USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of western 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 18
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(VI) Johannes or John, youngest child of Robert (2) and Marytje (Ostrander) Van Deusen, was born June 15. 1779, at Clave- rack, and baptized there August 8th of that year. He was early thrown upon his own resources, and become one of the successful business men and leading citizens of Colum- bia county. He began the mercantile busi-
ness in an old shop at Johnstown in the town of Livingston, and about 1800 built a store in which he conducted business forty years. At one time he had a partner named Forest and in 1830 business was conducted by Van Deusen & Reed. In 1820 he owned and oper- ated what was known as the "Good Hope" flour mills, later known as the Bingham Mills, and was an extensive dealer for many years in real estate. Ile was a man of sound judg- ment and unspotted integrity, and because of his consequent success in business it seemed as if money always stuck to him and he was called by the nickname "Johnny Wax." He served as town clerk of Livingston, 1805-12; was supervisor 1812-20, and in 1823 was elected a member of the state assembly. His chief amusement was horseback riding and he became a very skilled horseman and made a fine figure on horseback; he served as an officer in the cavalry division of the militia for many years. He was a director of the National Hudson River Bank at Hudson, of which he was one of the organizers. In 1842 he removed to a farm at Greenport, Columbia county, where he died May 26, 1863, near the close of his eighty-fourth year. He was an active member of the Dutch Reformed church in which he served many years as treasurer. He married (first), December 7, 1800, Lena, daughter of Peter and Christina (Van Loon) Fonda, born July 17, 1782, died January II, 1813. He married (second), March 3, 1814. Anna Maria Elting, who died September 29, 1816. He married (third), June 17, 1817, Ann Maria Whitlock, born November 6, 1790. Children of first mar- riage : Rachel, born November 2, 1803; Jane Maria, October 17. 1805; Evelina, January 4, 1811: Lena, December 30, 1812. Children of second marriage: Cathalina ; Peter, born September 21, 1816, married Susan Livington and resided at Hudson. Children of third marriage: Mary Cornelia, born August 4, 1818: John, March 5, 1820 ; Harmon, August IO, 1824.
(\'II) Lena, fourth daughter of John and Lena (Fonda ) Van Deusen, was born De- cember 30, 1812. She married. September 7, 1831, Almet Reed, and died in 1894. Almet Reed was born April 1, 1810. at Coxsackie, Greene county, New York, died in New York City, in February, 1880. Children : I. Ed- gar, married Sarah Walsh, of Ithaca, New York, and had children : Anna, Alice and
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Sarah. The last died in infancy and the oth- ers married successively a Frenchman named Gibert. 2. Helen Emma, born about 1833, died October 13, 19II; married Cornelius Smith Mitchell, son of Samuel L. Mitchell, of New York, and had children : Neil R., Helen and Edith ; Neil R. married Agnes Lewis ; the elder daughter became the wife of Dr. Jack- son, of New York City, and the junior of Henry Prellwitz, a native of Germany. 3. John, born April 26, 1838; married Mary Louise, daughter of Samuel L. Mitchell, of New York; they had daughters, Marie and Alice ; the former died in Paris and is buried in Pere la Chaise cemetery. 4. Roswell, died in infancy. 5. Ida, born November 20, 1852; married, March 1, 1881, George Francis Op- dyke, of New York (see Opdyke VIII).
The Ferris family in America
FERRIS was originally from Leicester- shire, England, and descended from the house of Ferriers (also written Fer- ren, Ferreis and Ferris), the first member of which in England was Henry de Feriers, son of Guillaume de Feriers, master of the house of the Duke of Normandy, who ob- tained from William the Conqueror large grants of land in the counties of Stafford, Derby and Leicester. It is said he took an active part in the battle of Hastings, having come to England in the train of the Con- queror. William Ferers, early of Derby, was a descendant and bore arms: "Gules: seven mascles, or, a canton ermine." The American family bears: "Gules, a fleur de lis, or, a can- ton ermine with a crescent for difference."
Several of the name Ferris settled in New England at an early day. Jaffrey Ferris came from England to Watertown, Massa- chusetts, where he was admitted a freeman, May 6, 1635. He went with the Watertown pioneers to Wethersfield, Connecticut. He remained there a few years, then went with the first colony to Stamford, Connecticut, and received ten acres of land in the first divi- sion in 1640. In 1656 he was one of the eleven men, of Greenwich, Connecticut, who petitioned to be accepted under the jurisdic- tion of the New Haven colony. Tradition tells us that his first wife was of noble birth, marrying against the wishes of her family. He married (second), shortly before her death, Susannah, widow of Robert Lockwood. She died December 23, 1660. His third wife
was Judy Burns, who thus signed her name in receipting for her portion of the estate, March 6, 1667. His will was proved at Fair- field, Connecticut, January 6, 1664, bequeath- ing to wife Judy ; son James; step-children, Jonathan and Mary Lockwood; son Peter's three children; son Joseph's two children ; also giving ten pounds each to four boys that he brought up. Children: John, of whom further ; Peter, born July 5, 1654, married Elizabeth Reynolds; Joseph, born September 20, 1657, married Ruth Knapp; James, lived in Greenwich.
John, son of Jaffrey Ferris, was born in Leicestershire, England, about 1630. He set- tled in Westchester, New York, in 1654, and was one of the original patentees. Bolton's history states that he came to Westchester from Fairfield, Connecticut, and was one of the ten proprietors of Throckmorton's Neck (now Throg's Neck), purchased of Thomas Pell, in 1667. He receipted for his share of his father's estate, July 16, 1705. His father and brothers, according to this docu- ment, lived at Greenwich, Fairfield county, Connecticut. Their names are spelled Feris, while his is spelled Ferris. He lived to a great age and was a member of the Society of Friends in his later years. His will, dated May 9, 1713, proved 1715, bequeathed to his son Peter, houses and lands in Westchester. Sons: John, Samuel, James and Jonathan. Daughters: Phebe Bartling, Hannah Mott, Martha and Sarah Ferris.
In 1665 Isaac, James and Benjamin Ferris obtained a grant of land from King Charles and came from Leicestershire, England, to Stamford and Greenwich, Connecticut. They were, no doubt, relatives of Jaffrey Ferris, the families in later days always claiming re- lationship. While the records do not estab- lish the fact, there is little doubt that Sylvanus Ferris, of Greenwich, Connecticut, was a direct descendant of Jaffrey Ferris, who was the first of the name in that section. The definite record begins with Sylvanus.
(I) Sylvanus Ferris was born in Green- wich, Connecticut, August 10, 1737, died Jan- uary 12, 1824. He married Mary Mead, also born in Greenwich, September 30. 1743, died July 12, 1822. They lived in their native town, prosperous and happy until the outbreak of the revolution, when Sylvanus, espousing the cause of freedom, became obnoxious to his Tory neighbors. He enlisted and served
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in the expedition against Crown Point and Ticonderoga. He was persecuted to such an extent in Greenwich that he sold out what the Tories and cowboys had left him, and on May 26, 1788, purchased from Eli Randall the farm in Westchester, New York, later owned by Dr. Lawson. He moved his family there and at once began farming and keeping a country inn. The house was known to travelers as an inn until 1818. Mrs. Ferris, with saddle bags filled with stockings of her own and neigh- bors' knitting, made annual visits to New York City on horseback, disposed of the goods and purchased such articles as they needed and brought what she could home with her. On one of these visits she pulled a sprout from one of the black walnut trees north of Harlem bridge for a whip; when she reached home she planted it, and the immense tree that grew from it was one of the striking features of the old homestead a century later (perhaps is yet). A grandson of Sylvanus Ferris, writing of him in 1890 (the writer be- ing then seventy-nine), says :
"I well remember our grandfather, Sylvanus Fer- ris, how he looked, his habits, etc. He was tall and straight with a full head of white hair, always wearing a smooth shaven face, spry and active until within a few days of his death. He was much re- spected by his neighbors and had many friends. He was dignified in appearance, though social and friendly with all. He was a Presbyterian, always attending church, though four miles away; al- ways faithful to family prayers night and morn- ing; always standing when he prayed or asked blessing at the table, his family and guests also standing. He was a man of even dispo- sition, always happy and delighted in making others so. He was a tailor by trade, but did not work at it while I knew him, but always cut and made his own clothes. He did not work hard. having good boys to do the work for him. I well remember when a boy hearing grandfather tell of his trials and experiences during the revolution : how his Tory neighbors stole everything they could lay their hands on. He had sold many things and had quite a pot of money, which he buried, but it was found and taken from him. One night they came with a British officer, who was on horseback, made him get up and saddle and bridle his horse, after which they rode away with it. One of his neighbors, in his will made years afterward, directed that Sylvanus Ferris should be paid with interest the price of an ox he had stolen from him."
Children of Sylvanus and Mary (Mead) Ferris: I. Henry, born March 10, 1764, died March 25, 1808. 2. Molly, born August 14, 1766, died September 13. 1840; married Henry Hays : lived and died in Galway, Sara- toga county, New York : children: James,
Henry, William, Isaac. Polly, Ann, Rebecca. 3. Hannah. born October 23. 1768, died October 24, 1846: married Abraham Raymond : lived and died in Charlton, New York ; children: Harvey, Abraham, Letty, Harriet. 4. Sylvanus, of whom further. 5. Sarah, born February 17, 1776, died July 23, 1857: married William Morgan; lived and died in Wilton, Connecticut : children : Will- iam, Henry, Laura, Charles, Abraham. 6.
Elizabeth, died young. 7. Gideon, born De- cember 23. 1780, died November 6, 1861 ; lived and died on the old homestead ; married Lois Boughton : children: Helena, Cyrus Mead, Elizabeth. 8. James, born April 18, 1783, died May 20, 1857: lived at Walton, Connecticut, and in Ohio: married (first) S. Keller ; (second) Nancy Smith; child, by first wife: E. Keller: children by second wife: Sally, Betsey, Abby, Harriet. Amanda. De- scendants live in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri. 9. Betsey, born March 6. 1785. died January 28, 1863; married Joseph Darling; lived at Reading, Connecticut, and Maryland, where they died : children: Henry, Sally, Aaron.
This indenture, made this 25th day of Novem- ber, A. D., 1815, between Amos Brownson. Syl- vanus Ferris, Rowland Sears, Josiah Smith, James Norton, and Thomas Manley of the Nor- way Caverly Society of the first part and Syl- vanus Ferris of the second part,
Witnesseth: that the parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of one hun- dred and eighty seven dollars and fifty cents to them paid by the said party of the second part, having bargained, sold, assigned. transferred, and by these presents do bargain, sell, assign. trans- fer and deliver unto the said party of the second part. his heirs and assigns forever. a Pew or Seat number 7 on the ground floor of the new Church lately erected in Norway. To have and to hold the same unto the said party of the second part. his heirs and assigns forever; upon condition nevertheless, that the seat is only to be improved or occupied as a pew or Seat for persons to sit in during attendance on such Divine Worship as shall from time to time be permitted to be holden in said church.
In testimony whereof. the parties of the first part have hereunto affixed their seal and sub- scribed their names the day and year first above written.
Amos Brownson, Thomas Manley, Josiah Smith. James Norton. Sylvanus Ferris, Trustees.
Received South Salem this 23d day of June, 1824. of Gideon Ferris, executor of the last will and testament of Sylvanus Ferris, late of South Salem, county of Westchester, deceased, the sum
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of two hundred and four dollars and fifty cents in full of legacies bequeathed to Sylvanus Ferris of Norway, county of Herkimer, in and by the last will and testament of said Sylvanus Ferris deceased.
$204.50.
Sylvanus Ferris.
(II) Sylvanus (2) son of Sylvanus (I) and Mary (Mead) Ferris, was born March 5, 1773. died July 23, 1857. He removed to Nor- way, New York, thence to Galesburg, Illinois, where he died. He married Sally Olmsted. Sylvanus Western, born June 30, 1799, died September 30, 1887: Nathan Olmsted. Febru- ary II, 1801, died November 19, 1850; Sally Maria, September 18, 1803. died April 26, 1804 ; Timothy Harvey, of whom further; William Mead, November, 1807. died October 18, 1883 ; Henry, October 18, 1809, died April 15, I891 : Laura, December 16, 1811, died Febru- ary 23, 1831 ; Harriet Newel, June 23, 1816, died December 12, 1851: George Washing- ton Gale, May 11, 1818, died April 20, 1895. (III) Timothy Harvey, son of Sylvanus (2) and Sally (Olmsted ) Ferris, was born October 20, 1805, in Norway, Herkimer county, New York, died June 20, 1891. He settled in the town of Russia, Herkimer county. New York, where he engaged in agri- culture. He married, February 18, 1830, in Norway, Eliza Ann Salisbury, born June 19. 1809, in Norway. New York. Chil- dren : Sarah Maria, born November 29. 1830, in Norway: James Harvey, of whom further ; Harriet Newel. November, 1835. Norway ; Frances Matilda, June 24, 1838, Rus- sia : Charles Sylvanus, November 28, 1840, Russia : Stella Eliza, August 3, 1843, Russia ; Franklyn Stanton, August 26, 1846, Russia.
(IV) James Harvey, son of Timothy Har- vey and Eliza Ann ( Salisbury ) Ferris, was born in 1833, died 1885. He was educated in the public schools of Fairfield, New York, where he lived until 1869, when he came to Cattaraugus county, New York, settling in the town of Farmersville. He was a farmer and a man well esteemed. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and a Republican. He married Frances Terry. Children : I. William H., married Cora Robley. 2. Frances died at the age of thirty-three; married El- mer MIcWall : children: Harold, Francis, Mar- jorie. 3. George Washington Gale, of whom further. 4. Hermon R .. died at the age of twenty-nine years ; lived in Colorado ten years prior to his death.
(V) George W. G., son of James Harvey
and Frances (Terry) Ferris, was born in Farmersville, Cattaraugus county, New York, September 29, 1871. He was educated in the public school and Ten Broeck Academy, class of 1892. On embarking in business life for himself he came to Franklinville, where in association with his brother, William H., he purchased the drug store of William Ely, and carried on business under the firm name of Ferris & Ferris. In 1904 he purchased the mill property of G. C. Ames and organized the Empire Manufacturing Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer. He also organized the Franklinville Electric Light Company, operated by the same power. He is also vice-president of the Union National Bank and a trustee of the Duer Canning Company. Mr. Ferris figures prominently in the public affairs of his town and county. He is a trustee of the village corporation of Franklinville, and in 1907 was chosen treas- urer of Cattaraugus county. His administra- tion of the finances of the county was so sat- isfactory to the voters that in 1910 he was nominated and elected for a second term of three years. He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church, member of Lodge No. 636, Free and Accepted Masons, and po- litically a Republican. He married, May 27, 1896, Helen E. Robley, sister of Cora, wife of William H. Ferris.
Thomas Scovell, the first of SCOVELL the line here under considera- tion, was a soldier of the revo- lution, serving at Ticonderoga. He married and had a son Thomas, of whom further.
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (I) Sco- vell, lived, at least as early as 1779 and as late as 1781, at Lempster, Chester (now Sul- livan county ), New Hampshire. Later he set- tled about two miles east of the village of Or- well. Addison county, Vermont. Here, with others, he entered into a mercantile business. which failed. He was a soldier of the revolu- tion, and served at Ticonderoga. He married Rachel, born September 16, 1753, daughter of Josiah and Rachel (Cole ) Boardman. She married (first) November 9, 1775. Hezekiah Wilcox, who died September II, 1776: a son by the first marriage was born exactly a month after his father's death. Children of Thomas (2) and Rachel ( Boardman-Wilcox ) Scovell : Josiah Boardman, of whom further.
(III) Josiah Boardman, son of Thomas (2)
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and Rachel (Boardman-Wilcox) Scovell, was a farmer and breeder of merino sheep at Or- well. In the war of 1812 he served in the battle of Plattsburg and elsewhere on the northern frontier. In 1836 he settled in Nia- gara county, New York. He married, in Ver- mont, Anna, only daughter of John and Ca- therine (Weaver) Saxe, who had several sons, and of whose sons one, Peter, was father of John G. Saxe, the poet. Among the children of Josiah Boardman and Anna (Saxe) Sco- vell was Oliver Perry, of whom further.
(IV) Oliver Perry, son of Josiah Board- man and Anna (Saxe) Scovell, was born at Orwell, March 24, 1820. In 1836 he came with his parents to Cambria, Niagara county. New York. In 1841 and 1842 he was clear- ing a new farm in the woods of Eaton county, Michigan. The next two years he was in Or- leans county, New York : for six years, from the spring of 1845, he was in New York City, as agent for a line of boats on the Erie canal ; for two years he was in Boston, in similar work : in the summer of 1853 he was traveling agent for the Albany & Rutland railroad. In 1860 he was elected a member of the New York legislature. During the drafts he was provost marshal of the county, and he held several other offices under the village of Lew- iston and the nation. Besides these public offices he was director and vice-president of the Lake Ontario Shore railroad (now the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg). For over forty years he has been elder, treasurer and clerk of the session of the Presbyterian church.
He married (first) at Lewiston, in 1846, Elizabeth, daughter of Leonard Shepherd, of Lewiston, who died in 1854; (second) Eliz- abeth, daughter of Philo Jewett, of Wey- bridge, Vermont. Children: I. Anna Saxe, died in infancy. 2. Oliver Perry, born June 3, 1859, died September 22, 1881, while a stu- dent at Oberlin College. 3. Elizabeth Eddy, born October 12, 1861, died December 13, 1876. 4. Philo Jewett, born May 17, 1865 ; attendant of Oberlin College, specializing in music. 5. Josiah Boardman. of whom further.
(V) Josiah Boardman (2) youngest child of Oliver Perry Scovell, was born in Lewis- ton, New York, December 1. 1869. He gra- duated from Lockport union school and Cor- nell University. Law Department, 1891, LL. B. He was admitted to the New York bar in Oc- tober. 1892. Until 1894 he was engaged with
the West Publishing Company, a legal pub- lishing house, during which period he edited thirty volumes of "Federal Cases," spending his summers in St. Paul, Minnesota, his win- ters at Washington, D. C. In 1894 he began the practice of law in Buffalo, continuing un- til 1911, when he moved to Niagara Falls, New York, where he is largely interested in the development and use of Niagara power. He is a lawyer of high repute, thoroughly versed in corporation and international law, in United States court practice and in general legal procedure. In 1902 he assisted in the reorganization of the Columbia National Bank, serving the same two years as director. He is on the directorate of several manufac- turing and business corporations, also serving several of them as secretary and treasurer. He is deeply immersed in business and a man thoroughly capable both in and outside his profession. He is an independent Democrat in politics, and since 1897 an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Lewiston, also active and interested in Sunday school work. He is a member of the Erie County, New York State and American Bar associations ; mem- ber of the American Library Association ; life member of the Lewiston Free Library Asso- ciation, which he served five years as presi- dent, and five years as treasurer, donating the library building : member of Sigma Chi and Phi Delta Phi, Cornell Alumni Association ; member of Buffalo Historical Society, and Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. His clubs are the Buffalo, Ellicott and Lawyers', of Buffalo, was president of the Liberal Club of Buffalo, and is affiliated with clubs of To- ronto. Montreal, Ottawa, and Winnipeg, Ca- nada ; New York City, Washington, and Lon- don, England.
He married, January 16, 1909, at Lewiston, New York, Rhoda Ann, daughter of George H. and Margaret (McLean) Godfrey, of Lewiston. She is a graduate of Niagara Falls high school and Elmira College. They have one child, Margaret Elizabeth, born at "Fair- banks," in Lewiston, December 17, 1911.
Hon. James Jefferson Myers, MYERS son of Robert and Sabra (Ste- vens ) Myers, was born in Frewsburg. Chautauqua county, Western New York, November 20, 1842. He comes of old Mohawk Dutch ancestry through the paternal Mavers and Van Valkenburg families and of
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Puritan stock through the maternal Stevens and Tracy lines. His grandparents on both sides were among the pioneer settlers in West- ern New York, and he still owns the farm which his father's father bought of the Hol- land Land Company early in the nineteenth century.
He received his early education in the pub- lic schools of his native town and at Fredonia and Randolph academies, both in Western New York. He entered Harvard College in 1865 and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1869. While preparing for college, he spent a portion of the time each year in lumbering on the Alle- gheny river and on the Ohio river, making long trips by raft, thus building up a strong physique and acquiring a thorough knowledge of the country and of human nature. In col- lege he won distinction for scholarship, taking the Boylston prize for elocution two successive years, and he was also prominent in athletics, rowing in his class crew several years. He studied for his profession in the Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1872, hav- ing spent a year abroad and having taught mathematics in the college one year while a law student. He was admitted to the bar of Suffolk county in the summer of 1872, but before he began to practice there he served an apprenticeship of one year as clerk in a New York City law office. In the autumn of 1874, in partnership with J. B. Warner he began to practice in Boston, and since then he has been in active practice there. His office at present is at 53 State street. Mr. Myers ranks easily among the foremost lawyers of Boston.
Mr. Myers has had a career of high distinc- tion in public life. In politics he is a Republi- can of large influence, and he has been for many years a prominent figure in Massachu- setts politics. In 1892 he was elected to the general court of Massachusetts from the first Middlesex representative district, and he was re-elected from year to year until 1904. In 1893 he served on the committees on rules, on elections, and on probate and insolvency, and became a recognized leader in committee room and on the floor of the house. He took a conspicuous part in some of the most no- table debates of the session, and was instru- mental in securing much important legislation. He was the chief champion of the bill creating
a commission to inquire into the Norwegian liquor system, and was one of the most effec- tive supporters of the Metropolitan park - bill. spoke in favor of the measure to protect the interests of the Commonwealth in the Fitch- burg railroad case, and for the bill to abolish double taxation, and was one of the active members in the Bay State gas investigation, one of the most important acts of that legis- lature. He also assisted in securing the ap- pointment of a special committee on revision of the corporation laws, to sit during the re- cess, and as a member of this committee took a leading part in its work and in the prepara- tion of its report. In the legislature of 1894 he was house chairman of the special commit- tee on the revision of corporation laws, and a member of the committees on the judiciary and on rules, and was especially active in pro- curing legislation to prevent the watering of stocks of quasi-public corporations, such as gas, electric lighting, water, telephone, tele- graph and railroad companies. He also had a hand in drafting a municipal conduit bill, au- thorizing any municipality to construct con- duits for electric wires in its own streets, but this measure was defeated. In the legislature of 1895 he was appointed house chairman of the committee on the judiciary and remained a member of the committee on rules and as a matter of course took a leading part in the laborious work of that committee during the session. Again in 1896 he was chairman of the committee on rules and also of judiciary, and during the next three years he held these places of leadership. In 1899 he held these chairmanships and also served on the special committee on the reception of President Mc- Kinley. He was elected speaker of the house in 1900 by a virtually unanimous vote, and re-elected speaker in 1901-02-03. He was chairman of the committee on rules and house chairman in 1901 of the joint special commit- tee on the revision of the public statutes, a work of vast importance. As speaker he came to the position with superb natural gifts and an unexcelled legislative training and experi- ence. No speaker in recent years filled the high office with greater ability and distinction. Through the legislative sessions while he was speaker, he guided the body over which he presided with consummate skill and tact. and took a prominent part in the enactment of much wise and beneficient legislation. It was to the great regret of a multitude of friends,
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