History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 69

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
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Consider Ewell emigrated from Massachusetts to Elli- cottville, settling on lot No. 60, and his daughter Julia taught school at the house of Nathaniel Bryant in the summer of 1820, she being at that time but thirteen years of age.

William Vinton, a native of Massachusetts, came to Le Roy, and soon after to this town, in the year 1820. He bought village lot No. 44, where Brooks' store now stands, and erected a tavern long known as the Vinton Stand. The next year his brother Lothrop came out to this place and went into partnership with William. He remained here until his death, and was for many years supervisor of the town. William afterwards removed to Hinsdale.

Roger Coit settled, in 1821, on village lot No. 23, where Clarke Robertson now lives. He bought also town lot No. 91. His barn was near where Daniel I. Huntley's house now stands. His son Lewis lives on lot No. 55, that his father bought a few years afterwards.

David Goodwin was an early surveyor, a clerk in the office of the Holland Land Co., and married a niece of Joseph Ellicott. When the branch office was established at Ellicottville, in June, 1818, Mr. Goodwin was appointed to take charge of it, and continued to be the local agent at Ellicottville until 1822, when he was succeeded by Staley N. Clarke. Upon his retirement from the agency he returned to Batavia.

One of the early settlers of 1818 was James Reynolds, who had been a merchant at Hamburg, Erie Co., during the war of 1812; but who, upon the advance of the British marauders on Buffalo in 1813, had abandoned his business in alarm, temporarily concealing his merchandise in the woods. A part of these goods he afterwards retailed in a small way at Ellicottville, and was also engaged in the manufacture of bricks. He located village lot No. 53, cor- ner of Madison and Washington Streets, on which he built a house, Chauncey J. Fox assisting in digging the cellar. He died in 1851, leaving two daughters : Albina C., who married Alonzo C. Gregory, and Helen, who married Silas Huntley.

Seth L. Burdick came to the village of Ellicottville in 1818, from Paris, Oneida Co. Ile purchased lots 17 and 18, where the residence of Mr. E. Harman now stands, and moved his family to this place in 1819.

Harvey B. Hayes emigrated from the East, and settled on village lot No. 50, being one of the six who took con- tracts in 1813. He was elected constable in 1820. The death of his infant child, which occurred soon after his arrival, was the first death in the village of Eilicottville.

Henry Saxton, formerly from Vergennes, Vt., emigrated to Batavia in the year 1820, with three brothers. They separated then, and Henry came to this town in the employ of Baker Leonard, as clerk in the store. As early as 1821, he commenced business on his own account. He was a merchant many years, and largely interested in lumbering on the Allegany River. During this time he was elected sheriff of the county, in 1828. While at Louisville, Ky., on business, he was attacked with the cholera, which termi- nated fatally. He married Mrs. Baker Leonard, who lived many years after, and died in 1873, leaving three sons and one daughter: Fredk. A., who is a printer at Jamestown ; Albert H., who was State Senator in California in 1863, and is now connected with the Custom-House in San Fran- cisco; Ebenezer, who is living at Ellicottville, and Mrs. J. King Skinner, who resides on the old Leonard homestead.

William Johnston was a carpenter by trade, emigrated from Montgomery County in the spring of 1820, and was employed on the county buildings. In 1821 he purchased the house and lot where Mr. Perkins had settled. The next season he married Miss Sally Hurlbut, and they com- menced housekeeping there. In a year or two they moved to the village of Eilicottville, where he opened a cabinet shop, which he continued many years. He died in 1853, leaving a widow, who is still living in the village of Elli- cottville, and four children. Two sous, Byron and Wil- liam, reside in the village. From Mrs. Johnston much information was obtained of the early history of the town, as she with David Pitcher are the only two living who came in the winter of 1815-16.

David Gregory came to this village in the year 1821, and rented the tavern formerly kept by Baker Leonard. He bought village lots Nos. 79 and 80, on which he erected a tavern, and occupied it the next year. It was for many years known as the Gregory Tavern, and was situated on Jefferson Street, in the rear of the union school building. Hle was the father of three children .- Alonzo C., who had the charge of the tavern, and was sheriff of the county for

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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

several terms after the Dutch Hill war. One of the daughters married a Mr. Crouch, who became owner of the Fremont House, in the city of Chicago. The other daughter married a Mr. Harland, who was clerk in the land-office of W. S. Johnson.

In the year 1820, when the county buildings were ap- proaching completion, John A. Bryan, who until that time had been practicing law in Olean, removed to this village and purchased village lots Nos. 15 and 16, on which he erected a law-office and the dwelling now occupied by R. H. Shankland, Esq. Mr. Bryan's wife was Eliza Dixon, a sister of Mrs. Baker Leonard. During the period of his residence in Cattaraugus County he was one of its foremost lawyers. In August, 1828, he removed West, and settled in Columbus, Ohio. He became editor of the Ohio State Bulletin, and filled many important offices, among which were lieutenant-governor and also that of auditor of the State of Ohio, second assistant postmaster-general of the United States, and minister to Peru.

Asa Hazen, a native of Vermont, and by profession a lawyer, removed to Olean, and was in partnership with Judge Timothy H. Porter. After the courts were estab- lished in Ellicottville he removed to that village and opened a law-office in Mr. Huntley's tavern, and followed his pro- fession until his death, which occurred May 13, 1866, at the age of seventy-five years.

Staley N. Clarke came to Batavia in 1819, and entered the office of the Holland Land Company as a clerk, acting in that capacity until 1822, when he succeeded David Goodwin in the charge of the company's branch office in Ellicottville as agent. Mr. Clarke soon won the respect and esteem of the settlers by his unvarying kindness and sym- pathizing aid. In the year 1824 he was elected county treas- urer, and held the position for seventeen consecutive years. He was elected to represent the 31st district in the 27th Congress of the United States, but at the end of his term declined re-election and returned " to the private walks of life, gladly escaping from the turmoils and strifes of a po- litical career."

For several years in the latter part of his life his health was poor, and death was not unexpected, and in 1861, in the fall of the year, he passed away,

" Calm as the ray of sun or star, Which storms assail in vain. Moving unruffled through earth's war, The eternal calm to gain."

He was unostentatious in his manners, great in his good- ness, in his diligence, in good words and works, and in his love of virtue. He was the father of eleven children, of whom only one remains a resident of Cattaraugus County, -Capt. William Clark, of Franklinville.

Moses Beecher was a native of Connecticut, born May 5, 1791. About the year 1814 he removed with his family to Batavia, where he was engaged as an accountant in the office of the Holland Land Company, then under the charge of David E. Evans, and in 1827 he was transferred to the branch office of the company in Ellicottville, and settled where Eleazer Harmon now resides. In this responsible position he spent about twenty years of his life. Subse- quently he engaged in manufacturing, which he carried on

until a short time previous to his death. He was an inti- mate friend of Judge Chamberlain, Hon. Staley N. Clarke, Dr. Leavenworth, and other leading settlers of the county, with whom he ranked as a useful and influential citizen. He was a man of rare culture, moral worth, and sterling in- tegrity. In 1830 he received the appointment of surrogate of the county, which he held for eight years, and was repeatedly appointed loan commissioner. In 1868, while on business in Dunkirk, he was attacked by an illness which terminated in his death, February 14, at the age of seventy- seven years. His children were seven in number : Sophia, who married Truman Coleman, now of Dunkirk ; Harriet, the widow of Delos E. Sill, resides in Ellicottville ; Emily, married Harlan Coleman ; Juliet, married P. V. Skinner, and now lives in homestead of Staley N. Clarke.

William resides in the State of Illinois, and clerk of the court of Lasalle. Moses is cashier of the Warren Bank, in Pennsylvania. Charles M. is connected with the Elmira Advertiser, of the city of Elmira.

Asher Tyler received the appointment of agent of the Devereux lands in May, 1836, and became a resident of the village of Ellicottville, where he remained until a year or two after the division of that estate. During this period he was elected to Congress, where he commanded the re- spect of his associates and constituents. After his retire- ment from the agency in Ellicottville he soon removed to Elmira, and became land agent for the Erie Railroad. Mr. Tyler, from his early intercourse with the surviving Indians of the Revolutionary time, was thoroughly and widely informed in reference to early Indian history. " He knew the Indian when as yet the white man's mastery over the lands west of Schenectady was only in process of recog- nition, when the legend and the forest law and tribal govern- ment had their distinct effect." He lived in Elmira until 1875, when he passed away at the age of seventy-seven years, and thus another link that binds the old and the new was broken.

John C. Devereux, Jr., is the son of Nicholas Devereux, the leading proprietor of the Devereux Purchase. Upon the division of their lands in 1843, he came to Ellicottville to take charge of his father's interests. He remained a citizen of this place until November, 1866, when he re- moved with his family to Utica, where he now resides, spending a portion of his time at this place, where he still has large landed interests. Mr. Devereux is a member of the State Board of Charities from the Fifth Judicial District.

Robert H. Shankland settled in the village early in 1835. In the spring of that year, soon after his arrival, he pur- chased the Ellicottville Republican, which (with change of name to that of Cuttaraugus Republican) continued under his management for twenty years. Soon after his sale of this journal, in 1855, he commenced the publication of the American Union, of which, under the name of the Catta- rangus Union, he is still the editor.

Mr. Shankland is a native of Cooperstown, Otsego Co., and a practical printer. He passed an apprenticeship in the office of the Freeman's Journal at Cooperstown, under the proprietorship of Col. John H. Prentice and Col. Wm. H. Stone. Afterwards he was employed in the offices of Harper

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THEODORE SMITH,

the son of Pliny and Sarah Smith, was born at Orwell, Rutland Co., Vt., June 28, 1809. His father was a gen- tleman of high social and public position in the county of Rutland, and was repeatedly elected to the highest offices in the gift of his people, having been a member of the General Assembly, State Senator, and was Judge of Pro- bate for many years.

The subject of our sketch received his education in the local district and grammar schools, and at the academy in Castleton, residing at his father's home until he was twenty- one, when he was married to Lucy Nichols, daughter of Dr. Asher Nichols, and Lucy, his wife, of Whiting, Vt. A short time thereafter, in August, 1831, he removed to Springville, Erie Co., N. Y., and began life as a merchant, and successfully carried on his business there until 1838. His wife having died in June, 1834, he was again married, in August, 1835, at Ellicottville, to Sarah E., daughter of Hon. Staley N. Clarke.

In November, 1838, Mr. Clarke tendered him a position in the Land-Office at Ellicottville, in which Mr. Clarke was then the agent for the " Farmers' Loan and Trust Company," who had succeeded to the " Holland Land Company" by the purchase of their estate in Western New York ; and Mr. Smith, accepting the offer, removed with his wife to Ellicottville to reside. He continued in the Land-Office until the year 1843, in the mean time pursuing the study of law, and was admitted to practice as an attor- ney, but never followed the profession, as in the latter year he entered into partnership with Truman R. Colman, Esq., in the agency of the lands of several gentlemen of Albany and New York, who had purchased immense tracts in Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Wyoming Counties from the Holland Land Company.

This agency they carried on, uniting with it the business of private banking, under the firm-name of Colman & Smith, until in the year 1847 they became purchasers of the lands owned by several of their principals, the purchase amounting altogether to some seventy-five thousand acres.

They continued their real estate and banking business in partnership for a number of years, until finally, about the year 1852, they divided the remaining property and the partnership ceased; and a year or two later Mr. Colman removed to Dunkirk. So amicable were their relations in the division of their property, that Mr. Smith and Mr. Col- man made separate lists, numbered 1 and 2, of all their real and personal estate, dividing equally in value according to their best judgment. They placed two tickets, numbered 1 and 2, in a hat; a third party put his hand in the hat, taking one ticket in his hand. Mr. Smith said to Mr. Col- man, " It is your choice !" Mr. Colman accepted the first number drawn corresponding to the list of the same number. And the division and settlement thus quickly made was satisfactory to both gentlemen,-a good illustration of the fact that two honest men, each having entire confidence in the integrity of the other, neither desired nor required the slightest advantage.

At Mr. Smith's request, we state that he desires to testify to his knowledge of the many great qualities of mind and heart possessed by Mr. Colman. Their business relations of many years were never marred by the slightest disagree- ment, and to this day the same kindliness of feeling and

close friendship exists between them that did during all the time before their partnership was digsolved.

Mr. Clarke while having Mr. Smith in his office became much attached to him, and their intercourse grew into the most intimate personal friendship and regard; and when Mr. Clarke died, in his will it was found Mr. Smith was his executor, and the care and custody of the estate remained in his charge for some thirteen years before division. This feeling of Mr. Clarke's has also been shared in by the rest of his family ; and Mr. Smith has, from time to time, been the custodian of other large estates in the family. Mr. Smith continued to reside in Ellicottville until November, 1863.

In the winter of 1861-62, Mr. Smith went to Washing- ton, remaining some six weeks. During that time he visited the Union troops frequently in their camps, forts, and the hospitals, and became thoroughly conversant with the con- dition of the army. He studied the character of command- ing generals, and wondered, as thinking men did, why our great army did not move against the rebel armies. The masterly inactivity of our generals surprised him. He was a visitor to both houses of Congress,-to the President and the Treasury Department,-making himself familiar with the finance measures then pending for the purposes of the war.

In 1862, on President Lincoln's call for five hundred thousand additional men for the army, he canvassed this county in person, and made many speeches of great power and eloquence, aiding enlistments, and urging a vigorous and unrelenting prosecution of the war. In the next year he removed to New York, where he resided some two years, when he went to Buffalo, and purchasing an elegant residence in the upper part of the city, has continued to live there, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries which large wealth can command.

Mr. Smith is a man of great mental power, clear, inci- sive, and logical; an apt reasoner and forcible in debate or on the platform ; a man of large charities, and one " who letteth not his right hand know what his left hand doeth." His business capacity is beyond that of most men, and his probity unquestioned by even a suspicion. In his domestic relations he is a kind and indulgent husband and father, and his noble wife has been spared to cheer and solace his declining years. The sole grief of his later life has been the death of his only daughter, who died in the bloom and grace of her young womanhood, and left two homes deso- late.

Theodore Smith was born in Orwell, Vt., June 28, 1809; married Lucy, daughter of Asher Nichols, at Whiting, Vt., March 2, 1831; one daughter, Lucy Evelina, died March 6, 1835. He was married to Sarah E., daughter of Hon. Staley N. Clarke, at Ellicottville, Aug. 16, 1835; two children :

1. Lucy Nichols, born in Ellicottville, June 9, 1842; married James C. Beecher, in Buffalo, Jan. 10, 1867; she died in Buffalo, March 19, 1868; one son, Theodore Smith, born in Buffalo, Feb. 22, 1868.

2. Archibald Clarke, born in Ellicottville, March 17, 1848; married Emma Carver, at Ellicottville, Sept. 7, 1871; one daughter, Lucy Nichols, born in Independence, Iowa, July 4, 1872.

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GEN. DANIEL I. HUNTLEY.

The father of our subject, Daniel Huntley, Sr., was a native of Connecticut, and married Catharine, daughter of Thomas Stillwell. Mr. Huntley, in 1816, left Cortland Co., N. Y., for a trip to Ohio, intending to locate in Colum- bus or Cincinnati, but when he had got so far on his way as Olean Point he was induced to purchase of Levi Greg- ory three tracts of land in Franklinville, on which consid- erable improvements had been made. He then returned East, and in the following spring removed with his family to his new home in this county. Having brought with him from the East thirty cows, he immediately commenced a dairy,-presumably the first in the county. He shipped the produce of his farms to Olean, then looming up as a place of prospective importance. He carried on farming operations quite largely for that early day. When the county-seat was removed to Ellicottville, he came hither and purchased an eighty-acre tract of Spencer Pitcher, now oc- cupied by his son, Daniel I. He also bought another farm, one hundred and fifty acres, located farther east, in the same town. These were subsequently increased to nine hundred acres. In 1820 he built and the following year opened the " Mansion House," which he kept till the time of his death, July 5, 1846. The hotel was continued by his fam- ily until about seven years since, when it was sold. Mrs. Catharine S. Huntley died Dec. 7, 1864, at Ellicottville. Their marital relations were blessed with eight children (of whom six still survive), namely, William, who died in 1828, and was the first person buried by the Masonic fraternity in Ellicottville; Thomas S., a farmer in McHenry Co., Ill., located at Huntley Station, which was named in his honor; Daniel I., the subject of this notice; Silas, a commission merchant, residing in Chicago; Samuel, a farmer, and Amy, unmarried, both living in Ellicottville; Catharine, deceased (in 1827); and Jane M., wife of P. J. McGowen, a merchant, and residing in the State of Oregon.

Daniel I., son of Daniel and Catharine (Stillwell) Hunt- ley, was born in the town of Cincinnatus, Cortland Co., N. Y., Sept. 5, 1810. He married, in 1840, Miss Eliza Hawkins, a native of Massachusetts. She died in April, 1852. He took as his second wife, Jan. 2, 1855, Miss Cordelia Chamberlain, a native of Wooster, Mass.

Mr. Huntley lived with his father, working on the farm and assisting in the management of the hotel, but since the sale of the latter he has confined himself solely to agricul- tural pursuits. During his early life (from 1827, and for many years) he took a prominent part in the military affairs of this State,-commencing as second sergeant, and passing all the grades up to that of brigadier-general, and performing the duties of all the several offices up to the command of a brigade. He also held several civil offices : besides some minor positions, he was supervisor of the town of Mansfield for two years, and held the office of county treasurer from 1843 to 1846. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, having been confirmed by Bishop Coxe over forty years ago. His present wife is a communicant of the same church. His family, by his first wife, numbered four children,- Silas S., Henry, Charles A., and Eliza S.,-of whom the first named only survives. Henry was shot at the battle of Williamsburg, and died of the effects of his wound ; Charles went West, and died in Montana ; and Eliza died young. Silas S., the eldest son, is now, and has been for a number of years, engaged as one of a company of United States mail contractors, being located at Washington. He was a soldier during the war of the Rebellion, as a member of the 64th New York Volunteer Regiment, and sustained an honorable record. He held the rank of first lieutenant, serving on the staff of Gen. Berry, as aide to Col. De Lancy, commanding brigade, and also in the office of the Commissary Depart- ment of Prisoners, at Washington, D. C.

By his second wife he has had four children,-William D., Sophia E., Walter H., and Arthur A.,-all unmarried and living at home, except William, who is engaged with Silas S. in the stock business in Montana.

Gen. Huntley has always been a hard-working, enthusi- astic farmer. For the past twenty-five years he has made it his special business to make his living out of the soil. He does not intend to be placed on the " retired" list while he has strength left to labor on the farm, having entered upon it as a life-vocation. He is a self-made man, a good farmer, a kind neighbor, sympathetic friend, a con- sistent Christian, in politics a Republican, and generally esteemed.

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TRUMAN ROWLEY COLMAN

was born in Coventry, Conn., Nov. 13, 1809. He came of Puritan stock, his ancestors having lived in Coventry as early as 1713, as appears by the records, and probably much earlier; and from them doubtless he inherited his Christian character, his intense love of right and hatred of all wrong, his prudence, his forethought, and his untiring industry.

With his parents he moved to Madison County in this State, in the year 1814, and at the early age of thirteen years, while residing near Peterboro', in that county, he entered the service of Hon. Gerrit Smith, and thereafter not only supported himself, but was of material assistance to his family. After living with Mr. Smith some two years, his superior capacity procured for him promotion to a clerk- ship in the store of Mr. Backus, who was a brother-in-law of Mr. Smith. In 1826 he went to Utica, and immediately procured a responsible position with a mercantile firm, whose business being removed to Rochester in 1828, he was ap- pointed to its sole charge as manager. In March, 1829, it was determined to transfer the stock of goods to Ellicott- ville, in this county, and young Colman, being then only little more than nineteen years old, was selected to manage and conduct the business. He was assisted by Dr. Leaven- worth, who had become part owner by purchase, and with whom he remained until September of the next year, when the store was purchased by Mr. Henry Saxton, with whom Mr. Colman remained until September, 1831. It was then purchased by Fox & Huntley, and Mr. Colman continued with them until the first day of February, 1832, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Saxton, and, purchasing the store of Elisha Johnson, went into business as a merchant on his own account. The stock consisted of dry goods, groceries, drugs, and medicine, and a large variety of mis- cellaneous goods, including, as was common in those days, a stock of liquor. He signalized his new position by soon discontinuing wholly the sale of the latter, thus becoming the first merchant in the county to adopt this reform. He has ever since been a consistent and influential advocate of the temperance cause.

Mr. Colman continued in partnership with Mr. Saxton until September, 1833, when he went into partnership with Dr. Leavenworth, and in the spring of 1835, Dr. Leavenworth retiring, he carried on the business alone. Afterwards he associated with him his brother, E. Shepard Colman, Esq., and in 1843 he retired from active partici- pation in its affairs, retaining, however, an interest with his several partners-his brother, Harlan Colman, and his brother-in-law, James W. Phelps-until the year 1846, when he sold out his interest and devoted himself solely to his other large business matters.

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History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 69

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: