USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 97
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1849. Joseph H. Wright. 1850. Lyman Twomley.
1851-53. Wiggin M. Farrar.
1877. Moses Jewell.
1854. Heman G. Button.
1878. George A. Stoneman.
TOWN CLERKS.
1827-32. Nathan Follett. 1833. Seth Washburn. 1834. Nathan Follett. 1835-37. Lyman Twomley. 1838-39. Thomas Clark.
1840. Nathan Follett.
1841. Benjamin Shearer. 1842. Rensselaer Lamb. 1843. John Farrar, Jr. 1844-45. Rufus L. Whitcher.
1846. Joseph H. Wright. 1847-49. Rufus L. Whitcher. 1850-51. John Wier.
1852. Nathaniel M. Brown.
1853. C. A. Parker.
1854-56. A. H. Peck.
1857-62. Daniel S. Tilden.
1863-64. Wesley Follett.
1865-66. Daniel S. Tilden.
1867. George A. Stoneman. 1868-69. P. M. Orme.
1870-74. George A. Stoneman.
1875. Moses Jewell.
1876. Abner A. Smith.
1877. Henry S. Crandall.
1878. Stephen P. Randall.
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1855-56. Jared A. Brewer. 1857. John Wier.
1858-59. Peter Van Dewater. 1360-61. William Napier.
1862-64. Almeran Leek.
1865. Rufus L. Whitcher. 1866. Heman G. Button. 1867. Andrew L. Allen. 1868-74. Edwin Baker. 1875-76. Marvin Austin.
360
HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Owned. Imp.
Owned. Imp.
Gillet, Samuel.
224 10
Myers, Eliphalet 96
Griffin, Orlin.
112 3
Maxson, E
87
5
Holbrook, Sheldon 60
...
21 Prescott, Horace. 82
3 Peck, Howard.
140
16
Hubbard, O. C .. 91
4
Potter,. Daniel.
80
20
Hawes, Newton ..
98
30
Potter, David ..
72
8
Hawkins, Henry.
98
2
Pugsley, George ..
111
4
Harver, Ithmar
96
2
Peck, Nelson ..
91
..
Heart, Joseph.
75
...
Pearsall, Elijah.
57
3
1833. Joseph Kinne, Jr.
1834. William Loomis.
1859. Heman G. Button.
Jewell, P. T.
36
3
Philbrick, Samuel. 34
80
20
1835. Howard Peck.
1861. John Farrar.
Jackson, John.
79
2
Roscoe, William.
126
20
Isaiah S. Masters.
1862. Edwin Baker.
Jackson, Russel.
101
4
Rose, Samuel.
64
2
1836. Rensselaer Lamb.
1863. George W. Blackman.
Johnson, David.
138
15
Ritter, Daniel.
96
3
Jacobs, Orrin C ..
172
8
Runnels, Luther. 96
3
Newton Hawes.
1864. Quinton Rogers. Andrew L. Allen.
1865. Peter Van Dewater.
Jefferson, Willard
59
9 Rowley, Seth ....
135
15
Joslyn, Alanson.
24
3
Stevens, Albert B
135 33
Kinne, Friend
49
Kilsey, Milo ...
7
2
Sanford, Warner.
64
1
Kinne, Isaac.
44
4
Smead, Willard.
8
1
Lyman Twomley.
Edwin Baker.
Kinne, Joseph
66
9
Strong, Nelson ..
50
..
Kibby, Jarus ...
46
3 Sheldon, George.
102
8
Lewis, Richard.
40
3
Skiff, Stephen ...
353
12
Loomis, Jacob.
56
4
Snow, Sylvester.
40
6
1842. John Farrar, Jr.
1869. Daniel C. Vaughn.
Lalkin, Noah.
44
2
Seeley, Sheldon
48
..
1
Talbot, Morris. 51
8
1843. Rensselaer Lamb.
Calvin Smith.
1845. Lyman Twomley.
1871. Heman G. Button.
Lock, Chester.
126
20
Taylor, Philander
20
...
Lock, Increase.
48
...
Van Pelt, Samuel.
172
37
Lawson, Elijah ...
17
3
Vaughn, William
48
2
Lewis, Barnabas.
97
Vaughn, J. T
82
Lovewell, Zacheus
42
6
Watson, J. S
82
15
Loomis, Richard.
109
Washburne, Noah.
78
14
Miller, George.
43
6
Wright, Elikum ..
124
20
Mixer, Rufus.
121
18
Wright, Joseph B .. 44
1
Martin, Maro.
48
Willis, William ...
72
...
Martindale, Elisha.
38
2
Willis, Hiram.
43
2
Miller, Thomas.
139
9
Willis, Isaac ..
94
4
Moon, Almond
120
30
Willis, Isaac, Jr.
94
...
McIntyre, Joseph, Jr.
83
5
Wisrel, Otis
120
1
E. T. Ashcraft, Willard Jefferson, Increase Locke, and Alvin Boyce were elected justices of the peace Nov. 7, 1827, but their names do not appear in their order on the town records.
The following is an alphabetical list of the resident land- owners of the town of Machias in 1834; showing, also, the number of acres owned and improved by each.
Owned. Imp.
Owned. Imp.
Allen, Solomon, and
Cushman, Barnabas ...
50
...
Lafferty, Eliphas ...
54
4
Carpenter, Seymour ...
70 20
Arnold, Samuel ...
81
7
Colby, James.
91
14
Arnold, Alden ..
46
4
Colegrove, B. H.
6
1
Arnold, George.
88
12
Chrovalo, Charles.
13
Ashcraft, E. T.
65
18
Cleveland, Sylvester ..
118
Ashcraft, Chester. 72
2
Coleman, Samuel.
100
..
Austin, Stephen
92
8
Cameron, Richard
100
3
Andrews, John.
83
15
Carpenter, Milo ...
174
Andrews, Jehiel.
41
10
Clark, William G.
84
14
Andrews, Marshall
34
10
78
18
Arnold, Isaac ..
130
20
Davis, Joshua.
96
6
Brace, Hollister.
14
Dake, E. M. B
88
8
Butler, Joseph
77
20
Deniston, James. 100
Butler, Samuel
182
16
Dodge, Isaac. 60
...
Baker, D. M. L.
96
4
Edson, I. B
54 28
Bard, Robert.
125
15
Farrar, W. M. 146
24
Blunt, William
64
15
Farrar, G. W 114
15
Brace, Calvin ..
86
20
Farrar, R. C 78
22
Burbank, Eli
138
8
Farrar, John
44
Brace, Norman. 141
15
Farrar, John, Jr.
2
Burt, Edward.
57
12
Freeland, John .. 183
17
Biggs, C. H.
44
1
Follett, Nathan.
48
...
Bessy, Judah.
74
18
Follett & Colgrove ..
14 5
Button, Lyman
137
21
Ford, Cyrus .. 86
14
Butler, Wilder
61
1
Ford, Hiram. 42
6
Beckwith, Simneon ....
40
10
Ferguson, John. 48
Grover, John. 150
10
Bennett, Jeremiah .... 90 30 Gage, Moses 115
Brown, Peter .. 140
Gage, Allen. 96
3
Brown, John .. 93
Gage, Isaac. 75
10
Coe, James.
196
6
Gage, Micah 38
6
Cone, M
145
4 Griffin, Orrin .. 179
12
Osgood, James 110
5
Holmes, Stephen 178
1853. Jasper Andrews.
1831. Willard Jefferson. 1854. Rufus L. Whitcher.
George Sheldon.
1855. Heman G. Button.
1832. William Loomis.
Seymour Carpenter.
1857. Andrew L. Allen.
1858. Edwin Baker.
Halfert, John.
76
...
Paul, Alvah ... 160
...
Nathaniel Blackman.
1860. Quinton Rogers.
Jewell, Abel
45
4
... Parmelee, Luman
78
...
1837. William Roscoe. Thomas Clark. Wiggin M. Farrar.
A. M. Farrar.
1838. Howard Peck.
1866. Horace Brock way.
1867. Heman G. Button.
1870. James M. Velzy.
Loomis, Job.
48
Loomis, Alanson. 60
6
Taylor, Amos ... 60
5
Leek, Almeran
45
Taylor, Andrew. 130
12
Albert B. Stephens.
Rufus L. Whitcher.
1846. Simeon H. Watson.
1873. Rufus L. Whitcher.
1847. Rensselaer Lamb.
1874. James L. Velzy.
1848. Lyman Twomley.
1875. Heman G. Button.
Jasper Andrews.
George A. Stoneman.
1849. William Roscoe.
1876. Moses Jewell.
Almeran Leek.
1877. Daniel S. Tilden.
1850. Jerome B. Jewell.
1878. Omer Murphy.
William Roscoe.
1851. Heman G. Button.
1830. Joseph Kinne, Jr.
1852. John Farrar, Jr.
8
Hawes, J. P 48
Jewell, Jerome
59
Judd, Liberty.
72
5
Rogers, M. J .. 62
14
Johnson, Leone ..
41
3
Richardson, Joseph ...
76
5
Slick, John.
39
2
1839. Rensselaer Lamb.
1840. Wiggin M. Farrar.
Stephen S. Randall.
1841. Albert B. Stephens.
1868. Peter Van Dewater.
Thomson, Jacob.
33
...
Lock, Philander.
64
15
16 Warner, Junia.
64
2
Merriam,
268
...
McIntyre, Hiram.
43
5
MACHIAS
is situated in the northeast part of the town, near the head of Lime Lake and the head-waters of Ischua Creek, and is about 1} miles northwest of the junction of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia, and Rochester and State Line Railroads.
It is built upon a broad plain, is irregularly laid out, and contains 2 churches (Methodist Episcopal and Christian), 1 temperance tavern, 5 stores of general merchandise, 1 hard- ware store, 1 grocery-store, post-office, district school- house, 2 medical offices, 2 clergymen, 1 watch manufactur- ing shop, 1 harness-shop, 3 wagon-shops, 3 blacksmith- shops, 2 shoc-shops, 1 cooper-shop, millinery, dress-making, etc., etc., and about 350 inhabitants. The county house for the care of the indigent and insane of Cattaraugus County is situated one-half mile northeast, and an extensive cheese-factory one-half mile west of the village. The original owners of its site were Joseph Kinne and his sons and the brothers Elisha and Judah Brown. The first log house was built, in 1820, by Elisha Brown, who soon after converted it into a place of public entertainment. The first frame house was built by Wiggin M. Farrar, in 1821. The post-office was established about 1827. Stephen Holmes kept the first store, in 1832.
In early days it was known as Machias Five Corners, and sometimes as Chickasaw.
During the days of stages and teaming between Olean
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Bush, Samuel.
195
58
Daniels, Joshua.
44
6
4 1
Burlingham, Paleman 6-
10
5
...
...
2
...
Carver, Sylvester.
...
Sylvester Carver.
Perkins, Waterman ...
13
1856. Jasper Andrews.
1827-30. Willard Jefferson.
Elijah T. Ashcraft.
MARBLE WORKS
VILLACE RESIDENCE.
TENEMENT HOUSE.
HOTEL AT THE JUNCTION.
1 : i
1
FARM RESIDENCE.
VIEWS OF FRANK D. FOLTS' PLACES , MACHIAS, CATTARAUGUS CO., N.Y.
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and Buffalo it was an important stopping-point for team- sters and travelers. The resources of " mine host," Ira Stevens, as regards rooms and stabling, were very often taxed to the utmost to accommodate his patrons.
LIME LAKE,
at the outlet of the lake of the same name, contains a hotel, a grist-mill, district school-house, and half a dozen dwelling- houses. Here was established the first store and mills in the town, also the only woolen-works that ever existed in Machias. These works of Messrs. Follett & Colgrove, about 1835, were kept busy day and night. People came from distant places, camped out, and awaited their turn to get work done.
SCHOOLS.
The first town legislation we find concerning schools is as follows :
" We, the undersigne 1, Commissioners of Common Schools of the town of Machias, in the county of Cattaraugus, do certify that in conformity with the Act entitled an act for the support of common schools, passed April 12, 1819, we have designated a site for a school- house in District No. 5, in said town, and it is to be built on the south- east side of the Ellicottville road, on a gore of land around by O. C. Hubbard's, on lot No. 23, township 5, range 5.
WILLARD JEFFERSON, WIGGIN M. FARRAR, Commissioners of Common Schools.
MACHIAS, Nov. 8, 1827.
" We, the Commissioners of Common Schools for the town of Machias, having met this day for the purpose of making an apportionment of school moneys, do apportion as follows :
School district No. 1
$23.11
..
7
19.71
..
8
12.96
2
23.66
Total
$79.44
WIGGIN M. FARRAR, TRUMAN GILBERT, AUGUSTUS HURLBUT, Commissioners of Common Schools.
MACHIAS, April 3, 1828.
In comparison with the foregoing, the following statis- tics, taken from the report of the School Commissioners of Cattaraugus County for the year ending Sept. 30, 1878, are herewith appended :
The town contains 12 school districts, with 12 school buildings, valued, with site, at $3180; volumes in library, 290, valued at $193. The number of teachers employed was 12, to whom was paid in wages 81974.20. The num- ber of children of school age was 457; average daily at- tendance was 194. Number of weeks taught was 280g. Amount of money received from State, $1284.54; amount of money received from tax, $764.87.
CHURCHES.
The Free-Will Baptists formed the first religious society, in 1818, at the house of Obadiah Vaughn. Rev. Herman Jenkins and Elder Brown came in from the Genesee valley and preached to them occasionally. In their absence, Mr. Vaughn was the leader and preacher. This little society was dispersed a few years later, on account of the peculiar opinions of a Rev. Mr. Patchen.
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MACHIAS was organized in 1822, and consisted of 5 members. Jo- seph Kinne and wife, and Daniel Potter and Lydia, his wife,
were among the first members. Rev. Mr. Bronson was their first pastor. Their first meetings were held in the school- house of District No. 1. In 1839 the Methodists, Chris- tians, and non-denominationalists erected a free or union church edifice, which was the first house of worship built in the town. This was occupied by the Methodist Episco- pal Society until 1853, when their present church edifice was erected, at a cost of $2500. It will seat 300 persons.
The society, which numbers about 60 members, is under the pastoral care of Rev. M. D. Jackson.
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF MACHIAS
was organized July 21, 1827, by Rev. Joseph Bartlett, and consisted of the five following-named members, viz. : Samuel Lyon, Betsey Ashcraft, Mrs. Charles Webb, Mary McIn- tyre, and Abigail Colby. Amelia Locke, Jerusha Wisrell, Sylvester Carver, Norman Brace, Calvin Brace, Hollister Brace, and Elijah T. Ashcraft joined the society soon after. Their carly meetings were held in the school-house of Dis- trict No. 1. Their present house of worship, which will seat 300 people, was built in 1839, and cost $1400. The pastors who have ministered to the spiritual wants of this church are named in the order of their succession, as fol- lows: Revs. Joseph Bartlett (who remained here some 8 or 10 years), Joseph Locke, Peter Cook, N. Perry (who was here when the house was built), Warren Skeels, Henry C. Davis, - Smith, and J. M. Field, the present pastor, who is just entering upon his twenty-seventh year of pastoral duty at Machias. The church property is now valued at $2000. Present membership, 95; number of pupils in Sabbath-school and Bible-classes, 112; Rev. J. M. Field, Superintendent.
CEMETERIES.
The old cemetery, one mile north of Machias village, was laid out and assigned for such purposes in the summer of 1819. The first interment in this ground was that of Estber, daughter of Elijah T. Ashcraft, who died Dec. 6, 1819.
The Maple Grove Cemetery Association of Machias, com- posed of Messrs. Heman G. Button, R. L. Whitcher, A. P. Adams, F. A. Howell, William Napier, William Joslyn, William Ruby, Edwin Austin, Melville Farrar, D. C. Vaughn, M. B. Lamb, F. D. Folts, D. H. Cheney, J. M. Field, L. Warren, Wm. S. Bussey, L. P. Warren, John Seaman, and E. M. Gould, was organized Oct. 26, 1874, in accordance with a statute of the State of New York, passed April 27, 1847. The grounds of the association, which contain five acres, and were purchased of Mrs. A. E. Edson, are situated about one-half mile west of the village. A few fine monuments have already been erected. As its name signifies, it is shaded by a beautiful grove of young maples. Much remains to be done, however ; but when the contem- plated improvements in grading and ornamentation are com- pleted, it will compare favorably with those other places of interment which dot the surroundings of towns and cities throughout the State.
A. O. U. W.
Machias Lodge, No. 131, was instituted Feb. 17, 1878, and organized by electing the following officers, viz., Wesley
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Follett, M. W .; H. S. Crandall, G. F .; Moses Jewell, R. ; William Howden, F .; A. P. Adams, Receiver; A. A. Smith, P. M. W .; John Seaman, O .; F. D. Folts, G .; George Weaver, I. G .; A. Walters, O. G.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The old State road, which enters the town near the south- east corner, and running in a general south westerly direction passes through the village of Machias, and leaves the town east of the centre on the north border, was the first high- way improved, and was laid out by the authorities of the old town of Ischua about 1813.
About 1858 considerable work was done upon the road bed of the projected Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad. The line extends through the central part from north to south.
The Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad enters the town near the northeast corner, and running in a general southerly course through the east part passes Lime Lake and Machias Junction, and leaves the town near the southeast corner. The road was completed in 1872, and the town was bonded to the amount of $15,000, to aid in its con- struction.
The Rochester and State Line Railroad enters the town north of the centre on the east border, and continuing in a southwesterly direction passes the junction, and leaves the town west of the centre on the south border. It was com- pleted in the spring of 1878, and the town pays $8000 to the company.
SOLDIERS OF THE OLD WARS.
The following-named pensioners for Revolutionary and other military services were residents of Machias in 1840, viz., Gad Taylor, aged eighty-one years; John Farrar, aged eighty-one years; Richard Odell, aged eighty years; and Edward Burt, sixty-eight years of age.
Mr. Wiggin M. Farrar, eighty-three years of age, is a pensioner of the war of 1812.
Emmett Rowley, and the brothers Peter and Jacob Bush, were soldiers during the Mexican war.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. HIEMAN G. BUTTON.
A history of Machias without a sketch of this gentleman would be like " the play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out." He is not only one of the oldest living settlers of the town,* but, during the many years of his residence, he has been prominently identified with all its varied interests.
Heman G. Button was born, May 1, 1816, in the town of Concord, Erie Co., New York. His father and mother were both natives of Rutland Co., Vt .; they moved to Clin- ton Co., N. Y., and from thence to Erie County, in the year 1815. Two years later Heman came, with his parents, into Machias.
Mr. Button's father, who died when Heman was but sixteen years old, was a farmer, but in moderate circum-
stances. When the country in this section was an unbroken wilderness, his parents were among the first who faced the primitive mode of living which attends pioneer life in a new country. They were hard-working people, whose wants were few, and their advantages not of the broadest kind, but possessed of honest hearts and satisfied with their lot. Although they were unable to give their son, Heman, any other educational advantages than those he could acquire in a few terms spent at the district schools of the neighbor- hood, the moral principles inculcated at home, and the healthy, sinewy frame developed by manual labor in the years of his early manhood spent on his father's farm, were a better legacy than " broad acres or golden storc." It was just the schooling to turn out a self-reliant, successful man.
March 4, 1838, he married Miss Jerusha Joslin, of Ma- chias, who died in 1856, leaving seven children,-Daniel W., Kingsley, Millard Fillmore, Naomi, Alvira L., Adell, and Ida. All except Kingsley and Ida are married. Nov. 26, 1856, he married Sarah M. Hall, widow of the late Elisha Hall, of this town. Her maiden name was Sarah Prescott, and she was born Dec. 11, 1832, in Sanbornton, Belknap Co., N. H., of which place her parents were natives.
Mr. Button taught school for fourteen winters, but has followed farming mainly as his vocation through life, until a few years since, when, owing to poor health, he leased his farmn.
Mr. Button early gained the esteem and confidence of his associates by his unostentatious manners and manifest integrity ; and on repeated occasions have his townsmen elected him as their representative, and called him to fill stations of honor and trust. In 1841 he was first elected school inspector, and has held that or other offices almost continuously ever since, having held almost every office in the gift of the people. He was town superintendent of schools for four years. For twenty-four years he has served as a justice of the peace in the town of Machias, thereby acquiring a very considerable legal knowledge. He was county superintendent of the poor for several terms, and retired from that office with unblemished reputation, after fourteen years' incumbency. He served as justice of the sessions one term, and as supervisor for his town in the years 1854 and 1866. He is now a justice of the peace, and notary public; one of the loan commissioners of the United States deposit fund; and railroad commissioner, for Machias, of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Rail- road. In 1866 he was elected to the State Legislature, as a member from the first district of Cattaraugus County. He served on the Committee on Internal Affairs of Towns and Counties, and (with two of his colleagues) presented a minority report against the proposed amendment of the metropolitan excise law, which was introduced in the inter- ests of the liquor-dealers. The Brooklyn Union referred in very complimentary terms to the course taken by Mr. Button on this question : "And the many friends of the excise law, as it is, will remember him and the other representatives who had sufficient honor and courage to stand firm against the many and strong inducements from the Liquor-Dealers' Association."
Mr. Button was formerly a Whig, but united with the Republican party upon its organization. He was a strong supporter of the war against the efforts of treason, and in
* There is no person now living who came to Machias earlier than Mr. Button, although two others, Nathan and Chester Ashcroft, came in the same year.
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Hove Herman b. Button
Mrs Sarch. M. Button
RESIDENCE OF HEMAN G. BUTTON, MACHIAS , N.Y.
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
addition to his influence and money, which he used without stint, he lent to the army and the country two sons, who were a long time in the service, and who fought with com- mendable heroism. Notwithstanding the many times Mr. Button has been a candidate for the suffrages of his friends and townsmen, he never was defeated at the polls,-a record that speaks for itself.
There being no lawyer in the town, he is much employed in legal business, in executing papers, and in the adminis- tration of cstates, very much of his time of late years being thus engaged. The late Judge Ten Broeck, the founder of the Ten Broeck Free Academy in Franklinville, having unbounded confidence in Mr. Button's practical sense and in- tegrity, before his death appointed him as one of its trustees.
Heman Button is an honest, upright man, a faithful public servant, and a worthy citizen and neighbor.
JARED AUGUSTUS BREWER.
The father of Mr. Brewer was of German, and his mother of Scotch descent, his grandfather emigrating from Ger- many, and settling on the Hudson River.
Jared A. Brewer, the only son of Jacob T. and Esther (McIntyre) Brewer, natives respectively of Stillwater, Sara- toga Co., N. Y., and of Vermont, was born in New Berlin, Chenango Co., N. Y., March 5, 1811. His father moved to Cattaraugus County, in May, 1833, from Chenango Co., N. Y., and located a farm in the town of Farmersville, where he died Feb. 23, 1850, aged sixty-six years, having been born Sept. 2, 1784. After his death his widow went to reside with her son Jared, the subject of this sketch, who had previously (in 1848) purchased the farm he now occupies. He was married in New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1830, to Miss Sybil Emeline Porter, a native of that county, which was also the home of Mr. Brewer for the twenty years preceding his advent in Cattaraugus County. The farm upon which he resides was the first deeded land in the town, having been originally patented by an army pensioner named Vaughan ; it originally contained one hundred and thirty-two acres, but its area has been extended by Mr. Brewer's subsequent purchases, until it now comprises four hundred and two acres in four contig- uous lots, all located in Machias, and northwest of the village. (See view of his home on another page.)
Two daughters came to cheer and bless the home of Mr. Brewer; but after they had attained to womanhood, wife- hood, and motherhood, he was bereft of both. Esther Eliza was born Aug. 4, 1831, married Jesse E. K. Button, of Machias, and died Jan. 7, 1872, leaving two sons and two daughters. Maria Jennett, born June 24, 1833, mar- ried Luther A. Beckwith, a resident of Ischua, this county. She departed this life Oct. 23, 1861, leaving two sons and one daughter.
Ira Porter, the father of Mrs. Brewer, was of English ancestry, and moved from Connecticut with his parents, when but six years of age, to Oneida County, where he and his wife, Lurancy Dean, spent their days, and died " full of years,"-she in the year 1861, he in 1866. Her ma- ternal grandfather and grandmother lived and died in Onon- daga County.
Mr. Brewer was brought up on a farm, and has always followed the farmer's vocation with deserved success. He is now, and has been from the days of Jackson, a Demo- crat. He has been called upon to fill various local offices ; was assessor for three years, and in 1855 was elected to rep- resent his town in the Board of Supervisors, and re-elected in 1856 by a considerable majority, when the town was strongly Republican, showing his popularity, and the esteem and confidence of his townsmen of both political parties. He is one of the three loan commissioners of his town for the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad. Both himself and his estimable wife are honored and esteemed residents of Machias.
WIGGIN M. FARRAR,
one of the oldest of the living pioneers of the town of Machias, and a man who, unaided, has carved out his own fortune, was born in Gilmantown, N. H., Feb. 14, 1797. His parents were in comfortable circumstances, his father, John Farrar, being a farmer, innkeeper, and merchant. Wiggin, the eldest son, was educated in the district schools of his neighborhood,-such as they were in the days of his youth, -his opportunities therein being limited to two or three months in a year. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and is one of the surviving pensioners. Following the war he clerked in a store until he was nineteen years of age. His father failing in business during the war of 1812, moved with his family to New Berlin, Chenango Co., N. Y. They arrived there with money exhausted, and had a severe struggle to maintain themselves through the winter. In the spring of 1817 they moved to Rochester, N. Y., and purchased the chance of a partly-improved farm, giving as a consideration for the transfer of the "articles" a span of horses, carriage, and harness, valued at four hundred dollars,-all the property he owned at the time. They commenced cutting staves, square timber, and saw- logs, purposing to send them down the river to Rochester. When they had gathered a lot of timber on the river-bank, his father was prosecuted for trespass, and a judgment of eighty dollars obtained against him, which he was obliged ' to pay in hard labor to avoid going to jail ! Wiggin then purchased a boat and, in partnership with another man, went to boating on the Genesee River. Made some money, but eventually the boat went over the falls, and proved a total loss. His father's health was poor, and after his failure became low-spirited and devoid of ambition; Wiggin then took charge of the family, and virtually became its head.
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