USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume II > Part 7
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Not only in his younger days, but all through his life, he was interested in reformatory measures along all lines of human betterment. The anti-slavery cause was dear to him, and when it meant almost social and even moral ostracism to espouse the cause of the oppressed race, he was firm and unflinching in his conviction of right. His was one of the first five votes cast in this city (Jamestown) for the anti-slavery cause. As a total abstainer, the temperance question was of interest to him, and he talked, sang, and lived temperance principles; social uplift and betterment engaged his attention, and he thought much on the im- portance of ethical training and teaching.
The political and governmental questions and prob- lems were to him of great and grave importance, and he looked to the intelligent use of the ballot as the remedy for the righting of many wrongs. Holding the thought that one is never too old to learn, the educational interests of both old and young were im- portant to him. Father knew that honor and integrity counted for more than mere time-saving and earthly prosperity, and leaves to his children the legacy of a name and a life unsullied by any act of dishonor. At nis death the mortal body was laid to rest beside that of his wife in Jamestown, Lake View Cemetery. Father is not dead, but risen.
ARTHUR SMITH TENNANT-The name of Tennant is very closely associated with Westfield, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and with the adjacent region, where the family has resided for many years. Moses A. Tennant, the great-grandfather of the Mr. Tennant of this sketch, moved with his wife to Ripley about the year 1832, and there resided until the close of his life. One of his sons, Deloss Gibson Tennant, also made his home at Ripley, where he married Eliza Sawin, a daughter of Ethan A. and Eleanor Sawin, who had come to Ripley about the same time that his parents had. Deloss Gibson Tennant and his wife were the parents of Moses Deloss Tennant, the father of Arthur Smith Tennant, and one of the prominent attorneys of Westfield. He was born at Ripley, Dec. 3. 1849, and attended the public schools of that place, studying for a time at the Ripley High School, after which he was a student at Westfield Academy, where he was graduated in 1867 and was prepared for college. In the same year he matriculated at Alfred University, where he took mathematics and literature, and was graduated with the class of 1869. He studied law in the office of Arthur Smith, his father-in-law.
Mr. Tennant was admitted to the bar as an attorney at Buffalo, June II, 1875, and shortly afterwards formed a partnership with Hon. Austin Smith, who is men- tioned elsewhere in this sketch. This association was continued until the death of Mr. Smith in 1904, since which time he has remained in active practice on his
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own account. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Tennant was a surveyor, and followed that pursuit to a considerable extent in this region. He was elected justice of the peace at Westfield in 1881, and continued in the same office up to the time of his death. He was a member of the Royal Arcanum, being one of the charter members of Westfield Council, No. 81, and was also affiliated with other fraternal orders here. He was a Presbyterian in his religions belief, and attended the church of that denomination at Westfield. Moses Deloss Tennant married, Sept. 27, 1878, Helen E. Smith, a daughter of the Hon. Austin Smith, Mr. Tennant's former partner, and of Sarah Ann (McMahan) Smith, his wife. They were the parents of one son, Arthur Smith Tennant, who is mentioned at length below. Moses D. Tennant and his wife died in 1918, he in August and she in May.
The Hon. Austin Smith was a native of what is now Lansing, Tompkins county, N. Y., where his birth occurred March 16, 1804, and was a student at Ham- ilton College, from which he graduated in July, 1826. After completing his education at that institution, Mr. Smith was elected principal of the Fredonia Academy, the first institution of its kind in Chautauqua county. After presiding over the destinies of this famous school for some time, during which he was a student of the law, he was admitted as counselor-at-law by the Supreme Court on May 18, 1828, and as solicitor and and counselor by the Court of Chancery of the State of New York on May 23 of the same year. He resigned his position as principal of the Fredonia Academy in January, 1827, and in the same year was admitted to practice in the county court. In that year also he settled at Westfield, and in 1830 became the law partner of the Hon. Abram Dixon, continuing in this association until about 1840, when he was appointed surrogate of Chautauqua county, holding that office for four years. Austin Smith procured the rights of way for the Erie railroad west of Salamanca to Barcelona on Lake Erie about 1842, but the owners of lake frontage at Bar- celona held their land values so high that the Railroad Company refused to buy. He purchased considerable property at Barcelona in the early days, anticipating an increase in value. In Dunkirk the owners gave every other lot to the railroad, in order to make Dunkirk the terminal, and establish docks there, which took the Erie on another route and destroyed the value of his work for Barcelona and Westfield. He was a deter- mined abolitionist, and the cellar of his residence was a station on the "underground railroad" operating in the interest of runaway slaves. This house, which he built in 1830, was the birthplace of three generations of the family. In 1830 Abram Dixon and Austin Smith formed a partnership for the practice of law, and in 1909 their grandsons formed a partnership, Arthur S. Tennant and Dixon P. Whitney, in the in- surance business. The office of Austin Smith has been continuously maintained by descendants since 1830, and a centennial is being arranged by Tennant & Whitney for the year 1930.
In 1850 Austin Smith was elected a member of the State Legislature, and served in the General Assembly in that and the following two years, serving as a member of the judiciary committee in 1851, and in 1852 as chair-
man of the committee on ways and means, In 1863 he was appointed examining agent of the Treasury Department for South Carolina and Florida, on the recommendation of Secretary Chase, and later as tax commissioner of Florida. In early life, Mr. Smith was a Whig in politics, but at the time of the organ- ization of the Republican party, became a member thereof and was a staunch supporter of its principles from that time until the close of his life, Oct. 21, 1904, aged 100 years and seven months. He was a inan of unusual strength of character, and his faculties were preserved to a great age unimpaired, so that he con- tinued actively engaged in the practice of his profession until about two years before his death. For eight years before his death he was the oldest college graduate in the United States. Of him the Hon. Obed Edsen, a personal friend and professional colleague, said, shortly prior to his death :
And now, after more than sixty years of professional life, in the possession of physical health and mental powers, urbane and courteous in manners, and a keen wit. he is to a limited extent engaged in the prac- tice of law with a generation of lawyers who have reached or passed their prime, not one of whom even knew in their childhood the contemporaries of his early years, except by their reputation. Mr. Smith possesses a sound judgment, a discriminating mind and other good qualities of an able lawyer. He has been an astute counsellor and an able advocate. Forcible and logical, he sought rather to convince than to per- suade. Strong and plain of speech, of shrewd and dis- cerning mind, he was always effective with the jury and the court and in view of his long and honorable service he may well be considered the Nestor of the Chautauqua County Bar.
The Hon. Austin Smith married Sarah A. McMahan, daughter of Col. James McMahan, pioneer and first settler of Chautauqua county. One of their children was Helen E. Smith, who became the wife of Moses Deloss Tennant and mother of Arthur Smith Tennant, of further mention.
Arthur Smith Tennant, only son of Moses Deloss and Helen E. (Smith) Tennant was born Nov. 3, 1882, at Westfield and has made that place his home ever since. As a lad he attended the Westfield Academy and the Westfield High School, where he was prepared for college, and afterwards was a student at the law school connected with Cornell University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1903, and received the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar March 8, 1904, and on the first of April following, was admitted as a partner by his father to the latter's large law business. Mr. Tennant is actively in practice and for a number of years has given considerable of his time and attention to the real estate business. He is manager of the Chautauqua branch of the Harrison Real Estate Company of Buffalo, and with Dixon P. Whitney he carries on a large real estate and insurance business here under the firm name of Tennant & Whitney. Mr. Tennant has also been exceedingly active in public affairs, and at an early age was ap- pointed a notary public. He is a staunch Republican in politics, and has held a number of offices in the gift of the community. At the present time he is a member of the Town Board, and is also justice of the peace. He served as village attorney during 1909, 1910 and 1911, and was also manager of the Western New York branch of the United States Life Insurance Company. In religious belief Mr. Tennant is a Pres-
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byterian and, like his father before him, attends the church of that denomination at Westfield. He is a conspicuous figure in the social and fraternal circles here, the local Grange and the Sacchord Club, a Chautauqua county organization at Cornell University.
Arthur Smith Tennant was united in marriage, Oct. 22, 1906, at Westfield, with Grace R. Skinner, a daugh- ter of John Arthur and Jeannie A. Skinner, old and highly respected residents of this place. A son, Arthur Skinner Tennant, was born to them Dec. 30, 1907.
ALBERT WARREN CUMMINGS-Chautauqua county, his birthplace, has been the scene of Mr. Cummings' business and industrial operations, although the organization that he founded, and of which he is the head, extends its activities far beyond local limits. Mr. Cummings is a son of Asahel Ames and Eliza (Streeter) Cummings, his father a carpenter and con- tractor.
Albert Warren Cummings was born at Charlotte, Chautauqua county, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1860. He attended school in his birthplace for one year and then, the family moving to Stockton in the same county, he con- tinued his studies in the schools of that place. Two terms in a school at Cassadaga practically completed his education, and as a youth he secured employment during the summer vacation. He early learned the carpenter's trade, and after a short term of employment in Fredonia went to work in Dunkirk, in 1881, and for two years worked at his trade. The two following years were spent in the woodworking department of the American Locomotive Works (then the Brooks Loco- motive Works), and he then passed a like period as fireman for the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh Railway Company.
Mr. Cummings formed a co-partnership with Fred B. Rice in August, 1886. Mr. Rice was superintendent of construction at the John T. Noye works in Buffalo, of the Rice Automatic Steam Engine that he was the inventor and patentee of. Mr. Rice was in very poor health and died in 1888, and Mr. Cummings purchased his interest shortly before his death. The partnership formed by Messrs. Rice and Cummings established the Home Steam Laundry, which name was changed after Mr. Cummings purchased Mr. Rice's interest, to the Dunkirk Steam Laundry, which business was contin- ued by Mr. Cummings until 1902, when impaired health induced him to incorporate and allow some of the trusted workers to take an interest. They now have more than 100 employees. The physical equipment of the plant, which is a three-story building and basement 160x46 feet, with power house 80x80 feet, separator, also a fireproof dry cleaning plant 40x80 feet, and where every variety of clothing is cleaned and pressed, is most modern and complete. Included in the more noteworthy features is a water softening plant and filters, which are capable of softening and purifying 20,000 gallons of water daily. The patronage of the Cummings Laundry extends widely over Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, their contracts with Pittsburgh, Pa., and Troy, N. Y., shirt factories being especially large. The company has an investment of $150,000 in machinery and supplies alone, exclusive of the
ground and buildings. No mention of this business, its growth and volume, would be complete without due attention being given the internal organization, the source of its constant prosperity. On the third floor a space 160x28 feet, is occupied by a kitchen, dining room, library, dance floor, and small stage for enter- tainments. Lunches are served to the employees in the building, and during the lunch hour frequent social and business talks are given by the heads of the diff- erent departments. Social and recreational activities in the plant are under the direction of a highly trained industrial personnel worker, with Mr. Cummings interested cooperation. An excellent spirit maintains throughout the entire organization, in which have been adopted the most advanced, practical methods for promoting harmonious relations and beneficial con- ditions.
Mr. Cummings patented and manufactured the first collar starcher and the first collar shaper for laundry work on the market, and sold these machines in every State in the Union, as well as exporting them to Canada and England. He has turned his attention to other fields than that in which he has made his greatest success, and is interested as a stockholder in numerous financial and manufacturing institutions. He was presi- dent of he Lake Shore Building and Loan Association. He has given a large share of his time and means to the furtherance of charitable and philanthropic under- takings, has been particularly active in support of the American Red Cross, and since the founding of the Brooks Memorial Hospital has served as a member of the official board. Mr. Cummings is an independent Republican in political belief, has served on the local Board of Health, the Water Commission, and has given freely of his aid in all affairs of public interest. His fraternal order is the Masonic, and he affiliates with lodge, chapter, council, shrine and commandery, holding the rank of past commander in the last-named body, and he is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Unitarian church.
Mr. Cummings married Flora F. Wager, and they are the parents of: I. Adelbert Wager, educated in Dunkirk High School and St. John's Military Acad- emy; served during the World War as lieutenant in the department of the quartermaster-general; he is now associated in business with his father. 2. Warren Jerome, died while a student in high school at the age of seventeen. 3. Lucille, died in infancy.
The printed page can convey accurately the facts concerning an individual or institution, hut it must fall short in catching the spirit that characterizes either. It is through the medium of example and inspiration that Mr. Cummings has rendered his greatest service to his city and to his town, and by those who are privileged to know its extent and its value, his work, industrial and philanthropic, is held in earnest appreciation.
DEACON ELIJAH FAY-The life of a pioneer settler in any section is one of privation, and when in 1811 Deacon Elijah Fay came to what is now the village of Brocton, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and
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built his log cabin, he did all he could to relieve its bareness and to give it a semblance of the home which he had left behind him in Massachusetts. One of the attempts to create this home atmosphere was the planting of Fox grapevines, such as grew in profusion along New England streams. These were the first grape vines ever planted in Chautauqua county and while the fruit was decidedly inferior in quality, the rapid growth of the vines proved that soil and climate were favorable to vine culture. This experiment in grape culture in time led to another and another until, finally, a small vineyard was under cultivation, and by 1824 Deacon Fay had demonstrated that a luscious, juicy, fine fla- vored grape could be grown in Chautauqua county, and that there was a large section of the county where grapes could he profitably cultivated as a standard crop. Thus a new industry was introduced to Chau- tauqua county, now the greatest grape producing county in the United States. This review deals with the lives of Deacon Elijah Fay and his sons, Clinton S., and Joseph Belknap Fay. There were among the early settlers of Portland, Chautauqua county, N. Y., five Fay families, their heads, Elijah, Elisha, Nathaniel, Hollis, and Nathan. All but the last named were brothers, the sons of Nathaniel Fay, of Southboro, Mass., who never came to Chautauqua county.
Elijah Fay was born in Southboro, Mass., Sept. 9, 1781. died in the town of Brocton, Chautauqua county, N. Y., Aug. 25, 1860. He married in Westboro, Mass., Lucy Belknap, of Westboro, who died in Brocton, Jan. 17, 1872. They came to Western New York in 1811, after being on the road forty-one days in a wagon drawn by oxen, and arrived at what is now Brocton in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county. He settled on lot No. 20, township 5, which he had previously located, his tract containing 179 acres. His brothers, Nathaniel and Elisha, both unmarried, had preceded him in Chautauqua county in 1806, Elisha settling on lot 25, and Nathaniel on lot 12, township 5, and Hollis, the other brother, came with Elijah Fay in 1811, but later left the county. Both Elisha and Nathaniel Fay served in the War of 1812, married and left descend- ants.
Elijah Fay at once built a log cabin for his wife and children, moving in on Jan. 1, 1812. It was as crude as such a residence hastily built must of needs be, hut it was succeeded by a better one a year later and the first one used as a barn, the space between the two being used as an enclosed threshing floor. The planting of the Fox grapevine, obtained from his Massachusetts home, was an historical event, although far from being a satisfactory experiment in grape culture. His next experiment, made in the spring of 1822, was the planting of a few roots of grapevines obtained in other locali- ties, but that, too, was a failure, except that a hardy variety must be found. Deacon Fay abandoned further experiments in grape growing until 1824, when he bought from William R. Prince, of Flushing, L. I., a few grape roots of the Catawba and Isabella varieties and set them out in a plot he had prepared on his farm. A' wooden trellis was prepared for the vines to run upon and there, on this plot, two by eight rods, the first vineyard in Chautauqua county and Western New York was established. This experiment was successful,
but for a number of years no attempt was made by Deacon Fay to place the product of his little vineyard on the market, but finally he bought a few baskets, filled them with choice grapes and sent them to Dunkirk, thence by steamboat to Buffalo, where Austin Baker, of Portland, procured a stand and offered them for sale, this venture proving successful. Thus was the grape-growing industry started in Chautauqua county.
In 1830 Deacon Fay made ten gallons of wine for sacramental and medicinal purposes and the little vine- yard was enlarged until about five hundred gallons of wine were made annually. Joseph Belknap Fay, son oi Deacon Elijah Fay, began the cultivation of grapes in 1851, and in 1859 the firm of Fay (Joseph B.), Ryckman (G. E.) and Haywood (Rufus) built the Brocton wine cellars and began the manufacture of wine on a larger scale than ever before attempted. Deacon Fay continued his interest in the business in which he was the pioneer all his life and left behind him a name which will ever live in the county annals as its greatest-incomparably greatest-benefactor.
Deacon Fay was of strong religious nature and was universally regarded as one of the best of men. He was one of the early members of the First Baptist Church in Brocton, organized Sept. 19, 1819, and one of its early deacons. Deacon Elijah and Lucy (Belknap) Fay were the parents of three children: I. Clinton Snow, a sketch of whom follows. 2. Lydia E., who married Lawrence F. Ryckman, and died July 22, 1873. 3. Joseph Belknap, a sketch of whom follows.
CLINTON SNOW FAY, eldest son of Deacon Elijah and Lucy (Belknap) Fay, was born in Southboro. Mass., June 25, 1810, died at his home in Brocton, Chautauqua county, N. Y., Sept. 2, 1879. He was brought by his parents, in 1811, to that part of Chau- tauqua county afterward known as Salem Cross Roads, now the village of Brocton, town of Portland. The Fays located their home on a farm there, they being first settlers, in fact a large part of the village of Brocton is the former site of the old Deacon Fay farm, the scene of the planting of the first grapevine in the county, the planting of the first vineyard and the successful gathering of the first grape harvest. in the log cabin built by his father the boy Clinton S. spent his boyhood. An illness in childhood caused the loss of his hearing, but private tutors and the sign language they taught him enabled him to master the rudiments, and at the age of fourteen he was sent to an institution for teaching the deaf. He remained there for three years, becoming an expert in the sign language and lacking in nothing pertaining to the well educated youth save the sense of hearing. After his return from school, Clinton S. Fay obtained a position in a Westfield printing office, but the work there did not agree with him and he returned to the home farm, and with his father cultivated the farm and continued the newly discovered addition to farming activity, the planting of vineyards and the raising of grapes as a business. Later fifty acres of the homestead was deeded to him and upon that tract he settled down to the life of a farmer, and there ever afterward resided, making
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a specialty of dairy farming and fruit growing. He prospered abundantly, erected a modern home upon his farm and otherwise improved and made it more productive and valuable. When grape culture had become thoroughly established as a permanent industry, he became interested with his father and brothers in their extensive vineyards and wine-making operations, always, however, retaining as his greatest interest his own private dairy herd, his vineyard and orchard.
In spite of his physical infirmity, Mr. Fay was a well read and well informed man, his native intelligence and bright mind more than compensating for his lack of hearing. He kept himself abreast of the times through his reading, and he was lacking in no quality of good citizenship. His own infirmity rendered him especially sympathetic and he gave liberally to all charities which were helpful to those similarly afflicted. He spared no trouble to seek out and assist those of his own neighborhood who were needy and his aid could always be depended upon in individual cases needing assistance. He was a practical Christian and by his works men knew the faith which inspired him.
Clinton S. Fay married, Feb. 13, 1842, in Brocton, Chautauqua county, Almira Aurilla Clark, born in the town of Pomfret, Chautauqua county, April 2, 1821, daughter of John T. and Rebecca (Rogers) Clark. Miss Clark was educated in Fredonia Academy, and before her marriage to Clinton S. Fay taught in the public schools of her town. She was a member of the Baptist church of Brocton, baptized March 25, 1838, and until her death, Jan. 24, 1902, was a loyal member of that church and a devoted Christian. Owing to her husband's infirmity, Mrs. Fay was his close business associate and bore a great deal of the respon- sibility connected therewith. She was also familiar with and in entire sympathy with his charities and acts of kindness of varied nature. She took active part in church work, but her home and her family were her deepest concern, and husband and wife were devoted to each other and to their children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Clinton S. Fay are buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Brocton. They were the parents of six children: I. Alice Rebecca, of further mention. 2. Clinton E., born March 8, 1853, died in childhood. 3. Carey S., born Jan. 16, 1855, now a resident of Brocton, N. Y. 4. An infant son died at birth. 5. Lucy Abby, born Feb. 5, 1861, married Jay Skinner, and died in Brocton, N. Y. 6. Julia Maria, born June 18, 1863, married Eugene E. La Due, and resides in Mentor, Ohio.
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