History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families, Part 48

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass, comp; Conover, George S. (George Stillwell), b. 1824, ed
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1002

USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families > Part 48

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Abbey, Isaac J., Richmond, was born July 15, 1819, a son of John Abbey, who came from Hopkinton, Mass., in 1800 with his father, Aaron, who fought at Bunker Hill and served to the end of the Revolution. John married Elizabeth, daughter of Squire Will- iam Baker. Of their nine children, Sinai, Ann, John, Lora and Alta are deceased. Those living are : Olive, Sarah, Isaac J. and Hiram P. John held many of the important town offices and was a representative citizen. Isaac J. was educated in the district schools and spent his youthful days on his father's farm. He married in 1841 Fanny M., dangh- ter of Preston Hawes, of Brookfield, Mass., by whom he had three children : John P., Mary E., Mrs. Simmons, of Centrefield, and Sanford W. He married second Jane IIo- gan, by whom he had no children. In politics he is a Democrat. He owns 232 acres at. the home farm and lives on the site of the old home of his grandfather Baker. He built his present honse in 1853. John P., oldest son of Isasc J., was born March 6, 1844; he was educated in the common schools, at Lima Seminary and Canandaigua Academy. He married in 1870, Julia Plimpton, of Worcester, Mass., and they have two children, Frank P., born in 1874, and Nellie, born in 1877. Mr. Abbey is engaged in farming, owning 130 acres on the road leading from Honeoye to Allen's Hill. He has twenty- six acres of hops, five acres of raspberries, and a large apple orchard, besides five good farm buildings. He is a Democrat and both he and his wife are Congregationalists. Sanford Winslow Abbey was born January 11, 1857. He was educated at Canandaigua Academy. In 1876 he married Adaline M., daughter of Sylvanus Culver of, Saline, Mich., and they have two children, Byron S., born in 1877, and Kenneth C., born in 1891. He has carried on his father's farm for many years and is a hop-grower. He is a Dem- ocrat and was member of assembly in 1890.

Allen, Erastus II, one of the leading farmers of Bristol, was born July 14, 1826 His father was Miles, son of Jesse, a native of Hartland, Conn., who in an early day came to South Bristol and lived in Richmond, and moved to Ohio, where he died. He was twice married, first to Incy Gilman, by whom he had eight children. ITis second wife was a Miss Lane and they had two children. Miles Allen was born in 1798 in Hart- land, Conn., and was a young boy when he came to South Bristol. He married Marcia

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Wilder, whose maiden name was Hills. They had three sons and two daughters. He died in 1850, and his wife in 1866. E. H. Allen was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He engaged in farming and has since followed that occupation. August 18, 1850, he married Mary Ingraham, of Bristol. Her father, Junia Ingraham, was a native of Bristol. He married Ann Whitesmarsh, of Dighton, Mass., and they had three daughters. Mr. Ingraham died in 1850, and his wife in 1857. Erastus H. Allen and wife had three daughters: Mary A., Edna E., and Katie. Mr. Allen has 295 acres of land, and settled where he now resides in 1851. He followed farming and for the last twenty-five years has been a wool dealer. Mr. Allen has always been a Repub- lican, but has never aspired to public office. He and family attend and support the Congregational Church of Bristol Center.

Ansley, Alanson, Geneva, was born on the pre-emption line at the old homestead (which has been in the family about one hundred years), was educated in the public schools, and is a farmer, excepting about twenty years spent in the agricultural imple- ment business in Geneva, but is now on the farm again engaged principally in fruit culture. On September 15, 1847, he married Mary A., daughter of Joseph and Mary Eldestin, and have had three children, Cynthia M., Susie, and Horatio Seymour. Susie died at the age of nine years ; Cynthia married and has two daughters, Susie and Anna M. Horatio Seymour Ansley graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1890, but at present is doing business for a New York manufacturing company. William Ansley was born in Massachusetts in 1773, removed with his parents to Pennsylvania when about four years old, was educated and reared a farmer. In 1792 he in company with Powel Carpenter walked from Lackawanna county, Pa., with nothing but the clothes they wore, and their axes on their shoulders, settled together in Ontario county, N. Y., on the pre-emption line, five miles southwest of Geneva. Geneva then contained one frame and some half dozen log houses. Mr. Carpenter removed a few years later from here to Monroe county, and settled in the town of Scottsville, where he spent the re- mainder of his days. He served a number of years as one of the judges of that county. In 1794 William Ansley married Esther Witter, and they had ten children. His first wife died in 1817. For his second wife he married Margaret (Sayre) Gramesly. They had s'x children : Alanson, Margaret, Matilda, James, Marcus, and Marvin. Alanson, Margaret, and Marcus are still living. Marcus occupies the old homestead, which was built and opened as a country hotel in 1794, and used for that forty years. It still stands firm and solid, and promises all right for years to come. William Ansley died in 1840, and his wife in 1865.

Adams, Arthur T., East Bloomfield, a native of Adams' Basin, Monroe county, born July 29, 1838, is a son of John, who was one of seven children of Jonathan Adams, who settled on a farm in East Bloomfield in 1795 ; a part of the farm is now owned by subject. John was born in Massachusetts in 1794, and learned the gunsmith's trade. He went to St. Charles, Mo., and there followed his trade for some time, then returned on horse back to New York, a distance of 1,000 miles. Soon after he arrived he ex- changed his pony for household furniture, manufactured in what was then "Mechanic's HIall," E. B., some of the chairs being still in existence. Ile owned part of the farm

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.

settled by his father, which he sold to a brother and moved to Adams' Basin, where he engaged in growing silk-worms and in manufacturing silk. He also worked at his trade and at saw-milling. He served in the War of 1812, and drew a pension. He was twice married, first to Philinda Wilson, a native of Bristol, by whom he had three sons and five daughters. Second, to Margaret Adams, of Palmyra, by whom he had one child who died in infancy. Mrs. Adams died in 1872, and Mr. Adams in 1884. Arthur T., when fourteen years old, came to East Bloomfield to visit relatives, and from that time lived and worked with his brother, Oliver Edson Adams, at the blacksmith's trade for eleven years, attending school winters at the academy. At the death of his uncle he fell heir to the farm of ninety-five acres, on which he has since lived. Here he has put up good buildings and made many other improvements. The wife of Arthur T. Adams is Laura Parmele, a native of East Bloomfield, and a daughter of Nelson and Laura (Childs) Parmele. To subject and wife were born two children: Woodbry B., born in 1868, educated in East Bloomfield Union School, and graduated from the Buf- falo School of Pharmacy in 1891. He is at present a druggist of Buffalo ; and Nellie Blanche, a student in East Bloomfield Union School. Mr. Adams is a Republican, but not an aspirant to office. He is a natural musician, and for a number of years was leader in the Congregational choir, but at present he and his daughter are engaged with the M. E. Church choir, his daughter as organist. A number of years ago Mr. Adams organized a male quartet in East Bloomfield, which is still in existence. It is composed of Mr. Adams, Jesse Wheeler, William Spitz, and Charles Munson.

Ashley, William, Richmond, son of Noah Ist, was born January 5, 1809, in a log- house across the way from the frame house his father afterwards built. He married in 1834 Juliet Bosworth, of Sheffield, Berkshire county, Mass. Of their eight children only four are living, Mrs. Ashley's great-grandfather, Nathaniel Bosworth, emigrated from Wales, and died in Sandisfield, Mass .. in 1807, aged ninety-nine years. Her grand- father was Nathaniel 2d, and her father, Jared Bosworth, went to Michigan as one of the early pioneers in 1818. William Ashley died August 6, 1890.

Ainsworth, Hon. Stephen Howard, West Bloomfield, was born in Burlington, Otsego county, March 6, 1809. His father was Darins, who came from Connecticut about 1806, and whose grandfather, with two brothers, emigrated from England and were afterward soldiers in the Revolution. Stephen's parents were poor, and his first busi- ness venture was as a dancing teacher, which he followed thirteen years, then pur- chased a farm and established his parents thereon. In 1839 he began the study of phrenology; and in 1841 began lecturing and lectured five years with marked success, being invited to lecture at colleges and schools, and to make examinations in prisons, as a result of his ability to describe the characteristics of persons entirely unknown to him. When lecturing at Auburn, he was taken by a committee into the State's prison to examine heads blindfolded. He told the crime that each prisoner had committed correctly -even to the kidnapping of a child, and was also able to tell two outsiders that they had committed no crime. In 1846 he became a nursery man in West Bloom- field, which he followed with great success until 1871, when he retired. He is now enjoying a comfortable fortune at his pleasant home in West Bloomfield. Mr. Ains-

FAMILY SKETCHES.

worth was one of the first to embrace Abolitionism; and the first in the country to give to the world an improved and successful method for the artificial propagation of fish. He was the one who recommended and secured the appointment of Seth Green as fish commissioner, State Hatchery at Caledonia. He has been an enthusiastic angler and has made records at fly casting, and has been honored with the following medals for his piscatorial services : A silver medal from the New York State Poultry Society in 1869 for spawning race; was made life member of, and received a silver medal of the first class from the Society d'Acclimation of Paris, France, for improvements in fish culture. In 1836 he married Louise S. Thompson, of Lima. They have one daughter, Isabella L., wife of R. M. Peck of this town. He married second, in 1871, Susannah Perry, his present wife, whose grandfather, a soldier in the Revolution, was one of the guards at the execution of Major Andre. His home was in Keene, N. H., to which town he had come from Massachusetts, where Mrs. Ainsworth's father, Abel Perry, was born. Mr. Ainsworth was a member of the State Legislature in 1861, and has been president of the Fruit Growers' Society of Northern New York; also presi- dent of the Ontario County Agricultural Society.

Allen, Clark, West Bloomfield, was born April 26, 1824, in the town of Russell, Lower Canada. When he was about eight years old his father, John, brought his family to Monroe county, and settled at the Lower Falls of the Genesee (Carthage) below Rochester. In 1838 he came to this town with his family-wife and eleven children. He was a blacksmith by trade, but worked at farming in this town. Clark was educated in the district schools and West Bloomfield Academy. He worked principally at farming, but for two years before his marriage he was on the road put- ting up hydraulics. In 1850 he married Sarah E. Peck, daughter of Waterous Peck, and had two children. Their son, Mahlon P., born in 1852, is a hardware merchant in Lima, and married Belle Scott of that place in 1886, and has two children. Sarah Paulinah, his daughter, died at the age of twelve years. Mr. Allen lived in Michigan four years after his marriage, then returned to this State, and in 1863 bought the old homestead of his wife's father where he lived until 1876. He resided in Lima six years, then bought the Jasper C. Peck farm of 260 acres on the east main road, where he now lives. He still owns and works the other farm of 160 acres.

Abbey, Benton G., Richmond, was born February 19, 1854. His father, Hiram P., son of John, was born in 1822, and married Betsey, daughter of Benjamin Gregg, of Bristol, and settled on a portion of his father's farm. Besides Benton he had two other children: S. Elizabeth, born in 1860, and Robt. B., now living in Bristol, where he is a farmer. Hiram P. has about 550 acres in this county and several thousand acres in Texas, which he visits every winter. Mrs. Abbey died in 1888. His son, Benton G., attended Canandaigua Academy and Geneseo Normal School. In 1885 he married Jennie Garton, of East Bloomfield, and they have two children : Caroline, born August 1, 1886, and Bessie, born in January, 1888. Mr. Abbey engaged in the manufacture of drain tile in 1879, to which he has since added a cider mill and a fruit evaporator. He has twenty acres in his homestead farm.

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.

Adams, Gabriel, Canadice, a native of Sussex county, N. J., was born in 1829 and died August 7, 1876. He came with his parents to this town about 1831. His father, Joseph, died in 1837, aged thirty-three years, leaving seven children : Gabriel, who married in 1851 Charlotte, daughter of Josiah and Lua B. Jackman, who were both born in Richmond. Of their ten children six survive; Abner and Chloe (Johnson) and Mrs. Adams of this town. The latter has two children.

Andrews, William R., Bristol, was born in Bristol, November 3, 1867. His father was George A., son of Royal A., whose father was Samuel Andrews, born in Bristol, Mass., July 2, 1770. He married Dorcas Aldrich, born at Northbridge, Worcester county, Mass., July 17, 1867. They came to Bristol and settled. In early life he was a sailor, and also a cooper and farmer. He died in Bristol. Royal A. was born in Bristol May 30, 1799, and married Hannah Evarts, a native of Bristol, born December 24, 1801. They had three sons and six danghters: Elkanah, George A., and Samuel A., who died in California, December 1, 1850 ; Minerva H., who died March 11, 1875; Catherine S., who died August 5, 1857 ; Mary, who died July 5, 1848 ; Charlotte and Melissa (twins) reside in Michigan, and Achsah, wife of John B. Wheeler. Mr. Andrews was a Quaker, as were his parents. He died July 14, 1870, and his wife October 24, 1886. George A. was born October 27, 1823, and was educated in East Bloomfield Academy, and taught school a number of years, but his principal occupation was farm- ing. He owns 140 acres of land. June 13, 1865, he married Malvina A., daughter of William W. Briggs, of Bristol. She was born January 20, 1840. Their children were : William R., Lenora, wife of Harry Bliss, and Cora D., wife of Carroll E. Simmons. Mr. Andrews died in Bristol, January 7, 1889, and his wife, January 21, 1893. Will- iam R. Andrews was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools of Bristol. He owns 105 acres of land, part of the old homestead, and is an adherent member of the Farmers' Alliance and the E. K. O. R. No. 29, and is a member of the Universalist church of Bristol.

Andrews, Cornelius J., D.D.S., Canandaigua, was born in Canadice, October 7, 1845, a son of George, a farmer of that town. The school days of our subject were spent in his native town, and when he was sixteen vears of age he began teaching school, fol- lowing this until 1864, when he entered Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, spending two years; after a year's teaching he entered the State Normal School at Oswego, from which he graduated in 1867. After receiving his diploma he began teaching in Canan- daigua, and after a year owing to failing health he went west, and accepted a position as assistant civil engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad. He was there about a year and a half, when, his father dying suddenly, he was called home. This same year, 1870, he began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. A. G. Coleman, of Canandaigua. He was with him as a student for one year, and then as a partner for four years. At the end of this time he went for one"year to the Philadelphia Dental College, from which he graduated March 1, 1877. He resumed his partnership with Dr. Coleman for two years, and May 1, 1879, he opened a business for himself, which has proven very successful. Dr. Andrews is a member of the Seventh District Dental Society, and of Canandaigua Lodge No. 294 F. & A. M. He married, November 12, 1872, Maria M.

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Bailey of Spencerport, and they have had three daughters: Bertha G., Jessie M. and Maud E. Dr. Andrews is a prominent member of the M. E. Church, and for the last eleven years has been a trustee of Canandaigua church. Dr. Andrews also conducts a farm on the lake shore of 100 acres, half of which is vineyard. The office is at 232 Main street. Residence 92 Gibson street.

Booth, Charles F., D.D.S., Canandaigua, was born in Canandaigua November 11, 1858, a son of John E., a merchant and farmer of this town, now retired from business and living in Geneseo. The early life of our subject was spent in this town. He was educated at the Canandaigua Academy under Professor N. T. Clark, and at the State Normal School at Geneseo. After leaving the Normal School Dr. Booth began the study of dentistry in the office of F. E. Howard at Geneseo, from whose office he ina- triculated. In 1878 he attended a course of lectures at the New York College of Den- tistry, after which he took his degree at the Philadelphia Dental College. He con- ducted an office in Geneseo for a year and a half, and then came back to his home, where he opened an office and has since practiced his profession. He is now located in the Sibley block, and his residence is at 35 Gibson street. He is a member of the Sev- enth District Dental Society, and a member of the K. of P. Lodge of Canandaigua.

Barnes, Albert F., Farmington, was born in Farmington May 24, 1824. He was educated in the common schools and Canandaigua and Macedon Academies, and fol- lowed farming. He married twice, first in December, 1848, Sarah M. Case, and had three children : Marion, who died at the age of a year and a half, and another son who lived but a few days, and Carrie L., who married Lewis Quackenbush of Penn Yan, now residing in Canandaigua. Mrs. Barnes died April 3, 1875, and he married second Christiana A. Robson, of Hartland, Niagara county. They had two daughters, Ethel L., who died at the age of four years, and one that was not named. Stephen Barnes, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Rhode Island December 24, 1791. He married twice, first to Charlotte Algier of his native place, and came here in 1810. They had three children : Emily, who married Clarkson Aldrich, they had one daugh- ter, Charlotte, who died at the age of seventeen years ; Ira, married Abigail Woodbury, they had five children, two sons and three daughters, Charles, Stephen, Frances, Su- sanna and Charlotte ; Frances, married Henry Redfield and still lives in this town; the third child, Adaline, died when young. Stephen Barnes married for his second wife Rachel Wilbur of Macedon, Wayne county, in the year 1822. They had four children : Albert T., Stephen H., who died at the age of two years; Edward O. S. and Charlotte M. His mother's side was of the Friends denomination ; her father, Henry Wilbur, being one of the early settlers of Friends who came from Massachusetts in the year 1792. He was an exemplary member of the Friends Society at Farmington during a period of nearly seventy years, he having lived to the age of ninety-four years. Stephen Barnes died Angust 18, 1865, and his wife, Rachel Barnes, twenty years later being January 14, 1885. Mrs. Barnes's father, Kendra Robson, was born in Yorkshire, Eng- land, in 1803, and came to the United States with his parents and two brothers in 1820, locating in Niagara county. The family were members of the Society of Friends, the father, Michael Robson, having become convinced of the truths of the gospel as

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY.

held by them, when a young man and following the seas. He was left an orphan when quite young, his father having died when he was but three years of age, and his mother before he was ten. He was bound apprentice to a sea captain when he was twelve years of age and followed the seas for many years; he lived to the age of ninety-four years. Kendra Robson married Ruth Brecken, who also came from England ten years later. They had thirteen children : James K., John B., Mary A., Elizabeth C., Rachel L., Christiana A., William D., Charles M., Eliza J., Alice S., Henry L., Francis E., and Ella T. Twelve arrived at the age of manhood and womanhood; eight are still living.

Briggs, E. Elihu, Bristol, was born in Bristol September 25, 1835, reared on a farm and educated in East Bloomfield Academy. At the age of seventeen he engaged in teaching for five years in connection with farming, since which time he has followed farming exclusively. He owns sixty-three and one-half acres, which he purchased in 1867. Mr. Briggs has been thrice married. First, in 1854 to Emeline, daughter of Rev. Abner Reed. They had four children: William, Frank, Helen and Elnathan. Mrs. Briggs died in 1868, and in 1870 Mr. Briggs married Mary Ann Johnson, daughter of Phineas Johnson. By his second wife Mr. Briggs had two children : Ina E. and Lewis B. Mrs. Mary Ann Briggs died in 1884 and in 1886 Mr. Briggs married Lucrecia Kings- bury, daughter of Hampton Kingsbury, with whom he is still living. Mr. Briggs is a member of the People's party. He is now serving his third year as president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Hop-growers' Association of Bristol. He is a member of Bristol Grange of which he has been secretary for fifteen years, and is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and also secretary of that organization. He and family attend the Universalist Church at Bristol. E. Elihu Briggs is a son of William Briggs, a son of Elihu, a son of Zenas, who was a native of Massachusetts. William W. Briggs, father of the subject, was born in Bristol September 20, 1811. In 1861 he purchased fifty- four acres of land, and spent his last active days as a farmer. In 1879 he came to Bris- tol Hill and has since lived a retired life. November 13, 1834, he married Nancy Briggs of Massachusetts, born November 8, 1814, a daughter of Enoch and Abigail Briggs. William W. Briggs and wife had six children : E. Elihn, George W., Melvina A., Elna- nathan G., Ruth S. and Nannie L.

Buck, Rev. Daniel Dana, Geneva, was born in Lebanon, N. H., September 10, 1814. While yet a child, the family emigrated to the " West'ard," as it was then termed, and settled in Scottsville, a few miles south of Rochester. When he was fourteen years old he was taken into the employ of Mr. John Mitchell, a merchant in Scottsville, with whom he continued three years. Then he found employment as a clerk in a mercantile house in Rochester for five years, when he was licensed to preach by the First Meth- odist Episcopal Church of Rochester, and was recommended for admission into the General Conference. According to the usage of the M. E. church, after being on trial for two years, he was admitted into full connection, and was ordained as a deacon. Two years thereafter he was elected to the order of elders, and was ordained as an elder. Mr. Buck continned in the regular itinerant ministry, being appointed from year to year to various pastoral charges by the bishops until he had rendered forty years of effective service. Feeling then the infirmities of age, and the need of rest and

FAMILY SKETCHES.

recuperation, with permission of the Conference he retired from the effective ranks, and located his residence in Geneva. Since making this his home, without a regular pas- toral charge, he has been employed much of the time as a temporary pulpit supply for various churches of his own denomination, and also for the Reformed (Dutch) Church, the North Presbyterian Church, and the Baptist Church, in Geneva. In the spring of 1861 Mr. Buck was commissioned as chaplain of the Twenty-seventh Regiment New York State Volunteers, Colonel (afterwards Major-General) Slocum commanding. After about one year in the service, being disabled by malarial diseases, he was honor- ably discharged from the service. Mr. Buck is the author of several volumes, ranging in size from 18mo. to octavo, and has contributed several articles for Quarterly Reviews. He has published several minor productions, mostly in prose, but some in poetry. He has been twice honored with the complimentary title of Doctor of Divinity, once by Allegheny College, at Meadville, Penn., and once by the Illinois Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, Ill. Mr. Buck has been twice married: first, in 1837, to Philena Aldrich, of Rochester, who died in 1869. The next year he was married to Mrs. Lorana Aldrich, of Rochester. By his first wife he had a son, Milton Dana, who grad- nated from Syracuse University in the class of '75. He immediately accepted a call to a professorship in Napa ('ollege, an institution belonging to the California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After two or three years' service in the college, he entered upon what he considered to be his special life work, the regular ministry of the Gospel, and since that time, as pastor or presiding elder, he has been regularly em- ployed in the ministry in that Conference. Professor Buck married Martha Ross Amos, who graduated at Napa College while he was connected with that institution. They have had four children, only two of whom survive.

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History of Ontario county, New York : with illustrations and family sketches of some of the prominent men and families, Part 48

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass, comp; Conover, George S. (George Stillwell), b. 1824, ed Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1002

Author: Aldrich, Lewis Cass, comp; Conover, George S. (George Stillwell), b. 1824, ed
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1002