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 78
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St. John's Episcopal Church, Oneida, serving it as treasurer, and is a vestryman and clerk of the vestry.
Mr. Child married, June 9, 1897, at Coo- perstown, New York, Caroline Elizabeth, eld- est daughter of Daniel Baker and Mary Ash- ton (Caney) Boden, of Cooperstown, New York. Mr. Boden was the first person to place a steamboat on Otsego Lake.
Henry Gifford, son of Calvin GIFFORD and Naomi (Broadbrooks) Gifford, was born at Har- wich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, September 4, 1801. On his father's side he was of Puritan and Quaker ancestry, and strong presumptive proof exists that he was descended from John Robinson, the Leyden pastor, through John's son Isaac who came to America and settled in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and had a daugh- ter, Mercy, who married William Weeks, and William Weeks, also of Falmouth, had a daughter Olive who was the great-great- grandmother of Henry Gifford. In the ge- nealogical line of his mother he had for one of his ancestors Kenelm Winslow, a younger brother of Governor Edward Winslow.
To Calvin and Naomi Gifford were born between the years 1794 and 1817 ten children, of whom Henry was the fourth child and eld- est son. These children were all born on the small farm in Harwich, which the mother later inherited from her father, Ebenezer Broad- brooks, afterward known as Eben Brooks, the name having been shortened by legislative en- actment while he was a member of the Massa- chusetts legislature. The minister of the Con- gregational church which the Gifford family attended was Rev. Nathan Underwood, a graduate of Harvard College, a soldier in the revolutionary war, several times a member in the Massachusetts legislature and a man of erudition and devout piety. Mr. Underwood conducted the education of his seven sons in his own home, and with them some of the youth of well-to-do families in the parish of whom Henry Gifford was one. History, es- pecially biography, and natural philosophy were his favorite studies, and he was much given to invention. While visiting in the neighboring town of South Yarmouth where were extensive works for the manufacture of salt, by solar evaporation, he detected a fault in the construction of the vat covers which retarded and wasted evaporation. He
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invented and adjusted a roller for the covers which by allowing a freer circulation of air over the water accelerated evaporation, and at the same time protected the brine from be- ing weakened by rain. The invention was adopted by the salt manufacturers of Yar- mouth. On the organization of the Onondaga Salt Company by Judge Joshua Forman, Ste- phen Smith, a native of New Bedford, was made its controlling agent, and having rela- tives in South Yarmouth he was a frequent visitor in that place, and the invention of young Gifford coming to his notice Mr. Smith induced him to come to Syracuse and inaugu- rate the less laborious process of making coarse salt by solar evaporation. Accordingly in 1820, when Henry Gifford lacked several months of being nineteen years old, he came to Syracuse, then an obscure hamlet even lacking a definite name, and directed the con- struction of the first vats used on the reserva- tion, thus becoming a pioneer and promoter of the coarse salt industry which for many years contributed largely to the wealth and prosperity of Syracuse. He later became the partner of Stephen Smith and Captain Hiram Putnam. The land on which this company's works were situated lies along the north bank of the Erie canal, several rods west of the bridge at West street, a portion of which is now covered by the Marsellus Casket Com- pany's factory, Dietz Lantern Works, and other manufacturing buildings.
Mr. Gifford used to relate an incident which occurred one morning when, being an early riser, he was walking through the alleys of the salt fields to inspect the condition of the vats after a recent heavy rain. As no one appeared to be stirring at that early hour he was surprised to meet a gentleman, obviously a cultured Englishman, who was surveying the works with evident interest. After the usual morning salutation the two men entered into conversation, the Englishman asking many questions about the construction of the works, the source of the salt-water supply, the chemical properties of the salt, etc. The information was fully given, the stranger thanked his informant and gave his name. Mr. Lyell, an English scientist then on a visit to the United States where he had been invited to deliver a course of lectures on geology in Boston, and it was while on his return to that city from Niagara Falls, whither he had gone to trace the work of the cataract in wearing
its way back to Lake Erie that he had availed himself of a short detention in Syra- cuse to visit the salt works, which had attract- ed his notice from the deck of a packet boat on the Erie canal. This was in 1841, in 1848 he was knighted by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir Charles Lyell in recognition of his sery- ices to his country and the world in the cause of science.
In 1826, at the second election of village officers, Mr. Gifford was elected a trustee, the only. public office he ever consented to hold, although from the beginning he took an active interest in the business, social, and re- ligious life of the village, afterward city of Syracuse. In politics Mr. Gifford was first a staunch Whig, afterward allying himself with the Republican party on its organization in 1856. On the occasion of General Lafay- ette's second visit to the United States in 1825, Mr. Gifford and the young lady who a year later became his wife were of the party who escorted the distinguished visitor from the neighboring village of Camillus into Syracuse.
Mr. Gifford was one of the organizers and chief engineer of the first volunteer fire com- pany formed in the village in 1828, which in- cluded in its ranks many other leading citi- zens of that day. It was this company which did such brave service on the night of August 20, 1841. when the terrible gun-powder explo- sion occurred causing the death of twenty-six men ; so near the fated building did Mr. Gif- ford's duties call him that he was thrown by the violence of the shock into the canal and narrowly escaped drowning. His brother Lu- ther was seriously wounded on that occasion, his injuries being a contributory cause of his death six years later.
Mr. Gifford purchased in the early thirties several acres of land fronting on South West street, and extending westerly to Geddes street, in the locality which afterward became the old fifth ward. It joined a tract of equal depth and frontage owned by Governor Ho- ratio Seymour. About the year 1850 two streets were laid out through these tracts and the land portioned into business lots. To one of these streets Governor Seymour gave the name Gifford street, the other was named by Mr. Gifford Seymour street. These lots Mr. Gifford sold to mechanics, clerks, and others with small incomes, on easy terms of pay- ment. He was at this time engaged in the lumber business, his office and lumber yard
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being located in James street, where now stands the handsome building of the Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manufacturing Company, and he furnished materials for houses on the lots which he had sold receiving payment monthly or quarterly as money could be spared. In all these transactions he never foreclosed a mortgage held on the property of a poor or working man. Mr. Gifford was one of the incorporators of the Syracuse Savings Bank in 1847. the first institution of the kind to be established in Syracuse, and for many years to the time of his death. June 20, 1872, its vice-president. He was also a director in many other corporations, including the Gas Light Company, the Water Company, iron companies, and banks, and a hokdler in real estate and business property.
In 1826 Mr. Gifford married Phoebe Dick- inson. of West Boylston, Massachusetts, daughter of Obadiah and Mary ( Morse) Dickinson. at the home of her uncle, Archi- bald Kasson. Mr. Kasson's house stood on the site later covered by the first railroad sta- tion in Syracuse, now Vanderbilt Square. Mrs. Gifford was a woman of culture, dignity, and more than usual personal attractions. She died April 13. 1871. Ten years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gifford moved into the house where the family still resides on the southwest corner of West Genesee and West streets. This homestead can perhaps boast a longer continuous occupancy by the family for whom it was built than any other in Syracuse.
To Mr. and Mrs. Gifford were born be- tween 1827 and 1848 eleven children : Phoebe Kelly. died young; Sylvanus Morse. died young : Mary Eliza, died in infancy : Mary Elizabeth: Henry Brooks; George Thomas, ‹lied in infancy: Frances Phoebe: Martha Clara, deceased ; Helen Mary; George Syl- vanus. deceased ; and Isabella Grahame, de- ceased. Frances P. and Helen M. still reside at the family homestead. Mary Elizabeth married ( first) William Christian Finck, who died in 1870. Later she married John Noyes Babcock, of Syracuse, and died in 1905. leav- ing no children. Henry Brooks married, in 1862, Emily Conger, of Dubuque, Iowa, and lives in Grinnell, Iowa. They have children : Amy Conger, widow of Royston Goodwyn, has no children : son, died in infancy : Frances Jackson, married William Logan, of Water- loo, Iowa, no children : Charles Clark, unmar-
ried : Helen Winifred, unmarried, and living with her parents at Grinnell, lowa.
Luther Gifford, younger brother of Henry Gifford, was born at Harwich, Massachusetts, May 22, 1811. He spent his youth and early manhood there with the exception of the few years in which he taught school in the ad- joining town of Brewster. He came to Syra- cuse in 1830 as architect, builder and drafts- man, where for several years he practiced his profession. He was the architect of the first Park Church edifice in Syracuse, and was a clever untaught artist in water colors. Some of his pictures are in the possession of his son in this city.
Luther Gifford married, at Brewster, Mas- sachusetts. March 21. 1833. Sarah Mayo. daughter of Samuel and Sally ( Mayo) Hig- gins, who were fifth cousins, and both de- scended from Rev. John Mayo, who came from England in 1635 and for eighteen years was pastor of the Second or old North Church, Boston. Among other ancestors of Sarah M. ( Higgins ) Gifford were Elder Wil- liam Brewster, Stephen Hopkins. Thomas Rogers, William Mullins and John Alden, signers of the "Mayflower" compact, also Thomas Prence, fourth governor of Plymouth Colony, and Major John Freeman, of East- ham, who was engaged in King Philip's war. A letter written by Luther Gifford in Syra- cuse in 1839 to his cousin, Sidney Brooks, prominent in educational circles in Massachu- setts a generation ago, but then a student at Amherst College, furnishes interesting read- ing concerning local and current political events, which to our generation have long been matters of history. This letter of a month earlier than the date which I am using in compiling these records (April, 1912) tells 11S :
Business of all kinds is pretty brisk this spring. I have been employed some time drafting. I find it good business when I have enough of it. but even as it is I make eight dollars a day, or United States senator's wages. Yes, I have the satisfaction of knowing that even Daniel Webster earns no more than myself. Syracuse has been agitated for about two years by the cry of war! war!, first we heard of it in Canada, and from the proximity of our village some of our citizens must needs put in a finger and get bitten. There are about eighteen or twenty from Salina, now in prison and in graves at Kingston. The battle of Windmill Point you have doubtless heard of, it was there they were caught. But the best of all is the New Brunswick operation. I hope from my heart that Governor Fairfield will stick to those fellows until he con-
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vinces Johnny Bull that United States territory is not to be invaded with impunity, and that there is pluck in a Yankee, as well as fire in water, only it's pretty hard to draw it out. I see by the election returns that there continues to be a change of opinion in our communities, that New York the seat of Loco Focoism has become a Wing state, and old Harwieh a Loco Foco town, Your father has lost his town offices, and William L. Marcy the governorship of the Empire State. How strange! But time gives place to big events and heavy changes.
Luther Gifford died September 27, 1847. His wife, Sarah, May 20, 1894. Their chil- dren were: Emily Frances, Sidney Brooks, Luther Augustus, who died in infancy, Edwin Luther, died March 18, 1912, Susan Augusta, of Chicago, widow of Charles E. Minard. Emily Frances married Andrew Field, of Syr- acuse, and died January, 1904. Had children : Luther Gifford, deceased: Kate Field, now living in Syracuse.
CALVERT This is a name of English origin and has been especially distinguished in connection with the settlement and development of the state of Maryland. It has also been identified with Central New York, and has conferred credit upon the community in various ways.
John Betts Calvert was born in the town of Preble, Cortland county, New York. Be- fore he was two years of age he moved with his parents to the village of Cortland. His preliminary schooling was supplied there, and he prepared for college in the Cortland Acad- emy, the grammar school at New Brunswick, and State Normal School in Cortland. He early engaged in teaching and was principal of the high school at McLean, New York, in 1871-72, and subsequently entering the Uni- versity of Rochester he was graduated in the class of 1876. He took the freshman mathe- matical prize in college and was sophomore and senior speaker at commencement, and is now affiliated with Phi Beta Kappa of the University of Rochester. Having prepared for the work of the Christian ministry he was licensed to preach, May 20, 1875, and ordained to the Baptist ministry, October 9, 1880. From 1879 to 1886 he was corresponding secretary of the Baptist Missionary Convention of the state of New York, and from 1886 to 1907 was president of that organization. From 1881 to 1887 he was assistant pastor of Cal- vary Baptist Church, New York City. In February, 1888, he became owner of the Bap-
tist Weekly, of New York, anl changed the name to the Christian Inquirer. Until 1895 he was president of the Inquirer Publishing Company, and editor of the paper. This was consolidated with the Eraminer in March, 1895, and since that time Mr. Calvert has been one of the editors of the paper which is pub- lished under the latter title. Since 1800 he has been a trustee of the University of Roch- ester, and a trustee of Cook Academy since 1900. In 1905 he was president of the board of trustees of the latter institution, and was president of the New York Alumni Associa- tion of the University of Rochester from 1900 to 1902. In 1900 he was president of Roches- ter Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, 1904-05 he was president of the Baptist Social Union of New York, and is now a member of Phi Beta Kappa Alumni of New York; a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Association of New York, vice-president of the American Sca- men's Friend Society of New York, president of the Cortland County Society of New York, a member of the Ardsley and Quill clubs, of the Baptist Social Union, and the new York Genealogical and Biographical Society. IIe received the degree of D. D. Dr. Calvert is a man of pleasing personality and fine pres- ence, an indefatigable worker, and carries much influence in the various circles of his en- deavor.
KING There was a large family of this name in Devonshire, England, and Burke's Peerage gives thirty-eight coats-of-arms belonging to the name of King besides several to Kinge. Many immigrants of this name came to the New England shores very early in their settlement beginning with 1634. Thomas King located in 1635 in Scitu- ate, the following year William King located in Salem, and before 1644 Daniel King was a citizen of Lynn. Clement King was on the coast of Barnstable in 1668-70, and may have been a son of John King, who was much ear- lier than this in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The King family descends from the men and women of New England who shared in the perils and hardships of founding and defend- ing this country. Four Kings have been gov- ernors of states, and seven have been members of congress. Up to 1900 forty-seven had graduated from Harvard and thirty-one from Yale. Among the distinguished members of this family have been Vice-President William
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Rufus King, Senator Rufus King, of New York, Thomas Starr King, clergyman and author, who more than any other man kept California in the Union. Charles King, sol- dier and writer, Edward King, journalist and essavist, and many others.
( I ) William King was a fisherman residing in Uxborough, Devonshire, England, and tra- dition says that he was cast away and drowned on the banks of Newfoundland. This, how- ever. may be an error as a William King died May 28, 1664. at the Isles of Shoals. He had two sons who settled in America, James and William, the latter going south.
( II ) James, son of William King. probably born in England, settled in Ipswich. Massa- chusetts, before 1672. About 1678 he re- moved with his family to Suffield, Connecti- cut, where he was one of the original pro- prietors, his name appearing as the fifty-eighth on the list of six hundred grantees. His first grant of land was received in October, 1678, being a house lot south of the school lot on which he resided. The well on this place was still used in 1803. and King's Hill is a well- known locality named for him. By trade he was a cooper and he left a large estate for his time at his deatlı, May 13. 1722, in Suffield. He married (first ) Elizabeth Emerson, who died January 30. 1715. She was of a good family, and she and her daughters were skill- ful lace makers. Her mother received from Queen Elizabeth a piece of linen which is still preserved as an heirloom by her descend- ants. James King married ( second ) February 22, 1716, a widow, Hannah Loomis. Children born of the first wife: James. William, died young ; Agnes, Benoni. Joseph, died young : Joseph, Benjamin, Mary, William.
(III) Captain Joseph King. fifth son of James and Elizabeth (Emerson) King, was born May 10, 1689. in Suffield, where he re- sided through life, and died March 6. 1756. He was a captain of militia, and was much occupied with public business in various offi- cial capacities. He married (first ) in Hart- ford, May 2, 1717. Mrs. Mary ( Wilson) Jesse, of Hartford, widow.of David Jesse and daughter of Phineas and Mary (Sanford ) Wilson. her father being a wealthy merchant of Hartford. She died September 11. 1737. He married ( second), June 2. 1740. Hannah, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, a min- ister of Suffield. There were two children of the first wife: Abigail and Joseph. The lat-
ter died young. Children of the second wife: Joseph, Eliphalet, Hannah, Epaphras, Ashbel, Thaddeus, Theodore, Mary and Ichabod.
(1\') Theodore, seventh son of Captain Jo- seph and Hannah ( Devotion) King, was born September 21, 1750, in Suffield, where he passed his life probably engaged in agricul- ture. He married ( first ) Anne Mather, who died May 7, 1791, and he married (second ), May 28, 1792. Sibbel Hanchet. There were five children of the first marriage.
(V) Artemas. son of Theodore and Anne ( Mather ) King, was born about 1799, in Suf- field. He married and among his children was Charles Artemas.
(V1) Charles Artemas, son of Artemus King, with his two brother. George and John King, removed from Suffield to Port Dickin- son, Broome county, New York, where the family had a grant of one thousand acres of land. He married and among his children was Charles Artemas.
(VII) Charles Artemas ( 2), son of Charles Artemas (1) King, was educated in the pub- lic schools and the Connecticut Institute at Suffield. In 1886 he came to New York City, having been appointed United States store- keeper in the custom house. In 1893 he was made deputy collector. a position which he still holds. He married ( first) January 31, 1874. Mary Helen Bevier, born at Port Dick- inson, daughter of Warren Bevier, who was born about 1821. his family having been among the pioneer settlers of that section. He married Helen Rudolph, of Suffield, who was the mother of Mary H. Bevier. She died in 1889. He married (second ) January 18, 1892. in Buffalo, Clara C. Carpenter.
(VIII ) Warren Charles, son of Charles Ar- temas (2) and Mary Helen (Bevier) King, was born December 8. 1876. at Port Dickin- son. He received his education in the pub- lic schools of Binghamton, and at Pratt In- stitute, in Brooklyn, from 1893 to 1895. He was employed in the City Bank of Buffalo, New York, and in 1896 took up the study of chemistry. He became president of the Pratt Chemical Alliance: was president of the Ex- port Club of America. and vice-president of the Foreign Trade Association. He is now secretary and treasurer of the San Cristobal Company. He is president of the Broome County Society in New York City. He mar- ried. October 4, 1899. Jessie Caldwell, of At-
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lanta, Georgia. Children: Joseph Caldwell, Charles Artemas and Kathryn.
This name was introduced BABCOCK from England in various forms such as Babcock, Bab- cooke, Babcoke, Babcook. The early settlers usually spelled it Babcock, which is the form in general use in England at the present time. It is identified with the pioncer settlement of many sections in the United States, and has been conspicuous in every department of hu- man activity.
(I) James Babcock was born in England in 1612, probably in county Essex, and died June 12, 1679. He settled first in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and was admitted an inhabitant of the town, February 25. 1642. He had a grant of land, was admitted a freeman, July 10, 1648. He was juryman several times, and assessor in 1650, was on a committee to treat with the Indians and on other important com- mittees for the town, and was a member of the general court in 1657-58-59. He was on a committee to lay out highways and settle boundary lines in 1661. He removed to West- erly. Rhode Island, in March, 1662, and had lot 52 in the new town. His name appears on a petition to the general court for protec- tion from the men of Southertown, Connecti- cut, an adjoining town. He was in constant trouble with the Pequot Indians, and was brought into court on a charge of driving them off their planting ground. In 1678 he was baptized by Elder William Hiscox, and united with the Seventh Day Baptist church of Newport and Westerly. He made a nun- cupative will to his sons John and Job, June 12, 1679, and they appeared before the gov- ernor of Rhode Island, September 17. 1679. and testified to the truth of the will. His first wife, Sarah, died 1665 ; his second, Elizabeth, married (second ), September 22, 1679, Wil- liam Johnson. Children of first wife: James, born 1641, married Jane Brown; John, men- tioned below: Job, 1646, married Jane Cran- dall; Mary, 1648, married William Champlin. Children of second wife: Joseph, married (first) Dorothy Key ; ( second ) Hannah Coates, widow; Nathaniel, died January 2, 1719: Elizabeth.
(II) John, second son of James and Sarah Babcock, was born in 1644. in Portsmouth, died at Westerly, Rhode Island. 1685. Tradi- tion says that he and his wife eloped and set-
tled upon the east bank of the Pawcatuck river, but this is not reliable, in fact, is known to be untrue. He was among the early set- tlers of Westerly when about eighteen years old. Ile received the twenty-seventh lot, on the banks of the Pawcatuck, near what is now Avondale, Rhode Island. It is said that he was in the Great Swamp fight in King Phil- ip's war, and he received land for his serv- ices in the war from the colony of Connecti- cut. His name appears in the Stonington militia. He was admitted a freeman of Con- necticut in 1676, when that state claimed the town of Westerly, and was deputy to the gen- eral court in 1682-84. He died intestate and his estate was disposed of by the town coun- cil, June 25, 1685. He married Mary, daugh- ter of George and Elizabeth (Hazard ) Law- ton, of Portsmouth. She married ( second ), April 21, 1698, Erasmus Babbitt, and died No- vember 8, 1711.
Children : James, married ( first ) Elizabeth -, (second) Content Maxson: Ann: Mary; John, married Mary Champlin ; Job, married Deborah
George, born 1673. married Elizabeth Hall; Elihu, born, tradition says, the day of the Great Swamp fight, December 19, 1675, died unmarried ; Robert, married Lydia Crandall ; Joseph, born about 1681: Oliver. mentioned below.
(III) James (2), eldest child of John and Mary (Lawton ) Babcock, was born about 1663-64, in Westerly, died there January 17, 1737. Tradition says that he was the first white male born in that town. His body was interred in the Babcock burying ground on the east side of the road about midway be- tween Westerly and Watch Hill. Over his grave is a horizontal tablet six by four feet in dimensions, about three feet above the sur- face of the ground, and the conclusion of its inscription is as follows: "Having been in his life of extensive charity and beneficence. and not wholly silent at his death." Although the English law, which governed the estates in the colonies, made him sole heir of his fa- ther's estate, he gave one-half to his mother, with the one proviso that it be left at her death to the sons of his father. He was made a freeman in Westerly, August 22. 1686, which was probably about the time of his majority. At the division of lands, March 28, 1692, he received one hundred acres and was then called "the Widow's son." In that year he united with the Seventh Day Baptist church.
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