History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III, Part 9

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity
Number of Pages: 688

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III > Part 9

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(VIII) Joseph (2) Bartholomew, son of Lieutenant Joseph (I) and Mary (Sexton) Bartholomew, was born in Wallingford, Conn., in 1748, and died April, 1821. His farm was on what was called "Whirlwind Hill," now known as East Farms, in Wallingford, a large part being yet owned in the family. He married (first) Martha Morse, who died about 1781; married (second) about 1784, Damarius Hall, who died Nov. 6, 1819. Children, first three by first wife: Isaac, married Lydia Curtiss; Levi Moss, married (first) Lucy Ives, (second) Pamelia Potter; Joseph, of further mention; Samuel, married (first) Sylvia Hood, (second) Hannah, widow of Stoddard Neal; Ira, married Eunice Hall; Orrin, married his second cousin, Emmeline Bartholomew.

(IX) Joseph (3) Bartholomew, son of Joseph (2) Bartholomew, was born in Wallingford, Conn., settled in New York State, first at Sheridan, where he was an early settler. The tract of land he purchased was virgin wilderness, but he erected a log cabin, cleared a farm and prospered. He lived and labored there the remain- der of his life. He married, March 18, 1804, Julia Howd. Children: I. Eliza, married Harry H. Parker. 2. William, died aged nineteen years. 3. Polly, married Harry Hall. 1. Sylvia Ann, married Ives Andrews. 5. Stephen Decatur, died young. 6. Almon, died aged nine years. 7. Henry, of further mention. 8. Joseph, a prominent dry goods merchant of Dunkirk; married (first) Cornelia Horton, (second) Elizabeth Pearson. 9. Nelson, built and managed the Dunkirk Opera House : died unmarried. 10. William A., died unmarried. II. Stephen Decatur (2), married Julia E. Allen.

(X) Henry Bartholomew, eldest son and seventh child of Joseph (3) and Julia (Howd) Bartholomew, was born in Wallingford, Conn., June 7, 1818, and died in Dunkirk, N. Y., Nov. 3, 1871. He came to Sheridan, N. Y., with his father, and for several years followed farming. He then removed to Dunkirk, where he was a successful manufacturer of boxes of various kinds. In his later years he retired from business and returned to Sheridan, residing on a farm of about 300 acres, where his last years were spent, afterwards dying in Dunkirk. He married Isabella Patterson, born in Oneida county, N. Y., July 7, 1819, died 1854. Children : A son dying in infancy, and three daughters, namely : I. Julia Ann, married Joseph Nelson, (q. v.) 2. Mary, married (first) William A. Post, a captain in the Civil War, killed while employed on the Erie railroad as engineer; child, William A. (2) Post; she married (second) Charles Van Wagner. 3. Helen Isabella, married William L. Slater, of Dunkirk, now a resident ot Jamestown.

JOHN FRANKLIN GILBERT-Although born in Ohio, Mr. Gilbert spent his adult years in Dunkirk, N. Y., where from the age of eighteen he was connected with one of the sterling business houses of the city, Joseph Nelson & Company. He was a grandson of Samuel and Susannah Gilbert, of Cornwall, England, who came to the United States, he in 1840, and his wife in 1843.

Henry Gilbert, son of Samuel and Susannah Gilbert, learned the cabinetmaker's trade in Cornwall, England, where he was born about 1815. He came to the United States in 1842, settling first in Ravenna, going thence to Loudonville, Ashland county, Ohio. In Loudonville he was councilman and member of the School Board, and about 1850 there married Elizabeth Sprague, born in Londonville, daughter of William Jasper and Rebecca (Jones) Sprague. They were the parents of a large family, their second child a son, John Franklin Gilbert, whose career is herein reviewed.

John Franklin Gilbert was born in Loudonville, Ohio, June 30, 1854, and was there educated. At the age of eighteen he located in Dunkirk, N. Y., where he secured a position in the wholesale jewelry house of Joseph Nelson & Company. He rose rapidly to a responsible position with that house, and until his death was closely identified with it, it being one of the oldest in Dunkirk and for many years the only wholesale house in the city. After his marriage in 1896 Mr. Gilbert was ad-

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mitted to a partnership, and from 1910 until his death in 1910 he was head of the firm. He was an excellent busi- ness man. sterling in character, and universally liked and esteemed. His life was a successful one, and his years of manhood were years of usefulness. Mr. Gil- bert was a member of the Masonie order, affiliated with Dunkirk Lodge, No. 70, Free and Accepted Masons; Dunkirk Chapter, No. 25, Royal Arch Masons; Dunkirk Council. Royal and Select Masters; Dunkirk Com- mandery. No. 7, Knights Templar : and Ismailia Temple, Ancient Arahic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. Gilbert married, at Dunkirk, Oct. 15, 1806, Isabelle Bartholomew Nelson, eldest daughter of Joseph and Julia Ann ( Bartholomew ) Nelson, of Dunkirk (q. v.). Mr. Gilbert died in Dunkirk, July 28, 1916, aged sixty- two years and one month. Mrs. Gilbert survives her husband. She is a member of the Church of Christ ( Scientist ), having joined the Mother Church in Boston in to0 ;. after experiencing a healing from a severe nervous condition which had caused her great suffering for years and baffled the best physicians of New York and Paris. She was one of the organizers of the First Church of Dunkirk; was for several years its First Reader, and her example and influence has aided in building up a strong church in Dunkirk.

JAMES LYMAN VAN BUREN-Although the career of James L. van Buren closed at the age of i. rty-three years. they had been from boyhood years of enstant activity, and he had attained unusual business prominence and was one of Dunkirk's substantial and highly esteemed citizens. He was a son of James Henry van Buren, and a grandson of Henry Broadhead van Buren, the last named a native of Pompey, N. Y., who in 1825 I cated in Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y. James H. and Henry B. van Buren, young men, estab- lished a mercantile business in 1826 or 27, and were long well known general merchants of Dunkirk. In 1827 they moved into the east store of a new brick block, subsequently becoming interested in a line of boats from Dunkirk. Henry B. van Buren was the first insurance agent in the village, and there died, in 1872, : wed sixty-nine.

James Henry van Buren was born in Dunkirk in 1831. and there spent his life, and died Aug. 9, 1889. H. was associated with his father in the insurance busine -. and later became general agent for one of the leading New York companies, a position he held for over a quarter of a century, being one of the oldest general agents in the State. He was also general agent jor th Connecticut Fire Insurance Company of Hart- ford. for the State of New York. A Presbyterian in religion, he served the church in Dunkirk as an elder, a / in his political faith was a Republican.

Mr. van Buren married, in 1856, Lydia Beecher Cole- ri. Forn Tune 8, 1837, died Oct. 8, 1872, daughter of Truman Powley Coleman, born in Connecticut, later a merchant of Ellicottville, in Cattaraugus county, treas- 1:rer of the county, 1846-47; moved to Dunkirk in 1854, and establi hed the Lake Shore Bank, of which he was president until his death, Aug. 18, 1884. Mr. Coleman married, at Ellicottville, April 21, 1831, Sophia M. Beecher, and their fourth child was Lydia Beecher Coleman, wife of Jame Henry van Buren. She was a member of the Episcopal church.

James Lyman van Buren was born in Dunkirk, N. Y., April 8, 1867, died at his home on Central avenue, in his native city, Feb. 26, 1910, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredonia. He was educated at Dunkirk Academy, and at the age of nineteen began his business career as a clerk in his father's insurance offices. In 1888 he had so developed as an underwriter that he was admitted to partnership, and when a year later his father passed away the son succeeded him as head of the business and largely increased the lines earried, repre- senting at one time eighteen companies, life, fire, aceident and liability. Finally he withdrew from the insurance field and became associated with his father-in-law, Joseph Nelson, of Joseph Nelson & Company, wholesale jewelers. Mr. van Buren developed strong qualities as a merchant, and to his energy and ability the success of the company was in a large measure due. After the death of Joseph Nelson the business was continued by Mr. van Buren until his own death in 1910. He died in the prime of his splen- did manhood, honored and respected by all who knew him. As a mark of respect and a testimonial to the high regard in which he was held by his fellowmen, the business houses of Dunkirk were closed during the hours of his funeral. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; a director of the Board of Trade, and of several other organizations of the city, and a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. van Buren married, June 11, 1890, Julia Nelson, daughter of Joseph and Julia A. (Bartholomew) Nelson (q. v.). Mr. and Mrs. van Buren were the parents of six children : Josephine, married George R. Nixon, and resides in Dunkirk; Nellie, married George Patterson Crandall, of Westfield, N. Y .; James Henry (2), a merchant of Buffalo, N. Y .; Joseph Nelson, engaged in mercantile business in Buffalo, married Mary Mae Leod, of Versailles, Ky .; James Lyman, residing at home; Robert, died aged two years.

The three sons served in the World War, James Henry and Joseph N. in the Aviation Corps of the United States army, and James Lyman in the navy. Mrs. van Buren survives her husband and continues her residence at the old home on Central avenue, Dun- kirk, her aged mother, Mrs. Joseph Nelson, residing with her.

SETH W. THOMPSON-In a review of his own life and family written by himself and finished under date of Jan. 5, 1914, he thus coneludes :

This simple tale I dedicate to my posterity on Janu- ary 5, 1914, my seventy-eighth birthday, and my wife who is now here by me joins with me. She is now seventy-five years old and we are enjoying life and our faculties to a good degree for people of our age. May the Good Father who gives us our life and all manifold blessings bless and keep you always. My abiding faith and trust is that in the great and eternal future we shall all in some mysterious and wonderful way which we cannot comprehend be united in another existence.

Four years after writing the ahove, Mr. Thompson was able to comprehend that "mysterious and wonderful way," and but a year later husband and wife were united in another sphere. Three of their children are as follows: John F. and Charles C. Thompson, of New York City, and Mrs. Carrie T. West, of Jamestown. In this review of the life of Mr. Thompson his own account will be relied upon for the facts.

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Seth W. Thompson was a son of John and Pamelia (Bush) Thompson, who about 1833 settled on a farm of fifty acres within half a mile of Ellington Center, Chautauqua county, N. Y. The parents of John Thomp- son were born in Maine, but later lived in Madison county, N. Y., where his father worked at the carpenter's trade. Later he went West to work upon the Erie canal, and never returned to his family, being stricken by a fever which proved fatal. John Thompson, a boy of eighteen when his father died, and his youngest brother Seth aided their mother, and they were able to keep the family together, John remaining single until thirty years of age, then taking his mother and two unmarried sisters into his home. He married Pamelia Bush, about 1827, and began married life on a little farm of forty acres in Madison county, N. Y., where they lived until about 1834, when he sold his farm, and with his mother, wife and three little daughters, $500 in cash, with his household possessions loaded in a heavy wagon drawn by a two-horse team, started West. Their journey of perhaps 200 miles ended in the town of Ellington, Chan- tanqua county, N. Y., where John Thompson bought a farm of fifty acres on which was a log house and stable. The pine timber had been almost entirely taken from the traet, but by hard work he removed the stumps and pine tops from a small amount of land, and the following fall was rewarded by a good crop. His wife, a tailoress, aided with her needle, and in course of time a certain degree of prosperity was attained. In speaking of his boyhood and his parents, Mr. Thompson writes :

We always had comfortable clothing and an extra suit for Sunday and church, which was always at- tended, although we lived on a farm four and a half miles from the church. They were always generous to the poor, and no one ever went from their door hungry, friend or stranger.

About 1840 the little farm was sold, and another of 150 acres was bought. Until 1851 the family, then con- sisting of seven children, lived in the old log house, but for several years had been getting lumber together, and in 1851 a new frame house was finished. With this house completed the hardships of pioneer days may be said to have ended for the Thompson family, and the fortunes of Seth W. Thompson will alone be followed.

Seth W. Thompson was born in the log cabin on the home farm in Ellington, Chautauqua county, N. Y., in 1836, the fifth child of his parents. He was educated in the district school, and in the winter of 1853-54 he taught school in Ohio, four miles south of Madison, his married sister, Frances Turney, engaging the school for him. The next winter he taught the district school west of the old farm in the town of Ellington, the same school which he had attended when a small boy. He taught in Chautauqua county each winter until that of 1860-61, which was his last. His salary was from $16 monthly the first winter to $26 the last winter, and at all the schools except the last in the village of Ellington, he boarded around. He was a successful teacher, ever looking back upon the winters he taught with great pleasure.

During my school days in the winter of 1855-56, I made the acquaintance of Miss Emma L. Pratt, a sprightly, black-eyed girl, with whom 1 fell in love. She also taught several terms of school, her last term being in the Union School at Dunkirk, New York. On October 2, 1859, after nearly four years of pleasant

courtship, we were married. Our life has been a very pleasant one and we have been unusually favored in many ways. We have now passed our forty-first anni- versary (they were married fifty-nine years ere death dissolved this happy marriage). We have been fairly successful in business ventures, and wonderfully blessed in our children who have always heen and are still to us a blessing which we cannot express, meas- ure or weigh.

In May, 1861, John M. Farnham, the hardware merchant of Ellington, offered Mr. Thompson a partnership, which was accepted. . In the fall of 1861 he bought out a tin and stove shop in Cattaraugus, N. Y., Mr. Thompson taking charge of that branch, Oct. 28, 1861, and two weeks later his wife, and son John, then fifteen months old, arrived with their household goods. The next year his father and mother joined their son in Cattar- augus, and in 1866 they all moved into a fine house. In 1869 that house was sold, and in December, 1869, a new house was occupied for the first time. In 1870, through a combination of circumstances, the firm, S. W. Thompson Company, sold out and a new partnership was entered into with Henry Chaffee, Mr. Thompson remaining in charge of the Cattaraugus store, Mr. Chaffee taking charge of the firm's business in Randolph. About 1872 the Cattaraugus store was sold, Thompson & Chaffee then concentrating all their energy on the larger. better store in Randolph, which later they sold to Knapp & Son. Shortly afterward Mr. Thompson sold his interest in a patent milk pan business in which he had been engaged for some time, and he entered into partnership with J. M. Farnham, who had been his first partner in the tin shop in Cattaraugus. Mr. Farnham was head of a large hardware business in Jamestown, and after settling up his affairs in Randolph Mr. Thompson joined him, his department being the manage- ment of the office. Before removing his family and irrevocably committing himself to the partnership, he found that the business was not as he expected to find it, and by mutual consent the partnership was not con- summated. He returned to Randolph and some time afterward he became partner in a hardware store that had been started after Thompson & Chaffee had sold out. He conducted a prosperous business for six years, then sold out and took a partnership in a tannery at East Randolph, which he retained for about three years. He was next interested with Amos Dow in a private bank- ing business in East Randolph, the business being con- ducted under the firm name, Dow & Thompson, bankers. They continued a quiet, prosperous banking business for four years, and in 1878 he exchanged his interest in the bank for a general country store in East Randolph owned by his partner, Amos Dow. Mr. Dow and he had previously lost some money in the oil fields of Pennsyl- vania through fire, but this loss Mr. Thompson reconped, and during the eight years that he operated the general store he added $15,000 to his capital through the profits from the store. In 1880 Mr. Thompson toured Cali- fornia, where his only brother and a sister were living, and became enamored of the great West. In December, 1885, his mother passed away, and in June, 1886, his father passed away in his eighty-eighth year. The lad promised his parents not to remove West so long as they lived, and having ministered to them and provided for their every need during their old age he could con- sider a western removal with a clear conscience.

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Going West, he bought a tract of 600 acres of farm land at Luverne, Rock county, Minn., and the next day purchased an additional 100 acres. In May, 1887, he sold his store in East Randolph and availed himself of an offer to secure an interest in the First National Bank of Luverne. His son Charles C. Thompson, then with the Seaboard National Bank of New York City, was given important position in the bank, and with his wife and daughter. Carrie T., Mr. Thompson arrived in Luverne, in September, 1887.

Although Charles C. Thompson had been elected cashier at the age of nineteen, probably the youngest man ever elected to that important office, he felt that a small Minnesota town did not offer sufficient induce- ments for the future, and after four years in Luverne he accepted an offer to return to the Seaboard National Bank. New York City, of which his brother, John F., was cashier. In Luverne, the only daughter of the family. Carrie T .. married Henry Brennan, a young man from Smethport, Pa., they returning East. The loss of their children decided Mr. and Mrs. Thompson to return East, and within another year he sold the home he had built in Luverne and his stock in the bank, but retained his farms on which he had good tenants.

On his return he located in Newark, N. J., his son, Charles C .. who had returned to Minnesota in January, 1802. and brought back with him a bride, Emily Brown, making his home with his parents. In August, 1892, Mr. Thompson returned to Minnesota to look after his farm interests, and stopping at Jamestown, N. Y., was offered by his old friend, Mr. Charles Dow, a position in the Jamestown National Bank. He removed to James- town in the fall of 1892, and in March, 1893, moved into a comfortable brick house on Lakeview avenne, where he resided until death. His position at the bank was in the loan department, his business being to interview applicants for loans and to determine whether they as individuals and the security they offered Were worthy. He resigned that position after four years' service, and for two years held an interest in the Southern Lumber Company, operating in Southeastern Missouri. This was his last active connection with the business world. although he had large private interests in many enterprises. He was a man of quiet, domestic tastes, and in his last years his home, garden, and family ties had for him the greatest joy and brought him unlimited happiness. His business life was a financial success, and he saw his children all well settled and leading useful lives. He had been instrumental in starting several young men in business, and in his quiet way had ever had a helping hand for others. From whatever angle viewed, his life was a success, and he left to posteri'y a name unsullied and honor untarnished. He died in Jamestown. N. Y., April 15. 1918.

Emma L. (P'ratt ) Thompson was born in Hinsdale, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1838, and died at the Thompson home, No. 67 Lakeview avenue, Jamestown, N. Y .. April 30. 1919. daughter of Homer and Electa A. ( Newcomb) Pratt, who at the time of the birth of their daughter were enroute from Madison county, N. Y., to Missouri. Subsequently the Pratts settled in Ellington, Chautauqua county. N. Y., where Mr. Pratt conducted a store until his death in 1863. Mrs. Pratt died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Thompson, in Jamestown, in the spring

oi 1893, aged eighty. Mrs. Thompson was educated in Ellington Academy, and for several terms prior to her marriage, Oct. 2, 1859, taught school. Mrs. Thompson was a woman of broad culture and charming manner. Essentially a home-maker, she found her greatest enjoyment in the family circle. She was active in the work of the First Congregational Church, and was a member of the New Century Art Club, Jamestown Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Warner Home for the Aged. She was a gifted writer and had prepared many papers of note for the various organizations with which she was connected. During the war with Germany Mrs. Thompson was an active Red Cross worker and rendered other patri- otic service.

Seth W. and Emma L. (Pratt) Thompson were the parents of two sons and a daughter : I. John F., born at the home farm in Ellington, Chautauqua county, N. Y., July 12, 1860; he was educated in Chamberlain Institute, Randolph, and Allegheny College (one term), then began business life as a clerk with the private bank- ing firm, Dow & Thompson; he has continued in the banking business ever since, having been teller of the Bradford National Bank of Bradford, Pa., cashier of the Seaboard National Bank of New York City, and in 1903 became vice-president of the Bankers' Trust Com- pany, a position he resigned from four years later on account of failing health ; he then made his home on the Island of Jamaica, British West Indies, where he bought 4,000 acres, and became deeply interested in tropical fruit farming ; he married, in 1880, Hattie Dow, and they are the parents of five children. 2. Charles C., born at Cattarangus, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1868; he was educated in the public school and Chamberlain Insti- tute, but at the age of fourteen left school to take a posi- tion in a bank at Bolivar, of which his brother John F. was cashier; after two years with his hrother he went with his father in his store, later going to the Seaboard National Bank, of New York City; he remained with that bank until 1887, when he joined his father in Luverne, Minn., where for four years he was cashier of the Luverne National Bank, being but nineteen when elected ; he then returned to the Seaboard National Bank in New York, filling the position of assistant cashier until succeeding his brother as cashier, then serving in that position until 1913, when he was elected vice-president; he married Emily Brown, of Luverne, Minn., and they are the parents of one son, Seth Waldo. 3. Carrie T., born in Cattaraugus, N. Y., Oct. 16, 1870; she married ( first) in Luverne, Minn., Henry Brennan, of Smethport, Pa., who died leaving five children: i. Mildred E. Brennan, married her cousin, John Stuart Thompson, and has three sons, John D., Philip Brennan, and Charles H. Thompson; ii. Ruth Marion Brennan, married Fred E. Hlatch, Jr., of Jamestown, and has three children, Katherin T., Marjorie C., and Mildred Hatch; iii. John Thompson Brennan, married Vivian Evans, who died Oct. 26, 1918, leaving two children, John Thompson (2) and Janet L. Brennan; iv. Theodoria Brennan; v. Carolyn F. Brennan, both attending school. After the death of her hushand, a prosperous business man, Mrs. Brennan moved to her home in Jamestown, N. Y., prepared for her by her parents, and was the great comfort of their declining years, her home being

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near theirs. She married (second) Julius E. West, of Jamestown, and they reside on Lakeview avenue, James- :own.

JAMES KNAPP-For more than a decade of the last years of his life, James Knapp was an honored resident of Jamestown, N. Y., a man of wealth and enterprise, highly esteemed by all who knew him. He was always deeply interested in family history, and during his lifetime carefully traced his own descent from Nicholas Knapp, who came with Winthrop's feet in 1630. The family was transplanted from Con- hecticut to Chautauqua county, N. Y., in 1821, John Knapp, grandfather of James Knapp, settling in the town of Harmony in November of that year. James Knapp married Ellen Lewis, of the Vermont branch of the Lewis family, who survives him, continuing her residence in Jamestown, she and her son, Lewis D. Knapp, the only survivors of the family.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume III, Part 9

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity Number of Pages: 688

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- , ed; Hedley, Fenwick Y., joint editor
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, American Historical Soceity
Number of Pages: 688