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 98
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In the year 1819, Wiggin took his father's family, and started for the west, with an ox-team, to establish a home in the then wilderness. Influenced by the representations of old friends from his former home in New Hampshire, he was induced to settle at Machias, in Cattaraugus County. He there took an articled tract of land, made a small im- provement, and then sold his claim. He subsequently purchased other tracts, in different portions of the town, and in 1828 bought the farm on which he now resides.
Mr. Farrar was married in 1826 to Hannah Doolittle, who died about a year later. The following year (1828) he married Betsey Loomis, a worthy woman, who has been
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
his faithful companion for fifty years. John Farrar died in Machias, in 1854.
Wiggin Farrar became a leader in the new settlement, and was prominently identified with the town from the start until some twenty years ago, when deafness compelled him to relinquish public and official duties. He has held nearly every office in the gift of his townsmen. He was justice of the peace for seven years, coroner for three years,
IN M Farrua,
assessor for many years, supervisor fourteen years, and for five years was county superintendent of the poor. In poli- tics he was a Whig, and later a Republican. His hearing had been failing for many years, and some ten years ago he became totally deaf,-a calamity he bears patiently.
Mr. Farrar's family consisted of two children,-Aleanzor M. and Mary Elizabeth. The former married Lydia Carver, a lady of refinement and worth ; he resides on the home farm, which he shares and manages for his father. Mary E. Farrar married Dr. Thos. J. King, a prominent physician of Machias, who has twice been elected to the State Legislature, where he served with honor; she died in 1863, leaving two sons.
In his prime, Mr. Farrar was a man of great energy, a good financier, and of marked business ability. Although always engaged in farming, he also carried on a flouring- mill business successfully for many years, and engaged largely in the purchase and sale of cattle and produce. He is an example of what can be accomplished by energy and perseverance. Starting in life without a dollar, or the assistance of friends, he has accumulated a handsome property. He has a fine farm of five hundred or more acres, and out of his competence, which will make comfort- able his old age, he has always given liberally to the poor, and for the support of church and school interests.
HON. THOMAS J. KING, M.D.
Among the citizens of the town of Machias whose resi- dence does not exceed a quarter of a century, none have won a warmer place in the hearts of the people, deservedly so, than Dr. Thomas J. King. His intelligence and practical benevolence have secured for him a popularity as genuine as it is enduring.
This of King
Thomas J. King was born at East Hampton, Suffolk Co., Long Island, June 4, 1825. He was the only son of Samuel T. and Martha (Leek) King, the former of whom was of English and the latter of Welsh descent. His an- cestors removed to East Hampton as early as 1680, and for generations have been characterized by respectability and honesty. At an early age young King was sent to the pub- lic schools, and afterwards to the Clinton Academy, of which, at a subsequent period of his life, he became the honored principal. He subsequently attended Williams College, from which he was honorably graduated in 1848. He then chose medicine as a profession, and for its study entered the Albany Medical College in 1852, and, after at- tending two regular courses of lectures, received his diploma and degree of M.D. in 1854. Prior to his attendance at Albany he read medicine with Abraham Van Scoy, M.D., at East Hampton, and also at intervals between his gradu- ation. He first commenced the practice of his profession at Machias, in the spring of 1856, and has since continued to reside there. By his scholarly attainments and extensive knowledge of medicine and surgery he is considered by his brother practitioners and by the people at large an ornament to the profession and a generally useful citizen. He has
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JAMES NAPIER
JOHN NAPIER
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PHOTOS. BY L.W. CUDDING, FRANKLINVILLE.
RESIDENCE OF JOHN NAPIER, MACHIAS, CATTARAUGUS CON. Y.
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
been a member of the Cattaraugus County Medical Society from its reorganization until the present time. In politics he has always been a consistent Republican, and though not seeking political honors, rather preferring to devote his time and attention to his profession, yet the people, recog- nizing his ability and personal worth, have twice elected him their representative in the Assembly, first in 1876, and again the year following. In the House his talents were recognized, and he was made chairman of the Committee of Public Health and a member of the Committee of Ap- portionment. He made an able and (what is of far greater merit) an honest legislator ; and did his inclinations and aspirations tend to political preferment, the people would intrust to his care the management of their affairs in almost any position within their gift.
On the 4th of October, 1860, Dr. King was united in marriage with Mary Elizabeth, daughter of W. M. Farrar, Esq., of Machias. There were two children born to them, namely, Clarence, born June 6, 1861 ; Harold, born April 27, 1863. On the 31st of May the doctor sustained the loss of his wife, which was naturally a sore bereavement to him, particularly as the care of his young children devolved almost entirely on him. But he is not a man to shirk re- sponsibilities, and we doubt not but that his sons will be properly and judiciously reared, and in youth and manhood will reflect credit and honor upon their worthy parent.
Upon Dr. King's general character and reputation we base the following assertions : that he occupies a prominent position in the medical profession of Cattaraugus County, as is shown by the fact that he enjoys an extensive practice, and is often called in consultation ; that he possesses more than ordinary executive and business ability; that he is scrupulously honest ; that his political record is irreproach- able; and that he admirably sustains the relations of the Christian gentleman and the worthy and upright citizen. In fine, his life and character have been such that we fear no honest contradiction to the above, which, though seem- ingly containing much of eulogy, is in reality but a plain, uncolored statement of facts.
JOHN NAPIER
was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 15, 1816. His ancestry are numbered among the Napiers who have figured quite conspicuously in the history of Great Britain for sev- eral centuries past. His father was James Napier, who was born in the town of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and his mother Rachel (Michael) Napier, who was born in the adjoining parish of Gartly. They emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the year 1816, and after remaining there twelve years returned, with their family, to Scotland. In 1834, John and an elder brother, William, again crossed the ocean, and landing in Halifax, removed to Windsor, where they remained about one year. They then went to New York, and soon afterwards to Quincy, Mass., where John was apprenticed to the stone-cutter's trade, at which he served three years, and at the expiration of that time was a first-class journeyman. He removed to Virginia, and worked at his trade on the James River Canal, and
from there embarked for Scotland with his brother John in the fall of 1838. In the following spring they returned to America, accompanied by their parents, whom they brought out and subsequently cared for. They resumed work at their trade on the Erie Canal, and in 1840 arrived at Hinsdale. While there he (John) visited Machias, and took the con- tract to erect the stone house for Samuel Butler, in which he now resides. In 1844 he went to Buffalo, and after working there a brief period he removed to New London, Conn., and worked at Mill Stone Point, six miles from New London. After three months' service he was promoted foreman over the stone-cutters, having sixty journeymen under him, and from that time to the present has always been engaged either as superintendent on public works, or contracting for the same.
On the 13th of April, 1845, he married Miss Emeline T. Beebe, who was born at Waterford, New London Co., Conn., Dec. 16, 1827. They have had six children born to them,-one son and five daughters,-of whom two daugh- ters and one son survive. Margaret, born Feb. 1, 1846, married George L. Napier, April 13, 1875; Mary Isabella, born Sept. 19, 1848; Griselda, born May 27, 1851, died Jan. 18, 1863; Lovinia, born Dec. 22, 1856, died in in- fancy ; Sarah Jane, born April 27, 1860, died July 28, 1863; James Allen, born March 23, 1862, resides with his parents.
In the winter of 1846 he left Connecticut and went to Lawrence, Mass., and was employed as foreman over stone- cutters in the construction of a dam across the Merrimac, and in the erection of manufacturing buildings. In the summer of 1848 was engaged on the Portage Aqueduct across the Genesee River, at Portageville. From that time until 1857 he was a contractor in connection with his brothers, William, James, and George, on the Genesee Valley and Erie Canal, in the construction of masonry. In 1857 and 1858 himself and the brothers mentioned above, and their brother-in-law, Charles Brodie, were en- gaged in the building of the stone-work on the bridge span- ning the Mississippi River at St. Paul. In 1860 he became superintendent of the construction of the new enlarged lock on the Louisville and Portland Canal, at Louisville, Ky., and was thus engaged until 1864. The succeeding two years he was employed in the superintendency of masonry on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A part of the year 1866 he was occupied with his brothers in the erec- tion of the Ten Broeck Free Academy at Franklinville. In 1867 he obtained the contract to get the stone from the Nauvoo, Ill., quarries, the same as used in the building of the Mormon Temple, and for building the post-office and custom- house at Springfield, Ill. In 1868 they erected the county poor-house in the town of Machias. In July of the same year he went to Springfield, Ill., and became superintendent over the construction of the stone-work of the State Capitol, and thus continued until December, 1876. In 1869 he was engaged as superintendent of the Grafton Stone Quarries on the Mississippi, forty miles above St. Louis, for the building of the St. Louis Bridge and Water-Works. While there he had from two hundred and fifty to three hundred men under his supervision. In the mean time he and his brothers built the masonry, trestleing, and piling on the
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad from Ma- chias to Emporium, a distance of about sixty miles. In the summer and fall of 1878 they built the Springville and Sardinia Railroad (narrow-gauge). In addition to the above, Mr. Napier and his brothers, and Charles and Rob- ert Brodie, were engaged in bridging the Wabash and other streams on the New Albany and Salem, and Toledo, Wa- bash and Western Railroads.
Mr. Napier has been a man of indomitable energy and untiring industry. For more than forty years he has been actively engaged in superintending the construction of public works and various other enterprises, many of which, among others the Harlem High Bridge and the State Cap- itol at Springfield, Ill., remain as monuments to his me- chanical skill. He is a Republican in politics, but never had time to accept political preferment. His ambition has been in the line of his trade and in the perfection of his knowledge of constructive art. His various contracts have been honestly managed, and completed according to the terms of his agreements. He is generally considered a man of irreproachable personal integrity, a kind husband, father, and friend, and a good citizen in every sense of that term.
DANFORD WRIGHT,
.
one of the respected yeomen of the town of Machias, is the son of Joseph B. Wright, a native of Oneida Co., N. Y. His father removed to Gainsville, Wyoming Co., N. Y., where he married Nancy Lewis, a native of Delaware, from which State her parents had emigrated to Wyoming when she was very young. Joseph Wright came to Cattaraugus County in 1823, locating in the western part of the town of Machias, near the Ashford town line. The county was then a wilderness ; there were only three houses, and those built of logs, in what is now Machias village; and "blazed" trees, in lieu of roads, marked their route through the dense woods. He cleared his farm of fifty acres, afterwards in- creased to three hundred, and there he resided until his de- mise in the year 1860 (January 1), aged sixty-one years, six months, and twenty-eight days. His wife died Oct. 23, 1865, aged fifty-six years. His family embraced seven children, of whom six survive,-all residing in this town,-viz. : Danford, Myron, Cleantha (deceased), Dennis, Mandana, Lafayette, and Paulina. Dennis is located on the homestead farm.
Danford Wright, the eldest son of Joseph and Nancy Wright, was born in Gainsville, N. Y., Sept. 25, 1825. He was about a year and a half old when his parents re- moved to Machias. He remained with his father upon the home farm until he was twenty-three years of age, when he married Eliza Wright (not related), purchased a tract of seventy-four acres in the neighborhood of his father's place, and commenced life for himself. That he prosecuted his la- bors with success is evidenced by the fact that his acreage was subsequently increased to three hundred and fifty acres. He sold one hundred and fifty acres. The remainder embraces two farms,-one occupied by a tenant ; the other, in the northeast portion of the town, has been his home since the date of its purchase in 1858.
Mrs. Danford Wright's father, Reuben Wright, was also an early settler of the town ; he died on his farm, near Ma- chias village, in the year 1858, aged eighty-two years. Her mother, whose maiden name was Susanna Stebbins, was a native of Wilbraham, Mass. ; she died also on the home- stead farm, Oct. 2, 1868, at the advanced age of nearly eighty-three years. Eliza Wright was born Jan. 13, 1821, at Alexander, Genesee Co., N. Y., to which place her parents removed from Massachusetts in an early day, and thence to Cattaraugus County.
The family of Danford and Eliza Wright consists of an only son, Amon D., who was born July 25, 1851. In 1869 he married Miss Mary Lewis, of Gainsville, N. Y., who was born July 10, 1851. They reside on a farm near Machias Junction.
Mr. Wright is, and has ever been, a hard-working, cal- culating, and prudent farmer, whose many years' toil has yielded him a competence for his declining years, although he now enjoys good health and is possessed of a rugged constitution.
JACOB WURST
is the son of Jacob and Rosina Wurst, and was born in Würtemberg (Germany), Sept. 29, 1843. He was edu- cated at the National schools of his native land, and when twenty-three years of age emigrated to America, first arriv- ing in Buffalo, where he learned the butcher's trade. He remained there about two years, and then removed to Hol- land, Erie Co., N. Y., where he engaged in the butchering business, continuing in the same five years. In 1874, he established himself in the same business at Emporium, Pa., in connection with conducting a grocery-store. During the latter part of the same year he sold out and removed to Lime Lake, where he purchased the Lime Lake flouring- and saw-mills. In December, 1875, his brother-in-law, John E. Euchner, became a partner with him, under the firm- name of Wurst & Euchner, as at present. They now transact quite an extensive business. Their grist-mill has two run of stone and an annual capacity for twenty-five thousand bushels of custom and one thousand barrels of merchant work. Their saw-mill has a circular saw, and a capacity for six hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber per annum. They have a cider-mill also, and purchase lumber and bark ; making, in all, quite a large general business.
On the 2d of February, 1869, Mr. Wurst was married to Miss Lovina Euchner, by whom he has had four chil- dren ; their names and the dates of their births being as follows : Dora R., born March 19, 1870; Paul G., born June 23, 1872; Alma J., born March 24, 1875; Perry L., born Jan. 7, 1878.
Mr. Wurst is a first-class business man, and possesses the requisite amount of industry and enterprise to make a suc- cessful career, which he will doubtless do. His partner,
JOIIN E. EUCHNER,
was born at Holland, Erie Co., N. Y., Oct. 30, 1855. He is the son of Christopher Euchner, a respectable farmer of Erie County. Young Euchner has many fine business
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JACOB WURST
MRS. LOVINA WURST.
LIME LAKE MILLS," PROPERTY OF WURST A!
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JOHN E. EUCHNER
RST AND EUCHNER , MACHIAS , CATTARAUGUS CO, N. Y.
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RESIDENCE OF MRS. ROYAL C.FARRAR, MACHIAS , CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, N.Y.
W. P. WHINNERY
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
qualifications, and with the senior partner of the firm makes a strong team, and one that wields a respectable influence in the community where they reside. They have the best possible facilities for their business, a fine water- power, good arrangements for transportation, and all the
necessary improvements in machinery, etc. They are just the men Lime Lake Mills require to make them successful, and gain for them a creditable name abroad. They now enjoy a good patronage, which, under the present able man- agement, is rapidly increasing.
ROYAL C. FARRAR.
MRS. ROYAL C. FARRAR.
ROYAL C. FARRAR
was born in Gilmantown, Belknap Co., N. H., April 27, 1806, where his parents resided for many years .* In 1818 he moved to New Berlin, N. Y., and from thence to Rochester, N. Y. In 1819, with his father and family, he emigrated to Machias, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. He was a younger brother of Wiggin Farrar, and remained with the family until he attained his majority. After spending a few years at farm labor, working by the month, he pur- chased, in 1832, the farm where he spent the remainder of his days, where he died, and where his widow now resides, -one of the finest farms in the town, and so rated by the assessors.
Mr. Farrar was not an office-seeker, but held the office of assessor for several years, and some other minor positions. He was an unostentatious, hard-working man, who rather avoided publicity, and stuck close to his chosen vocation,- that of a farmer. The three hundred acres of which he was possessed had been so wisely managed as to leave upon his death a competence for his family. He died Jan. 31, 1875, highly esteemed as a citizen and neighbor.
*See biography of Wiggin M. Farrar.
By his first wife, Sarah A. Bradley, whom he married in 1835, has but two surviving children : Martin V. and Melville. The former is living in Canborough, Canada ; the latter (who served during the war of the Rebel- lion, as a faithful and brave soldier of the 72d New York Volunteers) is a successful cattle-broker, and resides in Machias. Mrs. Farrar died in 1845, and the following year Mr. Farrar married Miss Luna Roscoe, daughter of William Roscoe, of Machias. Her demise occurred in 1847, leaving one daughter, Luna E., who married Mr. A. P. Adams, a merchant of Machias, in 1870. Mr. Farrar made a third venture in matrimony April 25, 1850, by taking as his companion Maria E. Spoor, of Farmersville, daughter of Asel Spoor, who settled in that town as early as 1826. Mrs. Maria (Spoor) Farrar was born in Arcadia, Wayne Co., N. Y., Oct. 9, 1824. There were born unto Royal and Maria Farrar seven children,-Sarah E., who died in 1876; Stanley R .; Anna E., who, in 1877, mar- ried Arthur E. Wright, a well-to-do farmer, of Machias ; Gilbert T .; Ernest H .; Cora E .; Orville L., who died in 1870. Of the above-named children, Gilbert, Ernest, and Cora reside with their mother on the homestead farm, a view of which may be seen on another page of this work.
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HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Horace Prescott
Laura, OB Prescott
HORACE PRESCOTT.
The perpetuation of family records and gencalogies is commendable. It exhibits a reverence for the memory of those departed that is as admirable as it is just. It is a noticeable fact that families in this country are imitating the example set by those of the old world, in the preservation of family histories. When the ancestry of a person in America can be traced back a couple of centuries, it be- comes an honor and a pride to the individual as great, in our estimation, as for old and long-established families in Europe to trace their pedigree five times as far back. In the history of the Prescotts in America is offered a fair example to illustrate the above argument. We find that James Prescott, the progenitor of the family in America, emigrated from England and settled in Hampton, N. H., between the years 1660 and 1668. He married Mary Boulter, daughter of Nathaniel and Grace Boulter, of Hampton. The exact date of his birth and marriage is not known. His wife was born May 15, 1648. He re- moved to Kingston, N. H. (being one of the grantees of that town), where he died in 1728. A fac-simile of the family coat of arms is retained, a photograph of which is in the possession of the subject of this sketch. It is of elegant design, and bears the motto "Vincit qui petitur" (he that conquers endures). We trace the genealogy of the family through seven generations, as follows :
James Prescott, son of James Prescott above mentioned, born Sept. 1, 1671 ; married Maria Marston, March 6, 1695. Samuel Prescott, born March 14, 1697; married Mary Sanborn, Dec. 17, 1717. William Prescott, born June 21, 1728; married Susanna Sanborn, Nov. 22, 1750. William Prescott, born Oct. 14, 1762; married three times: first, Deborah Welch; second, Sarah (Gibson) Forest; third, Jane
(Smith) Kezar. John Prescott, born March 28, 1787; mar- ried twice: first, Rebecca George; second, Eunicia Dawson.
Horace (of whom we write), born at Franklin, N. H., Feb. 10, 1810. He married Laura Blunt, of Machias, Jan. 12, 1840. They had issue, two sons and two daugh- ters, namely : Emily, born March 6, 1842; died March 16, 1843. Adelaide, born March 25, 1844; married Philetus Martin, Nov. 19, 1868; resides in Farmersville. Edgar, born June 15, 1846 ; married Mary Jane, daughter of William Napier, of Machias, Oct. 21, 1869. Urban, born Ang. 9, 1848; unmarried.
Mr. Prescott removed from Franklin, N. H., to Coving- ton, Genesee Co., N. Y., when a youth, and from there to Machias, on the 28th of February, 1827, where he has since resided. The country was wild and unsettled when he arrived. There were no roads or other material improve- ments, so that it required both energy and industry to effect a permanent settlement. Both of these qualifications he possessed, and as a result he has succeeded in accumulating a fine farm of four hundred and ten acres, upon which he has recently erected a good substantial barn, forty by fifty feet, at a cost of about fifteen hundred dollars.
Mr. Prescott has never taken a very active part in poli- tics, having had his time and attention well occupied in improving and bettering his farm. He has, however, ac- ceptably filled the office of assessor ten years, and also other positions in the town government. He espoused the Green- back cause at the organization of that party, and has since advocated its principles, believing them to be the best for the general public good. He is a man of considerable force of character, and has done much towards the advancement of the best interests of his town. His neighbors esteem him as a good practical farmer, and respect him as an up- right and honest citizen.
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RESIDENCE OF HORACE PRESCOTT, MACHIAS, CATTARAUGUS CO., N. Y.
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FARMERSVILLE.
THE town of Farmersville lies upon the east border of the county, north of the centre.
Its surface is a hilly upland and forms a water-shed, from which streams flow north into Lake Eric, cast into the Genesee, and south into the Allegany. The highest point, near the centre, is from 800 to 900 feet above the railroad at Olean.
The only considerable stream is Ischua Creek, which flows south through the west part. Mud Lake, in the north part, covers an arca of about 40 acres, and discharges its waters to the north ward.
The soil upon the uplands is chiefly a vegetable mould, resting on clay, slate, and shale; that in the valleys is a gravelly loam.
It is well adapted to grazing and stock-raising. The people are chiefly agriculturists, and cheese is the chief source of revenue. The milk of about 2400 cows is man- ufactured into this product by the different cheese-factories situated within its borders.
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