USA > New York > Jefferson County > Genealogical and family history of the county of Jefferson, New York, Volume II > Part 9
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(II) Samuel, only son of Thomas Munson, was baptized August 7. 1043. and was married October 26, 1665, to Martha, daughter of Will- ran and Alice ( Pritchard ) Bradley. ( See Bradley.) He died in 1693, be- tween January 10 and March 2. He was a shoemaker and tanner, and resided first at New Haven and later in Wallingford, and returned to New Haven. His name is nineteenth in the list of thirty-nine who signed an agreement in 1670-I to form a settlement at Wallingford. His house lot had a frontage of three hundred feet on Main street. and re- ligious meetings were held during the first ten years in his house a part of the time. In 1673 he was chosen selectman, and was allowed forty
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shillings for "maintaining and beating the drum in good order for the en- suing year." In 1075 he became "Ensigne of Wallingford Traine Band." He was chosen to serve as the first school master, and was frequently elected lister, leather sealer, recorder, auditor, treasurer and selectman. In 1682 he returned to New Haven, and filled several offices there. His entire estate inventoried over three hundred and eighty-five pounds. He had nine sons and one daughter. The youngest died before ten years of age. The daughter married John Hitchcock. (2-See Camp. )
(III) Joseph, fifth son and sixth child of Samuel and Martha Munson, was born November 6, 1677, in Wallingford, where he lived. By trade he was a joiner. He was married March 10, 1700, to Margery, daughter of John Hitchcock, who was born September 9, 1681, and died previous to March, 1764. He died October 30, 1725. They had nine children. He served as lister, ensign, townsman, grand juror and a member of the society committee of the East Wallingford church. His last years were spent on a new homestead in the First parish.
(IV) Abel, eldest child of Joseph and Margery Munson, was born January 10, 1701, in Wallingford, and was a farmer in the southeast part of that town, within the parish of Northford, where he assisted in founding a church. He was one of the eighteen male members on its institution, June 17. 1750, and his wife joined by letter on the first of July following. He served the town as lister, grand juror, highway surveyor and on committee on care of poor. He died February 13, 1779. and on the church record of his demise, his name is preceded by the title, sergeant. He was married November 7, 1728, to Sarah Peck, who died September 22, 1775, aged sixty-three years. They had fourteen children. six sons and eight daughters.
(V) Joseph, twelfth child and youngest son of Abel and Sarah Munson, was born November 16, 1751, in Wallingford, where he resided until 1794, when he removed to the "Royal Grant." in New York, his home being from that time in Salisbury, Herkimer county, where he died June 29. 1830, in his eightieth year. He bought land near Peck's mill, and also purchased a half-interest in the mill. On going to New York he sold a third interest to his two partners in the mill. He and his wife became members of the Northford church in January, 1776, and he was entered a freeman in Wallingford in April following. He was lister in 1787-89-92, and highway surveyor in 1790. In October, 1792, he was chosen a member of the committee to divide the town into high- way districts. His migration to New York was made with two horse-
4S
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teams and two ox-teams, and occupied six weeks. His motive was to settle his sons, and he acquired five hundred acres, and gave a farm to each of four sons. He is described as an old-school Puritan, a Presby- terian. He was married November 11. 1773, to Elizabeth Hart, who died July 25, 1810, aged fifty-eight years, being the mother of his eight children. His second wife was a widow Munson. He was a Democrat in politics, and was executor of his father's will in 1781.
(V) Levi, fifth of the fourteen children of Abel and Sarah ( Peck) Munson, was born August 29, 1738, in Wallingford, and died in 1815, in Camden, New York. He lived in Wallingford until 1782, when he moved to Harwinton, Connecticut, where he purchased, on April 13. fifty acres with dwelling, barn and cider mill, at a cost of two hundred pounds. Within three years he purchased thirty-four and one-half acres more, and in April. 1784, he bought a mill privilege, and this he leased to another in October, 1792. "as long as trees grow and water runs." He was among those who marched from Branford at the Lexington alarm, April, 1775, and was subsequently a sergeant in Captain Douglass' Company. Colonel Wooster's Regiment. He was among those cap- tured near Montreal. September 25. 1775. and was taken to Falmouth, England, returning to Halifax June 21, 1776, and was subsequently ex- changed. January 1, 1777. he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Sixth Regiment, Connecticut Line. He had three sons and a nephew in the same regiment. He served along the Hudson and in New Jer- sey until September 8, 1780, and participated in the storming of Stony Point, as well as in very active movements through the period of nearly four years. He was married November 27, 1760, to Mary Cooley, who died 1826, at the age of eighty-four years. They were communicants of the Episcopal church. Their children numbered nine. In February, 1802. Mr. Munson sold his mill place, and subsequently lived in Wind- hanı, Greene county, New York, whence he removed to Camden about 1808.
(VI) Abel, seventh of the eight sons of Levi and Mary Munson, was born July 22, 1774, in Wallingford. He was married February II. 1798, to Lucy Osborn, of Waterbury, Connecticut, who died June 1, 1850. He died October 12. 1831. in Camden. He moved there from Windham in 1808. His fourth son, Merritt. was a distinguished citizen of Henry county, Illinois, where a township was named in his honor, and where he did much literary work, and owned valuable property.
(VII) Selden, first of the seven children of Abel and Lucy Mun-
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son, was born June 2, 1799, in Windham, New York, and died January 22, 1873, at Watertown, New York. He was a farmer, a Republican. and a member of the Congregational church. He was married May 4, 1825, to Amanda, daughter of Manning Barnes, who kept the first tavern at West Camden. She died December 1. 1869.
(VIII) Mary Annis, second of three daughters, and third of the five children of Selden and Amanda Munson, born January 16, 1836. became the wife of John Wesley Gamble, who died in Watertown. (See Gamble.)
(VI) Jacob, second son and child of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Hart) Munson, was born October 19. 1776, in Wallingford, Connecticut, and lived on a farm adjoining his father's. In January, 1798. he sold land in the southern part of Wallingford. and it is probable that he moved at that time to Deerfield. Oneida county, New York, where he died December 10, 1847. The strict ideas and customs of his father were irksome to him, and he embraced the religious ideas of Hosea Ballou. becoming a faithful and consistent Universalist. In politics he was a Democrat. He was married in 1805 to Lucy Smith, who was born near Littleton, New Hampshire. Their children were born as follows: Henry Jacob. June 26, 1807: Erasmus Darwin, April 27, 1809: Isaac. March 4. 1812: Lucy, October 31, 1814: Achsah, January 18. 1818: Samuel. June 17, 1821.
(VII) Isaac, third son and child of Jacob and Lucy Munson, was born in Salisbury. Herkimer county, New York, March 4, 1812. He remained at home, working upon the farm and attending school, until he was seventeen, when he entered Fairfield Academy. He subsequently studied medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgons of Western New York, at Fairfield (which was then the most noted medical school north of Philadelphia), and graduated in January. 1834. Soon after- ward he removed to the Black River country, forming a partnership with Dr. Ira A. Smith, of Evans's Mills, this association continuing for three years. Having married Miss Cornelia Stebbins, of Rutland. May 24, 1836, at the solicitation of relatives and friends he located in that town, where he followed his profession until 1849. Elected. clerk of the county, he removed to Watertown in December of that year, and entered upon his official duties January I, following. In 1853 he aided in the organization of the Agricultural Insurance Company of Water- town and was elected its vice-president. This connection may be desig- nated as one of the most important events in his life, and in the history
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of the community. As executive officer of the company, he achieved an almost unparalleled success, laying the foundation for the large insurance interests of the city, the investments of which are now counted by millions of dollars. In 1855 Dr. Munson was the moving spirit that effected the radical changes in the company's policy that saved the farmers from being taxed upon their premium notes to pay the losses of the company, and which would have resulted in the abandonment of business and the disbanding of the company. In May of the same year he was elected secretary, and for ten years practically carried the business in his pocket. During that period the company accumulated a surplus of more than one hundred thousand dollars, notwithstanding that for eight years the business was confined to but a few counties. In 1863 an effort was made to largely increase the business, and in this undertaking Dr. Munson gave further evidence of his masterly executive ability and unbounded energy. From one of the smallest companies in the state it became one of the nine of the one hundred and four doing the largest business, and but two outside the city of New York. When the company became so large and its interests so extensive as to demand an increased executive force, his influence was potent in selecting able advisers and assistants to aid him, and who shared with him the exacting labors of that period. As county clerk he discharged his duties with consummate ability. During this time he took up the study of law, rather as a necessity incident to his official position, and about the time of his retirement from office was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state. As a physician he enjoyed the respect of his professional brethren, and by his kindness and devotion to his duties, combined with a well cultivated medical ability, endeared himself to the community in which he practiced. He died March 8, 1886.
(VI) Thaddeus, fourth son and child of Joseph and Elizabeth Munson, was born July 11, 1784, in Wallingford. About 1808 he mar- ried Clarissa Smith, who was born June 9, 1790, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and died in 1833, in Salisbury. He was a farmer, and passed his last years in LeRay, this county, where he died in 1839. His children were : Eliza, Jane and Thaddeus William.
(VII) Jane, second daughter of Thaddeus and Clarissa Munson, was born March 16. 1813, in Salisbury, and was married November 19, 1832, to Dr. William G. Comstock, as elsewhere related. (See Com- stock.) After his death she married Cleanthus Parker Granger, and (lied .August 14, 1883, at Evans Mills.
Dr. Isaac Munson
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(III) Samuel (2), eldest son of Samuel and Martha ( Bradley) Munson, was born February 28. 1669, in Wallingford, and married Martha (surname unknown), who died January 7, 1707. He was mar- ried (second) March 10, 1708, to Mary, widow of Caleb Merriman, and daughter of Deacon Eliasaph Preston. He died November 23, 1741. In 1690 his father deeded to him a dwelling house and barn and one- half of the "accommodations," and he subsequently received thirty acres of land from the town, "gratis." He bought and sold numerous small parcels of land, and was a very active man of affairs. On December 25, I7II, he was elected town clerk, and at various times served the town in almost every official capacity, such as fence viewer, lister, hay ward, town treasurer, rate collector, school committeeman, townsman, ensign, recorder, selectman, and proprietors' and society clerk.
(IV) Waitstill, son of Samuel (2) and Martha Munson, was born December 12, 1697, in Wallingford, and was married December 10, 1719, to Phebe, daughter of Caleb and Mary ( Preston) Merriman, child of his step-mother by her first marriage. She was born September 16. 1699, and was buried December II, 1772. Mr. Munson died March 6, 1789. in Wallingford, where he resided. His residence was in the eastern part of the town, and he bought and sold much land. In 1729 he was grand juror, and in 1743 filled that office and that of surveyor of highways, simultaneously.
(V) Reuben, son of Waitstill and Phebe ( Merriman) Munson, was born May 19, 1721, in Wallingford, and lived in that town and Farmington. In 1753 he bought land in what is now Southington, south- east of the "Great plains" (now Plainville). He died June 7, 1780. He was married December 29, 1741, to Mary Chittenden, who survived him many years, passing away January 15. 1801.
(VI) Martha, ninth child of Reuben and Mary (Chittenden) Munson, was born October 12, 1760, in Southington, and was married June 26. 1782, to Ezekiel Andrus. (See Andrus, IV.)
HON. CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS, a lawyer and states- man of high ability, who died in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 27, 1900, was a native of the state of New York, born in Henderson, Jef- ferson county, June 16, 1838.
He came of a notable ancestry. In the maternal line he was a lineal descendant of Thomas Cushman, a son of Robert Cushman, who was the financial agent who fitted out the two historic vessels, the Mayflower
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and the Speedwell, and who was largely instrumental in procuring the Massachusetts grant from King James I. In the maternal line Mr. Davis was a descendant of Mary Allerton, who was last of the Mayflower passengers to survive. His parents were Horatio Nelson and Clarissa (Cushman) Davis. The father was a pioneer settler in Wisconsin in the year in which the son was born. He was a captain in the Union army during the Civil war, serving during the entire duration of the con- flict. and for several years he was state senator from Rock county, Wis- consin.
Cushman K. Davis was but a few months old when his parents removed to Wisconsin, and he was reared and educated in that state. His first schooling was in a primitive log schoolhouse, and he was after- wards in turn a student in Carroll College. Waukesha, and the famous University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and he graduated from the latter named in 1857 at the age of nineteen. He then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in the year of his attaining his majority. He was well established in practice in Waukesha when the Civil war broke out, and in its first year hie laid aside his law books and entered the army as second lieutenant in the Twenty-eighth Regiment Wisconsin Volun- teers. He subsequently became assistant adjutant general with the rank of captain, serving on the staff of Brigadier General Willis A. Gorman. He participated in various of the most momentous campaigns of the Army of the Mississippi, including the siege of Vicksburg and the Red River operations. He performed the full measure of a soldier's duty with courage and ability until late in 1864. when he contracted typhoid fever and was of necessity obliged to resign.
Having recovered his health, in 1865 Mr. Davis removed to St. Paul, where he was soon actively employed with a large and important practice, which included some of the most notable cases known in the judicial annals of the state. His first cause celebre was the trial of George L. Van Solen, for murder, in which he appeared for the accused. whom he successfully defended in face of what appeared at the outset and before it was subjected to his keen analysis, an overwhelming mass of circumstantial evidence. In 1878 he defended Judge Sherman Page., who was impeached before the senate of Minnesota, and for whom he secured an honorable acquittal. He was concerned in much of the most important legislation in the state during the remainder of his life, sus- taining to the last the reputation of a thoroughly equipped and unusually resourceful lawyer, and a brilliant advocate.
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A Republican in politics, he came to a position of leadership in his party at the moment of coming to Minnesota. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, and proved himself one of the most able and far- sighted members of that body. From 1867 to 1871 he was United States district attorney of Minnesota by presidential appointment. In 1873 he was nominated for governor. In the ensuing campaign he went before the people and with great ability and enthusiasm advocated various policies which were novel at the time, but time demonstrated their value and vindicated his prescience and judgment. Among these was his contention for the right and duty of the legislature to regulate passenger and freight rates on railroads, in which he anticipated the national Congress with its interstate commerce laws. Following his election, he recommended the passage of such an act as he had fore- shadowed, and the act formulated after his ideas was passed and re- ceived his gubernatorial signature making it a law. On the expiration of his term he declined a renomination, and left the executive chair with a splendid record for ability and integrity.
In 1875 and again in 1881 the name of Mr. Davis was presented as a candidate for the United States senate, but his canvass was unsuc- cessful. He was elected, however, in 1887, and succeeded himself by re-election in 1893. During his entire first senatorial term he was chair- man of the committee on pensions, and was author of the act of that session which ended the attempts for the enactment of extravagant pen- sion legislation. He was an earnest champion of the Sault Ste. Marie canal, and it was through his effort that the old-time prodigal and tin- businesslike methods of work were abandoned, and the contract system substituted therefor. For four years he was one of the most active members of the foreign relations committee. In this capacity he severely criticised the policy of President Cleveland in the Hawaii embroglio. His speech on the questions at issue between Great Britain and the United States respecting Venezuela was one of tremendous force and exhaustiveness, and the principles which he enunciated formed the basis upon which the treaty between Great Britain and Venezuela was formu- lated. In 1894 he made a vigorous speech in defense of President Cleveland for his action in the suppression of violence during the Chi- cago riots and in the restoration of order. and his utterance, more than that of all others, disarmed the opposition against the chief executive in that critical hour. Mr. Davis's last conspicuous appearance in the senate was in a peculiarly dramatic scene. As chairman of the foreign
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relations committee he reported to the senate, on April 13. 1898, a series of resolutions which formed a practical declaration of war against Spain. In August following it was his distinction to be a principal actor in bringing to a close the struggle which he. in a sense, had in- augurated, by becoming a member of the Spanish-American Peace Com- mission. And this splendid service was practically the crowning and concluding act of his long, useful and brilliant public career.
Mr. Davis was a man of fine literary attainments and instincts. He was a deep student of French and English history and literature, and his library was unusually rich in Napoleona and Shakespeariana. He was atithor of two valuable works-"Modern Feudalism" (1870), and "Law in Shakespeare" (1884). In 1886 the University of Michigan con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
Mr. Davis was married, in 1880, to Miss Anna Malcom Agnew, of St. Paul, Minnesota.
EDMUND QUINCY SEWALL, who for nearly half a century stood in the minds of the citizens of Watertown as a type of all that is best in the social, religious and political life of the community, was a representative of a family which, from the colonial period down to the present time, has given to the country, and more especially to New England, some of its noblest citizens.
The progenitor of the race was among the knights who accom- panied Duke William of Normandy to England and shared in the con- flicts and rewards of the Conquest. On the wall of St. Mary's Hall in the old city of Coventry is inscribed the name of Henry Sewall, who in the reign of "good Queen Bess" was mayor of the city which was then second in importance to London alone. Henry Sewall was held in honor by his fellow citizens, and was several times re-elected to the mayoralty. This office was held about 1600 by another Henry Sewall, nephew of the preceding. This second Henry Sewall, who was a trades- man of Coventry, belonged to the large and constantly increasing body of Puritans. It was possibly in consequence of his religious belief that he was moved during the latter part of his life to cast in his lot with those of his countrymen who had made a home for themselves in the American wilderness, and to send his son Henry in advance to the Massachusetts colony, well provided with means. This son settled in 1634 in Newbury, where he was soon after joined by his father.
(IV) Samuel Sewall. son of the third Henry Sewall, was born
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March 28, 1652, according to some authorities, at Bishopstoke, Eng- land. and graduated in 1671 from Harvard College. He afterward remained in the institution, studying theology and at the same time acting as librarian, but his marriage in 1676 with the daughter of the mintmaster, John Hull, diverted the current of his life. After the mar- riage (which is the subject of a popular colonial tradition graphically related by Hawthorne), Samuel Sewall became an assistant in his father- in-law's business and ultimately acquired a large estate. In 1684 he was made assistant governor, and as such in 1686 surrendered the colo- nial charter to Sir Edmund Andros. In 1688-9 he visited England and during his absence the government of Andros was overthrown. In 1692 he was made a judge and also a member of the executive council. He was the only member of that body who consistently advocated the rights of the people when they came into collision with the prerogatives of the crown. It is a strong proof of the prevalence of superstition in that age that even his powerful and enlightened intellect was not able to resist the baleful and universal influence of the witchcraft delusion. In 1692 he presided at the trial of some of the victims. His subsequent self-condemnation and noble public confession of wrongdoing have shed additional lustre on his name. In religion he was a strong Puritan and was an advocate and supporter of Indian missions. To Samuel Sewall belongs the undying honor of having been the first to bear witness with his pen against the folly and wickedness of African slavery. In 1718 he was promoted to be chief justice of the colony and held that office ten years. He died in Boston, January 1, 1730, leaving a name second to none in the colonial annals of New England.
(V) Joseph Sewall, son of Samuel Sewall, was born in 1688, graduated at Harvard College in 1707, and in 1713 became assistant pastor of the Old South church. In the course of time he became head pastor, and his connection with the church, which covered a period of fifty-six years, was terminated only by his death. In 1724, when he was called to the presidency of Harvard College, he declined on account of the reluctance of his congregation to part with him. In 1727, when all the ministers in the colonies preached on the death of George the First and the accession of his son, Mr. Sewall in his sermon laid greater stress upon the obligations of kings to their people than upon the duties of subjects to their sovereign. He was a member of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England, and in 1740 gave his approval to the preaching of Whitefield. He contributed to the
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support of needy students at Harvard College. His death occurred in Boston, June 27. 1769.
(VI) Samuel Sewall, one of the two sons of Joseph Sewall, grad- uated at Harvard College in 1733. He was a Boston merchant, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Quincy, a member of the distinguished family of that name.
(\'II) Samuel Sewall. eldest son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Quincy) Sewall, was born in 1757 and graduated at Harvard College in 1776. He adopted the profession of the law, was frequently elected to the state legislature, and in 1797 to Congress. In 1800 he was made judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts and in 1813 chief justice. He married Abigail Devereux, who belonged to a well known family of Salem. Judge Sewall died June 8, 1814, at Wiscasset, Maine, whither he had gone to hold court.
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