History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 30

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. fmo; Huntington Free Library. fmo
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Printing House of Matthews & Warren
Number of Pages: 948

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 30

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MICHAEL FRANK, son of Lawrence Frank, was born at Frankfort, Herki- mer Co., Dec. 18, 1788, and removed to Busti in 1811, and settled on lot 63, tp. 1, r. 11, where he died May 9, 1869. He was married in Frankfort to Elizabeth Steward, and had Io children : 1. Steward, who married Polly A. Edmunds, and had 5 children who attained to majority : Lucy A., who married Galusha M. Davis, and is deceased, leaving two children ; Elizabeth M., who married Charles Ellis, and died in Pennsylvania, and left 4 children;

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he resides in Michigan ; Mary, who became second wife of Galusha M. Davis, and has two children ; Joanna and Martha J., both unmarried. 2. Stephen, who married Abigail Hewitt in Mich., where they reside ; they have 6 children. 3. Lewis, who married Sophrona Perkins. He is deceased ; she lives in Broome Co. 4. Lucy Ann, who died in infancy. 5. Horace, who married Adelia Stevens, and has a son and 3 daughters. They live on the old homestead. 6. Eunice, who married, first, Sylvester Babcock, and had two daughters, both married. After the death of Mr. Babcock she mar- ried Miles Lewis, of Harmony, and has two daughters. 7. Jason M., who married Maria Palmer, and lives in Sugar Grove, Pa., and has 2 children living. 8. John N., who married, first, Aurilla A. Palmeter, and had 3 daughters ; second, Mrs. Cynthia Homer. They live in Jamestown. 9. Emeline, wife of James D. Stearns, now of Jamestown. Their children living are : Frank, who married Maria Pierce, and lives with his father ; and Ella M. James D. Stearns served three years in the late war, in a company of sharp- shooters, and was in the battles of Suffolk, Va., Mine Run, in the Wilderness campaign, etc. 10. Elizabeth Mercy, unmarried, residing in Jamestown.

JOSEPH GARFIELD was born in Worcester Co., Mass., April 17, 1780 ; removed with his father to Stratton, Vt .; and in 1803 was married to Lydia Stearns. In 1816, he settled in Pine Grove, Pa .; and about 1820 in Busti, lot 39, where his son Joseph resides. His father, Eliakim, was a soldier of the Revolution. His son Joseph was a captain in the war of 1812; and served two terms as justice of the peace in Busti. He was an early member of the Congregational church, and was such at the time of his death, Dec. 9, 1862. Mrs. G. died Sept. 15, 1852. Their children were : 1. Hannah, wife of Richard Hiller, of Carroll, where she died. They had 10 children, of whom Jediah, John, Martha Jane, Eliza, Cynthia, Alexander, and Nicholas are living : all reside in Carroll. 2. Eliakim, who married Priscilla Root, and has 6 children, Horace, Richard, Otis, Sarah, Mary, Jennie : all in the county but Mary. 3. Anna, wife of Horace Bacon, both deceased. Their children are : Mary Ann, Olive, Hannah, Joseph, Lydia, in Pa., and Priscilla. 4. Samuel, in Carroll, who married, successively, Susan Eastman, Elizabeth Emery, and another. Children by the first wife, Anna and Susan ; by the second, Morris Russell, Lydia and Lncy. 5. Lydia, wife of Martin Grout, of Poland (?). Children living are : William, James, Martin, Lucy, and Lydia. 6. Joseph, who married Lucy Ann Palmer, and lives in Kiantone. Children : Martin, Eliakim, Samuel, and Joseph.

AARON MARTIN, a native of Dutchess Co., settled, in 1813, in the east part of Busti, on lot 44, tp. 1, r. 11, on Stillwater creek. He was a tanner, and commenced tanning on a small scale, but soon relinquished it, and at- tended exclusively to farming. His tannery was the first in the south part of the county, except that of John A. Pierce, at Fluvanna, which also was abandoned in a few years. His children were : William; Isaac, who was in the war of 1812, and died in Tennessee ; George, who was a justice in Kian- tone ; James, who removed to Kentucky; Maria, and Jane.

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BUSTI.

PALMER PHILLIPS settled on lot 11, tp. 1, r. 12, which he bought in 1811. He was a prominent citizen. He was elected, in 1816, supervisor of Har- mony, then including Busti, and held the office by reelection until the town of Busti was formed, in 1823, and including that year. He was the leader of the first Methodist class formed within the limits of the town. It was formed by Elder John Lewis ; and its original members were Palmer Phillips and Asa Smith, and their wives, John Whittam, and Joseph and Daniel Phillips, sons of Palmer. Daniel became a preacher, and died at Sugar Grove, Pa., in 1851.

LEVI PIER came from Oxford, N. Y., to Busti, in 1814, and bought on lot -, r. Ir. After the death of his wife, which occurred about two years after, he returned to Chenango Co .; and after two or three years he came back, and settled permanently, where he remained until his death. He had 12 children : Elijah, Lois, Namah, Amasa, Sally, Silas, Abraham, Reuben, Oliver, Lovisa, Roxa, David. Of these the following came to this county : Sally, who married Aaron Root, who settled in Busti; Reuben, who married Margaret Acker, Harmony; Oliver, who married Betsey Carpenter, and lives at Corry; Lovisa, wife of Horace Blanchar, both deceased; Roxa, wife of Wm. Martin, of Kiantone; and David, who married Esther Pierce, both deceased. Mr. Levi Pier died in March, 1826.

ABRAHAM PIER, son of Levi Pier, was born in Great Barrington, Mass., April 30, 1789. He came from Oxford, N. Y., to Busti, and purchased the land in 1812, where he now resides, 172 m. south-west from Jamestown. In March, 1814, he moved with his father's family from Oxford. A year or two after their arrival, Mrs. Levi Pier died; and Mr. Pier returned to Chenango ; and after two or three years he came back and settled here per- manently one mile west from Abraham's, where he died. Abraham Pier was married to Olive Marsh, Dec. 17, 1815, and had by her 5 children, of whom only two survived the period of infancy: Elvira, wife of Dr. Sherman Gar- field, who died on his way to the South for the benefit of his health; and Lovisa E., wife of Elias H. Jenner, who resides with his father-in-law, in the same house, but owning and occupying an adjoining farm. After the death of his first wife, Abraham Pier married Mary Ann Simmons, his present wife.

THERON PLUMB, a native of Berkshire Co., Mass., is said to have settled, in the winter of 1811-12, on lot 60, tp. 'I, r. II, then in the town of Ellicott, which, however, was not formed until June following. He appears as an original purchaser only as purchasing lot 7, tp. I, I. 12, which was never in Ellicott. He must, however, have settled in Ellicott, as he was early a prominent citizen of that town, having been elected to many offices in it, and was in 1815 appointed, by the council of appointment, a justice of the peace, and held the office for several years, and was an efficient magistrate. He re- moved to Ohio in 1820, where he buried his wife in 1835. He returned to Busti in 1839. Late in life he removed to Iowa, where he died.

JUDSON SOUTHLAND was born in Mendon, Mass., April 1, 1793. His father, born in New Jersey, was an iron forger by trade, and soon after his

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marriage enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and was at the battles of Bunker Hill, Monmouth, and several others. Judson was the youngest of nine children. In 1818, he, with others, started from Massachusetts, and arrived at Mayville the Ist day of March, having made the journey by sleighing. He taught school during the summer, and returned in the fall on horseback, making the journey in three weeks. In May, 1819, he married Rhoda For- bush, of Grafton, Mass. ; and in the ensuing fall they removed to Chautauqua Co., with a three-horse team, and, after a tedious journey of five weeks, arrived at Jamestown, and made a short stop with Elisha Allen, then keeping a hotel at the south-east corner of Main and Third streets. In the spring of 1820, he built a plank house on the top of what was called English Hill, 212 miles from Jamestown, and conveyed his wife, one child, and a hired girl, on an ox-sled, through the woods, by marked trees, to their new home. In 1825, he moved to Jamestown, where he kept the Allen House one year. He then built a house on the north-west corner of Fourth and Pine streets, where F. A. Fuller now resides. He served nine years as deputy sheriff under sheriffs Daniel Sherman, Benj. Douglass, and Wm. Sexton, and as sheriff from Jan. I, 1838, for the full term of three years. In 1841, he purchased the farm where he now resides, on the lake road in Busti. His wife died in Galena, Ill., Sept. 1, 1853. In 1856, he married Martha P. Holbrook, of Grafton, Mass. Mr. Southland had 7 children-all born at Jamestown : 1. Caroline M., who married Rev. Asahel Chapin ; residing now in Vinton, Iowa. They have four sons : Judson S., Asahel, Edward S., and William Fisk. 2. Silas E., who married Caroline E. R. Aldrich, of Mendon, Mass. ; residing now in Busti. 3. William J., who married Marian E. Hastings, of Jamestown, and died in Busti, Dec. 28, 1853. Widow and one daughter reside in Kent, Ohio. 4. Jonathan F., who married Jane E. Barnes in Grafton, Mass. ; re- side in Ellicott. They have two sons, Martin Henry and Charles William. 5. John Clark, who died in infancy. 6. Edward H., who married Caroline E. Randolph, of Panama ; reside now in Jamestown. 7. Caroline M., who mar- ried J. T. Stoneman, of Busti ; have one daughter, Carrie, and reside in Iowa.

IRA C. STODDARD, born at Brattleboro', Vt., was married to Charlotte Joy, and removed with his family, in 1819, to Eden, Erie Co., N. Y., where he was pastor of the Baptist church 12 years. He. subsequently ministered to the church of Busti 4 years; to the church at Ripley 5 years; and to the church at Mayville 1 year. After closing his pastoral labors, he returned to Busti, where he has since resided. Of his 9 children, all but one attained maturity : Jacob; Ira J .; Ansel; Charlotte, [deceased,] wife of George An- drews; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Perry Frank, Iowa ; Lucy V., wife of James H. Wood, Frewsburgh; Orlando J., and Hiram D. Jacob served in the late war. Hiram enlisted during the late war, and was in the battles of Malvern Hill, Fair Oaks, Gettysburg, in the Wilderness, etc., and was taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison. Ira J. went as a missionary to Hindoostan in 1847; and, after 9 years' labor there, returned. After three years he went to the same field ; returned to America in 1873 ; and now resides in Iowa.

Strobridge & Cc. Lith. Civ C

Judson Southland

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CARROLL.

STEPHEN WILCOX, SR., born in R. I., August 8, 1762, was a soldier in the Revolution, moved to this county in 1815, and his family, with Ephraim, in 1816, and settled on lot 63, tp. 1, r. 11, where his son Ephraim still resides. He died in 1846, aged 84 years. His wife died in 1849, aged 85. Their children were: Stephen; Eunice, wife of John Steward, Sr .; Ephraim; Abel; Lury, wife of Edward Akin; Alfred, and Roxana, wife of Adin Russell. Stephen, Jr., bought, in 1812, a part of lot 55, tp. 1, r. II, and is said to have come to Busti with Cyrus Fish in 1813.

The Baptist Church of Busti was organized August 30, 1819, by a council consisting of Elders Ebenezer Smith, Paul Davis, and Jonathan Wilson. Members uniting at the time of the organization, were Daniel Sartwell, Enoch Alden, Ebenezer Davis, Benjamin Covel; and, it is believed, Henry L. Frank, John L. Frank, John Frank, Jr., and Elijah Devereaux, also were first members. A few days after, William Frank and Mary Ann Shepard were admitted. The first church edifice was erected in 1836; the present one in 1853. The first pastor was Rev. Paul Davis.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Busti Corners was organized in 1819, with sixty members, by Rev. Alvin Burgess, the first pastor. The church edifice was built the same year.

CARROLL.

CARROLL was formed from Ellicott in 1825. It was named in honor of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Md., one of the signers of the declaration of independence. Kiantone was taken off in 1853. Its surface is broken and hilly in the north-east and east parts, and rolling in the south and south-west. The highest summits are said to be about 900 feet above Lake Erie. The soil is a clay loam in the north and east, and a gravelly loam in the south and west parts. The Connewango creek, the principal stream, enters the town on its north line, on lot 48, about 272 miles east of the north-west corner, and, taking a winding, south-westerly course, makes a small curve into Kiantone; then, after meandering southward along the west line of the town, leaves the township line, and thence, running in an easterly and a south-easterly direction, forms the town boundary between Carroll and Kian- tone to the Pennsylvania line. Frewsburgh, a post village in the north-west part, contained, in 1870, a population of 379. Fentonville, in the south-west corner of the town, has a post-office and a population of 82.

Original Purchases in Township I, Range 10.

1808. July, Joel Tyler, 51. George Sloan, 59; [now Kiantone.]

1809. March, Samuel Anderson, 57; [now Kiantone.] June, Charles. Boyles, 42. Isaac Walton, 41.

18ro. March, George W. Fenton, 52. 16

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

18II. October, Matthew Turner, 53. November, Ebenezer Cheney, 54. Matthew Turner, 54.

1812. January, John Frew, 61.

1813. September, Robert Russell, 57 ; [lot now in Kiantone.] Decem- ber, Amasa Littlefield, 36.

1814. March, Ebenezer Cheney, 36. May, Ebenezer Cheney, 46, 47, 54, 55. Ebenezer Davis, 37. Benj. Jones, 23, 28. Levi Jones, 24, 28. Elijah Braley, 43. Horatio Dix, 28. July, James Hall, 54. September, Aaron Forbes, 64. November, Robert Russell, 57; [now in Kiantone.]

1815. March, Josiah H. Wheeler, 46. Wheeler and Hall, 32, 40. Wm. Sears, 31.

1816. May, Jonathan Covell, 43. Eli Eames, 38.

1817. May, Benjamin Russell, 30.

1818. May, Aaron Forbes, 64. November, Levi Jones, 23.

1819. January, Josiah H. Wheeler, 39.

1820. June, John Frew, 62.

1821. November, John Myers, [lot not given.]

1822. September, Isaac Eames, 39.

1823. October, James Hall, 15.

1824. January, John and James Frew, 20. Feb., John Myers, 20. April,

John Frew, 27. Sept., Daniel Wheeler, 27. Oct., Truman Comstock, 31.

1826. May, Hiram Covey, 14. James Covey, 14. Jonah R. Covey, 14. June, Taylor Aldrich, 28.

1827. June, Wm. Haines, 26. John F. Bragg, 48. October, Robert Russell, 49.

A correct and reliable sketch of the earliest settlement in Carroll is not easily obtained. The State Gazetteer says Joseph Akin, from Rensselaer Co., was the first settler in town, located on lot 29, in Jan., 1807 ; and gives the names of several other early settlers in that town, none of whom ever resided therein ; but settled on and near Stillwater creek in the town of Kiantone. The County Gazetteer and Directory of 1873 substantially adopts the mistake ; and, in its sketch of Kiantone, gives the names of the same persons as first settlers of that town also. And accuracy is the more difficult from the fact, that the names of the first settlers and dates of purchase do not appear on the Company's book. Judge Foote says : " From 1798, [when the range and township lines were run,] to 1807, no further surveys were made in Ellicott ; [meaning the four townships embraced in that town when formed.] During this interval, a few persons settled on lands not yet surveyed into lots."

It is presumed that the earliest settler within the present bounds of Carroll was one of the three who took up their lands in 1809. They were : Isaac Walton, lot 41, June 29, and Joel Tyler and Charles Boyles, July 28. Tyler is known to have been on his land a month or longer, prior to the date of his article. Geo. W. Fenton came the next year ; and John Frew, early in 1812.

John Russell, residing on the Mahoning, in Pennsylvania, in the neighbor- hood of the Frew family, came out to Connewango in 1800, to explore the country in Western Pennsylvania. He located a lot of land, and returned with a good report of the country about Connewango, by which many were induced to emigrate with him. Russell being a carpenter, he made a boat

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in two parts, which could be put together and taken apart at pleasure. It was calculated for a light draught of water, to go up the Susquehanna, Sine- mahoning, etc., to take the goods of the emigrating company, comprising John Russell and his family, including his sons Robert, John, and Thomas, Mr. Hood, Lapsley, John Bar, Hunter, and others. Also David and James Brown, [John came afterwards,] young men and single, from Belfast, Ireland. Hugh Frew and his sons started with the company. Frew and Russell had each a yoke of oxen and some cows. The journey up the streams, with the teams through the woods, was slow and tedious. They came up the Sine- mahoning, and across portage, with boat, to drift wood, and took the boat apart, and brought it on wagon wheels to canoe place on Allegany river ; put the boat together again, calked and pitched it, and came down the Allegany to the Connewango, and up that stream to a little above where Russellburg now is ; thence to " Beech Woods," so called, now Sugar Grove. Hugh Marsh, from New Jersey, Robert Miles, father of Frederic, Robert, and John, and Stephen Ross, father of Benjamin, had got in before them. At Warren there was no building. except the Holland Land Company's store-house, in which resided a family who had charge of the Holland Company's stores sent thither to sell to the settlers. Daniel Jackson had a small mill, (the bolt turned by hand,) at the mouth of Winters' or Jackson's run, above Warren.

When the emigrants arrived at Beech Woods, they had no beds except the ticks, which, for the want of straw, they filled with leaves scraped from the ground. Their clothes were of home-made linen and woolen cloth. They had no money to buy more; and they had to wear mostly linen and tow, summer and winter, because flax they could raise. The woods abounded with wolves to kill sheep, and bears to kill hogs. Deer were plenty, but the settlers had no guns. After a while, they procured guns and supplied them- selves with venison. The Indians, who hunted in the fall and winter, would sell venison and moccasins ; but they would take in payment only silver, salt, or flour, of which the settlers had none to spare. They soon learned to make good moccasins and other articles of clothing. They tanned their deer skins with deer's brains and smoke, as the Indians did. In the winter they found a plenty of bee trees, as the bees would come out in warm, thawing days, and fall upon the snow. They would then mark the trees, and cut them the next summer or fall. The farm in Pennsylvania, on which John Russell settled in 1800, joined the state line. John and his sister Molly, wife of Jesse Northrup, were the only children of John Russell, Sr., living in 1866. John Russell died at his old homestead in February, 1818. His widow survived him about 10 years.

Thomas Russell, son of John, was married to Polly, daughter of Judge Jonathan Thompson, July 12, 1815. They removed to their new mill on Cassadaga creek in August, and lived in a log house. They had ri children, 9 of whom were living in 1866. Thomas Russell was born in Ireland in 1783, and was about 5 years old when the family came over the ocean. He died in Jamestown, where he was residing, Sept. 11, 1865, aged 82.

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HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

John Owen was a native of Windsor, Conn., and was a soldier in the old French war, and in the war of the Revolution. He came with his family from the Susquehanna river to Warren, Pa., about the year 1806, and up the Connewango in 1808. After several removals, he settled on lot 41, east side of the Connewango, adjoining the state line, where he resided 25 or 30 years, and kept a tavern, or house of entertainment, more especially for lumbermen in rafting times, during spring and fall floods, and for travelers on the state road that crossed the Connewango at the state line. He kept also a private ferry for those wishing to cross that stream previously to the building of the bridge. He is said to have been. one of the most keen, joking, story-telling, good-natured men. Many a man has laughed at the old man's stories and jokes till his sides were sore. He had a singular impedi- ment in his speech, a kind of stutter, which seemed to add to the interest and point of his stories and jokes. Many a night, when his floors were covered with weary raftsmen for want of sufficient beds to hold them all, they were kept awake till a late hour by his queer and witty stories. He was a stranger to sickness ; and it might be truly said that he " died of old age." He was with the English army in the attack on Quebec in the old French war, and was a pensioner for services in the American army in the Revolu- tionary war. He died in Carroll, Feb. 6, 1843, aged 107 years, according to the records of Windsor, Conn., his native town. Ira Owen, a son of John Owen, by his third wife, came with his father to Connewango, and settled on land east of his father, where he lived till he left the country. He was with the Chautauqua militia at the Buffalo battle, and had the reputation of a brave soldier, and an excellent marksman. In the presence of a number of his fellow-soldiers, he took deliberate aim with his rifle, and killed a pursuing Indian, while our militia were retreating from Black Rock. . Reuben, the youngest son, lived with his father till his father's death, and continued to live on the old homestead.

In the vicinity of Frewsburgh, John Myers, from Herkimer Co., settled early on the Connewango, where he kept a hotel, and where he still resides, at an advanced age (?). Of his 8 sons, Peter, the eldest, is not living ; John, Jacob, Robert, Lyman, James, and William, reside in the town ; Charles, in the West. Of the 5 daughters, Betsey, wife of Jacob Sternberg, resides in town ; Mary married George Budlong, removed West, and is deceased ; Re- becca is the wife of James R. Frew, and is not living; Adaline married Orson Annis, and removed West ; and Jane married William Hunt, and lives in Jamestown.

Horatio N. Thornton, born in Otsego Co., N. Y., removed with his father to Ripley in 1816. In 1828 he settled in Kiantone, and in 1831 was married to Eunice N. Greene ; and removed in 1837 to where he now resides, 1 m. north-east from Frewsburgh. His children were: Helen R., who married Joseph Barnsdall, and resides at Titusville, Pa .; Harriet B., who married Joseph B. Follett, and resides at Kansas City, Missouri; Horatio N., who died in infancy; Rufus G., who died at 23 ; and Horatio K.

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Otis Moore settled early on lot 45, and owned the saw-mill I m. east of Frewsburgh, which he subsequently rebuilt, and which is now owned by his son Otis. His children are : Mahala, wife of Dwight Keet, Fentonville ; Minerva, wife of Hollis Boyd, gone West; Persis, who married Reuel Jones, Frewsburgh ; Isabel, wife of Asa Tinkcom, Frewsburgh. Sons: E. G., who married Minerva Boyd; Otis, who married Maria Moore, and lives on the farm of his father ; George, who married Deborah, daughter of W. H. Har- rison Fenton, at Fentonville ; Leverett, married, and lives at Frewsburgh.

Luther Howard settled in Frewsburgh and purchased where his son Dyer Howard now lives. Another son, Leland, was killed by being thrown from a horse. Mitta is the wife of Geo. W. Fenton, Jr. Sarah was married to James Parker, who died in 1863. Eliza Ann is the wife of David Frew, of Frewsburgh. Maria married Washington Young, and after his death, Charles Howard, who resides in the village.

In the south part of the town, Edmund White settled early on lot 27, and subsequently removed to Fluvanna. His sons, James, Wesley and Silas, reside in the village; Warner, in Penn. A daughter, Isabel, married Eli Davis, and lives on the old White place; Agnes married Rev. Emerson Mills, now of Forestville; Cynthia married Charles Ward, and lives in Frewsburgh ; Elizabeth, wife of Warner Bush, a Methodist preacher, resides in California.

In the south-west part of the town, Otis Alvord was an early settler at Fentonville, and died there. Francis, a son, is a preacher of the Universal- ist faith ; another son, Frederick, is proprietor of the Weeks House, James- town. Luther Forbish, from Massachusetts, came to Carroll about the year 1830, and settled on lot 34, where he resided until his death, in 1863. He had 12 children, 6 sons and 6 daughters. Of the sons, Daniel, Corydon, Luther A., and Joel, reside in Carroll ; Marion is in Sheffield, Pa. ; Henry died at about 22. Of the daughters, Eliza Ann is the wife of John H. Wilt- sie ; and Mary, wife of Dyer Howard; both in town ; Lucy and Sarah, mar- ried, are in Iowa ; Melvina, married, is in Warren, Pa .; Nancy, deceased, was the wife of Samuel Rice.

Dorastus Johnson, from Cattaraugus Co., about 1845, settled at Fenton- ville, lot 33, where he now resides. He had 6 sons and a daughter. Ira, one of the sons, died in the late war, in the battle of Fredericksburg ; Calvin, another son, served in the war, and died of disease contracted in the army.

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