USA > New York > Jefferson County > Genealogical and family history of the county of Jefferson, New York, Volume I > Part 21
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of cattle, one of 306 head, from Canada here, and from here to Massa- chusetts. In his last years he did a large business in pressing hay. While in no sense a politician he was a firm adherent of the principles of the Republican party, and served as highway commissioner. He was a member of the Independent Order of Good Templars, and attended the Congregational church at Champion.
Volney Woolworth was married, 1834-5 to Betsey, daughter of Levi Moors, of Denmark ( see Moors). Four of their children grew to maturity. George Granger, the eldest, died in Champion, at the age of forty-four years. John Isaac was a soldier in the Civil war, a men- ber of the Ninety-fourth Regiment . New York Volunteers, and died on the homestead in Champion when about forty-five years old. Seymour A. is the subject of the following paragraphs, as is also Elijah M.
(VII) Seymour Alfred Woolworth, third son of Volney and Bet- sey Woolworth, was born February 23. 1842, in the town of Denmark, and was five years old when the family moved to Champion. He attended the district school at " The Huddle " until he was eighteen years of age, and in meantime performed his share of the labors of the home farm. He continued to assist his father in the tillage and man- agement of the farm until his marriage at the age of twenty-six, when lie settled upon a farm which he purchased in the southern part of the town, the former home of Colonel Elias Sage ( see Sage). Besides his purchase, he worked another farm, and milked one hundred cows for some six years. During that time he carried on cheese making and then moved to the city of Watertown, where he continued to reside a like period looking after his land during this time. After selling off one hundred and fourteen acres he is now the owner of three hundred and eighty, and operates a cheese factory which consumes the milk of three hundred cows, and carries on diversified farming, with the suc- cess which always attends intelligent effort industriously pursued. His own herd includes fifty cows of Holstein blood, and he produces from one thousand to fifteen hundred bushels of oats and barley annually. His farm is finely located, on the upper waters of Big Sandy Creek, and is especially adapted for the growth of hay and dairy products. Mr. Woolworth is recognized as a progressive farmer, and affiliates with Copenhagen Grange. No. 90. He attends the Congregational church at Copenhagen, and is an influential member of the Republican party, but has always refused official station, either in grange or town affairs.
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He believes that the successful cultivation of his large farm demands his best efforts and constant attention.
Mr. Woolworth was married October 23, 1867, to Miss Martha J. Sage, daughter of Colonel Elias Sage, a pioneer of Champion. Three daughters have come to Mr. and Mrs. Woolworth. Bertha, born Aug- ust 14, 1870, died in 1889. Emily Rundle, born January II, 1873, was married in 1893 to Victor H. Cook, who is in the plumbing and steam heating business, and resides in Watertown. They have one child, Ade- laide. Gertrude Moors, born November 29, 1877, resides with her parents.
(VII) Elijah Moors Woolworth, fourth son of Volney and Bet- sey Woolworth, was born June 19, 1844, in Pinckney and grew up on his father's farm in Champion, receiving his education in the public . schools at " The Huddle." He continued at home until his majority, forming habits of industry in the routine of farm work, and under the able instruction of his father acquiring a knowledge of the most advanced methods. About the time of his marriage he acquired a farm of one hundred and ninety-six acres west of Champion village, known as the " Starr farm," on which he continued to live and labor, with the excep- tion of the time spent in the Union army, until his death. He main- tained a dairy of thirty-five to forty cows, and was a successful farmer and a good citizen. A strong supporter of Republican principles, he volunteered, when the integrity of the nation seemed in greatest peril, in August, 1864, as a member of Company H, One Hundred and Eighty- sixth Regiment New York Volunteers, and served until the close of the Civil war, participating in the final capture of Petersburg, the last decisive battle of the war. In going to his country's defense, Mr. Wool- worth made no little sacrifice. as the demands of a large farm upon his time and attention were most urgent at the time. He died December 20, 1899, at his home in Champion. He was a member of the Methodist church of Champion, and of Great Bend Grange, as was also his wife, but steadily refused to be a candidate for any office, either in civil or fraternal affairs.
Elijah M. Woolworth was married August 6, 1866, to Mary Jane Arthur, who was born February 25. 1846. in Lowville (see Arthur). Their children are six in number: Arthur Elijah is the manager of a five and ten cent store at Muskegon, Michigan. Herbert Grant and Fred Moors are in promising situations in New York city. Ada Estelle
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is the wife of George Bates, of Lansing, Michigan. Helen Mary and Emma Maude are at home with their mother, in West Carthage.
(V) Jasper. fourth son and child of Phineas and Mercy (Shel- don) Woolworth, was born March 8. 1789, in Suffield, Connecticut, and came with his parents to northern New York when about seventeen years old. As there was abundant work for all in clearing the wilderness, it is probable that most of his schooling was obtained in Connecticut. He married, in 1816, Elizabeth G. Buell, who was born in 1796, in Hebron, Tolland county, Connecticut, some twenty-five miles from his native place. She was a granddaughter of John Hubbell Buell, and a daugh- ter of Aaron and Beulah (Dorchester) Buell. He engaged in farming in the town of Pinckney, Lewis county, and moved in 1836 to Water- town, where he continued several years and finally purchased a large farmi and continued until March 1. 1859, when he removed to North Adams. His wife died January 6, 1871, in her seventy-fifth year, and is buried at Pierrepont Manor. He passed away at Pierrepont Manor where he had a large farm, October 8, 1873, well along in his eighty- fifth year. Their third child, Emily, died when one year old. Three sons and three daughters grew up, namely: Horace, John H., Louisa, Mary E. and George (twins) and Adelia. The first and last three never married. Horace died in Rodman, at the age of thirty-six years. Louisa married Edwin Andrews, whom she survives, and resides near Manns- ville, where Mary now lives.
(VI) John Hubbell Woolworth, second child and son of Jasper and Elizabeth Woolworth, was born August 16, 1821, in Pinckney, where he grew to the age of seventeen. He was married January 14, 1851, to Fanny McBrier, who was born . April 15, 1829. at Pillar Point, this county, and died February 15, 1878. Their children were Frank W. and Charles Summer, both of whom are noticed at length in this ar- ticle. Mr. Woolworth was highly successful as a farmer, his farm being near Great Bend, in the town of Champion, and is now living retired from active labor, in his eighty-fourth year, at Great Bend. He is a highly respected citizen and an exemplary member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He was married a second time, August 19, 1880, to Eliza- beth E. Austin, of Watertown. Mr. Woolworth was a Whig in early manhood, casting his first presidential vote for his party candidate in 1844. He was among the founders of the Republican party and has ever supported its principles. He lias never sought for political honors, and
Frank Us. Woolworth
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his chief official service has been rendered as school trustee, through his interest in the maintenance of good schools.
(VII) Frank Winfield Woolworth, whose name is familiar in many of the largest cities as a merchant of pre-eminent ability, and whose residence is at 990 Fifth avenue, New York city, is a native of Rodman, born April 13. 1852, a son of John H. and Fanny ( McBrier) Woolworth. His residence is one of the finest in the city, and could not be bought for one million dollars.
Frank W. Woolworth was educated in the public schools of his native town and of Great Bend, and he pursued a commercial course in a business college in Watertown. He began his mercantile career at the age of twenty-one years as a clerk in the dry-goods store of Moore & Smith, in Watertown, and remained in the employ of that firm for six years. During this time his employers, in order to rid themselves of an accumulation of various classes of goods not in general demand and occupying space which was needed for fresher articles, set up a five- cent counter, and this venture proved a great success. The firm also made sales of the same classes of goods to country merchants. With quick perception young Woolworth recognized in this innovation the germ of a business of itself, and he determined to make of it an enter- prise of his own. Accordingly, when in his twenty-seventh year, he opened one of the first exclusive five-cent stores in the country, at Utica, New York, with a stock of $325 in value, made possible by credit ex- tended to him by his former employers. Moore & Smith, of Watertown. Success attended him during the first few weeks, but the outlook became discouraging later. Through the influence of Moore & Smith he sought a new location. The Utica store was closed out and on June 21, 1879, he opened a similar establishment in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was successful here and his business constantly developed, enabling him to establish his stores in other cities, and in ten years the number was twelve. At the present the aggregate number is more than one hitin- dred and twenty-five, distributed among the principal cities of the Union. The magnitude of his operations may be discerned in the fact that his sales amount to about ten million dollars a year. He has three buyers constantly employed in European markets, and his name figures most conspicuously in custom house affairs, while his patronage has enriched scores of manufacturers both in Europe and the United States. In lines covering about one-half his importations he is the largest importer in the United States; in some lines he imports three-quarters of the
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total quantity brought into the country ; and in laces, toys and china he is the second largest American importer. An item of his business is candy, of which his sales amount to the enormous quantity of seven thousand tons a year. His stores are all spacious and handsomely ap- pointed. His Lancaster building, which has grown out of the second establishment which he founded, is the finest business edifice in the state outside Philadelphia. In Greater New York he maintains eleven estab- lishments, all most convenient and beautifully attractive. He has upon his pay-rolls an army of over five thousand people, and the annual amount of their salaries is over one million.
Mr. Woolworth is actively interested in various large financial cor- porations, among them being the Guardian Trust Company, of which he is president, and the New York National Exchange Bank, in which he is a director. He enters with intelligence and enthusiasm into many of the larger affairs of metropolitan business and social life, and affords his aid towards advancing the commercial and financial interests of the city. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Union League Club, the Arkwright Club, the Lotus Club, and the Hardware Club.
Mr. Woolworth was married, June 11, 1876, to Miss Jennie, daugh- ter of Thomas Creighton, of Picton, Ontario. Of this marriage have been born three children: Helena. Edna and Jessie Woolworth. The first is the wife of Charles E. T. McCann, a nephew of Richard Croker, an attorney and ex-assistant district attorney of New York. Her wed- (ling, which occurred April 20, 1904, was one of the largest ever held in the city. The other daughters are at home. All are finely educated and speak French and German.
(VII) Charles Sumner, second son of John H. and Fanny (Mc- Brier ) Woolworth, was born August 1. 1856, in Rodman, Jefferson county, and grew up from the age of two and one-half years, on his father's farm at Great Bend. He continued to attend the public school there until he was nineteen years old, meantime performing such labor as falls to the lot of farmers' sons, thus hardening his muscles and fit- ting him for the arduous business life which he is now living. He re- mained on the paternal farm until he was twenty-two years of age, when he became a salesman in the dry-goods store of Moore & Smith in Wa- tertown. After nearly a year of this experience, he joined his elder brother, who had just established the five and ten cent business on a suc- cessful footing. He opened a branch store for his brother in Harris- burg. Pennsylvania, and remained there eight months, at the end of
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RESIDENCE OF F. W. WOOLWORTH 990 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY, N. E. CORNER EIGHTIETH STREET
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which time he moved the store to York, same state, where he remained three months. At this time it was not supposed by the founders that the business could be permanently located at one point, and a policy of frequent removals was deemed necessary.
After spending a short time at Lancaster, Mr. Woolworth went to Scranton to manage a store for his brother, and here was well proven the stability of the business, as he has since continued to operate there with flattering success. After a few months he became a partner and, a year later, sole owner. His first stock was worth about six hundred dollars, and he now occupies one of the finest double stores in the city, running through an entire block. Not only has he 'been very success- ful in Scranton, but he now owns eight other stores, five in the state of New York and three in Maine. In 1889 Mr. Woolworth built a hand- some and substantial home in Scranton, and he also maintains a beautiful country place at Dalton, ten miles north of Scranton, known as " Edge- wood." His business enterprise has not been confined to mercantile af- fairs alone, and he is a director of the Trader's National Bank and of the People's Bank of Scranton, and vice-president of the Groat Knitting Company of that city. He is also director of the United States Lum- ber Company, a corporation with a capital of six million dollars, operat- ing mills in Pennsylvania and. Mississippi.
Mr. Woolworth is also mindful of the moral and social duties of the good citizen, and holds a pew in the Methodist church. He is a member of the Scranton Club and the New England Society of north- eastern Pennsylvania. An earnest supporter of Republican principles, he confines his political action to the performance of the duty which de- volves upon every true citizen, namely the expression of his choice at the polls. A busy man, he always finds time to be courteous, and his genial and kindly nature makes him the friend of every one who strives for some worthy object. All measures calculated to improve the stand- ards, mental, moral and material, of his home town and state and of mankind generally find in him a friend and supporter.
Mr. Woolworth was married June 2, 1886, to Miss Anna E. Ryals, who was born in Utica, New York, daughter of Isaac G. and Mary A. (Davies) Ryals. Mr. Ryals is a native of England and now resides in Utica. His wife, now deceased, was a native of New York. Three children complete the home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Woolworth, namely : Ethel Mae, Fred Everett and Richard Wesley. Their home in Scran- ton is the abode of contentment and hospitable good cheer.
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(VIII) Fred Moors Woolworth. manager of the Woolworth Syndicate store, Sixth avenue, New York, born January 1, 1871, in Champion, is the third son and child of Elijah Moors and Mary J. (Arthur) Woolworth, of Champion.
He attended the common schools until seventeen years old. and then spent three years at the Carthage high school. Subsequently he entered the employ of Charles S. Woolworth, at Scranton, Pennsyl- vania, where he remained three years and thoroughly learned the busi- ness, which he has helped to build up to its present immense proportions. From Scranton he went to Auburn, New York, and took charge of the branch store there, remaining one year. From this place he was pro- moted to a similar position at Portland. Maine, where he remained two years. This was followed by a stay of one year in charge of the branch at Atlanta, Georgia, owned by F. W. Woolworth, and three years in the West Harlem ( New York) store. Then came his advancement to the management of the elegantly appointed store at No. 260 Sixth ave- nue. New York city. the largest five and ten-cent store in the world, and the one doing the most business.
Mr. Woolworth's rapid advancement from a subordinate place to his present position is sufficient testimonial of his ability as a business man. He is not a member of any club, order. lodge, or other organiza- tion for recreation or amusement. He votes the Republican ticket.
Fred M. Woolworth and Velma E. Bailey, daughter of Sumner Bailey, of Portland, Maine, were married January 6. 1898, and have one child, Norman D. Woolworth.
JOHN JAY ALLEN, an active business man of Watertown, inter- ested in some of her leading industries, traces his ancestry to 1568, through a line of industrious, honorable and intelligent people. The family has numerous representatives throughout the United States, and they are usually found among the useful and desirable citizens.
(I) George Allen, born in England about 1568, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth, came to America with his family in 1635, and settled in Saugus (Lynn), Massachusetts. He had ten children, some of whom had preceded him to this country, and settled in the vicinity of Boston. In 1637 George Allen joined with Edmund Freeman and others in the purchase of the township of Sandwich. When this town was incor- porated, Mr. Allen was chosen deputy-the first officer in the town- and served in that capacity for several years. He was a conscientious
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Puritan, and a member of the Baptist church. After the purchase of Sandwich, several of las sons moved to that town with their families. George Allen died in Sandwich. May 2, 1648, aged eighty years. In his will he named five sous, Matthew, Henry, Samuel, George and Will- iam, and also inade provision for his "five least children," without naming them. From the fact that others of the name came from Braintree, Essex, England, about the same time, it is inferred that he came from the same locality. In 1632 Samuel and Matthew Allen, and their brother, Thomas Allyn (as he spelled it), came from Braintree and located at Cambridge, whence all of them subsequently moved to Connecticut.
(II) Samuel, one of the sons of George Allen, was born in Eng- land, and came to Boston in 1628. On July 6, 1635, it was recorded that he was a freeman in Braintree. His first wife's name was Ann. She died September 29, 1641, being the mother of Samuel, Joseph, James, Sarah and Mary. Sarah married Lieutenant Josiah Standish, son of Miles Standish. Mary married Nathaniel Greenwood. For his second wife, Samuel Allen married Margaret Lamb, widow of Edward Lamb, and they had one child, Abigail, who married John Cary.
(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel and Ann Allen, was born No- vember 10, 1632, in Braintree or Duxbury, Massachusetts, and married Sarah Partridge, daughter of George Partridge, of Duxbury, in 1658. He settled in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1660, and was a deacon of the church, town clerk and representative. His children were : Samuel, Ezriel, Mehetable, Sarah, Bethia, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, Josiah, Elisha and Nehemiah. Mehetable married Isaac Alden, grandson of John Alden. Sarah became the wife of Jonathan Cary, and Bethia mar- ried John Pryer.
(IV) Samuel (3), son of Samuel Allen (2) and Saralı Partridge, was born December 4, 1660, and married (first) Rebecca Cary, grand- daughter of Miles Standish. She died in 1697, being the mother of Samuel, Ephraim, Timothy, Joseph (died young) and Mehetable. Mr. Allen's second wife, Mary Alden, was a granddaughter of John Alden, and their children were: Joseph, Benjamin, Mary, Rebecca, Matthew, Seth and Abigail.
(V) Timothy, son of Samuel (3) and Rebecca Allen, was born February 22. 1691, in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He removed to that part of Norwich, Connecticut, now Lisbon, and married, October II, 1714, Rachael Bushnell, of Norwich. Their children were :
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Timothy, Damel, Rachel, Rebecca, Seth. Ebenezer, Thankful, Hezekiah and Phineas. The eldest, born 1715, graduated at Yale in 1736.
(VI) Daniel Mien, second son of Timothy and Rachel Allen, was born in 1717, in Norwich, Connecticut, and died June 2, 1811, at the advanced age of ninety-four years.
(VHI) John Allen, son of Daniel Allen, was born March 5. 1753. He served in the American army in the Revolutionary war and was wounded twice, first at a battle in New Jersey and the second time when the British took possession of New York city. He died in Stephentown, New York, December 31, 1830, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, Sarah Kendall, was born in 1757, and died in Stephentown, March 5. 1812. Their children were: Daniel. John J., Zuba and Polly.
(VIII) John Jay Allen, son of John Allen, was born in Stephen- town, where he died in 1829, at the age of forty years. He was a min- ister of the Freewill Baptist church. He married (first ) a Miss Sheldon, by whom he had two children: Joseph and Sally A. His second wife was Judith, daughter of Joshua Palmer, who lived to the very venerable age of ninety-four years. The children of this marriage were: Daniel, a resident of Schenectady, New York, where he died March 23, 1899; Mrs. Hannah L. Carr, who died in California about 1900; Mrs. Susan A. McDowell, of Santa Rosa, California ; and John Jay.
(IX) John Jay Allen, son of John Jay Allen (2d), was born in Stephentown, New York, April 25, 1822. He was educated in the semi- nary at Whitestown, New York, became a noted Greek and Latin scholar, and for over forty years was a minister of the Baptist church, officiating as pastor at many churches throughout this state. During the Civil war he was for three years an active and valuable worker in the Christian and Sanitary commissions, and after the cessation of hostilities he was em- ployed by the government for many years as a seed tester, experimenting in the production of a great variety of fruits and cereals on a small tract of land at Depauville, New York, where he located in 1859. He was a ready and fluent writer and an authoritative and valuable contributor for several years to the leading agricultural periodicals of this and foreign countries, winning wide reputation in that direction. He gave an un- swerving support to the Republican party, and while he was a most untiring temperance worker and a most zealous advocate of the cause, he was strongly opposed to the Prohibition party as a political organ- ization and also an opponent of local option ideas. He married Alma J. Wheeler, of Clinton, Oneida county, New York, a daughter of Arnold
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and Hannah ( Dilley) Wheeler. The children of this marriage are : Sarah J., wife of Edward Smith, of Le Raysville, New York; Ida May, now the wife of Charles Nelson, of Taberg, New York; and John Jay. Mr. Allen died at Depauville, New York, May 26, 1899, at the age of seventy-seven years, and his wife's death occurred there June 5, 1900, when she was seventy-eight years of age.
(X) John Jay Allen (4th) was born in Depauville, New York, July 30, 1862, and pursued his more advanced education in the State Normal school at Potsdam, New York, and in Ives Seminary, at Ant- werp. In early manhood he followed the profession of teaching and later became a commercial traveler, while subsequently he turned his attention to the insurance and real estate business. For some years he was prominent in local athletics, and played center on the Watertown football team in 1898-9, and was manager of the team in 1900-1, and assistant manager in 1903. He is now largely interested in the manu- facture of clothing and in conducting an extensive brickyard at Water- town. Both are important business interests, contributing to the general prosperity as well as to the individual success of the owners.
In politics Mr. Allen has been a lifelong Republican and for two years was chairman of the Republican city central committee of Water- town, while for six years he was clerk of the county central committee. He is a member of Depauville Lodge No. 688, F. &. A. M .; the Royal Arcanum Lodge Number 157, of Watertown; a charter member of the Lincoln League, of Watertown ; the Commercial Travelers' Eastern Acci- dent Association, of Boston : the Commercial Travelers' Club, of Water- town: the Commercial Travelers' Mutual Accident Association of Amer- ica : is an officer of the United Commercial Travelers, Watertown Coun- cil No. 238; and is a communicant of St. Paul's Episcopal church, at Watertown.
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