History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 72

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William A. Stafford, private, Co. D, 111th N. Y. Infantry; discharged for disability ; living at Rochester, N. Y.

James E. Taylor,* private, Co. A, 111th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 5, 1862; died in hospital of wounds received at Harper's Ferry, Va., September 15, 1862.

· Wounded.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Myron H. Taylor, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Jan. 23, 1864; killed at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864.

Thomas H. Taylor, blacksmith, Co. B, 8th N. Y. Cavalry. Enlisted Nov. 8, 1861; re-enlisted Feb. 11, 1863, blacksmith, Co. B, 8th N. Y. Cavalry; dis- charged at close of war; living at Manchester, N. Y.

Oscar L. Teachout, private, Co. E, 28th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted May 22, 1861; discharged with regiment; living at Adrian, Mich.

Henry Thomas, private. Enlisted Sept. 6, 1864; substitute for Grover Partridge.

Franshay Thompson, private. Enlisted March 31, 1865.

George Thompson, private. Enlisted Sept. 6, 1864; substitute for Christopher Tilden.

Joseph N. Thompson, private. Enlisted March 31, 1865.

Owen Tierney, private, 179th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted March 6, 1864.

William Tilden, private, Co. A, 111th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 5, 1862; killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863.

Eugene Tucker, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

David A. Turner, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 12, 1862; discharged at close of war; living at Macedon, N. Y.

Noah Turner, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 31, 1862; captured June 8, 1864, and died in rebel prison at Florence, S. C. Martin Twohey, private. Enlisted Sept. 9, 1864.

Charles Van Buren, private, Co. B, 50th N. Y. Engineers. Re-enlisted Dec. 14, 1863, private, Co. B, 50th N. Y. Engineers; discharged at close of war; living at Shortsville, N. Y.

David Van De Carr, corporal, Co. D, 33d N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted May 22, 1861; re-enlisted July, 1863, captain, 1st N. Y. Veteran Cavalry ; discharged with regiment; living in Kansas.

Henry Van Dusen, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

George H. Van Dyne, private. Enlisted Sept. 12, 1864.

Charles Van Geld, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

Martin A. Vickerey, private, Co. D, 16th N. Y. Artillery. Enlisted Dec. 7, 1863; discharged at close of war; living at Manchester, N. Y.

Nelson B. Vickery, private, Co. H, 16th N. Y. Artillery. Enlisted Dec. 18, 1863; discharged at close of war; living at Greenville, Mich.

Theodore P. Vickery, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted 'July 28, 1862; killed at Petersburg, Va., June 22, 1864.

Ira Wallace, private. Enlisted September 8, 1864; substitute for John H. Latting.

George W. Warfield, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 5, 1862; discharged for disability March 20, 1864; living at Clifton Springs, N. Y.

Laban S. Wells, private. Enlisted Dec., 1863; discharged at close of war; died June, 1872.

Elbridge G. West, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

William S. Westfall,* corporal, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted July 29, 1862; promoted to sergeant; discharged for disability from wounds; living at Port Gibson, N. Y.

Carl Weyersburg, private. Enlisted Sept. 12, 1864 ; substitute for D. C. Archer. Franklin B. Wheat, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 30, 1862; discharged with regiment; living at Manchester.

Alonzo Wheeler, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 26, 1862 ; promoted to sergeant; discharged with regiment; living in Alleghany County, N. Y.

Aurelius B. Wheeler, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 26, 1862; died in hospital at Portsmouth, Va., April 28, 1863.

Rial V. Wheeler, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 26, 1862; discharged with regiment; living at Clifton Springs, N. Y.

Charles Whitney, private, Co. G, 18th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted May 22, 1861; re-enlisted Nov. 10, 1863, private, Co. H, 16th N. Y. Artillery ; dis- charged at close of the war; living in Michigan.

George G. Whitney, bugler, Co. L, 24th N. Y. Cavalry. Enlisted Dec. 11, 1863; discharged with regiment ; living at Cambria Mills, Mich.

Hiram B. Whitney, private, Co. D, 33d N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted May 22, 1861; re-enlisted Jan. 2, 1864, private, Co. H, 16th N. Y. Artillery; died of disease contracted in the service.

Peter Wier, private. Enlisted Sept. 8, 1864; substitute for Jeremiah Lyke, Jr. Charles H. Williams, private. Enlisted Sept. 12. 1864.

George B. Willson, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted August

11, 1862 ; discharged with regiment. George N. Willson, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

Henry Willson, private. Enlisted April 3, 1865.

Thomas Winters, private. Enlisted Sept. 3, 1864; substitute for David G. Lapham.

Jacob Wisner, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

George W. Woolsey, private. Enlisted Sept. 13, 1864.

Joseph Worden, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 8, 1862; discharged with regiment; living at Springwater, N. Y.

Russell T. Wright, private, Co. K, 148th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Ang. 31, 1862; killed at Cold Harbor, Va., June 4, 1864.

James A. Youngs, private, Co. H, 126th N. Y. Infantry. Enlisted Aug. 6, 1862; discharged for disability Dec. 15, 1863.

. Wounded.

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PERSONAL SKETCHES.

AZEL THROOP.

Often the biography of an individual, from his activity in public measures, is the richest vein of historic truth. Such is the case as regards Azel Throop, youngest son of a family of nine children. His father, Benjamin Throop, Esq., was born October 8, 1754, at Lebanon, Windham county, Connecticut, and was married May 4, 1775, to Rachel Brown. He resided in the place of his nativity till 1801, when, having exchanged his farm for a tract of above five hundred acres of the Phelps and Gorham purchase, located in what is now the town of Manchester, he bade adieu to the scenes of youth and manhood, and, accompanied by his family, set out for his future and remote home. The journey, which was tedious and tiresome, was made in April, 1802, and his location was in the heart of a forest, three miles either direction to the nearest neighbor. The Indians had their homes upon the purchase, and in later years shared the hospitalities of the family. The family consisted of the parents, five sons, and four daughters. All save one-who died in infancy-reached maturity. Two sons became seafaring men, and two followed farming upon portions of the original farm. The daugh- ters, with one exception, eventually found homes in the west, where their descend- ants are worthy citizens. Six of the eight children were professed and consistent Christians. The mother was a remarkable student of the holy Scriptures, and when eighty years of age could recall verses and chapters of that sacred volume. Ben- jamin Throop was regarded as an honest, upright man, to whom the call of the dis- tressed was never uttered in vain. His death took place January 17, 1842, in his eighty-eighth year. His wife survived till July 3, 1851, when she too " crossed the river" when in her ninety-ninth year. For sixty-seven years, in harmony and conjugal felicity, this aged couple had traversed life's pathway together, and then the "golden chain was loosed." One by one son and daughter have followed them, till but the subject of this record survives.

Azel Throop was born January 28, 1792, and therefore came west when a boy of ten years. He is now (October, 1876) in his eighty-fifth year. His school-days were mainly those passed in his native town of Lebanon, Connecticut, yet his attain- ments qualified him for teaching. Several winters were passed as a school-master, and the office of school inspector was, later, held. He was married on May 20, 1819, to Fanny Van Dusen, who is still living, aged seventy-six. In politics, Axel Throop early joined the school of Jefferson, later became a Whig, and upon the disruption of that party and the formation of the Republican organization, espoused the cause of the latter, and continues to act with that party. He has not been an aspirant for office, preferring rather the quiet seclusion of the farm and of home. Early enrolled a member of the Baptist church, he was long both chorister and deacon of the Second Baptist church of Phelps, of which Rev. William Roe (familiarly known as Elder Roe) was then pastor. Himself and wife are yet members of the same church, though prevented by the infirmities of age from an attendance upon its ministrations.

Azel Throop has through life been a man of constant, untiring industry, a citi- son peaceable and pleasant. He has never, as plaintiff or defendant, been engaged

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in a lawsuit, and has ever been averse to contention and a promoter of kindly feelings.

Economical and industrious, himself and wife have reared and educated a large family, and given them a fair start in life. He has heard the calls of charity, and responded to the claims of Christian benevolence with judgment and discrimina- tion.

Mr. Throop had for years desired to see the centennial birthday of the nation, and has been gratified. Seven years since, the fiftieth anniversary of his wedding- day was passed with his wife and family with quiet pleasure.

Of nine children, five sons and four daughters, all save one-who died in infancy -reached maturity. Two daughters have passed away. A son farms the old home- stead, two others are engaged in business in Chicago, one is a physician in New York, and the fifth is connected with the postal department of the government. The venerable father and mother, in retrospection, behold a life of virtue, industry, and religion, while they contemplate the future with the simple, abiding faith known only to the followers of the Christian religion.

DANFORD BOOTH.

Sharon Booth, the father of the subject of this sketch, came from Hartford county, Connecticut, and arrived at the foot of Canandaigua lake, March 12, 1790. Here he remained a short time, and continued his course as far as Seneca Point, where he engaged to work on a farm for N. G. Wilder at five dollars and twenty-five cents per month. At twenty-two years of age he married Rath Gil- let, and six children were the result of that union. Danford and Dolla were twins. Mrs. Booth died December 20, 1805, aged twenty-three years. Decem- ber 21, 1806, he was united in marriage with Catharine Root. They had three children. Mrs. Booth died December 18, 1814; and Mr. B. was married on the 23d of October, 1815, to Anna Wilder, and two children were born of this marriage. Sharon Booth died July 6, 1845.

Danford Booth, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, was born near his present residence on the 8th of September, 1804. He has been twice mar- ried. First, to Caroline Caldwell, October 26, 1828, who died February 25, 1830. He united in marriage with his second wife, Sally Morgan, March 3, 1831; who died May 28, 1876. Eight children were born of this marriage, seven of whom are living. A daughter, Lucy, is dead.

In the spirited campaign of 1840, Mr. Booth was an active participant, and a member of the Whig party. He was a strong opponent of slavery, and is an anti-Mason. Mr. Booth is pleasantly situated on one of the fine farms of " Old Ontario," and though well advanced in years, is still hale and hearty, with every indication of being spared yet many years to a large cirole of friends and neigh- bors, by whom he is held in high esteem.

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PLATE LXIX

ALLEN PAYNE .

MRS. ALLEN PAYNE.

RIBE

RES. OF THE LATE ALLEN PAYNE, FARMINGTON, ONTARIO CO, N.Y.

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PLATE LXX.

DANIEL ARNOLD.

MRS. BETSY P. ARNOLD.

RES. OF DANIEL ARNOLD , FARMINGTON, ONTARIO CO ., N. Y.

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TOWN OF FARMINGTON.

THE desire to better their condition is universal with the human race. Where courage, endurance, and ability are combined, the result is, in the main, success. Prayerfully, yet hopefully, the colonists had crossed the broad ocean in a small vessel, and won themselves a footing, not without persecution, from those who had fled religious tyranny themselves in the province of Massachusetts. From neces- sity and inclination, the Friends constituted themselves a distinct people, simple in dress, plain of apparel, and bound to the observance of certain societary laws, among which were temperance, peace, and superintendence. The latter feature included a report to the society by any portion of its members of all important plans contemplated, especially that of a distant removal, in order that the subject should be fairly considered. When the fame of the far-away Indian country came to be noised among the Friends of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, twelve men associated to purchase a body of the native land as soon as it should be put in the market. The subject was canvassed in council, and the decision was ad- verse to emigration. The distance was too great, and the dangers too formidable, and when the movement was resolutely advanced, the projectors were formally disowned. Turn we now to the task voluntarily assumed by the pioneer Friends. The Phelps and Gorham purchase had been surveyed into townships by range and number, and the first sale was made of township No. 11, runge 3, to the following-named purchasers: Nathan Comstock, Benjamin Russell, Abraham Lapham, Edmund Jenks, Jeremiah Brown, Ephraim Fish, Nathan Herendeen, Nathan Aldrich, Stephen Smith, Benjamin Rickenson, William Baker, and Dr. Daniel Brown. As representatives of the company, the deed was given to Messrs. Comstock and Russell. The former became the pioneer, and set out with two sons, Otis and Darius, accompanied by Robert Hathaway, in the year 1789, for the Genesee country. The land and water routes were both employed, and the journey accomplished. Industry was now applied to the work of settlement. Trees were felled and a cabin erected. A small field of wheat was sown, and, while part labored in the clearing, Darius, as the subsistence commissary, made weekly journeys to Geneva, a score of miles away, and brought back provisions upon his back. A horse, their only one, had died shortly after their arrival, throwing the party wholly upon their own resources. A proprietor, named Aldrich, came by water to Geneva, bringing with him provisions and seed-wheat, which he packed to his purchase, and then set to work and put in a few acres to wheat. Winter drew nigh, and all but Otis Comstock returned to Massachusetts to recount their experience, consummate their plans, and prepare for a permanent removal. The winter fireside was the place of many. a discussion of the coming season : the long route of travel through the old forests; the Indians hovering about their former villages and camping-grounds; the wild beasts howling in the timber, and fierce for attacks upon the flock or herd; and the long, weary journeys to distant mills and markets. Nor was Otis forgotten. Not as now could letters borne with lightning speed convey him tidings of good cheer, and return letters, freighted with pioneer experience, assure them of his welfare. They could only wait, while he, with no neighbors nearer than Canandaigua and Boughton Hill, tenanted the lone cabin, cared for the stock, and waited the coming of spring and the family. Early in the year 1790 preparations had been made, and on February 14 the journey for permanent settlement began ; the old and well-remembered home was seen for the last time, and the party set out on their long and memorable journey. Nathan Comstock was the leader, and his family formed no inconsiderable portion of the proposed settlers. With him were Nathan Aldrich and Isaac Hathaway. Days and weeks went by, and the distance lengthened till the old home was far away. Each day saw the party plodding on through mud and snow ; each night the snow was cleared from a small plat by the camp-fire, and the children awoke terrified at times at the dismal howls of the prowling wolf.

On February 15, one day later than Comstock's party, Nathan Herendeen, having traded his small farm in Adams for a thousand acres in the "purchase," started upon his track. With him were his son Welcome Herendeen, sons-in-law Joshua Herrington and John McCumber, their wives and children. Each night's camp was made where those preceding had slept the night before, and, finally, gaining upon, overtook them at Geneva, whence the whole party moved on

together to Canandaigua, and thence to the clearings and cabins of the previous fall. The township was given the name Farmington, from Farmington, Connecti- cut, and, prior to purchase, had been surveyed and mapped. It was divided into one hundred and forty-four lots, each containing a quarter-section. The lots were numbered, and each drew in turn from the list of numbers until all had drawn their share of the purchase. Few knew aught of the quality of their land, and by the drawing the different parties were considerably scattered. One of the lots drawn by Nathan Comstock was No. 137, the first settled portion of the town. Much of interest is derived from a manuscript written by Edward Herendeen concerning this early settlement. The pioneers were conscious of their victorious struggle with the forces of nature, and not more fondly does the soldier delight to fight his battles over again, than the old settler recount his early life and draw his contrast of past and present. It is his well-won right, and it were well if his experience were jotted down.

" What would we now think," says Herendeen, "to take eight children in the dead of winter, with an ox-team, where they could not have or see a fire from morning until night? It looks marvelous to me that they lived through that journey ! Often have I thought of it, and it almost looks impossible that it could be done."

The new-comers were soon installed in cabins and engaged in clearing, and the close of fall saw a number of fields sown in wheat. The plow was not used in the preparation of the soil ; the trees were cleared away, the wheat scattered and raked in, and with this slight culture heavy crops resulted. It was not with im- punity that the settlers dwelt upon the site of former forest-trees; the miasma of decaying vegetation, now exposed to the torrid heat of summer, floated in clouds about the cabin, and thirteen out of fourteen had the fever and ague during the first season. Welcome Horendeen escaped only to be a six-months' victim of the disorder during the next season. Herendeen, desiring wheat for seed, worked a period of thirteen days for two bushels and a half. This was his last purchase of wheat; his fields, years later, furnished to his labor the most ample returns. Aldrich had sown wheat in the fall of 1789, on lot 23, and it was harvested in the summer of 1790. Summer crops were put in during the season, and consid- erable land prepared for tillage. The stump-mortar'was employed in preparing the grain for food, and the prospect of bread from ground wheat was regarded with anticipated satisfaction. It may be said of Aldrich that his was the second cabin built in the town. In it was held the first town meeting during 1797, and here he died in 1818. Nathan Herendeen and others built their cabins and settled on lot 21 of what is now District No. 1. To him is ascribed the raising of the first barn in the town. The period is placed at 1794. Seventeen years passed away, and in 1807 Herendeen died, and was buried upon the land his labor had cleared and rendered of service to his family. Joshua Herrington, a son-in-law, was desirous of bread for his family, and made a journey to Wilder's mill to get some wheat ground. The conscientious scruples of Mrs. Wilder against running a mill on the Sabbath-day made the trip fruitless, and he returned home to find that an increase had taken place in his family. On September 17, 1790, was born this the first white child native to the district of Farmington. His name was Welcome Herrington, later known as Herendeen. It is known of him that he married while young, and moved to Michigan. He attained a weight of three hundred and fifty pounds,-a notable sample of the carly productions of this prosperous and friendly neighborhood. Joshua Herrington was a dweller upon the farm on lot 27, now owned by N. Redfield. Here he lived sixty years, and in 1851, like a shock of corn fully ripe, was cut down at the age of ninety years, leaving behind a name for sobriety and honesty. Welcome Herendeen and his father, Nathan, occupied the homestead on lot 21 until the death of the latter, on September 17, 1807. The mother continued to reside with Welcome till her decease, in 1822. Welcome married Elizabeth Durfee, of Palmyra, in 1794. Of five children, Edward, the oldest, was born on February 10, 1795; grew up; married Harriet Cudworth, of Bristol, and raised a family of eleven children.

Abraham Lapham was an occupant of land in district No. 1 as early as 1790; his descendants are still found residents of the town. In the spring of 1790,

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

John Payne transferred himself from Massachusetts to Farmington, and located on lot 46. A large family was raised, one of whom, at the age of seventy-two, is a present citizen of Manchester. The death of Mr. Payne occurred at the farm, in February, 1821. It is worthy of present remark that a comparison of the families of pioneers with those of their descendants is very much in favor of the former. Schools, once large, have become reduced to a small group; lands once tilled by the children of the settler, and trades once practiced by them, are gradu- ally passing to alien hands, who, growing up, infuse new elements into our hetero- gencous society. The subject is one of more than ordinary interest, and presents a new phase of our still primitive and growing condition. It suggests the gradual extinction, not by war nor pestilence, of families whose influence in the past has been productive of great benefit to the community wherever they were found. Local attraction gave way at times to necessity, and we find the pioneers, having dwelt a few years in one place, shifting to another, or, merging with the stream of western migration, sweeping out to the Holland purchase and beyond. John McCumber moved, in 1791, from lot 21 to near the present residence of W. W. Herendeen, and, later, removed to Ohio, where he died. Jonathan Reed, son-in- law of Nathan Herendeen, moved upon the farm owned at present by P. Tren- field soon after the commencement of settlement, and was the pioneer blacksmith. Many the needed repair ; many the tool set right; many the gathered group at his shop during stormy days; and much the work done during that period when the hammer and anvil were the chief agencies in a manufacture of sickle and pruning-hook, hoe and plow. He ceased to be known as a resident after 1816. Another son-in-law, Samuel Mason, settled upon and cleared up land where Charles Jeffrey now lives. His trade was that of a cabinet-maker; for several years he engaged in the construction of the ample and durable furniture in vogue at that time.

John Dillon, making a choice of location in this neighborhood, obtained No. 1 for his home. He had previously been engaged in farming in Dutchess county, and, with the experience there gained, applied himself to his occupation, and suc- cessfully. To the west of him, on No. 2, was his neighbor, Adam Nichols. Here, in a period not remote when compared with European civilization, but old when traced back in changes of customs and society gone forevermore, these farmers carried on their farm-work, and, knowing no better way, dropped their corn by hand and covered with the hoe; sowed their wheat and harrowed it in ; mowed the regular swath and hand-raked the windrow; gathered the brown grain with the sickle, and kept time to the rapid flail-stroke on the threshing-floor. As the Indian was distinctive in his life and pursuits, so was the early farmer. Time and patience accomplished in those days what the improved machinery of the present has made a pastime. On No. 30 the primitive settler was Joseph Wells, who prior to 1795 had marked the locality for his own, and where the toil of years and the enjoyments of rest and observation made up the round of life. Here for a long period lived his son Joseph, and just east of the tract dwells his grandson Joseph Wells.

The history of the district would be incomplete without a reference to its early school. Who were the teachers has passed to oblivion,-none living know. Little they recked then of the future, and as little the present has cared for them. The house is known to have stood on lot 21, on the southwest corner of the roads. The instructions of the well-known Elam Crane were made available to the resi- dents of this neighborhood during 1806, a year made remarkable in many locali- ties from the occurrence of the "dark day" or great eclipse,-an event fraught with terror, wonder, superstition, and gloom. Fortunately, the children of this district had in the person of their instructor a practical, educated man, as is evidenced- aside from other sources of knowledge-by his taking the entire school out to the road, and, as the singular and deepening gloom spread, and the forest in utter quiet put on a weird, unearthly aspect, directed their attention to the dark body stealing slowly across the disk of the sun, and taught a lesson so impressive that it never became effaced. Of all that school, master and pupils have passed away except Daniel Arnold, who-then a lad of five years, now an aged resident of dis- trict No. 9-has lived to this day, to recall an event of early childhood. Joseph Smith and James D. Fish soon after 1790 started an ashery, near the Friends' south meeting-house, and therein manufactured pearlash, an article prominent at the time as finding ready sale and returning somewhat of profit to those engaged. The building was a frame structure, and as such was known as the first of its class in the town. It was taken in charge by Ahab Harrington in 1800, and was car- ried on by him for a number of years. A tannery was built in 1800 by Thomas Herendeen, a son of Nathan Herendeen. He conducted the business about fifteen years, was succeeded by Peter C. Brown, and by him the interest was continued until about 1826. Its site was near the late residence of Allen Payne.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 72

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391