USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, Volume I > Part 15
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(V) Benjamin (2), son of William (2) and his first wife, Ruth ( Eastman) Cheney.
was born June 10, baptized June 27. 1744, in Ashford, Massachusetts, where he continued to reside. He married, May 30, 1765, Abigail .. born May 5, 1745. died September 21, 1790, daughter of John Parry. Children: 1. Mehit- abel, born September 26, 1766. 2. Huldah, September 9. 1767. 3. Thomas, June 24, 1769. 4. Daniel, of further mention. 5. Abiel, born August 10, 1773, removed to Littleton, Ver- mont : married Irene Munson. 6. Elizabeth, August 27, 1775. 7. Benjamin, September 12, 1777. 8. Nabbey, born May 17, 1779. 9. John, August 17, 1781. 10. Hannah, November 19, 1783. II. William, February 17, 1785. 12. Ruth, July 31. 1788.
(VI) Daniel, son of Benjamin ( 2) and Abi- gail (Parry) Cheney, was born in Ashford, Connecticut, June 9. 1771, died in the town of Olean, New York, January 23. 1837. At an early day he removed from Connecticut to Essex county. New York, where he remained but a short time, later settling in the town of Olean, Cattaraugus county, where he was high- ly respected for his honest and kind heart. He married Irene Ashford, who died November 4, 1842, aged sixty-eight years and five months. Children : 1. Sally, married a Mr. White. 2. Eunice, married a Mr. Randall. 3. Rachel. 4. Welles, born April 6, 1805, a farmer of Delevan, New York; married Deborah R. Hawkins, and had Munson, Nancy L. and Mehitabel. 5. Mehitabel. 6. John, of further mention. 7. Lyman. 8. Eletheer. 9. Walter.
(VII) John, son of Daniel and Irene ( Ash- ford) Cheney, was born in Olean. Cattaraugus county, New York, June 6, 1813. died in York- shire, same county, August 20, 1881. He spent his whole life in Cattaraugus county, except a few years passed in the present town of Gar- field, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in operating a sawmill. He was a successful farmer and by energy and thrift secured a competence. He was a man of upright, Chris- tian life and character, honored and respected wherever known. Ile was active in the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and held several im- portant town offices. In political preference he was a Republican. He married, in Penn- sylvania. September 20, 1840, Sarah A., daugh- ter of Leonard and Mary Hodges, of Warren, Pennsylvania. Children: 1. Clark Abial, born April 30, 1842, in Yorkshire, New York, own- ed and operated the Truman Coal Farm, in Yorkshire ; married, August, 1863. Jeannette. daughter of William and Laura ( Davis) Lang-
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made, of Yorkshire ; children: Sarah Belle, born August 24, 1867; Georgia Anna, August 26, 1873; Fred Mason, born February 6, 1876; Myrna, born October 11, 1885. 2. Walter Wilmot, born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1844, was extensively engaged in oil production in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Western New York, with residence at Delevan, New York ; married, March 10, 1875. Louise, daughter of Henry Strong, of Sar- dinia, New York ; child, Mabel Strong, born January 8, 1879. 3. Eunice Irene, born March 24. 1846; married, December 31, 1866, Henry 1 .. Crooker, of Arcade ; children : Charles Fran- cis, born April 16, 1872; John Cheney, born December 26, 1874: Walter Elgene, born De- cember 16, 1878. 4. Francis John, of further mention. 5. George Hamline, born March 7, 1850; educated in the public schools, Arcade Academy and Griffith Institute, Springfield, New York, and Ten Broeck Free Academy, at Franklinville. He taught in the public schools several years; was principal of the Union School, at Hinsdale, New York, and was pro- fessor of mathematics in Northern New York Conference Seminary, at Antwerp, New York. He prepared for the ministry, and, in 1873-75, was pastor of the Ellicottville (New York) circuit. In the fall of 1875 he entered Boston University School of Theology, being grad- uated therefrom in 1879. He joined the New England Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, in 1878, on probation, being ad- mitted to full connection in 1880; was ordain- ed deacon by Bishop Foster, at Lynn, Massa- chusetts, April 8, 1877; ordained elder by Bishop Peck, in Worcester, Massachusetts, April 10, 1881. He has filled important pul- pits in Massachusetts, and is an eloquent, suc- cessful minister of the gospel. He married Elea- nor Robinson, of Somerville, Massachusetts ; children : Emily M., born May 14, 1882 ; David McGregor, December 12, 1884; Sarah R., June 30, 1887 ; Eleanor R., June 11, 1893. 6. Charles Summer, died aged five years. 7. Lyman Josiah, born October 11, 1860, was successively druggist and dry goods merchant in Delevan, New York. In 1892 he was appointed clerk in the United States railway postal service ; prominent in local politics and a supporter of the Republican party. He married, in Arcade, Wyoming county, New York, March 8, 1882, Florence N., daughter of Charles and Ravilla Cagwin : children : Lloyd Lyman, born April 23, 1884: Clifford Carleton, June 17, 1887.
(\'III) Francis John, son of John and Sarah A. ( Hodges) Cheney, was born in War- ren, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1848. His parents removed to Cattaraugus county, New York, when he was six years of age, and his early education was obtained in the district schools during the winter months, his summers being spent in assisting his father in farming opera- tions. He remained on the farm until he was twenty years of age, working and studying. In this way and by a few terms at Arcade Academy he prepared for college. In 1868 he entered Genesee College, and was graduated A. B., class of 1872, at head of his class, the first class graduated after the college was merged with Syracuse University. Immedi- ately after graduation he entered upon the pro- fession of teaching, a line of activity he has ever since continued with honor and success. His fame as an educator is more than state- wide, but the institutions he has served are the best witnesses to his ability. In the spring of 1872 (even before graduation ) he was elected to the chair of mathematics in the Northern New York Conference Seminary, at Antwerp (Ives Seminary ), where he remained two years, resigning to accept a call to the principal- ship of Dryden ( New York) Union School. Here he remained seven years, finishing a course of legal study, and, in 1880, was ad- mitted to the bar. He had decided to settle in the west and devote his after life to the practice of law, all necessary arrangements having been made. While still at the head of Dryden U'nion School he received such a flat- tering offer from the Kingston ( New York) board of education, to become principal of Kingston Free Academy, that his western plans were abandoned and the offer accepted. He remained at Kingston ten years at the head of the Academy, raising the standard of the school and wonderfully increasing its efficiency. These years had thoroughly established his standing as an educator, and his services were frequent- ly sought by other cities and institutions. Syra- cuse University offered him the chair of Eng- lish and Belles Lettres; Olean, New York, elected him city superintendent of schools, which he did not accept because the Kingston board of education did not want to release him. In 1890 he was a candidate for the principal- ship of the State Normal School, at Greeley, Colorado. Having been appointed inspector of high schools and academies of New York, by the board of regents, he withdrew his ap-
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plication, however, although it was so favor- able considered that, it is said, he would prob- ably have been appointed, had he not with- drawn it. This necessitated severing his con- nection with Kingston Free Academy, although the board of education offered a substantial increase in salary and such an increase in teaching force as to leave him little actual teaching, but his decision was made in favor of the inspectorship. The "School Bulletin" said regarding his appointment: "The Board of Regents are to be congratulated for the good sense shown in the selection of such a man for the place." The Kingston papers spoke of his departure with regret, one saying : "He is one of the men who is vastly broader than his profession. He is fully abreast of the times not only as an educator but as a man of affairs." He only held the inspectorship one year, resigning to accept the appointment of the State Normal and Training School, at Cort- land, New York. He began his duties there with the opening of the fall term. 1891, and now, twenty years later ( 1911), he is still the honored head of the institution. These have been years of improvement and progress for the school, years also broadening and strength- ening the man. The school has doubled in size, buildings, apparatus, and teaching staff keeping pace. Mr. Cheney out of his wide ex- perience is a most able instructor of instructors and much in demand for lectures and addresses before educational associations and other soci- eties. In 1890-91 he was president of the Associated Academic Principals, of the state of New York, and holds membership in the state and national educational associations. In 1885 he made a tour of Great Britain and Europe, visiting the principal countries and cities, gathering information of special value to him in his profession. In 1888, after an examination at the School of American His- tory, Syracuse University conferred on him the degrees of A. M. and Ph. D. In 1896 he was lay delegate to the general conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, being sent from Cen- tral New York. He is a member of the Ma- sonic Order, belonging to Cortlandville Lodge.
Dr. Cheney married (first), July 30, 1873, Lydia Henrietta, died March 21, 1896, daugh- ter of Buel G. and Lucy ( Thornton) Smith, of Delevan, New York. Child, Genevieve (adopted), born May 9, 1885. He married (second), July 20, 1898, Clara Jane, daugh- ter of John J. and Margaret (Livingston ) Rob-
inson, of Fort Edward. Child, Clara Frances, born January 20, 1900.
KEATOR The Keators of Cortland, New York, trace from Holland an- cestry. The name is an uncom- mon one in early days and the present form is evidently an anglicized form of a Dutch name. It is impossible to trace definitely be- yond John Keator, of Ulster county, New York, who was ambushed and slain by Indians with another of his family. In 1676 John Keator made a purchase of land in the town of Marbletown, Ulster county, New York. This was no doubt the emigrant from Holland, and founder of the Ulster county family of Keator. The name is met with in the Ulster records and the family seem to have borne well their part in the development of the coun- try. Among the founders and subscribers to the fund for erecting the first house of worship for the Reformed Protestant Dutch church, at Marbletown (where the Keators seemed to have centered), is found the names of Au- gustinus, Johannes, Melgert and Jacob Keator. This church was organized in 1737, and a church built in 1743. Among the signers in the Troop of Horse in Ulster, at Kingston, June 9, 1775, from the town of Marbletown, the name of Johannes Keator is second.
(111) John Keator, of Marbletown, was born about 1700, and was probably a grand- son of the emigrant, John Keator, of whom nothing seems to be known after his land purchase in 1676. John (2) Keator was killed by Indians and there is no record of his family further than that his son John met his death at the same time. He was the signer to the enlistment rolls in 1735, his father being among the first members of the Dutch Church, at Marbletown, who signed the subscription list in 1743, when the first building was erected. He is enrolled as a soldier of the Third Regi- ment Ulster County Militia (Land Bounty Rights). He was undoubtedly of the third generation in America.
(IV) John, son of John Keator, was of the town of Marbletown, Ulster county, New York, where he was born about the year 1730. Nothing further can be told of him than that he was married and had at least a son Cor- nelius, and met his death at the hands of the Indians.
(V) Cornelius, son of John Keator, of Marbletown, was born in New York, in 1763.
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died in Roxbury, Delaware county, about 1856. He married Elizabeth Krom from near High Falls, Ulster county. After his marriage several years Cornelius removed to the town of Roxbury, Delaware county, New York, where descendants are yet seated. This was when that town was yet virgin forest, except- ing the first settler, Isaac Inman, 1788; a party of twenty families from Fairfield, Connecticut, 1789, and the Scotch settlement of John Moore, on the headwaters of the Delaware river, now known as Grandgorge, then called "Moore's Settlement."
(VI) Joseph, son of Cornelius and Eliza- beth (Krom) Keator, was born in Marble- town, Ulster county, New York, about 1784. He was living at Kingston Creek, that county, in 1797, and from there went to Roxbury, Del- aware county, probably at the same time his father settled in that town. He was a farmer and general trader, owning considerable prop- erty of various kinds. After an active life in Delaware county, he died about 1820. He married Polly Wight, who survived him until 1852. Children : Thomas ; Harvey ; Chauncey ; Mary, married Noah Dimmick; Hettie, mar- ried Levi Mead; Rachel, married John T. Mead ; Betsey, married Jeremiah G. Baughton ; Debby, married Jonas M. Sweet.
(VII) Thomas, son of Joseph and Polly (Wight) Keator, was born in Roxbury, Dela- ware county, New York, November 25, 1803, died in Cortland, New York, June 19, 1879. He was educated in the public schools and for a time followed the occupation of a farmer, exclusively. Later he established a small mer- cantile business at what is now Vega, not far from Roxbury. He continued farming and in merchandise until 1854, when he removed to Cortland, New York, where he became promi- nent. He purchased what is now known as the Wickwire farm and for a time was engaged in its operation. He later established himself in the mercantile business in the village of Cortland, continuing for two or three years. He was a man of great energy and unusual business capacity. In 1863 he effected the organization of the First National Bank, of Cortland, and was elected its first president, holding that important office until his death. He was president of the village corporation of Cortland and in many ways aided in the devel- opment of the village. In Delaware county he was a member of the Dutch Reformed church, but after coming to Cortland attended the
Presbyterian church. He was broad-minded and liberal in all things, giving to every man his justice, and leaving behind him a reputa- tion for upriglit, generous dealing. His political creed was Whig, later Republican. He mar- ried (first) Sarah, born 1806, died May 8, 1834, daughter of Samuel Slaughson. He mar- ried (second) Betsey More, born 1812, died 1891, daughter of Edwin and Charity ( Mc- Ginnis) More, granddaughter of John and Betty (Taylor) More, the latter coming to the United States from Edinburg, Scotland, their native land. Children by first marriage : 1. Samuel, of further mention. 2. Polly, mar- ried R. B. Smith. Children by second mar- riage: 3. Edward, died aged seven years. 4. Sarah, deceased. 5. Esther, married Oliver Porter, whom she survives, a resident of Homer Village, New York (1911). 6. Jane, married (first) William S. Newkirk; (second) Henry C. Rogers, and resides in Cortland. 7. Elizabeth, married Brainard Norris, who sur- vives her. 8. Joseph, died aged thirteen years. 9. Edward, now president of the First National Bank, of Cortland; married Hattie L. Jones, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania ; chil- dren : Thomas, born November 12, 1890 ; Oliver Porter, November 9, 1892; Martin Derby, July 14, 1899. 10. Mary, married William F. Chad- bourne.
(VHI) Samuel, eldest son and child of Thomas and his first wife Sarah (Sally) (Slaughson) Keator, was born in Roxbury, Delaware county, New York, August 26, 1826. He was educated in the public schools ; work- ed with his father in the Roxbury store and on reaching the age of twenty-one years was ad. mitted to a partnership. He remained in busi- ness at Roxbury two years after his father's removal to Cortland, then disposed of his en- tire interests and removed to Broome county, New York, where he took charge of a tannery, forming a partnership with his father. He continued there nine years, until 1865, when he removed to Cortland, New York, which has since been his continuous residence. He had large farming interests and dealt extensively in live stock for many years. Upon the death of Thomas Keator, in 1879, he succeeded to the presidency of the First National Bank, of Cortland, holding that position for nine years, and is still a member of the board of directors. In 1903 Mr. Keator came into possession of the Cortland Foundry and Machine Shops, which he still owns and operates. He has led
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an exceedingly busy, active life and the success that has attended his efforts has been fairly earned. He has worthily and capably filled every station in life to which he has been called, shirked no duty and faithfully executed every trust. He is a Republican in politics. and while in Delaware county was town col- lector. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian. He married, June 29, 1858, Annie S. Stewart, born in Scotland, died in Cortland in 1903. Children : 1. Sarah, married Charles F. Brown, a leading merchant of Cortland, many times a member of the state legislature, where he is an important and useful legislator; children : Florence and Thomas Keator. 2. Annie, mar- ried Frank J. Peek, of Cortland ; child, Susan. 3. Clara, married Thomas F. Ward, whom she survives : children : Thomas and Madeline.
"Burke's Commoners," vol- WICKWIRE ume 4. states: "The family of Ware claims a deseent from Roger de Ware, Lord of Isefield, and a Baron of Parliament in the reign of Edward I." The founder was Jordan De la War, of Wick, Gloucestershire, England, whose de- scendants enjoyed extensive grants of land in the southern, middle and western counties of England, for bravery in various wars, partic- ularly on the fields of Cressy and Poictiers. In early records the name is spelled : War, Ware, Warr, Warre and Weare. Arms : "Gules, a lion rampart between eight crosslets, argent." Crest : "Out of a ducal coronet or. a griffith's head azure." During the century following the grant of the Manor of Wick to John La Warre ( 1207) the Manor gradually acquired the name of Wyke-Warre. In 1290 the parish of Wiek- war was established. The advowson of the church belonged to the Warre family, passing from them after the death of Thomas, Lord de la Warre, governor of Virginia, when the Manor of Wiekwar was sold to Sir Robert Dueie, and descended to his heirs. The town of Wiekware or Wickwaire lies in the parish of the same name about twenty-six miles south from Gloucester on the best road from there to Bath. The town has the privilege of a weekly market and a yearly fair, granted by Edward I. Wickware as a surname was not in use until 1500 and probably first came from a branch of the family residing at or near the Manor of Wick, or Wickwarre, and assumed that name to distinguish themselves from the main branch, which after a few generations had
their principal seat in Sussex county. In the earliest entries, the name is spelled Wyekwarre, Wyckwarr, Wyckware, Wickwarre, Wickwarr. and Wickware. There are many entries of the name prior to the year 1700 in various parishes but none are found that give a John Wickwarr. whose age corresponds with the supposed age of John of New London except one. John Wiekware baptized May 18, 1656, son of John Wickwarr, of Wotton-Under-Edge. in Glou- cestershire. His father died when he was less than a year old and this lack of a paternal care may have been a factor in his determination to seek his fortune in the new world. The fam- ily is said to be almost extinct in England and the name is not a common one in the United States.
(I) John Wickware ( Wickwire), the ances- tor of the American family of Wiekware and Wickwire, settled at New London, Connecti- cut, in 1675. He is supposed to have been the son of John and Mary Wiekware, of Wotton- Under-Edge, England, baptized May 18, 1656, died in March or April, 1712. He was a soldier in King Philip's war and was engaged in the Great Swamp fight, December 19, 1675, when the power of the Narragansetts was broken. For his service in this war, he afterwards re- ceived from the general court a grant of one hundred and forty acres of land in Voluntown. Ifis name appears on the list of residents in New London, in 1676; he settled in the north parish of New London, now known as Mont- ville. He was one of the seventy-seven paten- tees of New London named in the patent grant- ed by Governor Winthrop, October 14. 1704. By deed. dated June 30. 1798, he and Mary, his wife, granted to Rene Grigon, the tract of land in Voluntown, received for his service in the Indian war. At the time of his death he owned several traets of land besides his home- stead and was considered a man of wealth for those times. The use of the word "Mr." be- fore his name in the clerk's certificate indicates the social position as it was only applied to men of social rank. He married, November 6, 1676, Mary, daughter of George and Margery Tonge. George Tonge was an early settler in New London, and, in 1656, the general town meeting chose him to keep an inn for five years. In those times only trustworthy eiti- zens were accorded this privilege. In the same ycar he purchased a house and lot on the Thames river. "and here he opened the house of entertainment which he kept during his life
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and which being continued by his family, was the most noted inn of the town for sixty years." Children of John and Mary (Tonge ) Wickware: 1. George, born October 4, 1677. 2. Christopher, of further mention. 3. John, born December 2, 1685. 4. Elizabeth, born March 23, 1688-89: married, at New London, September 9, 1708, Jonas Hamilton, born about 1678, son of David Hamilton, a Scotchman of Berwick, Maine, who was killed by the In- cians, September 28, 1601. He and his wife were baptized at New London, June 25, 1710. He joined the church at New London, October 8, 1738. In 1748 Jonas Hamilton was described in a petition to the general court as a member of the church in the parish of New Salem. Children : Jonathan, Solomon, Mary, Eliza- beth, James, Lucretia, Daniel, Ann. 5. Jona- than, born February 19, 1690-91. 6. Peter. born March 12, 1694. 7. Ann, born Septem- ber 25, 1697 ; married, October 14, 1714, James Brown, of Colchester, who was probably son of James and Remembrance ( Brooks) Brown, of Colchester. She was baptized with her daughter Ann, by Rev. James Hillhouse, Octo- ber 28, 1722. Children : James, Ann, Jonathan.
( Il) Christopher Wickwire, second son of John and Mary ( Tonge) Wickware, was born January 8, 1679-80, in the North Parish of New London, now Montville. On January 16, 1716-17, he conveyed to Lieutenant-Colonel John Livingston a tract of land at New Lon- don, the deed was acknowledged at Norwich. One of the points described in the deed is "a cellar that John Wickwire built." In 1734 he removed to Lyme. On June 5, 1739, Christo- pher Wickwire, "of New London, now a resi- dent in Lyme," conveyed to Peter Wickwire. his farm in the North Parish, near Stony Brook. He married, in New London, Eliza- beth - Children : 1. Ichabod, of further mention. 2. Solomon, born about 1715. "The Colonial Records of Connecticut," volume 9. page 371, show that in May, 1748, a memorial was presented to the legislature of Connecti- cut by Solomon Wickwire and twenty-two others, members of the church and inhabitants of the society or parish of New Salem, "lying partly in Colchester in the county of Hartford and partly in Lyme in the county of New Haven," praying they might be authorized to call a minister and levy a tax for the support of the church. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war, serving in Captain Edmund Well's Hebron company. in 1756. 3. Nathan.
4. Elizabeth, married Joshua Parker, of New London. 5. Ann, married a Mr. Chapman, who died before 1747. 6. Mary, married Na- thaniel Avery, of Lyme, born January 30, 1702, son of Samuel and Susannah ( Palmes) Avery, and grandson of Captain James Avery. One child, Mary, baptized May 24, 1729. 7. James, born 1725, died October 23, 1726. 8. Zebediah, baptized March 22, 1729-30. 9. Bridget.
( III) Ichabod, son of Christopher and Eliz- abeth Wickwire, was born about 1713, died about 1763-64. On October 16, 1764, his son "Samuel Wickwire was allowed to be guardian to Oliver Wickwire, bonds given, etc." Oliver was then about nineteen years of age, and it is probable that the appointment was necessary in order that the father's estate might be set- tled. About 1770 the widow and children re- moved to Cornwall. Ichabod is said to have served in the French and Indian war and to have participated under General Wolfe in the campaign against Quebec. He married, at New London, March 19, 1736, Deborah, daugh- ter of Jonathan Fairbanks, the ancestor of the American family, who came from Yorkshire, England. to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1633. He had a son Jonathan who was a soklier in King Philip's war, serving in the Mount Hope and several other campaigns. Children of Ichabod and Deborah ( Fairbanks) Wickwire: I. Sam- uel, born 1738 ; married Jane Brown. 2. Elisal, born 1740: married John Gilbert. He was a soldier ( with James Wickwire and John Grant ) in Captain Stephen Hosmer's New Salem com- pany, in the French and Indian war in 1755. 3. Oliver, of further mention. 4. Ichabod, born 1746; married ( first ) Widow Huntley, mar- ried ( second ) Submit Ford, February 27, 1794.
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