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 85
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ident, an advancement thus being shown from that of a hired hand to the second position of official importance in the largest concern of its kind in the world. Mr. Bissell is also president of the Imperial Car Cleaner Com- pany, vice-president of the Blanchite Paint Company, director of the Murphy Varnish Company, the Cleveland Varnish Company, the Wilson Remover Company, the Dougall Varnish Company of Montreal, Canada, the National State Bank of Newark, and several other concerns in the United States and Can- ada.
Mr. Bissell is active in club life also. He has long been a member of the New Jer- sey Automobile and Motor Club, having been its vice-president, and according to the opin- ion of automobilists no man in that club is better fitted for the position held than Mr. Bissell. He has been elected to succeed W. Clive Crosby, the retiring president. Mr. Bis- sell is also a member of the Tiger Inn Club of Princeton, the Princeton Club of New York, the Union League Club of Chicago and the University Club of New York.
(IX) Amos, son of George Newell and Sarah C. (Hamlin) Bissell, was born Janu- ary 13, 1875, in Milford, New York. He at- tended public schools until the fall of 1888 when he entered Hartwick Seminary and graduated in the classical and academic courses in June, 1890. That fall he entered the middle class at Philips Exeter Academy. Exeter. New Hampshire, from which school he graduated in June, 1892. In September, 1892, he entered the freshman class of Prince- ton University and remained until February. 1895, when he accepted a position with Hor- ace Partridge & Company, Boston, Massachu- setts. In February, 1899, he went with Iver Johnson's Sporting Goods Company, Boston, Massachusetts, and in May, 1900, with the Essex Varnish Company as traveling sales- man, in which position he remained until July I, 1907, being promoted to manager of that company, which position he now occupies. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, Washington Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Roxbury, Massachusetts : Mt. Vernon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons: De Molay Commandery, No. 7. Knights Templar, Bos- ton, Massachusetts, and of Kalurah Temple.
He married. April 15, 1895. Louise, daugh- ter of Aaron and Joanna (Griffin ) Salisbury. They have no children.
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BIXBY The derivation of this surname has not yet been definitely ascer- tained. The family originated in England, in Suffolk county, doubtless, for prior to 1600 many Bixbys are found there, and at that early date, in no other English county. The family has been long in Am- erica, and has furnished many pioneers and prominent citizens. Members of the family were active in the early settlement of New England, and later in the settlement of nearly all of the northern United States, and are now scattered throughout the entire United States. In the early records of New England the name is spelled Bixby, Bigsby, Byxbe, and occasionally in other ways. At the present time, descendants of Joseph Bixby, of Ips-
wich, Massachusetts, generally spell the name Bixby. Some spell it Bigsby and some Byx- bee, while there are very few spelling it Bigs- bee, and one family spelling it Bixbee. With three or four exceptions, all people in the United States and Canada bearing this name are descended from Joseph Bixby, of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
(1) Sergeant Joseph Bixby was born in England in 1621. He was a resident of Ips- wich, Massachusetts, in 1647, where we find the record of his marriage in December, 1647. to Sarah, widow of Luke Heard, and daugh- ter of John Wyatt, of Ipswich, formerly of Assington, Suffolk county, England. She died June 3, 1704, at the age of eighty-four years. Joseph Bixby was a carpenter by trade. In 1660 he removed to Rowley Village. now Boxford, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Topsfield Company of Militia and was made sergeant in 1666. He died in Boxford, April 19. 1700. His will is on file at Salem, Massachusetts, together with the in- ventory of his estate which showed a total of £149 4s. 15d. His children were: Joseph, Daniel, Benjamin, Sarah, Nathaniel, Mary, George, Jonathan, Abigail.
( 11) Daniel, second son of Joseph and Sa- rah Bixby, was born in Ipswich about 1651, died in Andover, May 7, 1717. He married. December 2, 1674. Hannah, daughter of Lieu- tenant Thomas and Hannah (Brower ) Chan- dler. She died November 20, 1730. Daniel Bixby removed to Andover prior to his mar- riage and died there. His children, all of whom were born in Andover, were: Daniel, Hannah, Thomas, Sarah, Jonathan, David, Mephibosheth, Mary, Joseph.
(III ) Mephibosheth, son of Daniel Bixby, was born April 3, 1690, in Andover, Massa- chusetts, died March 20, 1767, at Winchen- (lon, Massachusetts. He married, May 28, 1713, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Emmons. He moved from Andover to Wo- burn in April, 1724, thence to Shrewsbury where he bought land in 1736. He sold land in Shrewsbury in 1742, in 1746 and in 1750. He probably accompanied his son Daniel to Winchendon in 1767 or earlier. Children, all born in Andover : Daniel, Mary, Samuel, Jonathan, David, Nathaniel, Martha.
(IV) Samuel, son of Mephibosheth Bixby, was born August 31, 1716, in Andover, Mas- sachusetts, died March 12, 1800, in Boylston, Massachusetts. He married, at Woburn, No- vember. 1737. Mary Buck. He moved to Chelmsford prior to 1739. having come there from Shrewsbury. He afterward returned to Shrewsbury and was living there in 1745. but moved to Lancaster in 1761 where he married. October 8, 1773, Sarah Beaman, of Lancaster, widow. She died in Lancaster, January 21, 1800. Samuel Bixby was a member of the train band of Captain Jabez Beaman, of Shrewsbury. Children: Samuel, Joseph, Ma- nasseh, John, Ephraim, Martha, Mary.
(V) Samuel (2). son of Samuel ( 1) Bixby, was born prior to December, 1739, perhaps in the preceding year, although family tradi- tion gives the date of his birth in 1740. He was probably born in Shrewsbury. He died in Bainbridge, New York, 1820. He married, March 4, 1762, at Lancaster, Massachusetts, Hannah Powers, born there January 10. 1739. died in 1819 in Bainbridge. She was daugh- ter of Jonathan and Hannah (Sawyer) Pow- ers, of Lancaster. Jonathan Powers was a revolutionary soldier. Samuel Bixby re- moved to Guilford, Vermont, perhaps as early as 1768, but the records of land transactions there are imperfect and there is no record of his first purchase. His brothers Manasseh and Ephraim accompanied him, or else went there soon after. He was for many years one of the most prominent men in Guilford, holding town office and associating with the party favoring New York. Guilford was chartered by Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, in 1768. Children: Hannah, born December 13, 1762, in Princeton, married Asa Stowell : Sibyl, October 1. 1765, in Princeton, married (first) Edward Davison, ( second) Henry Evans: Priscilla, born December 29, 1767, in
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Princeton, married Henry Ward; Asahel, born October, 1770, in Guilford, Vermont, married Clarina Smith ; Samuel, born January 25, 1784, in Guilford, married Lois Moss ; Elizabeth, born April 8, 1778, in Guilford, married Russell Redfield.
For several years the affairs of the town were conducted peacefully and successfully, in fact because of the town's unique position almost as an independent community. This state of affairs lasted until 1777 when Vermont having declared her independence, a party favoring the new state found themselves tem- porarily in the ascendency. At the town meet- ing held May 17, 1774. Samuel Bixby was chosen constable, and in 1777 assessor. The following year he was chosen on committee to lay out roads and on March 16, 1781, was chosen town clerk, which office he held until the annual meeting in 1784 when the Vermont party again secured control. On June 5, 1782, he had been appointed a justice of the peace for Cumberland county in the New York jur- isdiction, and that year was also a petit jury- man. He thus was a conspicuous adherent to the New York claim. Cumberland county was set up by New York in 1766, but the ad- ministration by the New York officials was mostly a fiction, although officers were ap- pointed both civil and military.
When Vermont asserted her independence in 1777 a draft was ordered to provide mil- itia for the defence of the state, and the offi- cials of the Vermont party in Guilford, in- stead of selecting those who claimed to be citizens of that state, drafted men of the op- position, who refused to serve or to supply substitutes thus participating an open rupture. The Vermont selectmen ordered that the es- tates of Samuel Bixby and four others be dis- trained upon for the sum of £15 to meet the expense the town had been to to find substi- tutes for the five delinquents. The sheriff's deputy proceeded to the house of Joel Bige- low, one of the five, where he found many per- sons collected, and proceeded to take a cow. He was then set upon by about sixty "York- ers" who rescued the animal. Court proceed- ings were immediately instituted against those taking part in the "riot." and among those in- dicted was Samuel Bixby. The following year the York party obtained control of the town. The climax of the trouble was reached in 1783 and 1784. Ethan Allen with a com- pany of militia and volunteers from neighbor-
ing parts occupied the town and took several of the York party prisoners. Shots were ex- changed and some blood shed, both at this time and later. In July, 1784, Samuel Bixby and others were indicted in the Vermont courts for the part they had taken in the as- sault on Sergeant Fisk, and feeling that fur- ther resistance was hopeless on October 25, petitioned the general court of Vermont for pardon and to be permitted to become citizens of that state. This petition, together with that of twenty-five others, was granted, and it was exacted that upon their taking the oath of allegiance their estates so far as the same had not been disposed of should be restored to them.
In 1782 Bixby had been clerk of the con- vention of committees, a convention of dele- gates from the York towns of Guilford, Brat- tleboro, Halifax and Marlboro, and in his of- ficial capacity reported to Governor Clinton the doings of the Vermont supporters and es- pecially the illegal act of arrest and banish- ment under pain of death of certain of the York leaders. And in 1785. at the time Ver- mont was making a strenuous effort to be admitted to the Union, he wrote to Governor Clinton, being one of a committee in behalf of the loyal subjects of New York, protesting against the action of Vermont and affirming that no York man had taken the oath of alleg- iance to Vermont except those confined in gaol and fed with the bread and water of af- flietion.
Guilford had been the centre of York oppo- sition to Vermont, and upon a settlement har- ing been made between New York and Ver- mont, upon petition of the agents of one hun- dred and seven residents of Cumberland conn- ty, who had suffered in their persons and es- tates by upholding the sovereignty of New York, that state voted a township eight miles square to them, to be apportioned by commis- sioners. On July 11. 1786, three hundred and eighty acres in lot No. 81 in Clinton township No. 2 was granted to Samuel Bixby.
The popular account of the resistance to Vermont authority which centred at Guilford. ascribes association and union between the York party and the Tories during the revolti- tion. This certainly was not so. The men of the New York party did their turn in the defence of the border, and acted under and received pay from the Vermont authorities. Both Samuel and Manasseh Bixby, his broth-
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er, who was also a York adherent and some- what prominent in town, served in the patriot forces during the war. He enlisted, August 29, and served until September 23, 1777, as sergeant in the company commanded by Cap- tain Josiah Boyden in Colonel William Will- iams' regiment which marched to Bennington, and his brother Manasseh served during the following month. Also they both served for six days in the company of Captain Charles Nelson raised by order of the convention to defend the frontiers, from March 20 to 26, 1721. Their names also appear on the muster rolls of the New York state troops as ser- geants in Williams' regiment, the year not given, Samuel in Shepard's company and Manasseh in Stowell's company.
This was not the only military service of Samuel Bixby. As a youth he had taken part in the old French war. He enlisted March 31 and served until October 15, 1758, in a com- pany commanded by Captain Asa Whitcomb in Colonel Jonathan Bagley's regiment raised for the reduction of Canada.
Samuel Bixby settled in what is now Bain- bridge, New York, in June, 1788, Bainbridge' received its present name in 1814, being form- erly known as Jericho. Until 1791 it was in Montgomery county, then in Tioga until 1795. The land granted to Bixby was on both sides of the river, and Asahel had built his cabin on the eastern side. It is said to have been a log shanty covered with brush.
Both Samuel Bixby and his wife had been members of the church in Princeton, Massa- chusetts, and February 7, 1804, they obtained letters of dismission from that church to the church in Jericho.
(VI) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) and Hannah (Powers) Bixby, was born January 25, 1784, in Guilford. He was a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Lois Moss, a na- tive of Connecticut, and settled on the home- stead of his father on the east side of the river in Bainbridge, where he died July 23, 1857, aged seventy-three years. His wife died April 2, 1852, aged seventy-five years. Children : Jonas; Mary, married Elisha Sharp; Titus M .; Joel J .; Henry; Asa ; Di- nah.
(VII) Joel J., third son of Samuel (3) and Lois (Moss) Bixby, was born in 18II, in Bainbridge, died in October, 1865. He re- ceived the ordinary education of the district schools, and learned the trade of carriage-
maker. For many years he engaged in the manufacture of carriages in Bainbridge and in Norwich, New York, and was colonel of a regiment of the state militia. Thirty-ninth Regiment, Tenth Brigade. He was an active member of the Episcopal church in which he served as vestryman. He married Sophronia, daughter of Charles Sumner. Children : Anna, died young ; Helen, became the wife of Theodore R. Campbell, and is now deceased ; had one child, Carrie C. William; Sophronia Sumner, deceased, was the wife of Joseph E. Packard; Joel Johnstone, mentioned below.
(VIII) Joel Johnstone, only son of Joel J. and Sophronia (Sumner) Bixby, was born July 17, 1863, in Bainbridge, Chenango coun- ty, New York. He received his primary edu- cation in the schools of his native town. Re- moving to Norwich he began the study of law with Isaac S. Newton, and continued his studies with Hon. Albert F. Gladding, now a justice of the state supreme court. Under these able preceptors, Mr. Bixby was an earn- est student, and passing a successful examina- tion was admitted to the bar, April 24, 1885. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in Norwich, New York, where he has since continued with gratifying suc- cess. Being public-spirited and broad-minded he has done much in developing the best in- terests of Norwich and his native county. He is a vestryman of Emanuel Episcopal Church of Norwich, a director of the National Bank of Norwich, and has been very active in the councils of the Republican party, serving as chairman of its county committee. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of Norwich Lodge, No. 302, Free and Ac- cepted Masons : Norwich Commandery, No. 47, Knights Templar ; and Chenango Consis- tory, No. 31. He is also a member of the local tribe, Improved Order of Red Men. His affable manner and faithful attention to the interests of his clients have brought and re- tained for him many strong friendships.
He married, February 6. 1888, Marie Louise Newton, of Norwich, daughter of Warren and Lydia (Wheeler) Newton. They have one child, Warren Newton, born Decem- ber 31, 1890, a graduate of Harvard Univer- sity, class of 1912.
ELLICOTT
This is a name distinguished in more than one of the orig- inal states. From one branch
Joseph Ellicott
AGENT OF HOLLAND LAND COMPANY. LAID OUT CITY OF BUFFALO.
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of the family, Ellicott City, a suburb of Balti- more, takes its name. Andrew Ellicott, one of the third generation in this country, was surveyor-general of the United States. Ben- jamin, one of the third generation also, was member of congress from New York. Joseph Ellicott, more especially referred to herein, was the surveyor, and is considered the foun- der of Buffalo, the second city in importance of the Empire State. Others of the family were of note in Pennsylvania. In Maryland they were prominent as millers, founders, builders and inventors. In Buffalo the name is perpetuated in one of the central business blocks.
The first of the name to settle in this coun- try were Andrew and Ann Bye Ellicott, na- tives of Cullopton, in Wales. The wife was a member of the Society of Friends. or "Quakers," as they are more commonly called. For marrying Andrew, a non-member. she was disowned by this people and the couple came to this country in 1731. They landed, with an infant son, in New York. Having some means they bought land and settled upon it, but up to 1760 little is known of their prog- ress except that they lived in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and had four sons. the elder of whom was engaged in business.
These four sons of Andrew Ellicott were by name Nathaniel, Joseph, Andrew, John. About 1770 they purchased a tract of land on the Patapsco river in Maryland province, and built there the mills long known by their name.
Joseph, of this second generation, was a skilled mechanic and something of a scien- tist in a practical way. He constructed a clock of much ingenuity, of astronomical character and playing twenty-four tunes.
The sons of this Joseph, the first, were Joseph, our subject, Andrew, Benjamin, Da- vid. Andrew devoted himself to surveying. and was the man above referred to as sifr- veyor-general of the United States. Benja- min was assistant to Joseph in the service of the Holland Company, an association of mer- chants of Amsterdam, Holland, owning large tracts of land in New York and Pennsylvania. He rose later to be judge in Genesee county, and as aforesaid an M. C. David. youngest of this third generation, was a surveyor under Joseph, for a time. then went south and disap- peared.
In the fourth generation in this country we
have record only of the sons of Andrew: An- drew A., John B. and Joseph, nephews of our subject and residents of the Holland purchase in New York state.
Joseph Ellicott, founder of Buffalo, was born, as we have seen, in Bucks county. Penn- sylvania. He was fourteen when his father, the first Joseph, moved to Maryland, and what schooling he had was received in the common public schools. Surveying he learned under his brother, Andrew, with whom he served in the survey of the capitol city. Washington. In 1791 he ran the boundary between Georgia and the lands of the Creek Indians for the war department of the National government. Then he surveyed the Holland Company's lands in Pennsylvania, and after a time in business with his brothers in Maryland was engaged about 1797 by the Holland Company for work in New York.
The active life of Mr. Ellicott covered about thirty-one years, from 1790 to 1821. He passed about twelve of those years sur- veying in what was still the border country, then gave up that employment for the scarce- ly lighter task of land agent for the company. In that position he was uncommonly success- ful. He was a practical man of great in- dustry and method, with a high degree of executive talent. These qualities are illus- trated in his correspondence and his journal. He was identified, not alone with the settle- ment of Buffalo and with that of Western and Central New York. but with such large enterprises as the Erie canal, of which he was one of the early promoters. He opposed Gov- ernor Clinton's proposal to send to England for engineers, declaring that there was abun- dant home talent.
His was a life of great activity and useful- ness. Sad to relate his end was tragic. He had been subject to periods of great depres- sion and melancholy, and this settled into a confirmed hypochondria. He was unmarried, lonely, had suffered disappointments, and in 1821, realizing his condition, he withdrew from the land agency and this practically closed his career. In 1824, upon medical ad- vice, he went by canal packet to the city of New York. Here a council of medicos upon his case decided Bellevue Hospital the best place for his treatment. There he failed to improve, and in August, 1826, he escaped from his attendants and took his own life. His remains were interred at Batavia.
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Dr. John Henry Christopher STISSER Stisser, the first of the name in this country, was born in Germany, and had an exceptionally fine edu- cation for his day, being able to speak seven languages. He was a physician and surgeon, and in company with other Germans came to this country with the British army during the revolution in the capacity of surgeon. He was taken prisoner at Saratoga. After the war he made his home in what is now the city of Amsterdam, New York. He married a widow and among his children was John. see forward.
(II) Captain John Stisser, son of Dr. John H. C. Stisser, was born in Amsterdam, New York, died at the age of forty-nine years. When a young man he came to Madison county, New York, carted coal for the old Lenox Furnace in order to make iron, and also cleared a farm, being the owner of about eight hundred acres of land. He married De- lilah Buyra, who was of Dutch descent, and who lived to the advanced age of eighty-three years. Children : Jacob. Augustus, Martin. Maria, John, see forward; Nancy, Jane, and three that died in infancy.
(III) John (2). son of Captain John ( I) Stisser, was born in Oneida, Madison county, New York, September 12, 1834, on the home- stead settled by his father, and he still re- sides there. He was educated in the public schools, and the Polytechnic Institute of Chit- tenango. He has always followed farming as an occupation. He became one of the solid and influential citizens of the town, and com- mands in the highest degree the respect and confidence of his townsmen. He is a Master Mason, a Royal Arcanumite and an Odd Fel- low. He married Minerva P., daughter of Warren and Marilla ( Parmely ) Gridley. Children: Warren John, mentioned below : Delia, born December 5. 1867, married Frank Conley, a contractor of Utica. New York. daughter, Mildred Conley.
(IV) Warren John, son of John (2) Stis- ser, was born at Oneida, Madison county, New York. December 1, 1872. He was edu- cated in the pul lic and high schools of his native town. He worked with his father on the farm during his boyhood. and after leay- ing school for a year with his brother-in-law, Frank Conley, in the contracting business in L'tica. In 1902 he entered partnership with Frank E. Davies under the firm name of
Davies & Stisser, general merchants, at Can- astota, New York. In 1907 he sold his inter- ests in the business and purchased the chair manufactory at Cortland, New York, and under the name of the Cortland Cabinet Com- pany began the manufacture of china closets and buffets. The factory is located at Lehigh Station and the concern has enjoyed a pros- perous and growing business. Mr. Stisser is president and manager of the corporation. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Canastota, and of the Oneida Commercial Travellers Association. He is an active member of the Presbyterian church at Cortland.
He married Lena Mary, born at Stock- bridge, Madison county, New York, October, 1872, daughter of Davis Lewis and Rozalia Idalia (Spaulding) Davis, granddaughter of David Davis, a native of Wales, who settled at Eaton, New York. Children : Clarence Warren, born at Stockbridge, New York, Au- gust 20, 1894 : Wesley Davis, born at Oneida, New York, January 20, 1896; Frank Gridley, born at Stockbridge, May, 1898.
Robert Latimer, immigrant LATIMER ancestor, came first to New London, Connecticut. He mar- ried Mrs. Ann Jones, widow of Nathan Jones, and daughter of George Griggs, Esquire, of Boston. He was a ship owner, and died at sea. Children : Robert, mentioned below; Elizabeth.
(II) Captain Robert (2) Latimer, son of Robert ( I) Latimer, was born February 5. 1664. He was rich in landed estate. He owned a homestead in New London and town lots, also a large tract of swamp and cedar land in the vicinity of New London, and an unmeasured quantity of wild land in the north- west part of New London, afterwards occu- pied by his descendants. He also owned a tract of land in Chesterfield on which some of his descendants afterwards lived. He held many offices of trust ; deputy in 1706 and for several years in succession. In 1712 he was a member of the governor's council, and was again chosen in 1720. and held the position until his death, in New London, November 29, 1728. He married Elizabeth - -. Chil- dren : John, Robert, Jonathan, mentioned be- low; Samuel, Peter, Ann.
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