USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 5
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As will be seen, Mr. Rogers has had a varied experi- ence, including different types of schools. During this time he has taught methods to training classes and sum- mer schools as well as to his own teachers. He has had extended opportunities for observation of methods not only in this country but in the schools of England and Scotland. In addition to these experiences Mr. Rogers has always possessed the essential requisites of the suc- cessful teacher, capable organizer and efficient adminis-
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trator, a winning personality, sympathetic understand- ing of the problems of both teacher and pupil, and un- limited capacity for hard work. When teaching he was not only the instructor but the friend of his pupils, and the same cordial relations with his teachers character- ized his work as a superintendent and were important factors in his signal success.
His standing among his fellow educators is attested by the fact that he has twice been president of the Chautauqua County Teachers' Association, once of the Chautauqua Schoolmasters' Club, and twice of the State Council of City and Village Superintendents. In 1915 his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, and in the same year Berea College made him Doctor of Laws.
On May 1, 1915, Mr. Rogers was given a reception and banquet in commemoration of his completion of a quarter of a century of service as superintendent of the public schools of Jamestown. It was a notable event in the social annals of the school life, and was an unusual and gratifying expression of the sympathy and friend- ship which existed between the superintendent and the teachers and Board of Education who thus honored him. Upon his final retirement in 1919 he was given a similar testimonial of the genuine affection and good wishes of his friends and co-workers. This occasion completed a term of service as principal and superin- tendent extending over a period of thirty-eight years. To few educators has been granted so long a service in one community.
The Jamestown schools, as they exist to-day, are in many ways indebted to Mr. Rogers for their efficiency and their high rank among the schools of the State, Public night schools, supervised public playgrounds, vacation schools, special instruction for defective chil- dren, vocational classes, an open air school and a den- tal clinic are among the innovations which owe their inception to his constant thought for the upbuilding and welfare of Jamestown's educational system.
But it is not through the schools alone that Mr. Rogers has held an assured place in the community. He has been active in church work, serving for many years as chairman of the board of trustees of the First Con- gregational Church, and no good cause has been without his efficient support. In business and social circles he has taken his place with loyalty and devotion to the best interests of the community, and has accepted the duties which have come to him without ever seeking personal advancement and without avoidance of the labor and responsibilities that have inevitably followed.
FRANK EDWIN PARTRIDGE is a son of Joel and Mary R. (Pennock) Partridge, and a descendant of John Partridge, of English birth and parentage. The Partridge family in England descend from "Partridge the Norman," who came to England between the years 1135-1154, and was granted estates in Essex. In the next century Richard de Pertriche (that being the Norman and the original spelling of the name) is recorded as the head of the family with manors in Gloucestershire.
(I) John Partridge, founder of the family in New England, came from England in 1650, and in 1653
moved from Dedham, Mass., to Medfield. He shared in a division of land in Medfield a year earlier, and both he and his brother William signed the ""proprie- tor's agreement." John Partridge was clerk of the market in 1672, and in 1676 his house and barn with grain and several head of cattle shared in the general destruction caused by the burning of Medfield by the Indians. He married, Dec. 18, 1655, Magdalen Bul- lard, who died Dec. 27, 1677, daughter of John and Magdalen Bullard, of Watertown and Medfield. John Partridge died May 28, 1706, leaving a will in which he named four sons: John (2), Eleazer, Samuel, and Zachariah. Descent in this branch is traced through John (2), the eldest of nine children.
(II) John (2) Partridge, son of John (1) Partridge, was born in Medfield, Mass., Sept. 21, 1656, and died in Medway, Dec. 9, 1743. He was one of the first to settle in that part of Medfield lying west of the Charles river, and was active in having it set off as the town of Medway, In 1710 he was chosen master of the school established for the residents of the West side; was a deacon of the Medway church, and prominent in town affairs. He married (first) Dec. 24, 1678, Elizabeth Rockwood; (second) Elizabeth Adams, born in Med- feld, March 18, 1666, died Aug. 14, 1719, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Fussell) Adams; married (third) Hannah Sheffield. Descent to Frank E. Part- ridge, of Jamestown, is traced through James, son of John (2) Partridge and his second wife, Elizabeth (Adams) Partridge.
(III) James Partridge, son of John (2) Partridge, was born in the town of Medfield, Mass., Oct. 8, 1700, and died in Medway, March 9, 1769. He was in the Colonial military service in 1722, and in 1742 purchased his brother Jonathan's farm near Medway Village, and there resided until his death. He married, Jan. 29, 1729, Keziah Bullard, born in Medway, Dec. 2, 1711, died July 25, 1799, daugliter of Malachi and Bethia (Fisher) Bullard. His will, dated April 23, 1762, names sons: James Malachi, Eleazer, Stephen, Joel, and Nathan, and six daughters. This review follows the fortunes of Joel, great-grandfather of Frank E. Partridge, of Jamestown.
(IV) Joel Partridge, son of James Partridge, was born in Medway, Mass., Feb. 19, 1748, and died there, Feb. 13, 1823. He lived on the farm near Medway owned by his father, and there passed his life, a sub- stantial farmer. He married Waitstill Morse, born in West Medway, March 6, 1755, died in Medway, March 8. 1825, daughter of Ezekiel and Rebecca (Cozzine) Morse. They were the parents of eight children, including a son, Ezekiel, their first born.
(V) Ezekiel Partridge, son of Joel Partridge, was born in Medway, Mass., July 1, 1775, and died in Worcester, Mass., Feb. 19, 1826. He moved from Medway to Worcester in 1808, and there his after years were spent. He married in Medway, Feb. 27, 1800, Deborah Harding, born May 26, 1775. They were the parents of eight children, the first four born in Medway, the others in Worcester: An infant, died at birth: Elizabeth, born Oct. 8, 1802, died Sept. 28, 18S7; Elbridge Gerry, born Oct. 21, 1804; Almond, born Feb. 20, 1807. died Aug. 4, 1838; Joel, of further mention ; Abigail Harding, born Dec. 27, 1810, died
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I.m. Skiff
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April 26, 1898, wife of Israel Moore; Albert Adams, born May 2, 1814, died at Jamestown, N. Y., April 18, 1899; James Seth Harding, born Oct. 19, 1819, died in Jamestown, N. Y., June 17, 1909.
(VI) Joel Partridge, fifth child of Ezekiel and Deborah (Harding) Partridge, was born in Worcester, Mass., Nov. II, 1808, and died in Jamestown, N. Y., May 22, 1896. He was educated in the Worcester public schools, and lived in that city until 1827, then journeyed westward, locating in Jamestown, Chautau- qua county, N. Y., where he built a factory and manu- factured wooden pails and tubs. After this factory burned he built and operated another for the manu- facture of sash, doors and blinds. Mr. Partridge, for many years, was a building contractor, and among the many buildings erected by him was the old Baptist church. He owned many acres of land in the south- ern part of the village, and his home was at No. 70 Prospect street, where he lived for many years. He built the first house that was erected on that street which he named "Prospect." Mr. Partridge owned and operated several river boats, loading them with lumber and building material with which he built houses in Oil City. Pa. He prospered in his business enterprises, and was one of the men of that early day who gave to Jamestown its prestige as a thriving, growing village, and he was highly esteemed as a man of honor and integrity. In politics Mr. Partridge was a lifelong Republican, and before the war an Abolitionist, in one instance, at least, helping a runaway slave on his way to freedom in Canada, when he found him one morning hiding in his barn. In religious belief he was a Congregationalist, but in the last years of his life was a member of the Presbyterian church. At the time the members of the old Congregational church at the corner of Main and West Fifth streets separated, and the Presbyterian church was organized, the Congre- gationalists were to pay the Presbyterians a certain amount of money for their interest in the old church building which was to be retained by the Congrega- tionalists. Mr. Partridge made the journey on horse- back from Jamestown to Worcester, Mass., and borrowed funds in his old home town to pay off what was probably the first church debt in Jamestown.
Joel Partridge married (first) in Worcester, Mass., Feb. 26, 1831, Azuba Goodale, born there Aug. 25, 1813, died in Jamestown, N. Y., April 26, 1841, daughter of Paul and Azuba (Newton) Goodale. He married (second) at Jamestown, N. Y., Dec. 30, 1841, Mary R. Pennock, born in Strafford, Vt., Dec. 22, 1815, died in Jamestown, Dec. 7, 1888, daughter of Adonijah and Betsey (Bacon) Pennock. By his first marriage six children were born: 1. Eleanor A., born April 1, 1832; married, Oct. 17, 1854, Samuel Kidder, a successful farmer and business man, who at the time of his death was living retired in Jamestown; he was a descendant of James (2) Kidder, who came from England to Cam- bridge, Mass., in 1649. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kidder were the parents of ten children. 2. James Newton, born Dec. 26, 1834, died in Jamestown, March 16, 1804; mar- ried. June 15, 1855, Sophia E. Thatcher. The other four children died in infancy. Joel Partridge and his second wife, Mary R. (Pennock) Partridge, were the parents of six children, two dying in infancy: I. Joel Augustus,
born Dec. 12, 1845, died May 14, 1892; married, Dec. 23, 1870, Ada Elizabeth Brown, a daughter of Raselas and Elizabeth Brown, of Warren, Pa .; five children were born to them; he served three years in the Civil War as a drummer boy in Company F, 112th New York Volunteers; in 1869 he began the practice of medicine in Warren, Pa., and was a practicing physician in Kalamazoo, Mich., for more than twenty years. 2. Mary Elizabeth, born Aug. 4, 1848; married June 1, 1869, Dwight Dexter Frank, of Union City, Pa., who died June 25, 1889; they were the parents of two children: Lou Dexter, born March 14, 1870, died April 24, 1887: Guy Vinnell, born July 22, 1871, now the wife of Robert P. Robertson, of Pasadena, Cal. 3. Lewis Pennock, born Dec. 19, 1850, died in Jamestown, N. Y., March 29, 1882; married, March 30, 1880, Sarah U. Smith, daughter of Samuel C. and Julia Smith, of Jamestown; to them one child was born, Annette, May 9, 1882. 4. Francis (Frank) Edwin, of further mention.
(VII) Frank Edwin Partridge, youngest of the twelve children of Joel Partridge, was born at No. 70 Prospect street, Jamestown, N. Y., Sept. 13, 1854, and now resides at No. 82 Prospect street, a well known, substantial citizen. He was educated in the public schools of Jamestown, but during the vacation in the summer of 1870 accepted the position of assistant postmaster at Warren, Pa. On March 1, 1871, he became clerk in the Jamestown, N. Y., post office; Henry J. Yates was postmaster, and Edward Morgan was assistant postmaster at that time, the business of the office having increased to such an extent as to make the employment of a third person necessary. Mr. Yates was soon succeeded by Alexander M. Clark who, with Davis H. Waite, published the Jamestown "Journal." Mr. Partridge was appointed assistant postmaster by Mr. Clark and continued to hold that position for nearly twenty years, during the time Mr. Clark, A. Brooks Fletcher, and Charles E. Weeks were postmasters. Since Mr. Partridge retired from the government service, his real estate interests have taken his time and attention, although now practically retired. He is a firm believer in the doctrines of the Republican party, and is a member of the First Pres- byterian Church, in which he served as an elder for a number of years. A man of quiet life and tastes, his home is the center of his interests and affection.
Frank E. Partridge married, Sept. 14, 1880, Anna Elizabeth Berry, daughter of John J. and Jane A. (Goodrich) Berry, of Warren, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Part- ridge are the parents of two children: I. Imogene, born July 19, 1883; married, Oct. 15, 1907, Jerome B. (2) Fisher, of Jamestown, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are the parents of two children: Jerome B. (3), born April 19, 1910; Warren Partridge, born April 8, 1918. 2. Irene, born Oct. 3, 1885; married, Dec. 14, 1911, Frank A. Stone, of Jamestown, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Stone are the parents of one child, Frank Partridge Stone, born Aug. 31, 1915.
MASON M. SKIFF-It is impossible to estimate, at least during their lifetime, the value to a county of such men as the late Mason M. Skiff. The influence which they exert ramifies through all commercial,
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financial, and industrial life, extending itself to the whole social economy. Every man, from the toiling laborer to the merchant prince, receives benefit from them. Bold and aggressive, but cool and prudent, farseeing, but exact, prompt to the moment in all his engagements, holding his verbal promise as of absolute obligation, even in trifles, Mr. Skiff was a natural negotiator, yet more a keen listener and looker than a talker. He belonged to that class of distinctly Ameri- can men who promote public progress in advancing individual prosperity, and whose private interests never preclude active participation in movements and measures which concern the general good of the com- monwealth. He also exemplified the sturdy virtues and traits of the old stock from which he was descended.
James Skiff, the ancestor of the Skiffs in America, is said to have come from either Kent or London, England, but the exact time is not known. He was a proprietor of Lynn, Mass., in 1635. He, with fifty others, removed to Sandwich, Mass., that year. Lynn was a grant from the old Plymouth Colony and began to be settled in 1629. Here James Skiff married Mary Reeves. Lynn, Mass., was incorporated in 1630, and Sandwich, Mass., was incorporated in 1639. Oct. 3, 1639, the General Court at Sandwich "resolved that a summons be sent for James Skiff to answer to things as shall be objected against him in regard to traducing the law about refusing to take the oath of fidelity" this being a law that was directed against the Quakers.
In 1659, James Skiff, town deputy from Sandwich, was rejected by the General Court because of his toler- ance of Quakers. The first record of James Skiff is Jan. 14, 1636. Ten acres of land were granted to him by the Courts of Assistance. This shows in court orders, Vol. I, page 47 (Plymouth Colony Court). Vol. I, page 43, records James Skiff as buying Peter Talbot's five acres for six bushel of corn. Another record, 1637, shows James Skiff, of New Plymouth, yeoman, sells house and ten acres of land to George Clarke for eighty bushels of corn and a goat. Some time after this James Skiff moved to Martha's Vine- yard. Among sixty-eight names of those who bore arms in New Plymouth in 1643 is the name of James Skiff. (See N. E. History and General Register, Vol. IV.) James was one of the representatives of his town of Sandwich to the Colonial Legislature for many years. His wife died at Sandwich, Mass., Sept. 21, 1673. He died about 1688.
Obediah Skiff, of Chilmark, Mass., a descendant of James Skiff, served in the Revolutionary War for five years. He married Lucy Bartlett, March 9, 1785. Among the children born of this union was Valentine Warner Skiff, of further mention.
Valentine Warner Skiff was born in Goshen, Mass., July 11, 1818. He died Sept. 17, 1901. He married (first) Grace Ann Mason, a daughter of David and Ann Mason. David Mason built one of the first woolen mills in the country. Valentine W. Skiff married (second) Margaret Arminda Webb, of Ulster county, N. Y. He moved to Shelburne Falls, Mass., where he became a prominent and well known jeweler, and there, Nov. 14, 1842, Mason M. Skiff, the subject of this review, was born.
Mason M. Skiff received the elementary portion of his education at the public schools of his native town and later attended Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., from which he was graduated as civil engineer with the class of 1864. Mr. Skiff followed that profession in the states of New York and Pennsylvania, and also was active as a mining engineer for a number of years. Later his father and family moved to Savannah, Ga. There, during the Civil War, with his father as a partner, he conducted a large and successful jewelry business. He remained there until 1867, when he came to Jamestown and engaged in the same line of business until 1884. In that year he took up banking, and became connected with the Chautauqua County National Bank, a position which he held until he was appointed cashier and director of the Jamestown National Bank of the city. He also was connected with the Chautau- qua County Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, and the City National Bank, as well as the Chautauqua County Trust Company., all of Jamestown. When the Bank of Jamestown was organized in 1903, Mr. Skiff was appointed vice-president, an office which he held up to the time of his death. During his long association with the financial institutions, Mr. Skiff became one of the best known banking men of the State, and held a high position in New York business circles. He took a keen interest in his adopted city of Jamestown, and was active in promoting the interests of the people and institutions. He was associated with a number of business concerns here, and was treasurer of the Home Telephone Company, and a director of the Warren & Jamestown Railroad Company from the time of its incorporation in 1902. He was also promi- nent in public affairs, and served as a member of the Water Commission, the Board of Public Works, the Electric Plant, and of the Ellicott Hook & Ladder Company. It was while serving on the Board of Public Works that Mr. Skiff was instrumental in securing for Jamestown the telephone and other public improvements, including natural gas, and his public spirit was recognized by all.
Mr. Skiff was a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Jamestown Club. He was a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and was its candidate for mayor of Jamestown, but it was impossible to be elected in that strongly Republican district. In his religious belief he was an Episcopalian and attended St. Luke's Church of that denomination here, of which he had served as vestryman.
Mr. Skiff married (first) Sophie A. Putnam, who was born in Martinsburg, N. Y., and who died Sept. 15, 1872, aged thirty-four years. He married (second) Mary Love Smith, a daughter of Major Hiram Smith, who survives him. Three children were born to Mason M. and Mary L. (Smith) Skiff, as follows: Marion; Bertha, who resides with her mother; and Warner Mason, now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio.
Mason M. Skiff was a first cousin of F. J. V. Skiff, a prominent journalist of the West, and who was on the board of managers of the World's Fair at Chicago, and manager of the World's Fair at San Francisco. He is now the Director-General of the Field Museum at
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Chicago. Mr. Skiff's death occurred Jan. 18, 1918, and Chautauqua county lost one of its most prominent citizens. Among business men he stood as an example of honesty and patriotism, equalled by few and excelled by none. During the whole period of his life he exhibited a consistency of purpose and uprightness of conduct which won for him the admiration of his fellow-citizens. Mrs. Mary L. (Smith) Skiff, who sur- vives her husband, is a woman of refinement and culture, and is held in the highest esteem by a host of friends for her genuine personal worth.
(The Smith Line).
Mary Love (Smith) Skiff is a member of an old and distinguished New York family, and is a great-grand- daughter of Isaac Smith, who came from Massachu- setts in 1802 and settled at Gorham, Ontario county, N. Y., where he remained until 1810, when he removed to Sheridan, N. Y., remaining only a short time when he came to Hanover, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and was among the first settlers of this region. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served in the navy during the War of 1812, during which time he participated in the disaster of Buffalo, and the forced march from that city induced a fever which resulted in his death. He married a Miss Morton, by whom he had nine children: Henry, Hiram, Matilda, Rodney B., of whom further; Roxanna, Esther, Attila, Benja- min, and a child who died in infancy.
Rodney B. Smith was born Feb. 3, 1799, in Hampden county, Mass. At the age of fifteen he volunteered to take his brother Henry's place in the army for service in the War of 1812, and was present at the battles of Chippewa, Black Rock, and Williamsville. He afterwards engaged in business, and in 1824 became a sub-contractor under Thompson & Bird for the con- struction of the Big Rock dam, in connection with the Erie Canal, and was afterwards himself a contractor on the canal until it was completed. He then came to Chautauqua county, where he purchased a small mill, known as Smith's Mill, and also erected a distillery and tannery, all of which he operated successfully for about thirty years. He died at Smith's Mills in 1873, at the age of seventy-four years. Rodney B. Smith married Achsah Blodgett, and they were the parents of fourteen children, seven daughters and seven sons, one of whom was Major Hiram Smith, father of Mrs. Skiff.
Hiram Smith was born at Hanover, Chautauqua county, Oct. 25, 1819, and was educated at Fredonia Academy, later becoming associated with his father in his different enterprises. He served in the Union army during the Civil War as a quartermaster, and at the age of twenty-four years was honorably discharged, with the rank of major. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained for a year, and then returned to Chautauqua county and settled in Jamestown, where for three years he was engaged in the mercantile business. He then entered into the fire insurance business, in which he continued until the time of his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and served in the State Legislature during the year of 1859 and 1860. He was also a candidate for Congress, in 1884 and 1890, for the thirty-fourth Congressional District. Hiram
Smith married, Sept. 10, 1884, Melissa P. Love, a daughter of Major George Love, of Forestville, by whom he had two children: Mary L., who became the wife of Mason M. Skiff, as stated above; and George Rodney, a graduate of West Point Military Academy in 1875, and later a major in the United States army, where he served as paymaster, but is now living retired, with the rank of lieutenant-general. He married Cor- rinne Barrett, a granddaughter of Major Samuel Bar- rett, of Jamestown.
EMERY ARMSTRONG ROSS, son of Benjamin and Margaret (Armstrong) Ross, was born at Ross Mills, N. Y., March 31, 1829, and died at Jamestown, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1906.
Benjamin Ross was born at Springfield, N. J., in 1794. He was the son of Stephen and Mary (Clark) Ross, whose father, Benjamin Clark, was a major on General Washington's staff, and died on the march to the Delaware, and whose uncle, Abraham Clark, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a member of the Continental Congress. Stephen Ross was the son of Joseph Ross, who served three years in the Revolution, and whose father came from Ross- shire, Scotland, to New Jersey about 1750. About the year 1800, Stephen Ross moved his family to Warren county, Pa., where he built a saw mill, and engaged in the lumber business for a number of years, later moving to Cincinnati.
At the age of twenty-one, Benjamin Ross married Margaret Armstrong, of Franklin, Pa., whose twin sister, Isabella, married John Frew, founder of Frews- burg. Her sister Jane married Joseph Cameron, and after his decease, married Edward Work, founder of Worksburg, now Falconer. Another sister married James Conic, all pioneers of this vicinity. In 1815, Benjamin Ross and his young wife began housekeeping in a saw mill on Stillwater creek in Kiantone, living there until they could build a log cabin. Their oldest child Maryann, was said to be the first white child born in Kiantone. She married Amos Newton, and died at the age of ninety-one. A son, Charles M. Newton, of Gerry, survives her. In the fall of 1816, Benjamin Ross, wife and child moved in a canoe up the Stillwater and Cassadaga creeks to Work's Mill, where his family was left at Mr. Work's, while Mr. Ross, with the help of Isaac Young, cut a road three miles through the forest to his future home, the work being finished in twenty-one days. This road is now known as the Ross Mills road. Here a cabin was built of logs, and in December the family moved in an ox sled to their new home. The cabin at that time had no floor, doors nor windows, blankets being used for doors and greased paper for windows until something better could be obtained. In the following spring, Mr. Ross built the first saw mill on the Cassadaga creek, and brought the machinery for his mill from Pittsburgh in a canoe, the trip occupying about two weeks. As the houses were so far apart at that early date, for a time he was unable to obtain food, and for two days and a half his only sustenance was blackberries picked from the bushes along the river bank. Benjamin Ross was a typical Scotchman, with an intense love of country.
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