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 II > Part 79
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1703, and proved July 23, same year. Chil- dren by first wife: John, born October 27, 1643; Jonathan, December 11, 1646; Mary, March 14. 1648: Daniel, December 1, 1650; Samuel, mentioned below; Joshua, November 5, 1655 : Elizabeth, June 15, 1657; Sary, Sep- tember 29. 1659; James; Martha, April I, 1662: Abigail, February 4, 1664; Hannah, March 4, 1666; died March 8, 1666; son, born and died December 18, 1667.
(II) Samuel, son of John Bigelow, was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, October 28, 1653. He married, June 3. 1674, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Flagg; she was born January 14. 1658, and died Septem- ber 7, 1720. He was a prominent citizen of Watertown: an innholder, 1702-16: deputy to the general court, 1708-09-10. His will, dated September 30, 1720, proved February 21. 1731. mentions children as given below, and some grandchildren. Children: John, born May 9, 1675 ; Mary, September 12, 1677; Samuel. September 18, 1679; Sarah, October I, 1691: Thomas, October 24, 1683; Mercy or Martha, April 4, 1686; Abigail, May 7, 1687; Hannah, May 24, 1711; Isaac, men- tioned below; Deliverance, September 22, 1695.
(III) Sergeant Isaac Bigelow, son of Sam- uel Bigelow, was born in Watertown, March or May 19, 1691, and married, December 19, 1709, Mary Bond, of Watertown; she died July 9, 1775. Shortly after his marriage he removed to Colchester, Connecticut, and bought land there May 23, 1712. He was a military man of considerable prominence, and was commissioned sergeant by the governor in 1744. He died in Colchester, September II, 1751, and left an estate valued at £2,087 IIS. gd. Children, born in Colchester : Mercy, July 23, 1711, died young ; Isaac, May 4, 1713; Mercy. February 4, 1715; Mary, July 31, 1719; Hannah, October 2, 1721 ; Abigail, April 13, 1723; Samuel, December 21. 1724; Sarah, died young; Sarah, June 27, 1727; Lydia, April 22, 1729; Elisha, mentioned below.
(IV) Elisha, son of Sergeant Isaac Bige- low, was born in Colchester, April 14. 1731. He married (first), May 25, 1751. Mary, daughter of Jonathan Kilborn; she died Jan- uary II, 1765. aged twenty-nine. He married (second), October 2, 1765, Deborah Chapman, of East Haddam, and she died January 20, 1773, aged forty-two. He married (third); August 3, 1773. Thankful Beebe. Children,
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born in Colchester: by first wife: Elisha, January 17, 1752; Molly, August 28, 1753, died October 15, 1756; Bond, born May 18, 1755; Mary, May 19, 1757; Noah, Febru- ary 7, 1759; Joel, January 9, 1761 ; Lydia, December 12, 1762. By second wife: Deborah, born October 13, 1766; Hannah, February 10, 1768; Aaron, June 19, 1769; Isaac, January 23, 1771 ; Robert, January 19, 1773, died January 24, same year. By third wife: Samuel, May 19, 1774, died March 28, 1775; Samuel, November 19, 1775, died February 22, 1778; Thankful, April 7, 1777; Lucy, August 30, 1779 ; Olynda, July 31, 1781 ; Sophia, August 1, 1783, married, 1802, Abra- ham Winsor; Cynthia, August 1, 1783; Betty, May 9, 1786.
SHEARER The Shearer family was or- iginally from England, and never appears to have been
very numerous. The name belongs to a large class of English surnames derived from the trade of the ancestor at the time of adopting surnames, doubtless as early as the year 1200. The American family is descended from a branch that located in the eigliteenth century in Ulster Province, Ireland, probably before the days of Cromwell, but the name is not among the first grantees and tenants in 1610 and afterward. In 1890 the Irish census shows that a small branch of the family still resides in the north of Ireland. In that year five children bearing this surname were born in Ireland, of whom four were in Ulster.
(I) James Shearer, the American pioneer, came from Antrim, Ireland, to America, about 1720, with the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and in 1720 he located at Union, Connecticut, where several other Scotch families also set- tled. In 1726 he came with the Nevins family to the Elbows, now Palmer, Massachusetts, which was largely settled by Scotch-Irish moving westward from Worcester, Massachu- setts. He was born in 1678, probably in An- trim, and died in 1747. He occupied a central location in Palmer. He was one of the peti- tioners from the Elbows to the governor and general court in 1732 to have the titles of land there confirmed. The settlers bought lands to which the title proved defective, lack- ing the authority of the general court. Among the other farms granted and confirmed in an- swer to the prayer of the petitioners, was a hundred acres to James Shearer. His farm
was east of the Cedar Swamp brook and south of Deacon Sedgwick's farm. The proprie- tors helds their meetings at his house fre- quently. He was on the committee to collect money and pay the minister, Rev. Mr. Har- vey, who was ordained August 23, 1731, in Shearer's house. His gravestone shows that he died January 21, 1747, in his sixty-seventh year, and that he was born in the county An- trim, Ireland. Children, born in Ireland: John, James and William. The gravestone of his wife states that she was born in Derby county, Ireland (England?), and died July 7, 1750, in her seventy-fifth year.
(II) John, son of James Shearer, was born in Ireland, probably in Antrim, in 1706, and died in 1802. He married Jane King. He set- tled in the town of Brimfield, near Palmer, in the eastern part of what is now Three River Village. He was a soldier in the revo- lution, a corporal in Lieutenant Joshua Shaw's company in 1777. He and his son William responded to the Lexington call, April 19, 1775, and both served in Captain David Speer's company, Colonel Pynchon's regiment (P. 133, vol. xiv, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors ; also "History of Palmer"). John Jr. was also in the revolution in 1779. His sons Joseph and Thomas were also in the service in 1777. Two sons fought at the battle of Bennington and two at the battle of Saratoga. John signed the petition of 1739 with his fath- er, complaining of the minister, Mr. Harvey, and of the faction that supported him. John was admitted an inhabitant in 1734 on the Abel Curtis right. Children: Joseph; John Jr., born March 22, 1746, married, 1774, Jane White; William, married Jerusha Perry ; Thomas; David, married, 1791, Kate King ; Jonathan, born March 29, 1762, married Han- nah Dickinson; Noah, mentioned below ; Dan- iel, married Sarah King; Jane, married Wal- lace Little; Betsey, married William White. The order of births is not known.
(III) Noah, son of John Shearer, was born 1764, and married, in 1791, Tirzah Merrick, who died, according to her gravestone in the old Center cemetery, October 10, 1820, in her fifty-first year. He married (second) Betsey, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hobart) Heald, of Pepperell, Massachusetts. Joseph Heald was a descendant of John Heald, a pioneer of .Concord, Massachusetts. Noah Shearer was a farmer. When he was thir- teen years old he went to the battle of Ben-
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nington, in which a brother was engaged, to take horses to the soldiers. Companies of militia were hurried to the support of the northern army at this time. Although not an enlisted soldier, he volunteered, like many others at the time, and carried a musket in the battle. His living children are now among the few surviving children of revolutionary soldiers. Children by the first wife, born at Palmer : William, October 27, 1791 ; Minerva, May 9, 1793; John Little; Hannah Williams; Merrick, April 3, 1800; Sextus, February 28, 1802; Louisa, May 5, 1805; an infant, died December 5, 1809. Children by second wife : Elizabeth Hobart, born 1822, married, 1846, Williston Jones, a Presbyterian clergyman, and resides in East Aurora with her nephew, Albert Shearer (19II) ; she had no children ; Joseph Heald, mentioned below; Tirzah Jane, born June 28, 1826, died unmarried; Albert N., mentioned below.
(IV) Joseph Heald, son of Noah Shearer, was born April 13, 1824, in Palmer, Massa- chusetts. He was educated in the public schools and studied law, beginning to practice in Wyoming county, New York, in 1855. In 1864 he came to East Aurora, New York, where he continued in the general practice of law until he retired, and where he has lived since that time. In 1874 he was in partner- ship with B. S. Farrington, the office of the firm being in Buffalo. For three years he was an excise commissioner of the town of Aurora, and for many years was notary pub- lic by appointment of the governor of the state. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, and one of the builders of that party. He attends the Universalist church. He married, July I, 1852, Emma Richcords, in East Aurora. Chil- dren: I. Albert R., born April 9, 1853 ; mar- ried (first), Abigail Persons, of East Aurora ; (second) Laura Weed ; no children. 2. Clara, born September 27, 1855; married L. F. Per- sons ; children : Floyd, Hobart, William and Flossie Persons. 3. Louisa, born April 3, 1857; married George Noyes; five children ; resides in western Nebraska. 4. Mary Jane, died when ten years of age. 5. Dora, Febru- ary 27, 1863; married Albert H. Peirson. 6. William R., born October 3, 1866; married Flora Gilbert ; resides in Hennessy, Kingfisher county, Oklahoma ; seven children. 7. Child, died an infant.
(IV) Albert N., brother of Joseph Heald Shearer, was born in October, 1828. When
a young man, in 1848, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and afterward, in 1852, to San Francisco, California. Thence he went to Australia as supercargo of a vessel which was wrecked on the return voyage on Raven Island. For some time he and four other survivors lived on the island subsisting on fruit and wild hogs until rescued by a passing vessel. He subsequently engaged in business in Hong Kong, and later in Shanghai, China. He returned to this country, and died in Cali- fornia, after many years of retirement, in 1894. He married, in 1865, Laura B. Smith ; their only child died young.
The Hunt family, of which. Gov- HUNT ernor Hunt was a scion, was of revolutionary ancestry. The gov- ernor's father was Sanford Hunt, a resident of Greene county when Washington was born, but later moved to Livingston county and gave the name of Hunt's Hollow to a settle- ment which he made there.
Washington Hunt was born in Windham, Greene county, this state, August 5, 1811. There he laid. the foundations of his educa- tion. At seventeen he was a resident of Lock- port, where he was clerk in the general store of Tucker & Bissell. Two years passed thus and his ambitions rose; next he is found studying law with Lot Clark. He was more of the business . man, however, than lawyer ; after his admission to the bar, he found con- genial employment for his talent in real estate and other investments. In 1833, for instance, the firm of Hunt & Walbridge was formed. Its purpose was the purchase of 32,000 acres of land in Niagara county from the Albany Land Company. This transaction made Mr. Hunt a very rich man. The following year he married Mary Walbridge, daughter of his partner. A year after his marriage, at the early age of twenty-four, he was appointed by Governor Marcy "first judge," as it was then known, of the county. This office he filled for five years with great dignity and ability, his youth notwithstanding.
He ran for congress in the thirties on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated. In the year 1840 he abandoned that party, on the financial issue, and in 1842 was sent to con- gress by the Whigs. His service in Wash- ington extended from 1843 to 1849. In con- gress he earned a name for ability and in- dustry and rose to be a leader of his party.
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After this service, he was appointed comp- troller of the city of New York, and in 1850 received the nomination of the Whig party for governor of the Empire state. His oppo- nent was the redoubtable and popular Horatio Seymour. Hunt defeated him by two hundred and sixty-two votes in a total poll of 429,000 ; but in the next gubernatorial campaign, both being candidates again, Seymour turned the tables and won over his antagonist similarly in a close race. Hunt was a coalition candi- date for congress in 1856, but was defeated ; again in 1862, when he was the Democratic candidate for the place, he was unsuccessful.
For some years before his death, he spent a good part of his time in New York City. There he died of cancer, February 2, 1867. In the development of Lockport along business lines, Governor Hunt was intimately identified. At different times he had interests there in five banks. In the development of the water power of the canal, which he and Governor Marcy leased from the state in 1836, he was prominent. He had investments also in a number of the industrial concerns which util- ized the water power and he was a large holder of realty and railroad securities.
CONGDON The first Congdon of record in New England was Benja- min Congdon, born 1650, who settled in Rhode Island, at Kingstown, where he bought two hundred and thirty acres of land in Narragansett, but did not occupy it for several years. He was made a freeman in 1677. In deeds made in 1683 he styles himself "late of Portsmouth, planter." He died June 19, 1718. His will, dated July 2, 1715, was probated December 10, 1718. He married Elizabeth, died November 15, 1720, daughter of John and Dorothy Albro. John Albro was born in England, in 1617, came to America in the ship "Francis," and four years later (1639) was among those who first set- tled Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where he mar- ried Dorothy, widow of Nathaniel Potter. From him descend all bearing the name of Albro, who are of early New England ances- try. Children of Benjamin Congdon : I. William, died 1761 ; had first wife Mary, and second wife Margaret; children of first wife: Joseph, William, Margaret, Elizabeth and Abigail. 2. Benjamin, married, 1701, Frances Stafford ; children : Benjamin, William, Stuke- ley and James. 3. John, had wife Mary;
children : Jeremiah, Mary, John and James. 4. James, of whom further.
(II) James, fourth child of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Albro) Congdon, was born April 19, 1686, and died September 27, 1757. He resided at Kingstown, Providence and Charles- town, Rhode Island. He married three times : (first) Margaret Eldred, daughter of Samuel and Martha (Knowles) Eldred, by whom he had nine children: James, Penelope, Benja- min, Samuel, William, John, Elizabeth, Mar- tha, Margaret. Margaret (Eldred) Congdon died in 1728. James Congdon married (sec- ond) Dorcas Westcott, daughter of Benjamin and Bethiah (Gardner) Westcott, by whom he had three children: Ephraim, Dorcas and Joseph. Dorcas (Westcott) Congdon died in 1734. James Congdon married (third) Mary Hoxsie, widow of Joseph Hoxsie, daughter of Robert and Deborah Taylor. Mary (Tay- lor) (Hoxsie) Congdon was born November 23, 1703, and died in 1755. She was married to James Congdon. November 15, 1739, at her residence in Charlestown, "that being the usual meeting place in Charlestown of the Quakers." By her James had three children: Robert, Susannah, Phebe.
James Congdon appears in the town rec- ords as follows: 1720, freeman ; 1731-32-33- 34-47-48, town council; 1732, deputy, 1738, sold land in South Kingston for £900; 1745- 55, moderator of town meeting; 1745-47-48- 49-50, deputy ; his will, proved in 1757, dis- poses of a large estate, ten slaves by name to various children, negroes to sons and Spanish Indian girls to daughters, lands, houses, cat- tle, etc., to each child.
(III) John, sixth child of James and Mar- garet (Eldred) Congdon, died a little before the revolution, at about forty-five years of age. He married, October 6, 1745, at Charles- town, Sarah Hoxsie, a sister of Judge Hox- sie, of Charlestown. By her he had eleven children: James, of whom further; Joseph, Sarah, Isaac, Mary, Catherine, Martha, Pene- lope, Mary (second), Frances, John.
(IV) James (2), eldest son of John and Sarah (Hoxsie) Congdon, was born October 13, 1747, and died May 3, 1803, at Charles- town, Rhode Island. In a letter written by him he signed himself James Congdon 3rd. He married (first) Elizabeth Sherman, Janu- ary 23, 1773; by her he had no children; (second) Rebecca Ryder, November 2, 1780; by her he had five children: John Ryder, born
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January 16, 1783; James; Catherine; Benja- min, of whom further ; and a boy who died in infancy.
At the time of the revolution, James was one of the committee of safety in Charles- town. He spent a thousand dollars of his own money for the revolution, and after the war received a grant of about one thousand acres of land in Ohio, near Marietta, in pay- ment. He was considered the best and largest farmer in Charlestown. He was the last of the family to work his farm with slave labor.
(V) Benjamin, fourth child of James (2) and Rebecca (Ryder) Congdon, was born Angust 29, 1788, at Charlestown, Rhode Island, and died March 20, 1881, at Napoli, New York. He was twice married; (first) to Harriet, daughter of William Hazard Knowles, of Point Judith, Rhode Island, Feb- ruary 25, 1816; by her he had four children, all of whom died in infancy except William Hazard Knowles Congdon, of whom further. Benjamin Congdon married (second) Mary, daughter of Gardner Kinyon, of Point Ju- dith, Rhode Island, and Susannah (Boss) Kinyon, December 9, 1824. By her he had nine children. Harriett Augusta, born No- vember 1, 1825, married Sydney Marsh; Su- san Rebecca, born September 20, 1827, mar- ried Joseph Hazard; Mary Catherine, born February 12, 1829, married Elias Harmon ; Emily, born January 24, 1831, married Elias Rowley ; Caroline Elizabeth, born December 6, 1832, never married; Hannah Maria, born June 18, 1835, married Andrew Vidal; James Gardner, born January 5, 1837, married Lucy MI. Beers; Lucretia Kinyon, born March 28, 1839, died in infancy ; Benjamin Edwin, born August 8, 1843, married Martha Brown.
Benjamin Congdon served in the war of 1812. He came to Napoli, New York, about 1840, and was a well-known farmer of that town until his death, at the age of ninety-two years.
(VI) William Hazard Knowles Congdon, eldest son of Benjamin and Harriet (Knowles) Congdon, was born September 12, 1818, at Point Judith, Rhode Island, and died August 14, 1906, at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, New York. He was married, April 6, 1843, at Napoli, New York, to Elizabeth Mariah Miller, born January 1, 1826, daughter of Joseph Hoppin Miller, one of the early settlers of Napoli, and Mariah (Boardman) Miller, his wife. To them were born six children :
Benjamin Franklin, of whom further; Joseph Miller, born January 12, 1846, married Alice Miriam Jenkins, died September 15, 1907; William Henry, born October 20, 1847, mar- ried Ilona Leone Booth; Florence Maria, born January 29, 1851, married Ira Peaslee; Charles Edwin, born January 23, 1854, died December 6, 1873; Silas Salmon, born De- cember 20, 1857, married Cora Bryant, died Jannary II, 1904.
William H. K. Congdon was a farmer of the town of Napoli during the whole of the active period of his life.
(VII) Benjamin Franklin, eldest son of Will- iam H. K. and Elizabeth M. (Miller) Cong- don, was born in Napoli, Cattaraugus county, New York, May 2, 1844. He was educated in the public schools and Randolph Academy. He chose the profession of law, and pursued legal study under M. T. Jenkins, then of East Randolph, Judge Hazeltine, of Jamestown, New York, and William Manley, of Ellicott- ville. While obtaining his legal studies there were periods when he taught in the schools of his district. He completed his law study at Albany Law School in 1870, and was ad- mitted to the bar in October of the same year. He began practice with his brother, Joseph M. Congdon, in East Randolph, New York, continuing until 1873, when he located in Ran- dolph, where for a year he was in partnership with James G. Johnson, after which he con- tinued practice alone. He was well read in the law, and commanded a good and lucra- tive practice. He was a Republican in poli- tics, and in 1880 was appointed by Governor Cornell attorney for the Seneca Nation of In- dians, a position he held three years. During the legislative sessions of 1892 and 1893 he was a senate committee clerk. He married, December 12, 1872, Frances Mary, daughter of Dr. Samuel S. and Mary Jane ( Bell) Wil- cox, of Napoli. Of this marriage were born four children. I. Darwin Wilcox, attorney ; born July 3, 1875; married, November 14, 1906, Marilla Adams ; children: Frances Eva, born November 5, 1907 : Elsie Mary, March 7, 1909. 2. Charles Edwin, attorney; born July 17, 1877 ; married, October 4, 1905, Mary Isabel Cotrael ; children : William James, born November 2, 1907; Elizabeth, August 2, 1910. 3. William Bell, born March 7, 1881, died February 25, 1882. 4. Harold Knowles, of further mention.
(VIII) Harold Knowles, youngest son of
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Benjamin F. and Frances M. (Wilcox) Cong- don, was born in Randolph, New York, Oc- tober 6, 1883. He was educated in the pub- lic schools, Chamberlain Institute, graduating class of 1902, and entered Oberlin College, re- maining two years. He then took up the study of law under his brother Darwin, and in 1910 was admitted to the bar. He is now (19II) in the practice of his profession in Randolph. He is a member of Randolph Lodge, No. 359, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a trustee of the Congregational church. He is a Republican in politics, and for six years has been town clerk of Randolph.
He married, November 24, 1906, Ethel Woodmancy; child: Harold Knowles (2), born August 15, 1908.
PERSONS Uriah Persons came to New York state in 1806, and made his home in the town of Shel- don, in the Holland Purchase. He was born March 12, 1763, died in March, 1842, and married Elizabeth Dalrymple, born June 10, 1762. Children: David, born December 10, 1782; William, June 5, 1784; John, October 29, 1786, died July 25, 1843; Uriah Jr., born June 6, 1789, died March II, 1842; Joseph, born September 5, 1791 ; Robert, born April I, 1793, died August 31, 1864 ; Charles, April 21, 1795; Elihu, April 15, 1798, died May 24, 1868; Henry, born August 25, 1799, died Oc- tober, 1819; Hiram (twin) ; Elizabeth, born August 10, 1801; Polly, born August 24, 1803; James, of whom further; Alonzo, born July 1, 1811, died October 26, 1897.
(II) James, son of Uriah Persons, was born in Sheldon, October 1, 1807, and died Octo- ber 21, 1896. He married Diana, daughter of Theophilus Humphrey, of Connecticut. Children: I. Alonzo, married Sarah Fisher. 2. Herrick, married Marian, daughter of James Blakeley, and lived in Minnesota ; died in Gordon, Wisconsin, December 8, 1910. 3. Julia, married Warren Hall, of Wales Centre, New York, a farmer and prominent citizen. 4. Cynthia, married Michael Higgins, a farmer. 5. James, married Marian, dauglı- ter of Dr. Wallace. 6. Lucy, of whom fur- ther. 7. Harriet, married Oscar Gail, a bro- ther of Dr. Gail. 8. Mary, married James Holcomb, of Bloomington, Illinois. 9. Wal- cott Humphrey, married Jessie, daughter of Thomas Wilson, of East Aurora, New York. (III) Lucy, daughter of James Persons,
was born February 18, 1839, at Yucatan, Houston county, Minnesota. She married, November 10, 1864, Orlando John Gardner, born at Youngstown, Trumbull county, Ohio, February 5, 1842. Orlando John Gardner was son of Clinton Milo Gardner, a carriage manu- facturer, and came to East Aurora, New York, at the end of the civil war. He had enlisted in Minnesota in 1861, and was com- missioned second lieutenant, afterward first lieutenant of the First Minnesota Regiment of Volunteers. He was a civil engineer and surveyor, as well as a carriage maker by trade, and was employed to lay out many highways in East Aurora. He was a member of the local lodge of Free Masons, a well- known and highly respected citizen. He died at East Aurora, April 7, 1910. His widow resides in the old home, East Aurora. Chil- dren: I. Charles Albert, born August 29, 1866, in East Aurora. 2. Minnie, born June 30, 1869; married I. G. Ogilvie, of East Au- rora. 3. James, born December 10, 1873; married Nellie Curtis, and resides in Buffalo, New York; has one child, Bernice.
VREELAND Michael Jansen Vreeland, the founder of his name in America, was born in 1610, and came to America from Scrabbekerk Island of South Beveland, Province of Zee- land, Netherland, by way of Amsterdam, in the ship "Arms of Norway." He arrived at New Netherlands (New York), August 4, 1638, with his wife Fitje (Sophia), one son, Claas, and two servants. He proceeded at once up the Hudson, where he leased a farm of the Van Rensselaers, at what is now Green Bush, opposite Albany. He soon became en- gaged in the fur trade with the Indians, in which it is said "he made his fortune in two years." The fur trade, however, was the pre- rogative of the Dutch West India Company, consequently he found himself in difficulty with the authorities, and removed to New Am- sterdam before November 4, 1644, having empowered Arent Van Curler to settle his accounts and differences with Van Rensselaer. In 1646 he settled in Communipaw, New Jer- sey, and in 1647-49-50 represented Pavonia in the Council of Nine. On September 15, 1655, the Indians massacred every one of the Pa- vonia community except the family of Michael Jansen Vreeland, which was obliged to take refuge in New Amsterdam. In February,
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