History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 74

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 74

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).

WILLIAM BELL, son of Arthur Bell, was born Oct. 14, 1791, and came with his father to Westfield in 1802. He married, July 16, 1819, Nancy Shipboy, who was born May 23, 1799, by whom he had 12 children : Elean- or, who died at 26, unmarried ; Mary, wife of James Johnston, Westfield ; John, who resides at Harbor Creek, Pa .; Clarissa, wife of Gilbert T. Ellicott, Erie, Pa .; Joseph, who married Eunice St. John, resides in Fredonia ; Wil- liam, who married Caroline Mann, was for many years a merchant in Erie, Pa., where he now resides ; Nancy, at Erie, unmarried ; Arthur, drowned at 7, in his father's mill pond; Alexander, who married Rachel Wallace, and resides at Harbor Creek ; Arthur, the second of that name, who married Mary Rogers, both deceased ; Sarah, at Westfield, unmarried ; Eugenia, died in infancy. Col. Wm. Bell was one of the earliest settlers, and lived con- tinuously at or near the place where his father settled, until a short time be- fore his death. His chief business was farming. For many years he was the proprietor of a custom grist-mill ; and for several years he was also en- gaged, in the same place, in mercantile business. He was an esteemed and useful citizen ; an early and exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church of Ripley ; and, for many years, one of its ruling elders. His wife died Jan. 31, 1842. A few years before his death, he lived with his son-in-law, James Johnston, of Westfield, where he died August 23, 1872.

594

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

COL. NATHANIEL BIRD was born in Salisbury, Conn., May 17, 1763. At the age of 16, he enlisted in the army of the Revolution for 3 months, then during the war. For the last service he never received compensation. His claims were presented to Congress, but owing to some technical defect, they were not allowed. After his discharge, he begged his way home, barefoot, and almost naked. His school education was extremely limited; but by reading and close observation he acquired much useful knowledge. He was married in New Marlborough, Mass., where he resided until 1815. He had, during this time, been successful in trade ; but after the embargo under Jef- ferson was laid, many of his debtors failed, and he lost a large portion of his acquisitions. He traded largely in boots and shoes, cloth, iron, etc., articles which were wanted in a new country, and of which he often brought several loads at a time to this county. He took up lands near Jamestown, upon which his eldest son, Capt. Amos Bird, settled. The war with England com- mencing, he left the remainder of his family in New England until hostilities ceased. In 1815, he purchased the farm now owned by Thomas Prender- gast, 172 m. below Westfield, on the Fredonia road. In the early settle- ment of the county, he was a leading man in every benevolent enterprise. His house was free for every emigrant who chose to call. Of his connec- tion with the mails and stages, an account is elsewhere given in this work. He was an exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church in Westfield, and died while on a visit to the family of his son-in-law, Joseph Foster, of Hanı- burgh, Jan. 12, 1847, aged nearly 80 years.

ELAM C. BLISS came from Onondaga county to Westfield in 1819, at the age of 17, having "bought his time" of his father for $150, which he paid at his majority. He worked for many years at various kinds of labor, and bought a small farm on the hill, at the age of about 22, and afterwards set- tled on the farm, near the village, which he still owns, and which he has con- ducted with great success. In 1848, he took the premium for the second best farm in the state, presented at the fair at Buffalo. He also took, at several times, first premiums for different kinds of cattle and swine at state and county fairs. He has still the management of his farm, though he resides in the village. He married, first, Mary Harmon, who also took many pre- miums on many articles of domestic manufacture at state and 'county fairs. He had 3 children : Persis M., wife of Argyle Rumsey. They removed to Texas, where he died. She resides on her father's farm. Harmon J., the eldest son, who married Elizabeth Plumb, was captain in the late war, and died near Washington from wounds received in battle. Warren, who also was in the war, died of sickness contracted in the army. Sprague Harrison, a nephew and adopted son, was wounded in the same war, and receives a pen- sion. He resides in Michigan.

FRANCIS P. BREWER, son of Ebenezer Brewer, was born at Keene, N. H., October 8, 1820. During his childhood he lived in Barnet, Vt. His studies preparatory to his college course were pursued at Newbury Seminary, Vt., and at Meriden Academy, N. H. ; and was graduated at Dartmouth College,

( fr. L. n. плироссией Francis 12. Prever

Herman B. Campbell

595

WESTFIELD.

at Hanover, N. H. After attending a course of lectures in Hanover, he completed his studies with Dr. Gerhard, of Philadelphia; and, in 1846, he received from Dartmouth Medical College the degree of M. D. He then commenced the practice of his profession in Barnet, Vt. In 1849, he removed to Plymouth, Mass., where he continued in practice until 185r, when he removed to Titusville, Pa., where he engaged in lumbering and mer- cantile business. In 1852, he conceived the idea of producing and utilizing petroleum, and a year afterwards, he, with others, organized the first Oil Company whose efforts in that direction were followed by profitable results. Since 1861, he has resided at Westfield, where, for ten years, he was president of the First National Bank. He was one of the original stockholders of the Lock Manufacturing Company, at Westfield, and, in 1870, became sole pro- prietor, and made the distributing point and sales-room at Chicago. In the time of the late war, he was appointed a special New York state agent to hospitals, with the rank of major. He has several times been elected super- visor; and in 1872 and 1873, he represented the first assembly district in the legislature. In 1874, he was appointed a government director of the Union Pacific railroad, which position he still occupies. He was married, July 20, 1848, to Susan H., daughter of Rev. Prof. Heman Rood, of Haverhill, N. H. They have four children : Ebenezer, one of the proprietors of the Erie Dispatch; Francis B .; Frances Moody, who was married, June 29, 1875, to W. C. Fitch, of Buffalo ; and George E.

THOMAS B. CAMPBELL was born, May 19, 1788, in Alexander, Grafton Co., N. H. He removed with his father's family to Cherry Valley, N. Y., in 1800, and in 1802 or 1803, to Scipio, where his father died in 1810. In 1815, Thomas moved to Batavia, and bought mills a few miles west of the village. In 1817, he came to Westfield [then Portland] and built a saw-mill and a grist-mill where now the paper-mill is, and where he continued the milling and flouring business until about 1864. He also bought farm lands, of which he sold, in 1860, 60 acres, for fair grounds, in the south part of the village. He held the office of justice of the peace, in Batavia, and afterwards in West- field. In 1819, he was appointed clerk of the County of Chautauqua ; in 1826, associate judge ; and, in 1845, first judge, which office he held until after the election of judges under the constitution of 1846. He was a member of assembly in 1822, and again in 1836. In 1819, he was elected supervisor, [then of Portland,] which office he held, by reelections, for eight years. He was also one of the commissioners for building the present court- house. He married in Scipio, in 1814, Phidelia, daughter of Gamaliel Terry. His children were Maria Louisa, who died at 27, unmarried; Robert Emmet, now a practicing lawyer in New York, unmarried ; (?) Thomas B., who died at 19; Mary, who died at 11; Harriet, wife of David H. Taylor, whose children are Mary, Fanny, Anna, and Thomas B. Mrs. Campbell died Nov. 18, 1850. Judge Campbell, in his 88th year, is still living at his old home in Westfield.

JAMES D. CARLISLE, from Warsaw, came to Westfield, in 1832, and estab-

596

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

lished the tailoring business, which has come to be designated as that of merchant tailor. He was married, in Warsaw, to Amelia Dryer, and had 4 children : Lucy, who married Dewitt C. Harrington, merchant, Westfield ; James B., who died in infancy; Henrietta, wife of W. D. Hall, co-proprietor of the Minneapolis Tribune, Minn .; and Mary E.

JONATHAN CASS, son of Nathan Cass, from New Hampshire, came to Westfield in 1811. He kept the first tavern in the village in a log house, on the corner where the Spencer block now stands. Several years after, he sold his stand, and commenced the mercantile business, a short distance east, near where the stone building now stands, on Main street. His farm embraced the land north from Main street to where the railroad now is, and east of North Portage street, beyond the premises of Joseph H. Plumb. When he came, there were but three or four log houses on the east side of the creek ; the principal settlement having been made at the Cross Roads. On retiring from business, he settled in the east part of the village, where John W. John- ston now resides, on Main street, a few rods east of the Union School-house, where he died. Mrs. Cass died Dec. 13, 1872. They had but three chil- dren, all of whom died in early life : Harriet, at the age of 11 ; Catharine, at 2; Franklin, at 22; and an adopted daughter, at 17. Their social qualities and their exemplary Christian deportment gave them a high position in the community.

JAMES ELLIOT CHAPIN was born in Wardsborough, Vt., Feb. 15, 1810, and removed with his father to Saratoga Co. At the age of 20, he left home and came to Jamestown, most of the way by the Erie canal. For three years he taught school in Jamestown, where he was married, March 21, 1833, to Louisa Jones, daughter of Solomon Jones. Having previously made a pro- fession of religion, he turned his attention to the ministry ; and in 1833 he was licensed as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has labored as such to the present time, in the Pittsburgh and Erie Conferences. About 20 years of his ministry has been spent in Chautauqua county as a preacher and presiding elder. His present residence is in the village of Westfield. Besides the faithful performance of his professional duties, he has been an active promoter of the temperance cause, of sabbath schools, and other benevolent and religious institutions, and has been largely instru- mental in procuring the building of churches and parsonages. In the earlier part of his ministry, he was on four weeks' circuits, which required, during that time, 150 miles' travel on horseback, much of the way through forests and swamps, and the preaching of between 25 and 30 sermons. Mr. Chapin has had no children. He has reared an adopted daughter, now the wife of Rev. James W. Bray.

DEA. WILLIAM COUCH, a native of Wethersfield, Conn., removed from New Marlborough, Mass., to Westfield, in 1815. His ancestors were from England, at an early period of our colonial history. He volunteered three times into the army of the Revolution, the first time at the age of 17. He carried in his knapsack a Bible and psalm book, put into it by his mother,

E. Chapin

Strobridge & Co. Luth . Cin.0.

Warren bouch .

597

WESTFIELD.

and when in camp, the soldiers had daily worship. He drew a pension till his death, in 1845, aged 86 years.

HIRAM COUCH, a son of Wm. Couch, came in 1815, with his father's fam- ily, to Westfield, from Massachusetts. He was by trade a manufacturer of cloth, in which business he was engaged until his death. His connection with his brother-in-law, in this business, is mentioned on a preceding page. He was an early member of the Presbyterian Church in Westfield, and for many years, and until his death, one of its ruling elders. He was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire Co., Mass., in 1795. He was married to Rhoda, a daughter of Deacon Eber Stone, born in Homer, N. Y., in 1805. They had LI children : Henry L., who resides at St. Louis, Mo .; Eliza A., who died at 27 ; Walter V., who resides in Rochester ; Sarah Sophronia, wife of George H. Curtis, Waverly, Iowa; Asa S., a physician in Fredonia; Hiram, who served in the late war, and died in the hospital, June 29, 1863 ; Bradford, who died at 32 ; Henrietta ; Rhoda Elizabeth; Martha and Mary, twins; the latter died in infancy.

WARREN COUCH, a son of William Couch, was born in Bethlehem, Berk- shire Co., Mass., June 12, 1800 ; and removed with his father from New Marl- borough, Mass., to Chautauqua Co., in March, 1815, and settled in West- field, and worked for many years at his trade, which was that of a cloth dresser. In 1830, he relinquished that business and engaged in farming. During his residence in Westfield, he held several town offices. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and for several years a ruling elder. He was married, February 24, 1825, to Amelia Martin, and had 8 children : Emily L., wife of Peter Myers, Frewsburgh, N. Y .; Maria M., wife of Nathan Hungerford, Waterloo, Iowa ; Oscar M., who married Eliza E. Risley, and resides in Fredonia ; Martha E., who died in childhood ; Warren, who mar- ried Lettie Budlong, and lives in Jamestown ; Ann Judson, who married Rev. O. W. Merrill, deceased, and resides at Anamosa, Iowa; Charles M., who resides in New York; Carleton F., who married Jesse Manson, and resides in Waterloo, Iowa. Deacon Couch has resided for several years, and still resides, at Waterloo, Iowa.

ABRAM DIXON was born in Manchester, Vt., in July, 1787. He graduated at Yale College in 1813, and was the last member of his class, and probably the oldest graduate living at the time of his death. He studied law with Judge Foote, of Hamilton, N. Y., and was admitted as an attorney of the supreme court in 1816. While pursuing his law studies, he acted for a short time as deputy clerk of the supreme court at Utica. In 1817, he was married to Carolina Pelham, of Hamilton, and in the same year removed to Westfield, and commenced the practice of law, and resided there until his death, April 19, 1875. For the last few years of his life he was not in active practice. He was elected senator of the state in the fall of 1839, for the term of four years, from the ist of January following. His first wife died in 1837. He afterwards married Mrs. Eliza Higgins, daughter of Gen. Holt, of Buffalo, and sister of George W. Holt, of Westfield. She died in 1858.

598

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

JEREMIAH C. DRAKE was born in Salisbury, Herkimer Co., N. Y., April 19, 1824. His father was a lineal descendant of an ancient family of that name; his mother, a descendant of the Huguenots and the Puritans of New England. From an obituary notice of Col. Drake, prepared under the direc- tion of the Harmony Baptist Association, the facts recited in the following brief sketch of his life have been taken : At the age of 16, he became the subject of renewing grace. In 1843, he went to Wisconsin, and resided there 5 years. During this period he held some county offices, and became en- gaged in a promising business. But, from a conviction of duty, he relin- quished his worldly pursuits, with a view to the gospel ministry. In Decem- ber, 1847, he was licensed to preach, and soon after returned to this state to pursue a thorough course of preparatory study, and graduated at the Rochester University in 1852 ; having carried himself through by ways and means which poverty alone could discover. While a student at Roches- ter, he gathered and organized a church at Churchville, Monroe Co., and was ordained its pastor, Jan. 22, 1852. After a successful pastorate there of two years, and at Panama in this county of four years, he assumed the pastoral care of the Baptist Church of Westfield, and removed thither in the fall of 1858. In August, 1861, moved by a sense of duty, he resolved to take up arms in defense of his imperiled country. He quickly recruited a company, was commissioned its captain, and joined the 49th regiment N. Y. volunteers, under the command of Col. D. D. Bidwell. He served with this regiment through the entire campaign of the Peninsula, in the most creditable manner, taking an honorable part in the battles of Mechanicsville, Garnett's Farm, Savage Station, and White Oak Swamp. In the fall of 1862, when the 1 12th regiment was raised in this county, Capt. Drake was unanimously chosen to its command, and was commissioned colonel, Sept. 2, 1862. He proved to be an active and efficient officer, and was distinguished for his courage and his bravery in conflict with the enemy. After his taking command of the regiment, he served in the war nearly two years, having, during a large portion of the time, the command of a brigade, which position he held at the battle of Cold Harbor, in which he received a mortal wound, and was taken to the hospital. Having in a few words delivered his last message to his family, and requested that his body be sent home, he asked to be kept quiet, saying : " You will excuse me from talking, for I have but a little time to live, and I wish it all to myself." He passed the night in self-communion, enduring the keenest bodily sufferings without a murmur or complaint. Toward morning, the chaplain reciting the words of the apostle : "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," the dying Christian soldier responded, "Amen, amen." These were his last words. Thus died a good man and a genuine patriot. But, great as are the honors justly be- stowed on him for the services rendered his country in a most critical junc- ture, far more honorable were his achievements as a "soldier of the cross," under the great Captain of Salvation, in the warfare against the kingdom of darkness. In this war, in which "the weapons are not carnal," we believe

599

WESTFIELD.

he has gained trophies, not a few, which shall adorn the immortal "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give him in that day." He was married, Aug. 25, 1852, to Clara Utley, of Boonville, Oneida Co., N. Y. They had three children: Clinton Merle, Jennie Clara, and Charles Kepler. Mrs. Drake holds the office of postmaster.

DAVID EASON was born in Turbot, Northumberland Co., Pa., April 3. 1771. His father, John Eason, born in Ireland, 1741, came to America when two years old, and died in Washington, Lycoming Co., Pa., in his 91st year. David Eason was married, in 1805, to Margaret Woodside, in Wash- ington, Pa. An account of his removal to Canadaway, and of his final set- tlement at Westfield, has been given elsewhere [pp. 75, 76.] In 1805, the next year after the formation of the town of Chautauqua, in the county of Genesee, Mr. Eason was appointed a justice of the peace. In 1813 and 1814, he took the assessment of the county for a United States direct tax. The people were generally poor, and had little or no furniture. They could hardly furnish their tables with whole plates and knives and forks. During his tour through the county, he slept most of the nights on the floor. In 1811, on the organization of the county, he was appointed sheriff, which office he held four years. The only property he was obliged to sell during this time was one horse; nor did he take a man to jail for debt. He sus- pected and arrested two horse thieves, and took them to Batavia jail, the owners residing east of Buffalo. In 1821, he was a candidate for the assen- bly, the assembly district being composed of the counties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Niagara, the latter including the present territory of Erie county. The canvassers declared him elected. His opponent, Judge Isaac Phelps, of Aurora, having received some informal votes, which, if allowed to him, would give him a majority, Mr. Eason, admitting the justice of his claim, surrendered to him the seat. In 1823 and 1824, he was a member of the senate. While in the senate, he had a severe attack of inflammation of the eyes, which, for some months, confined him to his room, and terminated in the loss of one eye, and the impairing of the vision of the other. After the expiration of his senatorial term, he removed to his farm, and retired from public life. His finely cultivated farm and its products, as well as his superior horses and cattle, evinced his correct taste and sound judgment in the management of his farm. He accumulated a handsome property. The first deed recorded in the county clerk's office, is from the Holland Land Company to David Eason, conveying his farm at Westfield. He died at his residence in Westfield, April 8, 1853, aged 82 years. His wife died-{date not ascertained.] They had two children, besides one that died in infancy : I. John, who married Sarah Jane Davis, and had 5 children : Henry, who died at 19; Elizabeth, who died at 8; Clara, residing at home ; John, who died at 19 ; and Charles, at present in the South. 2. Mary Ann, who mar- ried. Dr. Carlton Todd, and after his death, Wm. T. McClurg, brother of James McClurg, and resides at Pittsburgh, Pa.

GERVIS FOOT was born in St. Lawence Co., March 25, 1804, and came

600

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

with his father's family to Westfield, in 1816. His business has, principally, been farming. He resided many years at Barcelona, and became proprie- tor of the site of the harbor, of which he is still the owner. He now resides in the village of Westfield, where he has, for a number of years, been engaged in mercantile business, and as a dealer in country produce. He was married to Eliza Ann Wood, and has a daughter, Cynthia, who married Augustus A. Comstock, a merchant, first in Westfield, now in the city of New York, and has a daughter, Julia F. After the death of Mrs. Foot, he married Calista E. Mores, his present wife.

ASA HALL, SR., was born in Connecticut, June 20, 1767; removed to New Hampshire ; and thence to Westfield, in 1811. He had six children : Sophy, wife of Jonathan Cass; George; Harriet, who died at 19; Asa ; David ; and Silas F., who removed to Illinois, where he died. All came to Westfield with their father. Mr. Hall and his two eldest sons, George and Asa, served in the war of 1812. Returning on parole, they were stopped at Mack's tavern, at Cattaraugus creek, by sickness from exposure. Mrs. Hall went to attend to them during their sickness ; was herself taken sick, and died there. The men recovered. Mr. Hall died March 14, 1832, aged 65.

GEORGE HALL, son of Asa Hall, was born April, 1793 ; was married to Sally Hutchins, and had 8 children : Foster, Archelaus, Phebe, Eri, who resides in the village, and is a proprietor of the Westfield Mill; Byron, Viola, Niagara, and Miami, who died at 25. Mr. Hall was a miller during most of his active life, and died April 27, 186 -.

ASA HALL, son of Asa Hall, was born in Thompson, Conn., Dec. 26, 1796. He removed with his parents to Stratford, N. H., and thence, in 1811, to Westfield, N. Y. Although but sixteen years of age, he enlisted in the war of 1812 with his father and his brother George, and was with them at the burning of Buffalo. All of them took the fever and ague, from the effects of which, neither of them fully recovered. After the war, he and his brother George worked at their trade, that of carpenter and joiner. Dec. 20, 1820, he was married to Paulina T., daughter of John Mack, of Hanover. About the year 1825, he settled two miles west of the village, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1833, he united with the Presbyterian Church, of which he was long a ruling elder. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are spoken of as having been persons of exemplary piety, and shedding a hallowed in- fluence alike upon the members of the family and of the society in which 1 they lived. They had five children, all of whom are living : Charlotte, wife of W. P. Culbertson, a lumber merchant and manufacturer, Fulton, Ill. ; Robert M., who married Flora A. Driggs, and is a farmer in Westfield ; Sophy C., wife of A. C. Crane, loan and real estate agent, San Francisco ; Emma M., wife of Stephen G. Nye, a lawyer and county judge of Almeda Co., California ; and Frank A., who married Susan B. Loomis, and who is the publisher of the Westfield Republican.

DAVID HALL was born Oct. 29, 1798, in Connecticut ; and was married to Persa Loomis, Dec. 28, 1820. Mrs. Hall died Feb. 6, 1844. Mr. H.

Afa Hall.

Watlow B. Hinckley

601

WESTFIELD.

was a blacksmith in the village, for many years. He afterwards engaged in farming, in which business he continued for a number of years. Having become disabled by an acute disease, he disposed of his farm, and retired to his present home one mile east from the village, where he still resides. He was an early member of the Baptist Church ; has long been, and is still, one of its deacons. He had 11 children : Mary, adopted daughter of Jonathan Cass, died at 17 ; Harriet, who died at 28; Sarah, wife of Wm. Montgom- ery, Lawrence, Kansas ; Susan, wife of Jonathan Harris, in Iowa ; Martha, who died at 27; Eliza Ann, who married Charles B. Stow, Corry, Pa. ; William D., who married Henrietta Carlisle, and is one of the proprietors of the Minneapolis Tribune, Minn. ; Joseph H., who married Sarah Johnston, of Westfield, where they reside; Helen, wife of Lucius Lombard, merchant, in Quincy ; Amanda M., in Iowa, unmarried ; and Emeline A., unmarried, in Lawrence, Kansas. Mr. David Hall married Maria Twing, his present wife, Jan. 1, 1849.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.