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 20
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"A man who has ancestors is like a representative from out the past."
RESIDENCE OF I. R. LEONARD AND LAW OFFICE OF THRASHER & LEONARD.
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IRVING R. LEONARD.
Irving R. Leonard was born in the town of Dayton, September 3, 1853, and is the only son of Joseph N. and Maryette Leonard. His life till early manhood was spent on the farm, for which he still retains a liking. He received his education at the district school and the Forestville academy, and for several terms was a school teacher, after which he began the study of law in the office of Allen & Thrasher at Dayton, and was ad- mitted to the bar at Rochester in October, 1877. For the past 22 years he has practiced at Gowanda. For a time he was a partner of Hon. J. M. Congdon, district attorney; later of O. D. Sprague, clerk of the board of supervisors; is now and has been for the past 11 years partner of Hon. W. S. Thrasher, county judge, Mr. Thrasher living at Dayton and Mr. IRVING R. LEONARD. Leonard at Gowanda. He was never candidate for or held office other than that of local character. Was president of the village of Gowanda for three terms, and is now serving his third term as supervisor of the town of Persia, which includes a part of the village of Gowanda. He was married June 21, 1882, to Emma M. Schaack of Gowanda. They have one child, John, born November 2, 1892.
GEORGE E. MERRILL.
George E. Merrill, the present popular and efficient cashier of the Bank of Holland of Holland, N. Y., was born December 6, 1866, at Northeast, Pa. He is a son of Edward A. and Margaret (Marshall) Merrill, and a grandson of Heman Merrill, an early settler of the town of Dayton (Pioneer Residents ) When he was two years of age his father died leaving his mother with four small children and in the most stringent of circumstances. His mother taught in the schools of Northeast for five years during which time her children were living with relatives. In 1875 they moved to Dayton and established a home. Mrs. Merrill continued to teach and through her efforts her son Geo. E was kept in school at Dayton as much as possible and afterwards attended the Fredonia Normal for one year. When seventeen years of age he taught a district school for one winter after which he went to work for the Erie R. R. Co. at Dayton, as baggage man. Here he remained for one year and then found employment for three years in the express office of the Erie Express Co., (afterwards the Wells Fargo Express Co. ) at Bradford and Hornellsville. He then went into his uncle's office (N. M. Allen) at Dayton with the
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intention of studying law, but instead worked into the banking business. When Mr. Allen decided to close up his active banking business, Mr. Merrill was offered a position in the Bank of Cattaraugus which he accepted, and filled for three years. In 1893, when the Bank of Holland was being organized, the position of Cashier was offered to him if he would accept and complete the organization which he did and he has remained there since. Mr. Merrill is a young man of great energy, careful habits, and marked business ability. He possesses many good qualities and enjoys the esteem and respect
GEORGE E. MERRILL.
of his wide circle of acquaintances. He married in 1894, Abbie E. Lattin of Cattaraugus, and they have one daughter, born in 1898. In speaking of his career, Mr. Merrill said: "What little success in life that has come to me is due almost entirely to the efforts and influence of my mother, one of the noblest and most self-sacrificing women that ever lived."
Ir has been no small undertaking for the photographer to do the work required for a work of this size and character. The value of the cuts depends very largely on the photographic work. It is impossible to get good engravings without first-class photos. In this connection we want to thank Hon. W. S. Thrasher for the time and trouble that he spent in doing the view work around Dayton village, and in making many of the best pictures which appear in the work.
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MR. AND MRS. G. A. ALDEN.
GLENN A. ALDEN.
Glenn A. Alden of Jamestown is one of the representative self-made men of Western New York, a man of good judgment, of remarkable energy, and strong will, but generous and kind with all and ever ready to assist in whatever would benefit his city and his fellows. He is a son of David S. and Delana (Hubbard) Alden (See Cottage Section) and was born December 20, 1863, at Cottage, N. Y. Mr. Alden's eduction was limited. He began life by working around among the farmers and cutting wood. When seventeen years of age, he went to Duke Center, Pa. and began clerking for Joseph Randall, where he remained for four months. He then went to Olean and found employment in his uncle's, J. B. Alden's store, where he remained for one year. He then accepted a position as a traveling salesman for Park & Parker of the Fredonia Shirt Co., selling shirts, his territory being the state of Ohio. He continued at this for about six months when he was induced by the same parties to sell the rock washer machine made by them. In company with C. D. Dailey of Nashville, they took a number of the machines and went to Canada. This venture was a total failure and Mr. Alden lost his all. Not disheartened, nor discouraged, he accepted a position with Damsville & Sillesky of Lockport, selling shirts. He remained with them for six years when the firm disolved, Mr. Damsville retiring, since that time Mr. Alden has been the faithful and energetic salesman of Daniel R. Sillesky & Co., makers of custom shirts, Lockport, N. Y. He has as his territory the State of Ohio. Mr. Alden owns the old homestead at Cottage,
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a farm of 203 acres, on which are good buildings. He employs a number of people there the year round. He also owns 75 acres of land at Fair Plain. He has a fine residence at 201 Lake View Avenue, Jamestown, and in this beautiful and pleasant home he and his estimable wife delight to entertain and welcome their friends, whose number include many who are prominent in business and social life. Mr. Alden married December 6, 1888, Alta J. Faulkiner, of Hamlet, N. Y. Their children are: Delana T., born November 3, 1892 and Albert Glenn, born November 17, 1897. Mr. Alden's life is one worthy of study, and indicates what can be done by perseverance, courage and energy.
ALBERT GLENN AND DELANA T. ALDEN.
MILAN J. BROWN.
Milan J. Brown was born in the town of Villenova, October 31, 1868. There he lived the life of the ordinary farm boy for several years, when the family moved to Westfield. A year later they returned, and shortly after the Buffalo and Jamestown R. R. was built the family moved to South Dayton where the home is still occupied by the widowed mother. When about fourteen years old, Mr. Brown entered the office of the Pine Valley News as an apprentice and a year or two later, when Chas. J. Shults moved the office to Cherry Creek and consolidated it with the Monitor of that place, he went with the paper. About two years later he went south, through Ohio, Kentucky and Tennssee to satisfy the desire for travel, working at his trade in different places, and on his return a few months later he went to Chicago, where he worked for two years in the office of the Prarie Farmer, the American Contractor and Druggists' Gazette. He went back to the Cherry Creek News on his return and after a few months, went to Arcade to take the foremanship
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of the Leader, then edited by Frank P. Hulette. After a year and a half with the Leader he returned to Cherry Creek, but being possessed with that uneasy disposition contagious with printers, he went to Brookfield, N. Y., where he worked several months on the Courier. Returning again to Cherry Creek, he shortly after went to East Randolph where he worked several months on the Enterprise, from there to Niagara Falls, where he was foreman of the Press office, and from there he again returned to East Randolph. In August 1893 he was married to Alma C. Covert of East Randolph, and the following fall he left the office and passed the winter on the farm of his wife's parents. In the spring of '94 he went to Clay City, Ky. to purchase the Chronicle, but
MILAN J. BROWN.
the roughness of Eastern Kentucky deterred him from the contemplated purchase, and after a brief trip in Tennessee he returned to East Randolph and in July of '94 he went to Little Valley and founded the Spy. Altho' stared in the face of the financial panic of that period and on the heels of two former newspaper failures in that place, yet the paper was a success from start. Having a natural aptitude for politics he was soon associated with many of the leading politicians of the county and the Spy was soon considered one of the factors in western New York politics, and his original expressions and peculiar style of writing won him much favorable newspaper comment and many press quotations. June 14, 1898, just four years to a day from the
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time he went to Little Valley, he was appointed postmaster of that place, which office he still holds and which pays an annual salary of $1,700. In February, 1899, finding the work of the two offices too great, he sold the Spy to Arthur J. Salisbury and the name was changed to the Herald. Since this time he has given his personal attention to the duties of the post-office, yet in the meantime devoting considerable time in special writing for the New York Journal, Buffalo Courier and Olean Times. He is a member of Arion lodge, F. & A. M. at Little Valley, and of Salamanca Chapter 266, R. A. M. He has one son, Hart, who was born at Little Valley January 12, 1895.
WILLIAM S. WICKHAM.
William S. Wickham, a son of John and Cynthia (Shults) Wickham, was born May 21, 1859. He commenced his business career with his father, who had valuable and diversified interests at South Dayton, where he remained most of the time until about 1885, when he went to Salamanca and embarked in the lumber and wood-working business, which business he now successfully conducts. On December 5, 1881 he married Susie D. Smith, a daughter of Marvin E. and Roba (Ames) Smith of South Dayton. Mr. Wickham is a social and a fraternal companion, being a mason in several bodies. He is a successful business man and a popular citizen of the Reservation City.
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ISAAC S. BENTON.
The world is full of men who have achieved success with the assistance of parents, relatives and friends, but a self-made man, one thrown upon his own resources at a tender age, to whom the world can point, before his forty-second year is reached, and say, "there is a successful man," is indeed rare. Such a man is the one whose name heads this sketch. Mr. Benton was born October 25, 1859, at Cottage. In August, 1874 he went to Gowanda and there learned the marble and granite trade of Farnham & Taylor, remaining with them for six years. On March 1, 1883, he moved to Cherry Creek, and embarked in the marble and granite business on a large scale. Many of the handsome monuments and tombstones of his are to be seen throughout Western New York, notably among these are the soldiers' monuments at
ERIE R. AND MERLE J. BENTON.
Cherry Creek, Portland and Randolph, which are greatly admired for their artistic beauty. Mr. Benton is a good business man, knows how to do business and how to make business friends. At Cherry Creek he was elected as one of the first trustees of the village, he has done much to help build up that town, and is one of its most progressive and substantial citizens. On June 20, 1883 he married Nettie Tanner, daughter of Revilo N. and Jane (Wilcox) Tanner, who was born June 12, 1864. They have two children, Erie R , born August 19, 1884 and Merle J., born February 21, 1895. From a small beginning he has risen, thrust aside the barriers, and today is a solid man, commanding the respect of all. John Benton (father) was born March 1, 1824, near Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England. He came to America when 22 years of age, settling at Albany, where he remained until 1854, when he came to Dayton, where he died October 28, 1893, at Cottage. He married
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ISAAC S. BENTON.
MRS. ISAAC S. BENTON.
February 24, 1847, Ann Hugett, who was born in Kent, England, March 3, 1821, coming to America when six years of age, now residing at Cottage. Their children were: Wm. M., born March 17, 1849, he married first Addie Taylor, second Mary Hoffman, and they reside at Cedar Falls, Iowa; Mary Jane, born June 4, 1851, she died July 28, 1878; Susan, born September 12, 1853, she married Lawrence Schrott, and reside at Gowanda; Frances, born April 4, 1856, she married August Beebe, and they reside at Persia; Isaac S., (subject) ; Edward, born January 24, 1862, he married Helen Newcomb and resides at Cottage; Mark, born July 20, 1866, he married Nola Studley and they reside at Gowanda.
JOHN B. ALDEN.
Among the prominent business men of the city of Jamestown, John B. Alden stands in the first rank. He is a son of Israel H. and Mary (Hooker) Alden, (See Cottage Section) and was born October 16, 1852, in the town of Dayton. He was reared at Cottage, received his education at the Jamestown High School and at the Meadville Business College. He began his active career by clerking for Lammers & Alden, at Petroleum Center, Pa., where he remained one year when he accepted a position with Suggart & Starr, at Titusville, Pa. He then embarked in the clothing business at St. Petersburg, Pa., conducting a branch store at Edenburg, Pa. These stores he successfully
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conducted for several years when he sold and went to Franklin, Pa. He remained there for about six months when he went to Olean and engaged in the clothing business on quite an extensive scale, having branch stores at Jamestown, Bradford, Pa. and Minneapolis, Minn. He went to Jamestown in 1887, and is now doing a very profitable business at 219 Main street of that city. He carries everything in the line of clothing, gents' furnishings, hats, caps, trunks, etc., etc. Mr. Alden married Carrie A. Ball of Fredonia. Their children are Mary Dale, born January 26, 1877; Anna Howard, born January 26, 1879, she married December 12, 1900, A. M. Briggs, and they reside in Chicago; Lizzie Haywood, born August 7, 1886, she died July 15, 1899. Mr. Alden's career has been one of success. Starting in life without a dollar he has gradually ascended the scale until now he possesses all the material wealth that one could reasonably desire.
MRS. IDA W. WHEELER.
Residents of South Dayton will recall the subject of the portrait printed here as Mrs. Ida Worden Wheeler. For a period of about 18 months she was a resident of that village. In that length of time Mrs. Wheeler made many warm friends who followed her later career with interest and who sincerely mourned her death, which occurred at a comparatively early period when her remarkable talents had won recognition and were in the first stages of their bloom. During their stay in South Dayton, Mrs. Wheeler often assisted her husband in his editorial work on the Pine Valley News. She created and maintained a column of impersonal gossip under the caption of "Timothy Tramp." It was a feature of the News and won for that paper and its gifted writer much commendation. After her departure from South Dayton, Mrs. Wheeler returned with her husband to Buffalo. There she began a literary career which was continued up to the time she was stricken with an illness which defied medical aid and proved fatal. Verse of a high order of excellence and prose of extreme merit flowed from her pen, and found welcome places in the leading magazines and higher classes of newspapers. For several seasons in succession Mrs. Wheeler represented the Buffalo Express at Lilly Dale. Thorough in her methods and conscientious to a marked degree, she wrote of affairs in that unique resort as she found them. Her exposures of the chicanery practiced there by some of the so-called spiritual mediums created a great sensation and brought down on her head a storm of fury from those who suffered thereby. At the risk of her life, and the sacrifice of her health, Mrs. Wheeler fought the fight until some of the most bold and conscienceless of the gang that infested the resort were compelled to flee from the grounds. At periods when not engaged in newspaper work she turned her attention to fiction and produced a number of short stories which were published in magazines. She made a specialty of interviewing well known writers, and in this was extremely successful. The most ambitious work of her pen was a volume printed in 1896 by the Arena Company of Boston, entitled, "Seigfried the Mystic." It was primarily a novel, but embodied occult experiences. This book earned her prominence in circles interested
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FRANK J. WHEELER.
MRS. IDA W. WHEELER.
along the lines it touched on. It also brought her many letters of commendation penned by those whose hearts it touched. Mrs. Wheeler was born in Niagara County in 1857. She passed away in 1894. Her memory is held in loving regard by all whose privilege it was to know her intimately.
Frank J. Wheeler was born in Niagara County, N. Y., in July 1854. He learned the printers trade in every department at Lockport, N. Y., after which he went to Buffalo and found employment on the Courier where he remained until 1883 when he went to South Dayton and purchased the Pine Valley News, (see press at South Dayton). Returning to Buffalo he was engaged as proof reader in the Times office, which position he filled for about five years. For the past eleven years he has been state editor of that paper. This position he most creditably fills, his department being a leading feature of that paper. Mr. Wheeler is an exceptionally good writer, a newspaper man of uncommon ability, and his writings is a source of much help to country editors in the territory contiguous to Buffalo.
NORMAN S. THRASHER.
Norman S. Thrasher was born at Dayton, August 3, 1870. His father, Hon. W. S. Thrasher came to the town of Dayton from New Hampshire in 1868, and in 1869 married Mary, daughter of Hon. Norman M. and Huldah (Merrill) Allen. His early life was spent at Dayton, where he remained and attended school until he was about seventeen years of age, when he entered the Normal School at Fredonia and attended there for a year and a half. In 1889 he was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and at. once entered that institution. He remained there for about a year when he was obliged to resign on account of poor health. After remaining at home for
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CLEVELAND, O.
MRS. NORMAN S. THRASHER.
NORMAN S. THRASHER.
about a year to regain his health, he went to New Haven, Conn. where he was employed on one of the electric car lines of that city and also in the office of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. In 1892 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and for a time was employed on one of the car lines there. Later he entered the office of the Globe Iron Works of that city and remained with them in the engineer's office, and later in the purchasing department until the company was merged in the American Ship Building Company with headquarters at Cleveland. In January, 1900, he was appointed purchasing agent of that company, having risen to that position by a series of promotions, due to his ability and foresight as a business man, and he still fills that position. In 1894 he was married to Leva M., daughter of John and Philenda"(Markham) Wallace of Markham, N. Y. At the present time their home is at 31 Norton Street, Cleveland, Ohio.
EVERAND A. HAYES.
Everand A. Hayes the subject of this sketch was born in Vermont, Sep- tember 24, 1850 and is entirely a self-made man. His first work in Dayton was that of teaching school and it was successful as many now living can tes- tify. During the time he was teaching, Mr. Hayes studied law in the office of Allen & Thrasher and was admitted to the bar as a lawyer in June 1877. In
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1884 he went to Buffalo, N. Y., where he now holds rank as one of ablest ad- vocates in that city. He has been the leading counsel for the defense in several important capital cases and is known far and near as one of the most eloquent pleaders in western New York. Mr. Hayes has not only gained a high reputation as a lawyer, but he also ranks high as a poet and novelist. Some of his stories have been read from the Atlantic to the Pacific, while his poems possess a sweet and tender harmony that touches the heart. He is genial as May and generous as Autumn and no one ever came to him in distress who left empty handed if he had means to help. Mr. Hayes is a member in high standing in the I. O. O. F., K. of P., and is at the present time the High Chief Ranger of Ancient Order of Foresters in the United States, the very highest office in the gift of that great order.
A FARMER FATHER'S PHILOSOPHY.
Dear Son-Your letter of the 10th came in the mail today. And so you want to marry, and you wonder what we'll say ! Well, Joe, your mother here and I have read your letter through, And she seems to think that I'm the one who'd better lecture you; For, though in most affairs, of course, there's nothing quite so nice As a mother's letter, still it takes a man to give advice. Your letter says : "She's beautiful and handsome as a queen." I hope so, Joe, and hope you know just what those two words mean. A beautiful form is one which tells of a beautiful soul within ; A handsome face is one which wears no damning brand of sin ; Beautiful eyes are those that with the fire of pure thought glow ; Beautiful lips are those which speak for a truthful heart below ; The handsomest hands are those not ashamed the Master's work to do- Hands that are patient and brave and kind, gentle and strong and true ; Beautiful feet are those which go in answer to duty's call ;
And beautiful shoulders are those which bear their daily burdens all. Remember this maxim true, my boy, wherever you choose a wife :
"The handsomest woman of earth is she who leads the handsomest life." I therefore trust that the woman you wed (if you really love each other) May be the handsomest one in the world-excepting one-your mother. -F. S. PIXLEY.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN I HAVE KNOWN.
BY HON. M. N. ALLEN.
FIRST made the acquaintance of Horace Greeley about the year 1854 or 1855. I had prior to that time strong prejudices against his political views and up to that time I had materially differed from him in politics. About that time there was a 1
breaking-up of the old political parties. The Anti-Slavery Whigs, called Woolly-heads, of which Mr. Greeley was one, uniting with the Anti-Slavery Democrats, who were known as Barn Burners, and together forming the Republican party, which party Mr. Greeley was one of the foremost in organizing. To his paper the Tribune and to his own personal HORACE GREELEY. influence the Republican party of New York and of the country at large is indebted for its rapid growth as a political party as much as to any other one person, living or dead. When the first Republican Convention met in Cattaraugus County, I was honored with the nomination to the office of Superintendent of Poor to which I was elected by a plurality of votes, the Democratic and the American or know-nothing parties each having a candidate. I took office as superintendent January 1, 1855, and held it for two years and then resigned it to accept the office of School Commissioner. My full term would have been three years. Sometime about the first of April, 1855, I was called upon by the Overseer of the Poor of the town of Persia to come to his place and see to a family of poor people consisting of a man, a woman and three children, who were tramping through the country in the mud and could go no farther and had brought up at the house of Mr. Eaton the Overseer. In the discharge of my duty I went to see what was needed to be done for their relief and went with Mr. Eaton to his house where they were. Addressing the man, I asked him his name, to which he replied that his name was Parker Greeley. And in a half jocose manner I asked if he was any relation to Horace Greeley? He replied that he was an uncle to Horace and that he had been west and was trying to work his way back east to the state of Vermont. I gave little credence to his statement and after making arrangements for the transportation of the whole family to Machias I came home and, thinking that there might possibly be some truth about the man's statement, I addressed a personal letter to Horace Greeley at New York, describing this man and his family and telling him that the man claimed him as his nephew and saying to him that while I gave
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little credence to the statement I still thought best to write him so that if the family were what they claimed to be, that he might, if he felt so disposed, aid them in their helpless condition. To this letter addressed to Mr. Greeley I received a reply as follows :
New York, April, ...... 1855.
N. M. ALLEN, Esq., Supt. of the Poor, Catt. Co., N. Y.
DEAR SIR :--
Your letter of late date received. The man you write about is my uncle. He is my father's youngest brother. He is an inveterate vagrant, drunkard and liar for whom no one can do anything. I have done very much for him in times that are past, but it was wrong to do it. It is contrary to the great law of nature that if a man won't work he should not eat. I wish you would bind out the children to good people and draw on me at once for $50 with which to clothe them. For the old people I will do nothing. They deserve nothing. Let them work for a living as I do and they can take care of themselves. Yours,
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