USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > Dayton > Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York : comprising the villages of Cottage, Wesley, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain > Part 16
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MILL AND WAREHOUSE OF BURKHALDER & WHIPPLE.
"There's the mill that grinds our yellow grain."
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OSCAR S. HICKEY.
Oscar S. Hickey is engaged in the production of oil, and is a dealer in oil wells. In this great industry he has had his ups and downs and as a whole has been fairly successful. He was born December 25, 1850, at Hamlet, and when sixteen years of age he went to the Titusville oil field, where he remained until February, 1898, when he came to South Dayton and purchased the Valley House. This hostelry he conducted until June, 1900,
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OSCAR S. HICKEY.
when he sold and again resumed his operations in oil. He has interests in Seneca, Wood and Hancock Counties in Pennsylvania and at present he is prospecting and operating in California. On March 7, 1877, he married Ella M. Litzinger of Butler, Pa. To them were born two children, May, born March 29, 1879, she died November 22, 1890; June, born January 9, 1884, she married Charles E. Mills of Leon, where they now reside. Mr. Hickey always greets his friends cordially and entertains them royally. He is a member of Cherry Creek Lodge No. 384, F. & A. M., Dunkirk Commandery and Ishmalia Shrine of Buffalo.
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RESIDENCE OF A. F. KELLEY.
A. FRANK KELLEY.
An energetic and live business man of South Dayton is A. F. Kelley, who was born in Ancaster, Canada, January 9, 1857. His father, the late Edward Kelley, served in 112th N. Y. Vols. in Co. B., and in ten months service rose to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Fatigue and exposure sent Mr. Kelly to the hospital and later to his home where he died leaving a wife, and six children. For a number of years Mr. Kelley traveled about the country visiting nearly all the middle and eastern states. He was in the oil fields when "Pithole" and "Coal Oil Johnny" were in their zenith. July 4, 1880, he went to Cherry Creek and married Melissa E. Doane, daughter of the late Emerson and Julia Doane. Their happy family consists of three children: Nettie D., born August 30, 1882; Stanley D., born February 20, 1891, and Michael J., born October 20, 1896. When Mr. and Mrs. Kelley first engaged in business much of the village was occupied as a lumber yard and briar patch. The combined efforts of these two people have brought to them a sufficiency of this world's goods and an army of tried and true friends. The residence and tenant house are shown in an unfinished condition the flagstone is lying in piles along the street and the exterior finish of the verandas is yet to be put on. Mrs. Kelley has been in the millinery business for more than twenty years, and Mr. Kelley does a general wagon and blacksmithing business, and is also a painter and a carpenter. He owns a farm "Elmwood" adjacent to the town, and is an up-to-date farmer. Being a man of decided home tastes, Mr. Kelley has never sought or filled any town offices of importance. He was chosen to fill the chairs at the organization of both the I. O. O. F. and K. O. T. M. lodges, being elected to succeed himself in each society. He has ever been engrossed with his own private affairs merely giving that attention to public matters which is the duty of every private citizen to give. His education was gained largely in the district school, supplemented by about two years in the Ellington academy.
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A. F. KELLEY.
MRS. A. F. KELLEY.
HERMAN E. REMINGTON.
From the foundation of the town, the lumbering business has been one of the chief industries. It has attracted much capital and many enterprising business men have located here. Among these none have been more successful than Herman E. Remington, who now resides at South Dayton, and carries on an extensive lumber and paper-wood business. Mr. Remington is a native of this town having been born here August 30, 1858. He was able to secure only a limited education. As soon as he grew up he engaged in lumbering and has followed that business almost continuously since. In 1872 he
HERMAN E. REMINGTON.
purchased fifty acres of timber land of the Franklin and Shannon estates. When he was twenty-four years of age he went to Salamanca and engaged in contracting for five years, among other jobs building one and a fourth miles of the A. & K. R. R. While at Salamanca he purchased 117 acres of timber land of the late Gideon Webster. In 1887 he returned to South Dayton and erected a sawmill on the Rowe tract. In 1896 he purchased 500 acres of land of Webster and Plumb and removed his mill to its present location. Since then he has shipped an average of 200 cars of lumber and paper wood each year. The paper-wood goes to Johnsonburg, Pa., where it is made into fine
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book paper and also into postage
HARRY REMINGTON.
and revenue stamps. Hle furnishes employment for twenty or thirty men and teams the year around. He also owns a dairy of 103 cows and is said to be the first man in Cattaraugus County to milk 100 cows. The milk from these cows he sends directly to Buffalo. An obliging and enterprising man he always is ready to lend aid to any enterprise which promises to be of value. August 29, 1883, he married Susie Schaffer of Philadelphia, Pa., and has one child, Harry S., who is now attending the Jamestown Business College. Mr. Remington is a member of Cattaraugus Lodge, No. 239, F. & A. M. and Gowanda Chapter R. A. M.
JAMES PITCHER, South Dayton's first settler, was quite a pettifogger, a man of uncommon ability, Yankee enterprise and shrewdness, a fluent talker, and a person much sought after. He was a man of liberality, popular and well-liked. He moved from South Dayton to Gowanda, where he died.
SOUTH DAYTON will always be a thrifty village because she has the territory to support a village. People go where there is life, and factories go where there are people.
RESIDENCE OF HERMAN E. REMINGTON.
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tth
MR. AND MRS. HENRY S. WILSON. HENRY S. WILSON.
On April 25, 1826, at Pavillion, Genesee County, N. Y., was born Henry S. Wilson. His parents were born in Vermont and his great grandparents in Scotland. His childhood and youth were characterized by the same experience and changes that are incident to human nature generally ; the same cloud and sunshine, the same enthusiasm and depression; the same hope and disapointment which are a part of every life. He was not educated under the broad curriculum of our present day system of schools but gathered his knowledge from the feeble torch of the pioneer school and under the hard, slow master of experience. When still a youth he moved from Pavillion to Livonia, Livingston County, where he remained until the spring of 1863 when he removed to Ellington. In 1876 he moved from there to Pine Valley where he has since resided. He did much for that place in its early period of development. It was he who superintended the setting of the shade trees, now the beauty and admiration of all. Mr. Wilson married January 18, 1849, Speedie D. Powell of Livonia, who died August 8, 1859. Their children were B. C., born December 31, 1849; Luther P., born April 30, 1854, now a resident of Coldspring, N. Y ; H T., born April 16, 1856; Horatio R., born December 5, 1857, an architect of ability residing in Chicago; Speedie D., born August 14, 1859, she married E. A. Hale (see Wilson, Hale & Co.) Mr. Wilson married a second time Susan A. Culver. Mrs. Wilson was educated at Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, in which institution she afterwards became an instructor. She made teaching her life work until the time of her marriage. She has always been active in temperance and W. C. T. U. work. Mr. Wilson is generous, warm-hearted, and liberal-minded; his predominating qualities being of the heart rather than of the intellect.
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MR. AND MRS. THOMAS R. SIMPSON.
THOMAS R. SIMPSON.
One of the first persons to locate in South Dayton after the advent of the railroad was Thomas R. Simpson. He was born in Pittsburg, Pa., March 10, 1855. When fourteen years of age he commenced to learn the trade of carriage maker and wood worker. He worked at this until August 1875, when he came to Pine Valley September 16, purchased land and erected a building which he occupied as a home and a shop combined. He did a prosperous business until 1893, when he accepted a lucrative position as a general salemsan for Austin Westner Co. of Chicago, manufacturers of all kinds of street and road making machinery, contractors' supplies, etc. Mr. Simpson has the territory comprising the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota and is a very energetic and successful salesman, in fact, one of that firms best representatives. He married December 22, 1875, Elizabeth Appenheimer of Buffalo. Their children are Arthur R., born July 22, 1877, he died February 20, 1878; Jessie F., born September 26, 1878 (see educational); Thomas P., born January 23, 1881; Ruth A., born May 29, 1888; Agnes, born March 11, 1895. Mr. Simpson is an enthusiastic republican and while an active resident of the town, was a potent factor in all political campaigns.
IN the early days wolves were abundant in the forests about Dayton. In 1840 a wolf hunt occurred a little out of the ordinary on account of the number participating-something over 100. The wolf that time was shot by Seward Spaulding, near where J. L. Palmer now resides at South Dayton.
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MARVIN E. SMITH.
Chauncey R. Smith was born in Oneida County. His father Thomas Smith was also born there and was one of the early settlers of the town of Villenova, where he died March 3, 1872, and served in the war of 1812. Chauncey R. Smith married Lucy E. Searle and died in Villenova, aged forty-three years. His children were, Marvin E. (subject) and Emeline D. Marvin E. Smith was born July 14, 1840, in Villenova. His boyhood days were spent upon the farm, and in 1864 he purchased the Cherry Creek Hotel, this he conducted for two years, when he sold to Henry Bannister and returned to the farm in Villenova. In 1876 he purchased the hotel at Balcom, this he conducted for four years during which time he remodeled the building and did a good business. He then sold to W. W. Bacon and moved to South Dayton in 1879, when he purchased the Wickham House of John Wickham. This hotel he successfully conducted until 1889 when he sold to J. B. Taylor. In 1884 he purchased his present residence of Jesse Pyle, and now owns one farm of 25 acres and another of 360 acres. He married August 15, 1858, to Rhoba Ames, who was born March 5, 1841, in Cherry Creek. Their children are Henry T., born April 6, 1861 (see elsewhere); Susie D., born July 21, 1863, she married December 5, 1881, Wm. S. Wickham; Emma N., born
RESIDENCE OF M. E. SMITH.
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MRS. MARVIN E. SMITH.
MARVIN E. SMITH.
June, 1865, and died in June 1870; Nellie A., born October 27, 1868, she married November 9, 1885, J. C. Space, and now resides in Rochester; Jennie B., born June 6, 1871, she married A. C. White, February 21, 1891, and now resides at Lily Dale. Mr. Smith is a man of good judgment and business ability as is attested by the success that he has attained by his different enterprises. He is one of Dayton's substantial and influential business men.
NOAH C. BEARDSLEY.
Noah C. Beardsley was born in 1814, in Cayuga County, N. Y. When he was four years of age his parents moved to Eden, N. Y , stopping on the way at Batavia, N. Y., to obtain of the Holland Land Company, an article to a
NOAH C. BEARDSLEY.
MRS. N. C. BEARDSLEY.
piece of land. In 1840 he married Sarah Moore and three years later moved to Cherry Creek onto what was called Price Hill. Here he encountered the hardships of a pioneer's life. The land being new, it was difficult to get the money to pay the taxes and like his neighbors he resorted to the making of the "black salts." After living there for one year he traded for the place now owned by T. B. Carr and resided there for eleven years, and it is there that their son Frank was born. He then removed to the town of Dayton, onto the place now owned by Willis Hubbard and lived there for eight years. He then removed to Cherry Creek, where he lived for three years and where his wife died in 1865. He afterwards purchased a farm, one mile west of South Dayton village and bordering on the County line. This was one of the first farms settled in Villenova and it was on it that the first white child of that town was born. In 1866 he married Esther (Randall) Peacock and they
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lived on this farm for twenty years and then moved to South Dayton where he died June 14, 1899. He had two sons: Frank W. Beardsley, born December 24, 1849, who married Mary E. Waxham of Nashville, in December 1873. Their home has been in South Dayton ever since 1878; Dr. Nathan E. Beardsley, born in Villenova, March 23, 1867. He graduated from the Buffalo Medical College in June, 1890, and from the general Hospital in April, 1891. In May, 1891, he located in Dunkirk where he has since practiced and where he is at present one of the leading physicians. April 12, 1892, he married Rose M. Coxe and they have one daughter, Ruth E., born February 12, 1898.
Esther M. Randall's parents where born in Stonnington, Conn., and moved to Brookfield, N. Y., in 1800, her mother riding on a load of goods and crossing the Hudson on the ice as it was breaking up in the spring. Esther was born in 1835, and when she was ten years of age her parents moved to Persia, near Gowanda, and twelve years later moved to Nashville. She married Smith Peacock in 1861, and he was killed during the war. She was married again in 1866 to Noah C. Beardsley.
AARON COON.
Aaron Coon is on of the most substantial farmers of the town of Dayton and has reached this condition of affluence by his own exertions, industry and good management. He is a son of Jonathan and Hannah (LeBarron) Coon. His father was born in Fabius, Onondaga County, N. Y., November 19, 1797, and he came to the town of Dayton in February, 1844, where he died November 20, 1863. He married Hannah LeBarron who was born December
RESIDENCE OF AARON COON.
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MR. AND MRS. AARON COON.
5, 1800, in Saratoga County. She died January 3, 1879. Their children were Abraham born October 5, 1819; Jacob, born February 8, 1821; Eveline, born October 3, 1823; Henry, born March 6, 1825; Electa Jane, born November 17, 1827; David, born Ocober 4, 1829; Aaron (subject) ; Solomon and Hopy (twins) born February 14, 1823; Lorema, born June 3, 1835. Aaron Coon was born December 6, 1831, and came to Dayton June 12, 1844. For over fifty years he has been a farmer and lives upon the beautiful place which he cut from the virgin forest. He is a large property owner and the possessor of a good acreage. He married January 6, 1846, Permelia Smith, a daughter of Wm. B. and Betsey (Webb) Smith, who was born June 28, 1831. Their children were: May, born October 7, 1858, she married January 10. 1889, Albert J. Hubbard; Jay, born January 4, 1861, a prosperous farmer of Dayton; Dee., born February 8, 1863, he died April 11, 1879; Addie, born February 16, 1865, she married H. T. Smith, February 6, 1884, and died February 20, 1892; Henry, born January 25, 1867 and died in infancy; Edith, born May 3, 1870, she died March 13, 1895. Mr. Coon is a Republican of the staunch and tried character, is well posted and informed upon all subjects. There is no man in the town whose reputation for integrity, honesty, and uprightness is brighter, and he has the confidence of all.
MANY a young man fails by that species of vanity called shyness, who might for the asking, have his will.
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C. M. ALDRICH.
MRS. C. M. ALDRICH.
C. M. ALDRICH.
C. M. Aldrich conducts a general furniture store at South Dayton. Here may be found an endless variety of office and medium grade furniture, pro- ducts of the best known manufactures. Mr. Aldrich is also a funeral director. He attends to everything in connection with the last sad rites of the dead, and is endowed with those qualifications of sympathy and respect for the be- reaved, which have done so much toward bespeaking for him a popularity,
HEARSE OF C. M. ALDRICH.
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the equal of which but few of his contemporaries can lay just claim to. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Embalming, and has also passed the examination of the New York State Board of Embalming examiners. He is ably assisted in his work by C. L. Mclntyre, who is a graduate of the Chicago College of Embalming, and also licensed to practice in this state. Mr. Aldrich came to South Dayton in September, 1898. He married, Feb- ruary 6, 1895, Glennie Shattuck of Forestville. They have two children : M. Dorris, born June 5, 1896, and Mildred L., born February 6, 1899.
LEVI PERSONS.
Levi Persons is a quiet, unassuming gentleman but nevertheless one of the solid and substantial citizens of South Dayton. He was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua County, N. Y., July 23, 1829. His father Harrison Persons was born in Attica, N. Y., November 12, 1809. He went to Chautauqua County in 1826, settling in Ellery, where he now resides, hale and hearty. He married Susan Stowe August 3, 1830, she died in 1870. Mr. Persons was brought up on a farm which avocation he followed for over fifty years. He has owned and conducted a number of valuable farms in Chautauqua County. To him is credited the starting of the first milk route in that County in 1863. He sold his landed interests in that county and came to South Dayton in September 1893, where he has a comfortable home. On August 29, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F., 154th N. Y. Vols. February 19, 1852, he married Armenia Mallory of Stockton, N. Y. She died August 3, 1898, at South Dayton. Their children were Albert E., born May 28, 1853, he is a doctor and resides at Friendship, N. Y. He married September 15, 1881, Lillian Hartshorn of that place, they have two daughters, Elizabeth H. and Alberta P .; Eva L., born January 12, 1857, she married David E. Gurney and resides at Dunkirk; Mary L., born April 28, 1859, she married Marion Fairbanks and they reside in the town of Ellington; Alice May, born July 30, 1861, she married Edgar Towne, September 6, 1882, they reside in Arkwright; Herbert H., born February 4, 1864, he died May 8, 1872; Nettie L., born November 3, 1867, she married April 27, 1890, W. E. Weller and they reside at South Dayton; Gilbert E., born August 10, 1870, he died in Arkwright April 15, 1890.
THE best advice to the young man just setting out in the world is to "drive on." In other words, live energetically. Whatever you do, do it with a will and do it well. Do it as far as possible in the most complete manner. In this way alone can an efficient, useful and successful career be accomplished Don't be reckless, but keep digging, always bearing in mind, to do nothing dishonorable or disreputable. Don't whine; it is of no use for life is pretty much as you take it and make it. If you are poor thank God and take courage, for poverty is one of the best tests of human quality in existence. A triumph over it is like graduating with honors at Harvard. It demonstrates stuff and stamina. Don't sit down and give up at a little setback, but pitch in, drive on and you will come out all right in the end. It may be along way but perseverance will surely bring you out successfully.
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LEVI PERSONS.
MRS. LEVI PERSONS.
SCHOOL DAY RECOLLECTIONS.
"How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood When fond recollection presents them to view."
I went into an unused room the other day to tidy up its belongings. Back in a dark corner I discovered a box, which in the busy turmoil of life I had let slip from my memory. Pulling it out into the light, I sat down to enjoy the fond recollections which it called to mind. It was with reverence that I opened the box and my mind at once flew back into the past. Glancing through my school reader I saw the names, "Ida, Lizzie, Eva, May, Estelle, Charlie, Marvin, John, Frank and Frank"-our class. Yes, our class, and those were my classmates of nearly a quarter a century ago. For several winters we played together, we worked together, we shared our joys and sorrows, and often when the teachers back was turned, helped each other over our knotty points. With happy thoughts of childhood days I read: "Don't forget the picnic in Barnum's woods." "Remember the day we kept the teacher in," and many such, each recalling some dear forgotten memory. How vividly the old days arose before me, my classmates, my teachers, their looks and voices, how well I remember them all. I picked up a lead pencil bearing the injunction : "Keep ine, for 'twas I that May used, when she wrote the note that the teacher read to the school." Poor May, she died several years ago. As the years have flown on the relentless hand of time and changes have swept us apart. Ida is in Jamestown. Lizzie is married, the mother of a happy home and lives at Cottage. Eva and Estelle are also married, the former living in Hanover and the latter in Buffalo; Marvin, some twenty years ago passed to that land whence no traveler returns; John is a minister, located in Iowa. Frank is a farmer near South Dayton and the other Frank is in business at Brocton. While others are here and there, scattered everywhere. Yes, "they are scattered now and fled-some are married, some are dead." I think of the happy days fled, of the great changes that have occurred, the inevitable changes and could almost wish that I was back in school. Picking up an other book, I find a resolve recorded. "I was fully determined to thrash the teacher (just as soon as I got big enough) for an undeserved licking." How well and how vividly I remember that trouncing and the teacher who administered it. Presumably it was deserved, for as I recollect, a whipping would not come amiss most any time. For several years I harbored this resolve. In 1897 this same teacher asked my endorsement for a postoffice and I wrote the congressman endorsing him for the position. That is how I kept my resolve, and whipped the teacher. While my work did go undone partly, as I spent a couple of hours with my school-boy treasures, I felt that the time was not wasted, I felt better and younger for that communion with the past. O! busy people, leave your work a while and take a look into the past. It will do you good. You are sure to bring to your mind, some fond recollection and you will see again the absent friends of long ago.
IT requires a good strong man to say, "I was mistaken and am sorry." A weak man hesitates and often fails to do the right thing .- Franklin.
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SOUTH DAYTON CORNET BAND.
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SOUTH DAYTON CORNET BAND.
South Dayton has a Cornet Band of thirteen pieces. It was organized in April, 1900, by Henry Cipperly who is the present leader. The members are C. M. Aldrich, solo cornet; Wm. Brown, 2nd cornet; Simeon Barnes, solo alto; M. M. Dye, 1st alto; John Kellogg, 2nd alto; Norman Jay, slide trombone; Frank Rowe, first tenor; Wm. Edick, 2nd tenor; Geo. Ingersoll, baritone; Welcome Peavy, tuba; Chas. Williams, snare drum, and August Kellar, bass drum. The band has a good set of instruments and the reputa- tion of being one of the best bands of the smaller villages.
Among the industries at South Dayton not mentioned more extensively are J. Rundell, dealer in groceries; P. McCune, dry goods; Philipps & Nash, grist mill; Frank Olmstead, meat market; A. J. Hullett and Howard LeBarron, general blacksmithing; S. L. Peterman and C. W. Fisher, dealers in building materials and farm machinery; Charles Jay and Augustus Keller, barbers; John Buckentine, tailor; Mrs. John Dennison, millinery and dress making.
THERE is a certain class of men who, while they profess to hold in reverence the great names and great actions of former times, never look at them for any other purpose than in order to find in them some excuse for existing abuses. In every venerable precedent, they pass by what is essential, and take only what is accidental; they keep out of sight what is beneficial and hold up to public imitation all that is defective. - Macauley.
From a Photo 1897.
4TH OF JULY AT SOUTH DAYTON.
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RESIDENCE AND BARN OF S. L. PETERMAN.
RESIDENCE OF MRS. FANNY SLAWSON.
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RESIDENCE OF A. SEEBER.
RESIDENCE OF NELSON DUTTON.
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RESIDENCE OF N. W. BURKHALDER.
LOG CABIN AT SOUTH DAYTON IN 1888.
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FAIR PLAIN.
T
Here Lives an Indutsrious, Hard-Working, Successful People.
HE last settelment to be made in the town was in the German Swamp or what is now known as Fair Plain. In 1855 Charles Keppel and Henry Astry made their way into an almost unbroken wilderness, cleared a little spot of land and erected thereon log houses. They were stout-hearted and strong, and willing enough for hard labor. They reduced to a level the dense forest; they cleared the acres one by one; they tore from their sockets the huge roots; they delved the soil; they sowed the corn, and waited for the harvest, often much discouraged, but still they worked on. Later they were joined by others who endured and suffered many privations. The result of their labors are now ap- parent. The primeval forest has been transformed into as good farm lands as there is in the town. Many good and substantial houses have taken the place of the log cabins, and are populated with an industrious, hard- working people. Energy and economy has made them what all people can become if they but try hard enough-successful.
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