USA > New York > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 54
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410
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
[JOHN DOIG.]
JOHN DOIG.
John Doig, the son of Andrew and Polly Thompson Doig, was born in Lowville May 15, 1820. With the ex- ception of two years which were passed in New York as a clerk, his early life was spent in Lowville where, in the Academy at that place he received his education.
On the first of May, 1848, he was married to Maria Knox, by whom he had two children-Frank C. and Charles K.
He followed for years the occupation of druggist, and built up a substantial business which is now conducted by his sons.
His reputation for probity and hon- or, established by years of conscientious dealing, still survives him. Though often solicited to hold official positions he declined all except those pertaining to the welfare of the village, of which he was Trustee, Treasurer, and Presi- dent. In the enterprises and advance- ment of Lowville he was one of the most public spirited men of his day and was also Trustee of Lowville Academy and many years Treasurer of the Board of Trustees.
He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and was one of the first Masters of Lowville Lodge, No. 134, F. & A. M.
He died November 15, 1867.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
4II
[SOLON GORDON.]
SOLON GORDON.
The first of this name of whom there s any definite record was Timothy Gordon --- the grandfather of Solon, the subject of this portrait-who was born in October, 1756, but at what place is not known. It is known that he was a soldier of the Revolution, and in his old age drew from the government a pen- sion for services rendered to his country.
He married Althe Vandervear, Feb- ruary 9, 1780, in Monmouth, New Jer- sey. She was born May 2, 1760. Timo- thy died February 28, 1835, aged 78 years. Althe, his wife, died July 21, 1844, aged 84 years, 2 months, 19 days. Their children were :- Hannah Lloyd, born December 21, 1780, married Mi-
chael Sweetman, and moved to Boyles- town, where she died February, 1844; Jacob Vandervear, born September 23, 1782, died in the town of Boylston, Oswego county, November 1, 1857 ; Daniel T., born April 11, 1785, in New Jersey, died Saturday, August 9, 1840, buried near the center of West Martins- burgh cemetery ; Althe Wikoff, born June 9, 1787, married Daniel Chase of the town of Boylston, Oswego county, moved to Canada about 1848 ; Elizabeth, born January 24, 1790, married Samuel Wells, died in the town of Adams, Jef- ferson county, about 1877; Tunis, born August 20, 1791, died in Minnesota in October, 1866; Phebe G., born June 5, 1793, died August 11, 1844 ; Joseph Van- dervear, born November 5, 1795, died in
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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
Minnesota, July 10, 1866; Timothy, Jr., born August 23, 1802, died January 3, 1805.
David T. Gordon, the third child of Timothy and Althe Vandervear Gordon, was a millwright and farmer, of some repute in his day.
He married Emily Carter, of this county, daughter of Seboam Carter, Oc- tober 31, 1821 ; she was born November 28, 1802. After the death of David T. in 1840, she married Oliver Bingham, in July, 1854. She died October 28, 1876.
The children of David T. and Emily were :- Solon, born September 30, 1822; Cyrus, born November 11, 1824, now in Chicago; Milton C., born October 6, 1826, now (1883) in Martinsburgh; Car- ter Z., born July 14, 1828, now in Oak- field, Wis .; Jane, born July 28, 1830, died July 20, 1832 ; Andrew Jackson, born August 28, 1832, now in Lowville ; Francis, born February 15, 1835, now in Iowa; Elvira M., born June 30, 1839, mar- ried Alvin T. Rice, now in Reno, Nevada.
Solon Gordon, the first of these chil- dren, and the subject of the portrait herewith connected, was born in Mar- tinsburgh in a log house which stood just across the town line between that town and Lowville, about one and one- halt miles from the village.
His early life was passed in that vicin- ity, and his education was obtained in the common schools of Lowville:
At the age of sixteen he began to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner, which occupation he followed until about 1865, when he began a farmer's life, having purchased the Farewell farm on the first of March of the previous year.
From that time on he has lived the life of an independent, sturdy farmer.
Springing from a family of honest, industrious men whose lives have been disgraced by no dishonest acts, he has amassed a competence by the inherit- ance of their industry and honor.
On the Ist of January, 1855, he mar- ried Hetta E. Crane, of Marcy, Oneida county, New York, who was born April 13, 1834. Their children were :- Anna H., born August 18, 1857, married Ash- ley W. Davenport-was killed by being thrown from a wagon June 21, 1880, aged 22 years, 10 months, 3 days ; Webster S., born February 9, 1860; Cora E., born September 21, 1862, married George F. Wilson, of Harrisburgh, August 17, 1881 ; Charley C. and Fay C., (twins,) born November 20, 1873.
DUANE D. FOOT.
Duane D. Foot was born in Martins- burgh village, N. Y., May 13, 1822, and his boyhood days were spent in his na- tive town. In 1852, in company with his father, mother, wife and two children, he removed to Turin, where he spent the meridian of his life, thence removing to Lowville in 1869, where he now re- sides. He was the son of Adoniram, who was the son of John Foot, who was the son of George, who was the son of Jehiel, who was the son of Daniel, who was the son of " Nathaniel Foot the set- tler," who was married in England to Elizabeth Deming in 1615, landed at Massachusetts Bay about 1630, took the oath of a freeman in 1633, settled perma-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
nently in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1635, (where reposes the dust of nine genera- tions) .* He was a man of devoted piety, and much respected in all the walks of life.
Adoniram Foot was born in Arlington, Vt., July 10, 1780; was united in marriage with Nancy Doty, of Washington county,
at the age of nearly eighty-six years. He left at the time ninety-five living descend- ants, there having been in all one hundred and sixteen.
Duane D. Foot was the tenth of a family of twelve children, of whom four are now living, viz :- Duane D .; Giles, of Glensdale ; Norman B., of Rome ; and
A, LITTLE
[DUANE D. FOOT. ]
in 1804, and removed to Martinsburgh in 1806. Mrs. Foot died June 28, 1815, and Mr. Foot was again married Jan. 28, 1817, to Emily Brainard, of East Hart- ford, Conn., who was born June 1, 1789. He was ordained Elder in the Presbyte- rian church in 1833, and continued in active service until a few years before his death, which occurred April 28, 1866,
Rev. John B., of Syracuse. Mr. Foot is credited with being the first to intro- duce mowing machines in the county, having commenced the sale of the Wal- ter A. Wood mower as early as 1854. The sale of other implements being added to his business from year to year, he found, in 1869, that his labors had in- creased to such an extent as to render it impracticable to carry on the same in connection with farming, and he re-
* It is said his posterity had much to do in cultivating the famous Wethersfield onions.
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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
moved to Lowville, where he established an extensive trade as a general dealer in all kinds of agricultural machines and implements.
In 1873, his sons having grown into the business, he purchased the property known as the Greeley Block, located at Nos. 1 and 3 Dayan street, also the produce and provision business former- ly carried on by Curtis & Bowen, in the same building, and formed a copartner- ship with his sons, under which firm the business has since been conducted.
Mr. Foot spent his early days at home with his parents, where he attended the district school and assisted in grinding bark in a mill where the horse went round and round. His father at the time carried on tanning and shoemaking quite extensively for those days, and Duane D. assisted in farming. He attended school at Denmark Academy in the summer of 1836, and the academy at Martinsburgh several terms, under Rev. Calvin Yale, from whom he received much of scientific, moral and religious instruction.
In 1843, he purchased of his father, the farm, running in debt for the entire amount, and started in farming as the business of his life, pursuing the same economically and faithfully till his re- moval to Lowville in 1869.
February 27, 1849, he was united in marriage with Margaret Evans, of New Bremen, and to them have been born five sons and three daughters, one daugh- ter dying when two and one-half years of age. Religiously instructed by his mother, who was a woman of great faith and ardent devotion, and also in the Sun-
day school, when added to these means, he felt the Spirit of God pressing hard, he gave himself to his Saviour in March, 1843, and commenced an active christian life, uniting with the Presbyterian church in Martinsburgh, in July of the same year. He was a teacher in the Sunday school in the latter place for several years, and on his removal to Turin in 1852, he became Superintend- ent of the Sunday school in the Presby- terian church at that place. He was also elected and ordained an elder in that church, continuing active in these relations and in all religious and temper- ance work, during the seventeen years he remained in Turin. In the absence of a stated minister, (in some cases many months at a time,) he conducted services on the Sabbath, reading a sermon, etc., also the weekly prayer-meeting, which, together with the Sunday school were seldom omitted. Upon removing to Lowville, besides being continued as Elder in the church, he was soon elected Superintendent of the Presbyterian school in that place, which position he held till March, 1881, since which time he has acted as teacher. His connection with the Sunday school has been unin- terrupted from his childhood, and has been more than nominal and local. By vigorously sustaining town and county conventions, he has contributed much to aid the cause throughout the county. He has also been an earnest temperance worker; he signed the Washingtonian pledge in 1840, maintaining the total ab- stinence practice ever afterward, and is doubtless as well known at the present time among the temperance and Sunday
Charles D. Boshart
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
school people through the county, and indeed among the inhabitants generally, as any other individual. He is as favor- ably known also, having never had a contested suit at law, or been sued for his own business,-his motto being "to live at peace with all men." He has represented the churches of Turin and Lowville in presbytery, most of the time of his connection with them, and in the centennial year of 1876, attended the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, held in the Tabernacle church of Brooklyn, N. Y., being elected as commissioner by the presbytery of Utica. He has never aspired to political distinc- tion, but has faithfully and conscien- tiously voted at every election and town meeting, since he was twenty-one years of age.
Robert Duane Foot, the fourth son of D. D. Foot, died February 28, 1883, aged twenty-six years and seven months. He was born August 2, 1856, at the then farm home of the family about half a mile south of the village of Turin, N. Y., and with his parents removed to Low- ville in March, 1869. He shortly after became a student at the academy, con- tinuing somewhat steadily as such until the fall of 1875, when he left home to take a course of instruction at Eastman's College, in Poughkeepsie. The follow- ing spring, he, in company with Frank J. Murray, embarked in the grocery business on Dayan street, in this place. At the expiration of a year he bought out his partner's interest and succeeded to the entire business, which he carried on till the spring of 1881, when he sold his business to the firm of D. D. Foot &
Son, and went West, hoping to find an encouraging opening for himself there. Failing in this, he returned in July, and buying out his father's interest in the ag- ricultural machine and grocer business at the old stand, he became partner with his older brother, Aldis, in conducting the same under the firm name of A. D. & R. D. Foot.
As a business man he had many friends and was building up for himself a thriv- ing trade. He was eminently genial in his nature and a favorite in the circles among whom he moved socially.
CHARLES D. BOSHART.
The father of the subject of this sketch was Garret Boshart, who was born in Johnstown, Fulton county, July 15, 1771, and died May 26, 1845. He came to Lewis county in 1798, or '99, when but three houses stood where at present is the village of Lowville. His wife was Dolly Goutermout, who was born in Ephratah, Fulton county, Janu- ary 4, 1788, and died June 11, 1875. They had ten children as follows :-
Garret, died April 7, 1872 : Catherine, married Rev. Philip Weiting, pas- tor of the Lutheran church at New Rhinebeck, Schoharie county, Novem- ber 23, 1828, died March 14, 1876; Nancy M., Dolly A., Nicholas, William ; Eliza, married K. Collins Kellogg, of Lowville; John died May 4, 1843.
Charles D., the tenth child, was born in Lowville, on the farm where he now lives, November 2, 1829. In this place his early life was passed. He received
416
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
his education at the Lowville Academy, an institution which has graduated many persons of stability and prominence, and engaged in the occupation of farm- ing in which he has been eminently suc- cessful. About 1863, he began the cul- ture of hops, and during these twenty years has been one of the largest hop growers of Lewis county.
To the men of quiet, persistent, yet unobtrusive mould is due the material prosperity of every town and county. They cultivate their farms and produce prolific crops.
Of this steadily persistent cast is Mr. Boshart. A keenly observant, well in- formed man, who rarely leaves the work he has marked out until his purpose is ac- complished ; of honor in the fulfillment of his spoken promise as well as of his written word; and of strict integrity in the transaction of his private and public business, he may be numbered among the representative men who have graced the annals of Lewis county and aided in the advancement of its prosperity. Though not a politician in the lower sense of that term, he has taken some in- terest in the affairs of local government, and has for eleven years served the town acceptably as Supervisor-to which office he was elected in 1872.
On the 11th of February, 1858, Mr. Boshart was married to Margaret Quackenbush, daughter of James and Margaret Quackenbush, of Fonda, Montgomery county, New York. The children of this marriage were :-
Julia, born February 22, 1859, died in infancy ; Charles Frederick ; Nellie M. E .; Edward James; and Grace E.
SAMUEL STEVENS.
The ancestors of the subject of this sketch came to this country in the " Mayflower" in 1620. His father had in the family for many years a Bible and a lignum vitæ mortar, which were brought over in that distinguished ves- sel. His great-grandfather was Timothy Stevens. He was installed the first Congregational minister of Glastonbury,. Conn., in October, 1693. His son, Joseph Stevens, grandfather to Samuel, died in Glastonbury, aged 93 years. He had thirteen sons, of whom Elisha, died in Naugatuck, Conn., aged 64 years; John, died in Lanesborough, Mass .; Peter, died in Pawlet, Vt., aged 85 years ; Elijah, died in Vermont; Samuel, died in Lanesborough, Mass .; Thomas, died in Glastonbury, Conn. One other son was named David, and another Ashpel. Of the rest of these sons nothing is known, except that two were said to have died of starvation in a British pris- on ship in New York, during the Revo- lution.
James Stevens, father to Samuel, was born in Glastonbury, Conn., in 1757. He served in the Revolutionary war six years and seven months, in which strug- gle seven of these brothers were en- gaged in the patriot cause. He drew for many years before his death a pen- sion of $12.00 per month. He died in Michigan, in 1847, aged 90 years. His wife, Honor Talcott, was born in 1764, and died in Lowville, N. Y., in 1815, aged 51 years. They were married in 1782, and had eight children, all of whom are dead except the subject of this sketch.
417
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
James Stevens, one of these children, was scalded to death by falling into a large kettle of boiling water, and Horace was killed by the falling of a bent from a barn, which he was raising. James Stevens, the father, moved to Lowville, from Glastonbury, Conn., in March, 1807,
Oswego in 1870; Horace, born in 1798, died as before mentioned, in Hammond, N. Y., in 1822 ; Clarissa, born in 1801, died in Cheshire, Mass., in 1861; Jerusha, born in 1804, died in Lowville, 1876.
Samuel Stevens, the subject of the portrait, was born April 28, 1806. He
Samuel Stevens
with his wife and eight children on an ox sled drawn by one horse and a yoke of oxen. They settled on the farm now owned by Jesse Brown, on the Number Three road, three miles north of the vil- lage of Lowville. The family consisted of James, born in 1785, died as before mentioned, in Lowville, in 1809; Sally, born in 1787, died in Oswego, N. Y., in 1868; John, born in 1790, died in Lowville, in 1864; Lucy, born in 1795, died in
-
was for some fifteen years engaged in mercantile business, in what is now called New Bremen, and was postmaster there during the greater portion of that time. He was engaged in farming in the same place for twenty years, when he removed to Lowville and purchased the farm adjoining that which his father owned, on the Number Three road, where he now resides.
On the 5th of September, 1831, he
418
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
married Minerva Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, who was born March 21, 1810. She died October 20, 1851. To this marriage were born six children, all of whom are dead except one-Sarah P. Stevens, born October 14, 1833. Of these children three, Aurelia L., Henri- etta M., and Minerva J., died within six
DANIEL PATTEN.
Jeremiah Patten, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, is supposed to have been the seventh generation from England. He settled in Massachusetts, in the town of Billerica, Middlesex county, but at what date is unknown.
ITTLE
[DANIEL PATTEN.]
months, of typhoid fever, aged 15, 18 and 24 years.
On the 16th of February, 1853, Mr. Stevens married Elizabeth Evans, daugh- ter of Ellis Evans, who was born in Bala, North Wales, in 1816. The children of this marriage were James Ellis, born August 24, 1858, died of scarlet fever, after an illness of thirty-six hours, May 6, 1871, aged 12 years and 9 months; and R. Kent, born October 8, 1862.
He had five sons, William, Josiah, Jona- than, Thomas and David. The two youngest of these sons settled in Boston, Mass., and the three eldest removed to the town of Westmoreland, Oneida county, N. Y., about the year 1792.
Jonathan Patten was born November 23, 1769. His wife was Wealthy Daven- port, to whom he was married March 18, 1799. They came to Lowville, Lewis county, in 1801, where Wealthy died,
D
RESIDENCE
OF IRA SHARP, LOWVILLE, N. Y.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
in 1807. They had five sons-George W., born December 10, 1800, died No- vember 3, 1846; John A., born Septem- ber 22, 1801, died January 8, 1849; Thomas J., born December 23, 1802 ; Alanson, born September 26, 1804; David, born September 28, 1806, died May 6, 1826.
Jonathan married for his second wife, June 1, 1808, Betsey Bacon Rice, a native of the town of Natick, Mass. She was the widow of David Rice, to whom she was married in 1796, and with whom she came to Lowville in the year 1800. They had six children. David Rice, died in 1808; Jonathan Patten, died June 18, 1838, aged 70 years; and Betsey, his second wife, died April 27, 1872, aged 92 years.
The children of this second marriage were Daniel Wealthy, born September 16, 1811, died September 20, 1814 ; Mary Jane, born July 3, 1815, married David Waters in 1844, died April 1, 1869; Rhoda B., born December 9, 1817; Julia Evelina, born August 18, 1829, died April 1, 1831.
Daniel Patten, the oldest of these chil- dren, was born in Lowville, March 16, 1809, in which town he has always lived. In 1846, he married Abigail Hardy, daughter of the late Robert Hardy, of Rutland, Jefferson county, N. Y., who died February 28th, of the following year, at the age of twenty-eight. One child was the result of this marriage- Abby H., who was born November 15, 1846, and died May 8, 1864.
On the Ist of January, 1849, he was married for the second time, to Rebecca R. Adams, daughter of the late Dr. Ira.
Adams, of Lowville. She died Septem- ber 30, 1851, leaving one son, B. Frank Patten, who was born August 8, 1851, and who married Mary C., daughter of Byron Bamrau, of Harrisburgh, October 28, 1874. They have one child, Frank R. Weston, born April 6, 1878, and still occupy the farm that was taken up in 1801.
IRA SHARP.
The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and the first of this family name to settle in America, was William Sharp, who was born in Worcester, Worcester county, England, in 1790. At the age of eighteen he entered the British army, where he served the time then required by the government. In the War of 1812, he served in the British army as a sub- stitute, and with the troops came to Canada and was stationed at Quebec. At this place, not being satisfied with the nature of his service, he deserted, crossed the river in a skiff, and after four days' hungry journey, arrived in the town of Denmark, where for several years he worked as hired help on a farm. He married Betsey Kitts about 1814, and lived the life of a farmer, dying Sep- tember 18, 1862. His wife died June 17, 1876.
Their children were : - James C., born in the town of Denmark, July 10, 1815; Mary, who married first, Albert Barnum, and second, David Gleason ; Aaron; Electa, who married George Rogers, of Lowville, died in January, 1863 ; and Charles, who died in Novem-
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HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
ber, 1882; Maria married Henry Runyan, of Lowville.
James C. Sharp married Nancy Kitts February 19, 1839, who was born in the town of Lowville, June 6, 1816. The children of this marriage were Ursula C., born June 20, 1840, married George Merriman, of Lowville, and died Nov. 25, 1869; William H., born May 4, 1842, died Nov. 9, 1852; Ira; Victoria A., born Sept. 24, 1853; William J., born Nov. 26, 1855, died Oct. 28, 1877 : Albert, born May 19, 1860.
Ira Sharp was born in the town of Lowville, February 11, 1847. His early life was passed in that town and the town of Denmark, on his father's farm. He was educated in the common schools of his vicinity and in the Academy at Low- ville, and adopted the occupation of farmer and dealer in live stock, to which he afterward added a somewhat exten- sive trade in lumber. In 1872, he was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he has since held. His wife is Ella S. Curtis, daughter of Bradley Curtis, of Martinsburgh, to whom he was married October 20, 1874.
HARVEY WELLER.
Silas Weller, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Westfield, Mass., June 20, 1770, where he passed the early part of his life. He married January 9, 1800, Nancy Bush, who was born August 22, 1779. In the next year, 1801, with their worldly goods drawn by a yoke of oxen, they moved from West-
field, Mass., to Lewis County, settling in the northern part of the town of Lowville where their lives were passed. Silas died March 24, 1848, and Nancy died March 30, 1851. There were born to them eleven children as follows :- Lester, born October 14, 1800, married Elicenai Peck, a native of Newport, N. H., March 16, 1824, died July 1, 1835 ; Seth, born Nov. 22, 1801, married July 2, 1826, Betsey Campbell, who was born in Suffield, Conn., May 24, 1804, and who died Sept. 12, 1879, Seth is still living (1883); David, born April 22, 1806, married Dec. 24, 1834, Maria Knowl- ton, born in Madison county, Oct. 30, 1815, and died Sept. 2, 1874; Silas, Jr., born May 17, 1810, married Feb. 7, 1854, Jennie Ackerman, born in Brownville, Jefferson county, N. Y., July 29, 1829 ; Henry, born Aug. 9, 1817, married Feb. 2, 1847, Eliza A. Sackett, who was born in Lowville Feb. 15, 1820, and died April 24, 1881 ; Ralph, born April 27, 1823, married Feb. 26, 1850, Celestia Wake- field, born in Pinckney, Lewis county, Aug. 16, 1824.
Harvey Weller, the subject of this sketch, was born in the northern por- tion of the town of Lowville February 9, 1815. Here he lived until he was four- teen years of age, when his father bound him out to a neighbor, William Bush, until he was of age, for a compensation of three months' schooling in the year, a suit of broadcloth clothes, and fifty dol- lars in money. When the time arrived when he was to start in life for himself, he very sensibly took, instead of the broadcloth, a suit of homespun and the difference in money. During his time
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LOWVILLE.
421
of bondage, which was in the days of militia service, by engaging a substitute in his place and purchasing provisions and notions, which he retailed on gen- eral training days, he realized above expenses, from four to six dollars per day, which he saved to add to the meagre sum which was to accrue to him when he
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