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 III > Part 61
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the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Ma- sonry. He is also a member of the Elks and of Canasawacta Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a director of the First National Bank of Norwich.
He married, October 19, 1881, Alice L. Turner, born in Preston, daughter of George H. and Vesta (Merrill) Turner. They have one child, Edna A., born in Norwich, New York.
BISSELL The Bissell, or Byssell family, is of French Huguenot origin. Many French Huguenots fled to England to escape the persecution follow- ing the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's in 1572. Little is known of the history of the Bissells in England. The coat-of-arms, Gules on bend argent three escallops sable. Crest : A demi-eagle with wings displayed sable, charged on the neck with an escallop shell or. Motto: In recto decus. ( In rectitude hon- or). The family of John Bissell, who settled in Windsor, Connecticut, is the only Bissell family known to have come to this country and all the colonial families are descended from him. They include two governors, one of Connecticut, and one of Illinois, a member of President Cleveland's cabinet, Postmaster General Bissell, a judge, and many other men prominent both in public and business life in many states. It is said that John and his brother, Thomas, came from Somersetshire, England; that Thomas died at Plymouth or returned to England. There is also a tradi- tion that Thomas married an Indian girl, a Poquonnoc Sachem's daughter, and died with- out issue. The same tradition has been held concerning Thomas, son of John Holmes. No trace of such a marriage or of the immigrant. Thomas Bissell, is to be found, however.
(1) John Bissell was born in Somerset. England, in 1590, died in Windsor, Connecti- cut, October 3, 1077. He came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1628, removed to Windsor, Connecticut, before 1640, and was deputy to the general court of that colony in 1642. He held a lease of the Scantic ferry in that town. and located his house on the east side of the river, near the present wharf belonging to the Quarry Company. The road on the easterly side of the Connecticut river, leading from his house, followed the present road easterly to the foot of the hill, thence northeasterly up the hill across the farm now known as the
George Prior farm, where the road still has the appearance of being very ancient. He built his house on the west side as early as 1659-60. In 1662 he gave his homestead with the ferry in old Windsor to his son John, and removed with his son Nathaniel to a site be- low the mouth of the Scantic. His was prob- ably the first family actually residing on the east side of the river. Cellars and houses were there earlier, and in 1648 William Hills sold a dwelling house, barn and appurtenances on that side, but the houses were occupied by laborers, who temporarily resided there while cultivating the meadow and cutting hay, which was stored in ricks until winter and then carried across the river on the ice. In 1675 John Bissell was a soldier in King Phil- ip's war, and his house was fortified and used as a garrison house for the neighborhood. In 1077 he was quartermaster of a troop of horse, and in that year his son Nathaniel op- erated the ferry from which John Bissell Jr. had been released on condition that some one be found to fill his place. The landing on the east side was changed to the south side of the Scantic about one hundred years ago. The homestead passed from John ( 2) Bissell to hiis son Daniel, whose son Daniel sold the house in 1790, and removed to Randolph, Ver- mont. The house was removed to another part of the town. There appears to be no rec- ord of the name of John Bissell's wife, but her death is recorded on May 21, 1041. Chil- dren : 1. John, born in England; married, June 17, 1658, Isabel Mason, of Saybrook. daughter of the Indian fighter, Captain John Mason. 2. Thomas, mentioned below. 3. Mary, born in England; married, April 12, 1649, Jacob Drake: no children. 4. Samuel, born 1636: lived in Windsor. 5. Nathaniel, born at Windsor, September 24, 1640; mar- ried (first ) Mindwell Moore, September 25. 1662; (second) Dorothy, daughter of Rev. James Fitch, September 25, 1683. 6. Joyce, born about 1642; married, November 7, 1005. Samuel Pinnet.
( 1] ) Thomas, second son of John Bissell. was born in England, died July 31, 1680. In 1055 he bought a house and eleven and a quarter acres of land on the west side of Main street, Windsor, but he resided most of his life on the east side of the river. He acknowledged the half-way covenant and was admitted to the Windsor church, January 31 1661, and his wife was admitted by the same
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course, February 28, following. He married, October 11, 1655, Abigail, daughter of Dea- con John and Abigail Moore, of Windsor. Children : Thomas, . Abigail, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Sarah, Isaac. Ephraim, died young ; Esther, Ephraim, Luke.
(III) Lieutenant Isaac Bissell, fifth son of Thomas and Abigail (Moore) Bissell, was born September 22, 1682, in Windsor, died February 6, 1744. in Litchfield, Connecticut, where he settled about 1723, and was the founder of the Litchfield branch of the fan- ily. He purchased for four hundred and fifty pounds one-sixtieth of the town of Litchfield (about seven hundred acres), and subsequent- ly a lot in North street for ninety pounds. He built what was subsequently known as "The old red house," which was demolished about 1857, being then the oldest building in the town. He married, May 2. 1706, Elizabeth, born December 17, 1684, in Windsor. daugh- ter of John and Abigail (Eggleston) Osborn. Children: Elizabeth, Isaac, Abigail, Sarah. Joel, Benjamin. Roger, George, Joseph, Zeb- ulon.
(IV) Isaac (2), eldest son of Isaac ( I) and Elizabeth (Osborn) Bissell, was born March 9, 1709, in Windsor, died in 1777, in that town, where he made his home. He mar- ried, October 1, 1746, but only the baptismal name of his wife Sarah is preserved. Chil- dren : Isaac, Luther, Sarah, Calvin, Oliver, Archelaus.
(V) Isaac (3), eldest son of Isaac (2) and Sarah Bissell, was born August 5, 1747, died June 19. 1823, in Hartwick, New York. He resided for a time in Litchfield, Connecticut. and about 1799 removed to Bowe Hill in the town of Hartwick, Otsego county, New York. He left Litchfield. June II, with his wife and their ten children, taking also one horse and voke of oxen. a cow and ten sheep. The first three nights of their journey were spent with friends or relatives along the way. In ford- ing streams it was found necessary to lead the horse in first, after which the other ani- mals followed. The journey consumed three weeks. Acquaintances had preceded them to the new settlement, and these took hold on their arrival and assisted in building a log house for a home. Shortly afterwards they built a frame house which is still standing. Isaac Bissell married, December 13, 1770. Alathea Way (this name is frequently writ- ten Abiatha, which probably arose from blind
writing in some record). Children: John, Luther, Orange, Levi, Sally, Harvey, Benja- min. Norman, Polly.
(VI) Norman, seventh son of Isaac (3) and Alathea (Way) Bissell, was born Janu- ary 3, 1784, in Litchfield, died January 28. 1874, in Hartwick. He was an active mem- ber of the Presbyterian church. He married, about 1810, Ruth, daughter of Artemas and Hannah (Percy) Ward, of the adjoining town of Milford. Children : I. Mary Ann, born January 1, 1811, died at the age of twen- ty years. 2. Amos, mentioned below. 3. Mar- garet, July 26. 1815; married Sylvester Lu- ther: died in 1881. 4. Alathea Way, June 4. 1817; became the wife of Hawley King ; died in 1900. 5. Norman. November 20, 1820, died 1869. 6. Artemas, August 1, 1826, died when twenty-two years old. 7. Edna Pame- lia, August 28, 1830, died 1907, unmarried. 8. Celia, February 18, 1837: married Rev. Albert Waldron, who died in 1874; she now resides with her two daughters in Brooklyn, New York.
(VII) Amos, eldest son of Norman and Ruth (Ward) Bissell, was born December 24. 1812, in Hartwick. He was prominent as a business man in Otsego county throughout his life. Until after the civil war he conducted a country store and accumulated some capi- tal which he invested in Michigan pine lands. In 1877 he sold at a large profit and rein- vested his money in cattle ranches in New Mexico and Colorado, and in timber land in North Wisconsin and Minnesota. The cattle venture proved disastrous, and at his death, October 29, 1888, in Milford, New York, his estate was heavily involved. This passed to his son, who was unable to extricate it from its difficulties and was forced to make an as- signment in 1893. Like his father, Mr. Bis- sell was active in the Presbyterian church at Milford, which was largely supported during their lives by their subscriptions. Neither was at any time active in politics, but both were staunch Republicans in principle. He married. January 19, 1843, Harriet Newell Babcock. born January 17. 1817. died March II, 1879.
(VIII) George Newell, only child of Amos and Harriet N. ( Babcock) Bissell, was born December 25, 1846, in Milford. died at White Plains, New York, December 31. 1901. After . struggling in vain to redeem his father's es- tate he removed to White Plains, New York,
Olamento Bisvedl
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where he was first employed in a salaried po- sition, and later engaged in business himself. He was an active member of the Presbyterian church at Milford.
George Newell Bissell married (first) June 29, 1871, at Watertown, New York, Sarah C. Hamlin, born December 19, 1848, died May 31, 1877, in Milford. He married (second) January 3, 1888, Hannah Hayes, born Oc- tober 18, 1856. Children of first wife: Clar- ence H., mentioned below ; Amos, mentioned below ; David, born May 18, 1877, died Octo- ber 8. 1877. Children of second wife. Ad- dison Hayes, born November 5, 1888; George Norman, March 13, 1890; students in Prince- ton University.
(IX) Clarence Hamlin, eldest child of George Newell and Saralı C. (Hamlin) Bis- sell, was born April 6, 1873, in Milford, New York.
He has been for many years a promi- nent citizen of Newark, New Jersey, holding high official positions in several large corpor- ations of that city and elsewhere. His rise has been rapid, his advancement from appren- ticeship to the topmost rung of the ladder, in short order, being one of the remarkable fea- tures of his career in a number of instances. He seems to have been always active in every- thing he undertook and always successful in whatever he attempted. His strong person- ality first materialized in college sports. He was graduated from the Phillips Exeter Acad- emy in 1891, and he received his degree of A. B. from Princeton University in 1895. At the university he played on the freshman base- ball team and was sub-catcher on the 'Varsity team. In his sophomore year he was elected treasurer of the baseball association for the junior year, and in the latter was chosen pres- ident and manager for the senior year, and following his graduation he was appointed general athletic treasurer of the Princeton University Athletic Association, which posi- tion he hield until September, 1896. At the close of Mr. Bissell's university career he de- cided to enter commercial life and went to Newark, New Jersey, in the employ of the Murphy Varnish Company. He began here at the bottom, serving three years in the fac- tory. At the end of that time, having demon- strated his ability in a satisfactory manner. he was made factory superintendent, and shortly after was made general superintend- ent. In 1907 he was elected second vice-pres-
ident, an advancement thus being shown from that of a hired hand to the second position of official importance in the largest concern of its kind in the world. Mr. Bissell is also president of the Imperial Car Cleaner Com- pany, vice-president of the Blanchite Paint Company, director of the Murphy Varnish Company, the Cleveland Varnish Company, the Wilson Remover Company, the Dougall Varnish Company of Montreal, Canada, the National State Bank of Newark, and several other concerns in the United States and Can- ada.
Mr. Bissell is active in club life also. He has long been a member of the New Jer- sey Automobile and Motor Club, having been its vice-president, and according to the opin- ion of automobilists no man in that club is better fitted for the position held than Mr. Bissell. He has been elected to succeed W. Clive Crosby, the retiring president. Mr. Bis- sell is also a member of the Tiger Inn Club of Princeton, the Princeton Club of New York, the Union League Club of Chicago and the University Club of New York.
(IX) Amos, son of George Newell and Sarah C. (Hamlin) Bissell, was born Janu- ary 13, 1875, in Milford, New York. He at- tended public schools until the fall of 1888 when he entered Hartwick Seminary and graduated in the classical and academic courses in June, 1890. That fall he entered the middle class at Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, from which school he graduated in June, 1892. In September, 1892, he entered the freshman class of Prince- ton University and remained until February, 1895. when he accepted a position with Hor- ace Partridge & Company. Boston, Massachu- setts. In February, 1899, he went with Iver Johnson's Sporting Goods Company, Boston, Massachusetts, and in May. 1900, with the Essex Varnish Company as traveling sales- man, in which position he remained until July 1. 1907. being promoted to manager of that company, which position he now occupies. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, Washington Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Roxbury, Massachusetts; Mt. Vernon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; De Molay Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, Bos- ton, Massachusetts, and of Kalurah Temple.
He married, April 15, 1895, Louise, daugh- ter of Aaron and Joanna ((iriffin ) Salisbury. They have no children.
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The derivation of this surname BIXBY has not yet been definitely ascer- tained. The family originated in England, in Suffolk county, doubtless, for prior to 1600 many Bixbys are found there, and at that early date, in no other English county. The family has been long in An- erica, and has furnished many pioneers and prominent citizens. Members of the family were active in the early settlement of New England, and later in the settlement of nearly all of the northern United States, and are now scattered throughout the entire United States. In the early records of New England the name is spelled Bixby. Bigsby, Byxbe, and occasionally in other ways. At the present
time, descendants of Joseph Bixby, of Ips- wich, Massachusetts, generally spell the name Bixby. Some spell it Bigsby and some Byx- bee, while there are very few spelling it Bigs- bee, and one family spelling it Bixbee. With three or four exceptions, all people' in the United States and Canada bearing this name are descended from Joseph Bixby, of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
(1) Sergeant Joseph Bixby was born in England in 1621. He was a resident of Ips- wich, Massachusetts, in 1647, where we find the record of his marriage in December, 1647. to Sarah, widow of Luke Heard, and daugh- ter of John Wyatt, of Ipswich, formerly of Assington, Suffolk county, England. She (lied June 3, 1704, at the age of eighty-four years. Joseph Bixby was a carpenter by trade. In 1660 he removed to Rowley Village, now Boxford, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Topsfield Company of Militia and was made sergeant in 1666. He died in Boxford, April 19, 1700. His will is on file at Salem, Massachusetts, together with the in- ventory of his estate which showed a total of £149 45. 15d. His children were: Joseph. Daniel. Benjamin, Sarah, Nathaniel. Mary. George, Jonathan, Abigail.
( II ) Daniel, second son of Joseph and Sa- rah Bixby, was born in Ipswich about 1651, (lied in Andover, May 7, 1717. He married. December 2, 1674. Hannah, daughter of Lieu- tenant Thomas and Hannah (Brower ) Chan- dler. She died November 20, 1730. Daniel Bixby removed to Andover prior to his mar- riage and died there. His children, all of whom were born in Andover, were: Daniel, Hannah. Thomas, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mephibosheth, Mary, Joseph.
(III) Mephibosheth, son of Daniel Bixby. was born April 3, 1690, in Andover, Massa- chusetts, died March 20, 1767, at Winchen- don, Massachusetts. He married. May 23. 1713. Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Emmons. He moved from Andover to Wo- burn in April, 1724, thence to Shrewsbury where he bought land in 1736. He sold land in Shrewsbury in 1742, in 1746 and in 1750. Ile probably accompanied his son Daniel to Winchendon in 1767 or earlier. Children, all born in Andover : Daniel. Mary, Samuel, Jonathan, David, Nathaniel. Martha.
(IV) Samuel. son of Mephibosheth Bixby, was born August 31. 1716, in Andover, Mas- sachusetts, died March 12, 1800, in Boylston. Massachusetts. He married, at Woburn, No- vember. 1737, Mary Buck. He moved to Chelmsford prior to 1739, having come there from Shrewsbury. He afterward returned to Shrewsbury and was living there in 1745. but moved to Lancaster in 1761 where he married. October 8, 1773, Sarah Beaman, of Lancaster, widow. She died in Lancaster, January 21. 1800. Samuel Bixby was a member of the train band of Captain Jabez Beaman. of Shrewsbury. Children : Samuel. Joseph, Ma- nassel, John, Ephraim, Martha, Mary.
(\) Samuel (2), son of Samuel ( 1) Bixby. was born prior to December. 1739, perhaps in the preceding year, although family tradi- tion gives the date of his birth in 1740. Ile was probably born in Shrewsbury. He died in Bainbridge, New York, 1820. He married. March 4, 1762, at Lancaster, Massachusetts. Hannah Powers, born there January 10, 1739. died in 1819 in Bainbridge. She was daugh- ter of Jonathan and Hannah ( Sawyer) Pow- ers, of Lancaster. Jonathan Powers was a revolutionary soldier. Samuel Bixby re- moved to Guilford, Vermont, perhaps as early as 1768, but the records of land transactions there are imperfect and there is no record of his first purchase. His brothers Manasseh and Ephraim accompanied him, or else went there soon after. He was for many years one of the most prominent men in Guilford. holdin ; town office and associating with the party favoring New York. Guilford was chartered by Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire. in 1768. Children: Hannah, born December 13. 1762. in Princeton, married Asa Stowell ; Sibyl, October 1. 1765. in Princeton, married (first ) Edward Davison, ( second) Henry Evans: Priscilla, born December 20, 1767, in
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Princeton, married Henry Ward; Asahel, born October, 1770, in Guilford, Vermont, married Clarina Smith ; Samuel, born January 25, 1784, in Guilford, married Lois Moss ; Elizabeth, born April 8, 1778, in Guilford, married Russell Redfieldl.
For several years the affairs of the town were conducted peacefully and successfully, in fact because of the town's unique position almost as an independent community. This state of affairs lasted until 1777 when Vermont having declared her independence, a party favoring the new state found themselves tem- porarily in the ascendency. At the town meet- ing held May 17, 1774, Samuel Bixby was chosen constable, and in 1777 assessor. The following year he was chosen on committee to lay out roads and on March 16, 1781, was chosen town clerk, which office he held until the annual meeting in 1784 when the Vermont party again secured control. On June 5, 1782, he had been appointed a justice of the peace for Cumberland county in the New York jur- isdiction, and that year was also a petit jury- man. He thus was a conspicuous adherent to the New York claim. Cumberland county was set up by New York in 1766, but the ad- ministration by the New York officials was mostly a fiction, although officers were ap- pointed both civil and military.
When Vermont asserted her independence in 1777 a draft was ordered to provide mil- itia for the defence of the state, and the offi- cials of the Vermont party in Guilford, in- stead of selecting those who claimed to be citizens of that state, drafted men of the op- position, who refused to serve or to supply substitutes thus participating an open rupture. The Vermont selectmen ordered that the es- tates of Samuel Bixby and four others be dis- trained upon for the sum of £15 to meet the expense the town had been to to find substi- tutes for the five delinquents. The sheriff's deputy proceeded to the house of Joel Bige- . low, one of the five, where he found many per- sons collected, and proceeded to take a cow. He was then set upon by about sixty "York- ers" who rescued the animal. Court proceed- ings were immediately instituted against those taking part in the "riot," and among those in- dicted was Samuel Bixby. The following year the York party obtained control of the town. The climax of the trouble was reached in 1783 and 1784. Ethan Allen with a com- pany of militia and volunteers from neighbor-
ing parts occupied the town and took several of the York party prisoners. Shots were ex- changed and some blood shed, both at this time and later. In July, 1784, Samuel Bixby and others were indicted in the Vermont courts for the part they had taken in the as- sault on Sergeant Fisk, and feeling that fur- ther resistance was hopeless on October 25, petitioned the general court of Vermont for pardon and to be permitted to become citizens of that state. This petition, together with that of twenty-five others, was granted, and it was exacted that upon their taking the oath of allegiance their estates so far as the same had not been disposed of should be restored to them.
In 1782 Bixby had been clerk of the con- vention of committees, a convention of dele- gates from the York towns of Guilford, Brat- tleboro, Halifax and Marlboro, and in his of- ficial capacity reported to Governor Clinton the doing's of the Vermont supporters and ęs- pecially the illegal act of arrest and banish- ment under pain of death of certain of the York leaders. And in 1785, at the time Ver- mont was making a strenuous effort to be admitted to the Union, he wrote to Governor Clinton, being one of a committee in behalf of the loyal subjects of New York, protesting against the action of Vermont and affirming that no York man had taken the oath of alleg- iance to Vermont except those confined in gaol and fed with the bread and water of at- fliction.
Guilford had been the centre of York oppo- sition to Vermont, and upon a settlement hav- ing been made between New York and Ver- mont, upon petition of the agents of one hun- dred and seven residents of Cumberland coun- ty, who had suffered in their persons and es- tates by upholding the sovereignty of New York, that state voted a township eight miles square to them, to be apportioned by commis- sioners. On July 11, 1786, three hundred and eighty acres in lot No. 81 in Clinton township No. 2 was granted to Samuel Bixby.
The popular account of the resistance to Vermont authority which centred at Guilford. ascribes association and union between the York party and the Tories during the revolu- tion. This certainly was not so. The men of the New York party did their turn in the defence of the border, and acted under and received pay from the Vermont authorities. Both Samuel and Manasseh Bixby, his broth-
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er, who was also a York adherent and some- what prominent in town, served in the patriot forces during the war. He enlisted, August 29, and served until September 23, 1777, as sergeant in the company commanded by Cap- tain Josialı Boyden in Colonel William Will- iams' regiment which marched to Bennington, and his brother Manasseh served during the following month. Also they both served for six days in the company of Captain Charles Nelson raised by order of the convention to defend the frontiers, from March 20 to 26, 1721. Their names also appear on the muster rolls of the New York state troops as ser- geants in Williams' regiment, the year not given, Samuel in Shepard's company and Manasseh in Stowell's company.
This was not the only military service of Samuel Bixby. As a youth he had taken part in the old French war. He enlisted March 31 and served until October 15, 1758, in a com- pany commanded by Captain Asa Whitcomb in Colonel Jonathan Bagley's regiment raised for the reduction of Canada.
Samuel Bixby settled in what is now Bain- bridge, New York, in June, 1788. Bainbridge' received its present name in 1814, being form- erly known as Jericho. Until 1791 it was in Montgomery county, then in Tioga until 1795. The land granted to Bixby was on both sides of the river, and Asahel had built his cabin on the eastern side. It is said to have been a log shanty covered with brush.
Both Samuel Bixby and his wife had been members of the church in Princeton, Massa- chusetts, and February 7, 1804, they obtained letters of dismission from that church to the church in Jericho.
(VI) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) and Hannah (Powers) Bixby, was born January 25, 1784, in Guilford. He was a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Lois Moss, a na- tive of Connecticut, and settled on the home- stead of his father on the east side of the river in Bainbridge, where he died July 23, 1857, aged seventy-three years. His wife died April 2, 1852, aged seventy-five years. Children : Jonas; Mary, married Elisha Sharp; Titus M .; Joel J .; Henry; Asa ; Di- nah.
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