1861, to serve three years; was promoted bat- talion sergeant major December 1, 1861 ; mus- tered in as second lieutenant of Company M (same regiment), commission to date Septem- ber 15, 1862; commissioned second lieutenant September 29, 1862; commissioned first lieu- tenant and regimental adjutant February 9, 1864, with rank from October 8, 1863; mus- tered out at expiration of term of enlistment October 24, 1864, at Middleboro, Virginia. The Ninth was organized at Albany, but contained two companies from Cattaraugus county. They lost two hundred and twenty-three men by battle and disease during their three years. The regiment is credited with taking part in thirty- four engagements, among which were Second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Cold Harbor. Winchester, Petersburg and Richmond. Lieutenant Parker won his pro- motion by bravery on the field of battle and came home broken in health, later dying from disease contracted in the army. His son pre- serves the sword he carried in battle and an- other that was presented to him by members of First Division, Second Brigade, Ambu- lance Corps. After his return from the war he engaged in the buying and selling of cattle.

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He is buried in Little Valley, where his mem- ory is warmly cherished. He was a brave sol- dier and a good citizen. He was a member of the Baptist church and a Republican in poli- tics.

He married August 14, 1851, Sarah P. Wier, born August 5, 1833, died November 23, 1868, daughter of John Wier. Children: I. Eva Marie, born January 9, 1853, died April 7, 1887; married June 10, 1874, Lewis Orlando Sweetland; child, Lewis O., Jr., born January 4, 1881, resides in Rochester, New York ; mar- ried and has three children. 2. William C., of further mention. 3. Clara Bell, born No- vember 3, 1855, died March 11, 1856. 4. May Bell, born May 1, 1859, died July 24, 1890; married Albert E. Wilcox, of Cuba, New York; child, May Bell (2). 5. John Wier, born August 25, 1861, died October 7, 1861.

(III) William C., eldest son and second child of Lieutenant Chauncey A. and Sarah P. (Wier) Parker, was born in Machias, Cat- taraugus county, New York, March 26, 1854. He was educated in the public schools, and in early life worked in a planing mill and clerked in a grocery store. He then learned the trade of tinsmith, at which he worked until 1881. In that year he located in Little Valley, where he opened a well-stocked hardware store. He was very successful in this venture and con- tinued in business until 1900, when he sold, having in that time built up the largest busi- ness in his line in the town. He then entered upon a successful career as a real estate dealer, building and selling well-built houses. He has erected twenty modern residences, all of which found ready buyers. While practically retired he still indulges in an occasional land deal. He is vice-president of the Cattaraugus County Bank, treasurer of the Cemetery Association, superintendent of the Little Valley Water and Electric Company, chairman of the Board of Trade, an exempt fireman, having held all the offices of the fire department. He is a Repub- lican in politics and has served two terms as village president. He is a member of the Con- gregational church, which he serves as deacon. Mr. Parker is a thorough man of business and held in the highest regard by his associates. ,He married June 19, 1878, Ida L. Kidder, born September 11, 1855, died April 13, 1910, eldest daughter of Samuel and Eleanor A. (Partridge) Kidder, and grandaughter of Ezbai Kidder. Children of Samuel and Elea- nor A. Kidder: Ida L., Willard H., Henry E.,

Dora L., Mary L., Samuel P., George C., Jay and Fanny E. Children of William C. and Ida L. Parker; Harold Willis, born March 3, 1895, died March 18, 1895; Marjorie Frances, born November 7, 1897.

HALE The name Hale, under the differ- ent forms of de la Hale, Hales and Hale, has been· abundant in Hert- fordshire, England, since the early part of the thirteenth century. No evidence shows that any of the name were above the rank of yeo- man before 1560. The name also prevailed and is still found in a dozen other counties of England. Of the Hales in Gloucestershire, to which the illustrious Sir Matthew Hale be- longed, Chief Justice Atkyns says, in his his- tory of that county : "The family of Hale has been of ancient standing in this county and always esteemed for their probity and charity." Within the first fifty years after the settlement of Massachusetts Bay at least eight emigrants of the name of Hale settled in that colony and in Connecticut, descendants of five of whom are traced to the present day. There is no evi- dence that any of them were of kin to Thomas Hale, of Newbury, the emigrant ancestor of the Hales of Maine, and of perhaps the largest branch of the family. The name was also found among the early settlers of Virginia and Maryland. In New England the name has been brought into especial prominence by Nathan Hale, the youthful patriot who re- gretted' "that he had only one life to give for his country ;" by John P. Hale, the distin- guished statesman from New Hampshire, and Senator Eugene Hale, of Maine. The branch now located at Jamestown, New York, descend from Massachusetts ancestors and probably from Thomas, of Newbury, although the con- nection cannot be established from present records. The earliest progenitor of record is Al- fred Hale, who was born in Conway, Massa- chusetts, and removed to Pittsfield, Massachu- setts, where he is buried. He died August, 1817. He married Lucy Ensign, born May 16. 1781, died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts Sep- tember, 1816. Two children: Elijah Ensign. of further mention; Sarah Elmira, wife of Oliver Arms, born April, 1807. Mrs. Lucy Hale was the daughter of Captain Elijah En- sign (the first white child born in the town of Pittsfield ).

(II) Elijah Ensign, son of Alfred and Lucy (Ensign) Hale, was born at Pittsfield,

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Massachusetts, October 26, 1805, died in Chautauqua county, New York, October 11, 1898. He was left an orphan, and at the age of fourteen years was apprenticed to a black- smith in the town of Hancock, Massachusetts. Here he learned his trade and worked until his marriage, perhaps continuing until his re- moval in 1830 to Chautauqua county, New York. He settled first in Fluvanna, New York, where he built a shop and followed blacksmithing in all its branches, also making mowing scythes and knives of various kinds. He had a good business for he was a wonder- fully expert worker in metal, one of the very best in his line. After two years at Fluvanna he removed to the town of Ellery, where he purchased land, erected his shop and contin- ued smithing. He invented and built a ma- chine for drawing stumps, these being the first ever used in the county. He was a genius in many ways, and a favorite remark of his was that he "could do anything." He was active in church affairs, belonging to the Christian church. In politics he was an "old line" Whig. While in Massachusetts he belonged to the state militia and held the rank of lieutenant, commissioned by Governor Levi Lincoln in 1826.

He left some recollections of his family written at the age of eighty-seven :

I think Grandfather Hale lived at Conway, Massa- chusetts, but I never saw either him or grandmother, neither do I recollect ever hearing their names. After my parents died I lived with and near my mother's relatives, until I was fourteen, then went to learn the blacksmith's trade at Hancock. When I was seventeen I went to Conway to see my father's relatives. Grandfather had four sons and three daughters. One son was married, and lived in Mont- pelier, Vermont; Calvin Hale (another son) lived in Greenfield, Massachusetts; one daughter married a Wilcox, and lived in Sandisfield, Connecticut; Aaron married, and lived in Conway, also two of the daugh- ters; one married a Bartlett, one a Huxford. All had families, when I was there. Aaron Hale's fam- ily went to Lyons, New York state. The other son, Alfred, was a shoemaker, and went to Pittsfield, where he married Lucy Ensign.

Elijah Ensign Hale married in Hancock, Massachusetts, Eliza Ann Acocks, born June 9, 1810, died December 29, 1893, (See Acocks.) Children: 1. William Franklin, of whom further. 2. Milton Alfred, now a farmer of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York; married Ariet Arnold; children, Ellen and William F.

(III) William Franklin, eldest son of II-W

Elijah E. and Eliza A. (Acocks) Hale, was born in Hancock, Massachusetts, July 15, 1827. When he was four years of age his parents removed to Chautauqua county, where his life has since been spent. He was educated in the public schools, graduating from the Jamestown Academy, then teaching for ten years. He also learned the tanner's trade. He, however, spent most of his active years en- gaged in agriculture, owning the original homestead farm, and another of one hundred acres, which he purchased, lying along Chau- tauqua Lake, in the town of Ellery. In 1909 he retired from farming, purchased a home on Allen street, in Jamestown, to which he re- moved in December of that year, and where he has since resided. He is an active member of the Christian church, to whose interests he has been devoted from early manhood. He is a Republican in politics and has served as school trustee. He has spent an active, useful life, and now enjoys the result of his years of labor.

He married, May 25, 1853, Mary Ann Stil- son, born in Jamestown, daughter of Benoni Stilson. Children : 1. Alfred Ensign, of whom further. 2. George Francis, married Minnie Prosser (now deceased), and is now a resi- dent of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received a thorough education, and for twenty years was an instructor in the Jamestown high school, now occupying a similar position in the Minneapolis high school. In 1887 he enlisted in the Fenton Guards, was promoted corporal February, 1893; sergeant April 4, 1896; during the Spanish-American war he was sergeant of Company E, Sixty-fifth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry ; was honorably discharged November 19, 1898. Children : Elton E., Win- field S., Herbert W. and Helen M. He mar- ried (second) Hattie Eggleston, of Sumner, Iowa. 3. Herbert Clinton, now superintendent of Bayfield Transfer Railroad Company, Bay- field, Wisconsin. Previous to going west he had been for three years in the employ of the American Express Company at Jamestown. He married Nora Buckley. Child, Margaret.

(IV) Alfred Ensign, eldest son of William Franklin and Mary Ann (Stilson) Hale, was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, February 27, 1858. He attended the public schools and spent his boyhood days on the farm. His education was completed at Jamestown high school, from which he was graduated. He followed farming for two

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years after graduation, then taught school in the winter, working at the carpenter's trade during the vacation months. He continued teaching as his profession for twelve years. He enlisted in the Fenton Guards (now Thir- teenth Separate Company, New York National Guard) September 26, 1891, and was promoted corporal November 4, 1893. His first military service was in August, 1892, when his com- pany was ordered to Buffalo during the rail- road strike of that year. He volunteered for service during the Spanish-American war and was appointed sergeant of Company E, Sixty- fifth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry May 1, 1898; promoted quartermaster ser- geant February, 1899. During the war his company was stationed at Fort Alger, Vir- ginia. He is still a member of his old com- pany. In September, 1891, Mr. Hale was ap- pointed state armorer at Jamestown. a position he yet holds. In 1891 he took up his residence in Jamestown, where he now resides. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a Republican. He belongs to Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons (which lodge made him a Mason, 1894) ; Western Sun Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and James- town Commandery, Knights Templar, all of Jamestown. He is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, belonging to Ismailia Temple. Buffalo.

He married (first) July 11, 1883, Hattie Jane Haskins, born April 7, 1862, died Decem- ber 15, 1901, daughter of Aaron and Jane (Simmons) Haskins. No issue. He married (second) January 28, 1903, Helen (Cowing) Bedient, born July 22, 1863, daughter of Charles and Nancy (Sherwin) Cowing. Child, Dorothy Elizabeth, born March 7, 1904.

(The Acocks Line). (Recollections of Alfred Ensign Hale).

William Acocks lived in Devonshire, Eng- land, with his father's family which consisted, I think, of seven sons and three daughters. He was pressed into the British service in the time of the American Revolution, came over in Burgoyne's army, remained with them until they surrendered and were taken to Boston on parole. The army being kept there for some time, he with his messmate, Joseph Bailey, from Yorkshire, England (like a good many others) left the British and entered the American service; afterward married the Widow Lewis. Her maiden name was Mary

Grant, of Boston. Her father, a sea captain, was lost with his vessel at sea. After her mother's death she lived with a sister in Bos- ton until she married Joseph Lewis and went to live in Charlestown. They had two chil- dren : Joseph and Hannah. At the time of the battle of Bunker Hill, Joseph Lewis was killed and Charlestown was burned. She fled with her two children and others two miles out of the city, went into the cellar of a deserted house, not daring to make any fire or noise for two days. Her house and everything burned except a few clothes for her children which she tied up in a handkerchief, and a set of silver teaspoons she put in her bosom. She lived with a cousin until she married William Acocks. They had two children: William Acocks, Jr., born October 25, 1782; Thomas Acocks, born 1785, named for one of the un- cles in England. After the war they took up a piece of land in Charlemont, Massachu- setts, which they lost by a bad title, then came to Pittsfield. Massachusetts. When William, Jr., was fifteen years old, being a stout, healthy boy, he went with his father out into York state into the town called now Palmyra. His father took up a piece of land, set William, Jr., to digging a well preparatory to putting up a loghouse, while he went to chopping to clear a plot for wheat. In felling a tree it struck him on the head and broke in his skull. William, Jr., went half a mile for help. He was removed to their boarding-house, where trepanning was resorted to, but he died in forty-eight hours. After the funeral, which had used up their means, William went to work, but as soon as possible, with his knap- sack, started on foot for home, over two hun- dred miles, to carry the sad news to his mother, as there were not many mail routes then. When he reached his mother's home he had four cents left. That was the second time she had suddenly been left a widow and rather des- titute. William chopped cordwood that win- ter to help support the family, which con- sisted of his mother, himself and Thomas (the Lewis children having gone to live with friends in Pownal, Vermont, where Hannah married Mr. Crandall; they settled in Chenango county. New York, raised a family and died there; Joseph Lewis married, lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, raised a family and died there. ) In the spring William went to work for Mr. Bagg to learn the blacksmith's trade. being near his mother, where he could assist her.

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When Thomas was old enough he went to work for Mr. Francis, in the same neighbor- hood, to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade. William, after he had learned his trade, worked as journeyman in Lanesboro, Massa- chusetts, where he married Phebe Baker in 1805, daughter of Francis and Elizabeth Kelley Baker, formerly of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They settled in the town of Hancock, Massa- chusetts. Thomas Acocks married Anna De- lano, of Pittsfield, settled in Hancock a few rods from William. Their mother lived with them alternate years until she died March, 1819, at William's, aged seventy-three years. In the division of her things the three sons each took one of the spoons she brought from Charlestown, sending the other three to the daughter, Mrs. Crandall. William Acocks lived in Hancock twenty-four years. Four children : Eliza Ann, born June 9, 1810, mar- ried Elijah Ensign Hale; James Lawrence, born March 29, 1814; Phebe Gray, born August 23, 1818, died May, 1819; William Baker, born January 26, 1821. He carried on blacksmithing extensively, besides all common work, he made all kinds of edge tools and plowshares and kept three fires going, and part of the year a man cutting and making nails. He was captain of a company of artil- lery at the time of the war in 1812, afterward major ; was deacon of the Baptist church there several years. Failing in business he came to Fluvanna, Chautauqua county, New York, May, 1830. His wife Phebe died in 1831. He married (second) the Widow McLenathan in 1832. She had two children: Celestia, aged seven, and Seth, aged four. Her maiden name was Lydia Caroline Kingsley. They had three children : Grant Adam, born January 30, 1833; Mary Ann, born August 30, 1834; Cleveland, born October 9, 1836. William subsequently moved to Campton, Kane county, Illinois, died there August 10, 1857, aged seventy-seven years. He is buried at Canada Corner. Illinois.

(The Ensign Line).

Jacob Ensign died January 17, 1813, aged eighty-nine years. He was one of the first settlers of Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts. Sarah, his wife, died January 17, 1813.

(II) Captain Elijah, son of Jacob Ensign, was born June 15, 1756, died March, 1810; married July 9, 1780, Phebe Holt, born January 16, 1760, died 1850. Children :

Lucy, married Alfred Hale; Elijah, born April, 1783; Phebe, May 15, 1785; John G., March 12, 1787; Elisha, June 17, 1789; Thomas, May 27, 1790; Anna, December 9, 1792; Betsey, October 7, 1794; Justus, Feb- ruary 23, 1797; Peter. G., March 20, 1801, died August 24, 1802.

THOMAS The records show this family to be of Welsh origin, dating to the sixth century, the an- nals of Wales giving a great deal of promi- nence to the family in early periods. They were also numerous in England later, emi- grants from there settling in New England, Maryland and Virginia. They had become very numerous in New England at the time of the revolution, the rolls of Massachusetts alone containing the names of four hundred and forty-five enlisted men by name Thomas, who served from that state. Among them were seventeen by name Isaac Thomas and thirty-four named William Thomas. As no initials were used and no places of residence given (only places of enlistment) it is difficult to identify any particular Isaac Thomas from the Massachusetts revolutionary rolls. The progenitor of the family herein recorded was an Isaac Thomas, a revolutionary soldier who had a son Bastus.

(II) Bastus Thomas was a native of Mass- achusetts, having a farm near Cambridge. He later removed to Brooklyn, New York, where he was a lumber dealer. He died at Frews- burg while on a visit to his brother Sevillian, who lived near Troy, at the great age of ninety years. Children : Frank, Potter, William Se- bastian, and Adaline.

(III) Sebastian, son of Bastus Thomas, was born in Massachusetts, died at Alameda, California, in 1881, aged about sev- enty-two years. When he was about twenty- five years of age his parents removed to Brooklyn, New York, where Sebastian became a well-known contractor and builder. He had learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it as a journeyman in Massachusetts. He ac- cumulated considerable property in Brooklyn which he exchanged for a residence in Dun- kirk, New York, and a farm at Oak Hill. Chautauqua county, consisting of fifty acres of improved land. He lived and carried on business in Dunkirk until 1877, when he re- moved to Alberton. California. He had al- ways been a student of medicine, and after

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going to California took a regular course of lectures, received his degree of M. D. and practiced until his death. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and at one time quite active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he was a Repub- lican. He married Lura Chamberlin, born at State Line, Massachusetts, October 27, 1811, died October 12, 1904. Children: Jennie, Charles, John, George W., Albert and Clara, all deceased (1911) except George W. John .and George W. both served in the civil war.

(IV) George Washington, son of Dr. Se- bastian Thomas, was born in Brooklyn, New York, April 2, 1845. He was educated in the public schools of that city and learned the car- penter's trade under the instruction of his father. He was fifteen years of age when his parents removed to Dunkirk, and at the age of seventeen, being refused consent to enlist, ran away from home, and at Almond, Alle- gany county, New York, enlisted in Company C, Ninth Regiment New York Cavalry, and served eighteen months, received an honorable discharge July 5, 1865. He served in all the battles of the famous "Ninth" after he joined, some forty engagements in all, and received two slight wounds in battle, but otherwise es- caped unhurt. The Ninth Regiment was a part of the Army of the Potomac and shared in most of the great battles of the war fought by that army. After the war he settled in Brooklyn, where he learned the dyer's art. In 1868 he settled in Jamestown, New York, and started a dyeing establishment, having his father-in-law, Septimus Perkins, as partner. After two years he turned the business over to Mr. Perkins and went to Bradford, Pennsyl- vania, where he was in the dyeing business five years. He then returned to Jamestown and bought back from Mr. Perkins the business he had established seven years before. Mr. Thomas continued in active control until 1909, when he sold to his son and retired to his comfortable home on Foote avenue, which he built in 1892. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since Gen- eral Grant, for whom he cast his first vote. He married October 20, 1868, at Jamestown, Ella Perkins, born in that city, February 20, 1850, daughter of Septimus and Eunice (Crosby) Perkins. Children : 1. Frank A., of whom further. 2. Clara B., married William Newton, of Jamestown, now engaged in the

grocery business in that city. 3. Lulu Eunice, married Herbert L. Thomas.

(V) Frank A., only son of George W. and Ella (Perkins) Thomas, was born in his pres- ent home, 345 Foote avenue, Jamestown, New York, December 16, 1871. He was educated in the public schools of Jamestown and the high school. He then took up mechanical den- tistry, which he followed eight years. Being offered the appointment of engineer at the state armory in Jamestown he accepted and held that position fourteen years. In June, 1909, he resigned and purchased the business established by his father in 1868, dyeing, dry cleaning, etc. He has his principal office at 47 South Main street, and a branch in the Cokey building, with plant at 345 Foote avenue. His present home, also his birthplace, he purchased from his mother in 1906, it having been also the home of her father, Septimus Perkins. Mr. Thomas enlisted Jan- uary 9, 1891, in the then Fenton Guards, now the Thirteenth Separate Company, or Com- pany E, Sixty-fifth Regiment New York Na- tional Guard, and for the past seven years has been financial secretary of the company. In 1889 he volunteered for service in the Span- ish-American war, was out with his company for two weeks and was then rejected for phys- ical disability. He is a charter member of the Jamestown Sons of Veterans and with his family attends the Methodist church. He mar- ried, October 18, 1893, at Jamestown, Kate L. Root, born in Busti, Chautauqua county, New York, May 21, 1867, daughter of William and Nancy (Draper ) Root. (See Root.) She was educated in the Jamestown schools, and for several terms taught in the schools of Ellicott and Busti, also in the old Jackson school in Jamestown. For eight years after retiring from teaching she was employed in the dry goods store of Goldstein, Duffee & Samuels in Jamestown. She is a thorough business woman and manages the main office for her husband at 47 South Main street. She is a member of the South Side Sunshine Society and deeply interested in the work of that or- ganization. Children: Clifford B., born Feb- ruary 6, 1898, died May 13, 1898; Robert Le- roy, born May 25, 1901 ; Harold William, No- vember 28, 1905.

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Genealogical and Family History of Western New York, Volume I, Part 32

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: New York : Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 680

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: New York : Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 680