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 32
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(111) Dr. Samuel M. Hunt, son of John Hunt, was born at Marathon, Cortland county, New York, October 8, 1798, the first white child born in that town. His first schooling was received there in a barn used for a school- house, later in a primitive log house, the win- dows of which were of oiled paper. He enter- ed Cortland Academy in 1819. He studied medicine under Dr. P. B. Brush, of Bingham- ton, and was licensed by the Medical Society of Chenango county, in 1825, when Dr. Henry Mitchell was president. He practiced first at Sharp's Corners, on the Otselic river, now the town of Triangle, Broome county, New York. Afterward he located at Lisle, in the same county, and later at Union and Maine. also in Broome county. But for many years he practiced in his native town. He was an able and successful physician and surgeon, prac- ticing for many years in Marathon. He wrote an account of the Hunt family for "Goodwin's History of Cortland County" ( 1859), and was accounted a man of rare literary attainments, a useful and honored citizen. He married, December 11, 1823. Maria Havens. Children : 1. Charles 11., born September 4, 1824; mar-
ried Anne DeP. Livingston. 2. Dr. John W., born February 28, 1826, at Upper Lisle, Broome county, where his father was then living : died December 12, 1859: was a promi- nent Free Mason, and grand scribe of the Sons of Temperance; deputy county treasurer and assistant secretary of state of New York ; mar- ried Eliza S. Hobart. 3. Daniel Delos, men- tioned below. 4: Duray, born June 9, 1834 ; married a daughter of Chester Cooke. 5. De- Forest, born August 15. 1842. 6. Eliza M., August 31, 1844.
(IV) Daniel Delos, son of Dr. Samuel MI. Hunt, was born at Upper Lisle, Broome coun- ty, New York, March 12, 1828, died at Mara- thon, April 6, 1890. He received his early education in the public schools, and during his boyhood worked at farming. From the farm he entered upon a mercantile career and was clerk in various general stores in the vicinity. In his twenty-fourth year he engaged in the dry goods business on Cortland street, Mara- thon, in the second building standing at the north end of the bridge. He was for many years one of the leading merchants of the town. In 1869 he built the Mansard Block, then deemed an innovation in business build- ings, and moved his store into it. He admitted to partnership, about this time, Oscar Wildey. who retired from business in 1875. In 1882 he admitted to partnership, his son-in-law, C. MI. Chapman, and the firm continued to the time of the death of the senior partner. Mr. llunt was a man of much public spirit, favor- ing the projects that tended to improve the village and benefit the people. One who knew him wrote: "D. Delos Hunt pursued a business career in Marathon of nearly forty years and left behind him a record of probity and integ- rity that has engraven his name high among the men who made Marathon a busy hive of industry. Personally and socially he was of an agreeable and pleasant nature; kind and charitable ; ever willing to lend a helping hand and zealous of his good name and business ability. The news of his death came upon the community like a shock, though his long ill- ness had prepared his friends to expect the worst. His death was mourned by all who knew him and who realized, many of them, that they had not only lost a dear personal friend, but that his departure from among them would be a serious loss to the community. His long, last illness was a rare example of patience, hopefulness and fortitude." He was
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keenly interested in town and village affairs and held the offices of trustee and president of the incorporated village of Marathon.
He married, January 24, 1853, Esther A. Carley, born December 4, 1830, died May 12, 1909, daughter of Alanson and Sally (Cort- right) Carley (see Carley VII). Children : 1. J. Warren, resides in Marathon. 2. Corrie L., born in 1859; married, in 1880, Carlton M. Chapman, of Syracuse, New York, son of Charles A. Chapman. He was in partnership for many years with Daniel Delos Hunt, her father, but retired some years ago on account of ill health and is now traveling salesman. They have one daughter, Anna Louise, born March 17. 1885. married John D. Hanson, of Grand Rapids. Michigan, and has a daughter, Esther Dorothy, born April 13, 1910.
BUCHANAN Buchanan is one of the old- est and most honored of Scotch surnames. The fam- ily was in Stirlingshire as early as the year 1200. An important branch of the family went to Ulster, north of Ireland, in the early days of the dispossession of the Irish and settle- ment by Scotch and English Protestants under King James in 1610 and afterward. The name of Captain William Buchanan of Lord of Ards' Quarters, county of Down, appears in the list of those ordered to remove under a Declara- tion of Commissioners, May 23, 1653, in ac- cordance with a plan of the English govern- ment to remove all popular Scots from Ulster to certain districts in Munster. This shows that the family was then well known in county Down. It flourished especially in the adjacent county of Tyrone and in the census of births in 1890 we find that out of twenty-four births that year in all Ireland, twenty-one were in Tyrone.
(I) James Buchanan, American immigrant, came to this country from the north of Ire- land, doubtless from the family at Tyrone, and settled among the pioneers in Orange county, New York, as early as 1737. He died April 6, 1775, and is buried in Goodwill church- yard, near Montgomery, New York.
(II) John, son of James Buchanan, was born in Orange county, New York, lived in Orange and Herkimer counties, and died about 1808 in Herkimer county. He enlisted and served as sergeant of Captain Theodore Bliss' company, Second Artillery, of the Continental Army, under Colonel John Lamb, on March
23, 1777. for three years. His name last ap- peared on muster roll for November and De- cember, of 1779. He also served as a private in Captain William Talbert's company, Colonel James McClaughry's regiment, of New York militia, and was ordered into service by Gov- ernor Clinton to reinforce the garrison at West Point at the time General Cornwallis was marching down the river. He married Miriam Eager, of an old Massachusetts family. Chil- dren : Thomas; James E., mentioned below ; William, John, Watkins, Polly and Martha.
(III) James E., son of John Buchanan, was born in Orange county, New York, April 24, 1788, died at Cortlandville Village, McGraw, New York, December 29, 1860. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He came to Cort- land county in January, 1818, and was one of the pioneer settlers of the town of McGraw- ville, coming thither from Herkimer county. He was educated in the public schools. All his active life he followed farming. In relig- ion he was a Congregationalist ; in politics a Democrat. He married, January 19, 1814, Sally Farmer, born June 23, 1793, in Herkimer county, died in McGraw, New York, Septem- ber 4. 1878, daughter of John Farmer. Chil- dren : John F., born November 26, 1814. died December 29, 1876; James, April 18, 1817, died April 12. 1868: Sophia, December 30, 1819, died January 8, 1820; Miriam, July 6, 1821, died March 13, 1900, married David Short ; Sally, August 18, 1824, died November 4. 1826; William Willard, mentioned below ; Sanford, born May 21, 1828, died December 6, 1849; Thomas Watkins, February 16, 1832. died January 19, 1877.
(IV) William Willard, son of James E. Buchanan, was born July 5, 1826, in McGraw- ville, New York, died September 25, 1886. He attended the public schools of his native town and Homer Academy, and for a few years taught school in Cortland county. During most of his life. however, he followed farming at Cortlandville. In politics he was a Republican. He was an active member of the Presbyterian church, at McGrawville. He married. Febru- ary 20, 1851, Amelia Hatfield, born Septem- ber 20. 1828, in Cortlandville, and is now liv- ing with her son at McGraw, New York. She is a daughter of William and Ann ( Smith) Hatfield. Their only child was William J., mentioned below.
(V) William J., son of William Willard Buchanan. was born in McGrawville, New
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York, September 13, 1857. He attended the public schools of his native town and the Union High School, of McGrawville. He commenced his business career in 1879, in the employ of P. 11. MeGraw & Son, in the manu- facture of corsets. He continued with the McGraw Corset Company, as the concern was known after incorporation, for a period of twenty years and for many years he was super- intendent of the plant. In 1901 he organized the Empire Corset Company, of which he has since been president, and the business has grown to large proportions. The plant is modern and designed for efficiency and com- fort of the workers. The factory is thirty- six by three hundred feet, two stories high. with basement. The basement is devoted to a cutting room and printing plant and for a stock room where the steel stays, rubber cloth and other goods used in the factory are kept. It is interesting to note that forty tons of these steel stays are kept on hand. In the printing plant all the box labels used in the business are printed. In another part of the basement also are the two stripfolder machines of a new automatic type, made especially for the corset business. The fold and cut are made in one operation, the cloth strips being for the inner side of the corset to cover the stays. In the east end of the basement is an Acme self- clamping cutter with new-style friction gear for cutting square cloth. The corsets are cut out from brass patterns with knives, forty- eight thicknesses being cut at each time. The scraps are sorted into two grades and sold to paper mills. More than five thousand yards of cotton cloth and one hundred and fifty dollars worth of elastic webbing are used daily.
On the first floor are the offices, the paper box stock-room, the label room, packing and shipping departments. On the second floor the rough work of construction, such as the as- sembling of parts, boning, staying, girdling, are performed, and for this purpose there are fifty-two needle and sixty-three three-to-ten needle machines, operated by steam power and geared to three thousand three hundred stitches a minute. One ten-needle machine of the latest type is used for narrow girdles only. Nearly all the machines are of the latest pat- terns from the best makes. In the finishing room on this floor the corsets are completed. This room contains sixteen new-style binding machines of the compound feed type, doing two thousand stitches a minute. In this room
also are the eyelet machines, not unlike the Mergenthaler linotype machines of the printers, and the single needle machines for plain stitch- ing with which the lace and hose supporters are attached to the corset, running at the rate of four thousand stitches a minute. When the corset is complete it is rolled by a machine designed for the work and boxed, after in- spection, and ready for shipment. One in- genious and wonderful machine in this room is that which threads the ribbon within the lace. In a small room on this floor starch is sprayed by machinery upon the finished corset, which is then taken to the laundry. The power house contains a steam engine of one hundred and five horse power and a thirty-five kilo- watt dynamo. Water for the plant is pumped from an eighty-three-foot well.
The "Never Rust" corset, the "Sorosis" and the "Reduzyou" styles, manufactured by this company, have proved extremely popular and are known throughout the country. The com- pany employs two hundred and fifteen women and thirty-five men. Four traveling salesmen are kept busy and the goods are sold not only in this country, but in Cuba, Mexico, Canada and other foreign countries. In 1910 the com- pany manufactured one hundred thousand dozen corsets, and in some days the plant has produced four hundred dozens. The officers of the company are: William J. Buchanan, president : Harry C. Chaffee, secretary ; Hart- ley K. Alexander, treasurer. A sketch of Mr. Chaffee appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Alexander was born in 1866, in East Homer ; for thirteen years he was bookkeeper for the P. H. McGraw & Son's corset factory. He is a graduate of the Elmira School of Commerce ; is ex-president of the village, member of the water board and board of education, steward of the Methodist church and treasurer. Mr. J. H. Hill, superintendent of the cutting room, and a director of the company, is an expert in the art of designing corsets.
Mr. Buchanan is keenly interested in the village in which his business is located. He was president of the incorporated village in 1892-93-94-95; has been secretary of the fire department ; was president of the board of education for several terms and is at present railroad commissioner of the town of Cortland- ville. Ile is a prominent member of the Pres- byterian church, of which for a number of years he has been an elder and treasurer.
lle married, in 1884, Marcia Hollister, of
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Cortlandville, born January 1, 1861, daughter of Harvey D. and Martha ( Thompson ) Hollis- ter. They have one son, William Harvey, born September 11, 1894.
John Hunt, like his brother, Dr. HUNT Japeth Ilunt, has never been traced and the evidence or rather lack of evidence indicates that both came from Eng- land. Among the descendants of John is a tradition that he came from Roxbury, Con- necticut. Roxbury was formerly part of Wood- bury, Connecticut, and is not an old town, comparatively speaking. Its records are not good, and no trace of this family is found either in Woodbury or Roxbury. The family may have stayed there but a short time and then joined the tide toward New York state. John and Dr. Japeth settled in Columbia coun- ty, near the town of Hillsdale. John lived to be nearly a hundred years old. His farm ad- joined that of Captain John Collins. The first federal census shows that John Hunt, of Hillsdale, had in his family two males over sixteen, five under that age and four females. Some of the sons had already families of their own. A full list of his children has not been found. Children : 1. John Jr., had in 1790 at Hillsdale two sons under sixteen and seven females. 2. Samuel, had two males over six- teen and one female; one account states that Samuel was the eldest. 3. Pelatiah, had in Hillsdale five sons under sixteen and three females. 4. Gideon. 5. Seth, mentioned below. Probably others.
(II) Seth, son of John Hunt, was born about 1745, probably in Connecticut, and set- tled with his father and uncle in Columbia county, New York. He married Mary, daugh- ter of David Irish. They had a son Ransom, mentioned below.
(III) Ransom, son of Seth Hunt, was born in 1768, in Connecticut. He and his brother- in-law, Abram Blaklee, located at Otego, New York, coming from Bennington, Vermont, and Ransom Hunt cleared a farm in the wilder- ness there and built his log house. As the settlement grew he erected a sawmill and grist- mill, the first in that section, and for many years kept a tavern. He was a prominent citi- zen; he represented the district in the state assembly, and was a member of the constitu- tional convention for the state of New York.
He married Sabra Blaklee, of an old Con- necticut family, born in 1768, died May 3.
1848. Children: 1. Ransom, was a Baptist minister and lived in Otego ; married Mehitable Follett ; four children : Seth, John, Susan and Jane. 2. Byram, born August 8, 1791 ; was also a Baptist minister ; moved to the vicinity of Knoxville, Pennsylvania, and was the father of ten children, whose descendants are still living there. 3. Russell, of Corning, New York : was the father of four children. 4. Ann. married Mason Hughston, of Otego, New York: nine children. 5. Laura, married Oba- diah Blaklee, of Otego, New York; no chil- dren. 6. Harvey, mentioned below.
(IV) Harvey, son of Ransom Hunt, was born January 3, 1808, in Otego, New York, and died there, November 30, 1888. He re- ceived a good education in the public schools and became a lawyer. In addition to his law practice he was occupied in farming. He served thirteen years as weigher in the Custom House, in New York City. In early life he was a Democrat, afterward a Republican. He served the town for several years as supervisor and was chairman of the board of supervisors of the county. He was elected an assembly- man from Otsego county, reelected and served two terms in the legislature, 1841-42. He married (first), March 5. 1827, Louisa Sco- field, born January 22, 1808, in Troy, New York, died in 1843. He married ( second) Wealthy Birdsell, born at Otego, New York, in 1812, died November 5. 1889, daughter of Michael and Wealthy ( Webster ) Birdsell. Wealthy Webster was related to Daniel Webs- ter, the statesman. Children of first wife: I. George W. 2. Theodore L., resides at Otego. 3. Ira Wallace, living at Neanah, Wisconsin. 4. Helen A. 5. Susan. 6. Albert, lives at Binghamton; married Adelaide Bates; chil- dren : Harvey A., William B., Maud and Ruth. Children of second wife: 7. Dr. Dwight B., a physician at Otego, New York. 8. Dr. Will- iam B., a physician in New York City. 9. Eva, died in infancy. 10. James B., mentioned below.
(V) James B., son of Harvey Hunt, was horn at Otego, New York, March 25, 1856. He attended the public schools of his native town, and followed farming when a young man. He learned the trade of wheelwright and wagon-maker in Otego, and followed it until 1890, when he came to Cortland, New York, to work for the McGraw concern as a blacksmith. After twelve years in this factory, he left to engage in business on his own ac-
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count in Cortland. He carried on a wagon manufacturing business until January, 1911, when he bought a manufacturing plant in Homer, New York, and reorganized the Homer Wagon Company, of which he is president and secretary. This concern has done a large and flourishing business. Mr. Hunt is a member of Vesta Lodge, No. 255. Odd Fellows, of Cortland. For many years he was a singer of considerable note in Central New York, and sang in church choirs, concerts and in public ; was a member of the celebrated Cortland City Quartette.
MCGRAW There were a number of Colo- niał pioneers named McGrath or McGraw, sometimes spelled also Magrath, Megrath, Magraw and Megraw. In 1790, according to the first federal census, there was quite a numerous family, the second generation, or perhaps the third, in the town of Mohawk, Montgomery county, New York. Christopher McGraw had two males over six- teen, and one female in his family ; his son Christopher Jr. had two sons over sixteen and two under that age and four females. Daniel and Edward had young families and Margaret, evidently a widow, was head of a separate family containing herself and a daughter.
During the revolution there were Daniel Mc- Grath, of Amherst, Massachusetts; John Mc- Grath, of Maine; James McGrath, of Rutland, Massachusetts ( McGrow) ; Moses, of Boston, aged forty-five in 1781. A Lieutenant John McGraw or Megraw appears to have lived at Natick, Needham, and perhaps Sudbury and Concord; was in the recruiting service; also probably the same man who was in Captain Joseph Butler's company and Colonel Nixon's regiment ; married Jane Chamberlain, of Need- ham, at Needham, March 18, 1776. Some of these Massachusetts families located in Ver- mont.
(1) Samuel McGraw, son of a Scotch-Irish pioneer in Vermont, was born October 17, 1772. The first settlers of Plymouth, Ver- mont, where he lived for a time, came about the year 1800 and he probably came a few years later, but in 1803 he located in Cortland- ville, New York, and is said to have come thither from New Haven, Connecticut. He lived for a time at Blodgett's Mills. In 1806 he came to what is now the town of McGraw and built the first log house there ; in 1811 he built the first frame house in the town. He
became a leading citizen, owned much of the land, and the village and postoffice of Mc- Grawville and McGraw were named for him. He died at McGraw, February 6, 1836.
He married, in 1794, at Bennington, Ver- mont, Elizabeth Whitcomb, who was born February 1, 1775, died July 7, 1860. Children : I. William, born January 28, 1796, died Octo- ber 22, 1862; married Sally Barnum; had ten children. 2. Harry, mentioned below. 3. Hiram (twin of Harry), born September 25, 1797, died July, 1798. 4. Hiram, born January 24, 1800, died April 5, 1877 ; married (first ) Philena Graves ; (second) Martha Sturtevant. 5. Betsey, September 24, 1802, died December 5, 1879; married Reuben G. Dowd. 6. John, May 30, 1804, died June 27, 1848; married Minerva Graves. 7. Samuel, September 25, 1806, died December 14, 1889; married (first) Jerusha Eaton; (second) Nancy Clark. 8. Marcus, born October 31, 1808, died May 16, 1870; married (first) Louisa Eaton ; (second) Eliza Y. Munson. 9. Marcia, January 3, 18II, died May 2, 1855; married Rev. George G. Hapgood. 10. Newton, June 30, 1813; mar- ried Rowena Jones. 11. Elinor, October 8, 1815, died December 4, 1886; married Thomas Rogers. 12. Maria, November 19, 1817, died March 6, 1897 ; married David W. Greenman.
(II) Harry, son of Samuel McGraw, was born September 25, 1797, in Vermont or Con- necticut, died at McGrawville, New York, May 16, 1849. He was educated in the public schools. When his father died he became head of the family, and from 1818 to 1849 he con- ducted a general store in McGrawville and was first postmaster there from 1827 to 1849. In politics he was a prominent Whig ; he was a member of the state assembly in 1843, and assessor and supervisor of the town. He at- tended the Presbyterian church of which his ancestors had been members. He inherited much real estate from his father and it in- creased in value rapidly under his care. Much of his fortune was made in real estate. He married, in Cortlandville, New York, Janu- ary 13, 1820, Sally Smith, born October 2, 1793, died May 1, 1874, daughter of Captain Joseph and Rhoda ( Parker) Smith ( see Smith V). She was a devout Christian and kind mother. Children, born at McGrawville: 1. Lucetta, born January II, 1821 ; married Rev. E. B. Fancher : resides at McGrawville ; chil- dren : Ezra B., Edward P., Sarah L., Cynthia, Henry R. and Minnie (twins), the latter of
A.P. McGraw.
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whom died in infancy, and James R. Fancher. 2. Perrin H., mentioned below. 3. Pamelia, February 3, 1825; married, in McGrawville, 1855, Henry M. Kingman, son of Oliver and Betsey Kingman; merchant of Cincinnatus ; las one adopted daughter, Carrie E. Kingman. 4. Marinda, July 14, 1827; married, Septem- ber 5, 1860, in McGrawville, Henry C. Hend- rick, M. D., born Guilford, New York, Sep- tember II, 1827, son of Leontes and Zilpha (Farnham) Hendrick; surgeon during the civil war, president of the examining board of United States surgeons, Cortland; resides at McGrawville ; child, Henry Delos Hendrick, born October II, 1861. 5. Delos, October 21, 1829, a merchant and produce dealer at Mc- Grawville. 6. Louisa Maria, October 21, 1832, died February 1, 1833.
(III) Perrin H., son of Harry McGraw, was born in McGrawville, New York, Deceni- ber 28, 1822, died October 16, 1899. He at- tended the public schools of Cortland, Homer and Mexico, New York. He began his busi- ness career as a general merchant in partner- ship with his brother Delos. The firm then extended the business and built up an extensive produce and commission trade, especially in butter and cheese. He withdrew from the produce business to establish the corset manu- facturing business, which he conducted in a factory at McGrawville, under the name of the McGraw Corset Company, and he con- ducted the business, which was eminently suc- cessful and which grew to very large propor- tions, until he retired in 1890, and was suc- ceeded as manager by his son, Albert Perrin McGraw.
In politics Mr. McGraw was in early life a Whig, but a leading and influential Republican during his later life. He succeeded his father as postmaster of McGrawville ; represented the district in the state assembly in 1854; was state senator for two years in 1859-60, and held other offices of trust and honor. At the be- ginning of the civil war he assisted the state authorities to organize a regiment and was appointed its quartermaster. He served seven months in the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment of New York Volunteer Infantry.
No public improvement made during the active life of Mr. McGraw can be mentioned in which he was not interested. He was one of the founders and during the entire existence of the institution was president of the New York Central Academy ; the principal promoter
and first president of the U. C. & C. railroad, chartered April 9, 1870, and completed to Mc- Graw, September 18, 1897, by N. A. Bundy, as the Erie & Central New York Railroad. Mr. McGraw was a leader in the educational and church matters of the village, and for many years was an elder of the Presbyterian church. Largely through his ambition, energy and consummate business ability, a rural com- munity was transformed into a thriving manu- facturing center.
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