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 73
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Tobey, Frederick B., East Bloomfield, was born in East Bloomfield, April 24, 18-, son of Lorenzo Brooks, whose father, Micah Brooks, was a native of Connecticut. The mother of Frederick B. Tobey was Emeline, daughter of Benjamin Tobey. She died when subject was quite young, and he was adopted by Frederick N. Tobey, a brother of his mother, who had no children. Frederick N. Tobey was born in Massachusetts in 1806, and came to East Bloomfield when ten years of age. He married Mariana Steele, sister of Hiram Steele. Mr. Tobey was a farmer and lived and died on the farm settled by his father. He served as justice of the peace and constable. Frederick B. Tobey was reared on the farm he now owns, educated in East Bloomfield Academy and the Collegiate Institute of Rochester. June 23, 1873, he married Sarah Hopkins,
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a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Henry Hopkins, of Salem, N. Y., whose wife was Evelyn Hamlin, a native of Elyria, O. Mr. Hopkins and wife had two sons and four daughters. He died in 1890 and his wife in 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Tobey have had three children : Frederick H., Arthur R. and Charles H. Mr. Tobey owns 300 acres in East Bloomfield, and has always been a Democrat. He has been assessor for three years, and is a member of Milnor Lodge No. 139 F. & A. M., and also of the Farmers' Alliance at East Bloomfield. He and family are members of the Episcopal church, of which his adopted father was one of the founders. Mr. Tobey has been a vestryman ever since the church was organized.
Totman, Levi W., Bristol, was born in Bristol, April 7, 1842. His father was Ward Totman, a son of Thomas Totman, who was born August 22, 1763. Ward Totman was born in Warren county, August 12, 1804. When a young man he and his mother re- moved to Jefferson county, where he married Irene Joiner, of Sullivan, Madison county, a daughter of Benjamin Joiner. She bore him four sons and three daughters. They came to Bristol in 1840, and settled on the farm now owned by the subject. Mrs. Tot- man died in July, 1863, and Mr. Totman married Hannah M. Moore, of Watertown. She died in 1887. He and wife were members of the M. E. Church. Mr. Totman died March 23, 1892. Subject of sketch was educated in East Bloomfield Academy. In 1862 he enlisted in Company K, First N. Y. Mounted Rifles, and served until June, 1865. He was in the following battles: Williamsburg, Suffolk, Deserted House, Wel- don Road, and other engagements. He owns 200 acres of land. He has been twice married, first to Zylpha M. Moore, of East Watertown, Jefferson county, by whom he had the following children : Inez M. (deceased), Morris H. (deceased), Ella M., Flor- ence L., Grace A., and Joel W. Mrs. Totman died February 6, 1883, and November 7 of the same year Mr. Totman married Miss Julia Woodworth, of East Watertown, Jef- ferson county, by whom he has had two children: Ruth, and Oscar who died in in- fancy. Mr. Totman is a Republican and has been highway commissioner one term. He is a member of the Good Templars, and also a member of the G. A. R. Mr. Totman and wife and their two elder daughters are members of the M. E. Church.
Trimble, Robert D., Gorham, was born in Wayne county, November 11. 1840, a son of John and Jane Trimble, natives of Scotland, who had seven sons and two dangh- ters. About 1820 they settled on a farm in Wayne county. The mother died in 1854 and the father in 1867. Robert D. was educated in Auburn High School, and resided in Wayne county until twenty years of age, when he went to Webster and there in 1863 married Frances, daughter of Benjamin H. Randolph, of Monroe county, and they had two daughters, Robertie F., and Edith L. In 1863 Mr. Trimble enlisted in the First N. Y. Veteran Cavalry, serving two years, and was for eighteen months color bearer. He was at Winchester, Strassburg, Fisher's Hill, New Market, Piedmont, and other skirmishes. At the close of the war he engaged in farming in Webster until 1887 when he purchased 160 acres in Gorham. He is a breeder of Jersey cattle. He deals extensively in apples and in red and black raspberries. He has the only evaporator in the town, and last season evaporated between 5,000 and 10,000 bushels of apples, and from two to three tons of raspberries. Mr. Trimble is a Republican and has been
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commissioner of lughways several terms. He and family are members of the Baptist Church at Middlesex. He was deacon of the Webster Baptist Church for some years. He is a member of the G. A. R. No. 672 at Webster, and of the A. O. U. W. at Rushville.
Thomas, Samuel B., Gorham, was born in Jerusalem, Yates county, December 30, 1847. His father, David A., was a son of Judge David Thomas, of Scipio, who mar- ried a Miss Allen and had ten children. He was one of the leading men of the county, and was associate judge of Yates county several years. David A. was born in Scipio in 1816. He was a great reader. His wife was Hannah S. Wyman, and to them were born five sons and four daughters. For many years they resided at Potter Centre. His death occurred July, 1886. Mrs. Thomas now resides at Rushville. Sam- uel B. was educated in the common schools, and December 16, 1873, married Cornelia Young, a native of Jerusalem, born September 5, 1848. For twenty-five years he has lived in Gorham, and for nineteen years has resided on the Young homestead. In politics he is a Democrat. The father of Mrs. Thomas was Abraham Young, son of Jacob Young, who married in Albany county Elizabeth Henry, by whom he had a son and two daughters. Mr. Young came to Gorham about 1812, but later moved to Yates county, and died in 1836. His wife died in 1848. Abraham Young was born in 1799. He married first, April 18, 1821, Almira Robinson, and had four sons and five daugh- ters. November 10, 1837, Mrs. Young died, and September 20, 1839, he married Sa- mantha Porter Reed, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. He died Decem- ber 28, 1885, and his wife died July 8, 1892.
Tay, Hinckley, Farmington, was born in the town of Concord, N. H., October 10, 1822, and came to this State with his parents when he was two years old. He was educated in the common schools, and came to Farmington in 1839, and has always fol- lowel farming. He has just been re-elected poormaster the twenty-third term. He has married twice ; first, in 1850, Mary Lapham, and had one daughter, Mary, who married John Burns. Mrs. Tay died in 1864, and he married second, March 10, 1872, Sarah E., daughter of Cornelius and Mercy Johnson of this town. They had two children : Harriet E. and Walter H., both residing at home. Mr. Tay's father was born in New Hampshire, and married Sarah Kelly, and had six children : Howard, Rufus, Albert, Francis, Harriet, and Hinckley. His mother died in 1844. Mrs. Tay's father, Cornelius Johnson, was born in this town in 1814, and was a farmer. In 1845 he mar- ried Mercy Deits, and had five children : Sarah E., John W., George A., Ella E., and Carrie. Mrs. Tay's grandfather, Daniel Deits, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Tay's grandfather, Ebenezer Kelly, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The ancestry of the family is English, German, and Irish.
Travis, Rufus W., Bristol, was born August 7, 1835, in Bristol. His father was John B., son of Robert L., a native of Orange county, born in 1762, who when a young man, went to Pike county, Pa., where he married and had four sons and three daughters. Here he spent his life, and for eighteen years lived with his son, John B. Travis, and finally went to Port Jervis, where he died in 1859. John B. Travis was born in Pike county, Pa., September 1, 1812. In 1830 he came to Bristol, and married in 1833
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Maria Young of Canandaigua, born January 28, 1814, a daughter of Israel Young, a native of Cattaraugus county, and an early settler of Canandaigua, and they had three sons and three daughters. Mrs. Travis died June 30, 1844, and September 15, 1844, Mr. Travis married Louisa Tower of Bristol, by whom he had a son and a daughter. He died September 6, 1857, and his wife died in 1872. Rufus W. was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools of Bristol. Except for eighteen years of his life spent as harness-maker, he has been a farmer. Mr. Travis married, July 29, 1855, Sallie M. Gardner, born in Bristol, August 23, 1836. She was a daughter of Richard Gardner of Bristol. September 9, 1862, Mr. Travis enlisted in Company H, Fourth N. Y. Heavy Artillery, and served until August 3, 1865. He was on garri- son duty until March, 1864, when he went into the field. He participated in the following battles : Wilderness, Ny River, Strawberry Lawn, Reams Station, Peters- burg, Deep Bottom. August 25, 1864, at Reams Station, Mr. Travis was taken pris- oner, and for three and a half months was confined Libbie and Belle Isle prisons. When released he went into the commissary department at Annapolis, and June 1, 1865, was transferred to Baltimore, and was clerk in the headquarters office at the. Jarvis General Hospital, where he was discharged at the close of the war. Mr. Travis returned to Bristol, and except four years in Nebraska, his life has been spent in that town. He now owns 131 acres, and follows general farming and hop growing, having fifteen acres of hops. Mr. Travis is a Republican, and in 1880 and '81 was col- lector of Bristol, and in 1890-93 was elected justice of the peace. He and wife are members of the Royal Templars of Temperance of Bristol Centre. Mr. Travis is a member of the G. A. R. Lillie Post, 303. They have seven children, of whom two died in infancy, Addie and Cozy, and those living are : William B., educated in Can- andaigua Academy, was a teacher many years, but at present is a commercial traveler. He married Jennie Crandall of Bristol, by whom he had two children : Grace E., and Fred A. The second child was George R., educated in Canandaigua. He married Anna Garrison, and had three children : Louis E., Mary A., Etta C. George R. was a teacher, but at present is engaged with the Geneva Optical Co. John R. was edu- cated in Canandaigua. He is at present one of the firm of Travis & Moore, of Belding, Mich. Mary L. was educated in Geneva Union and Classical School, Genesee Wes- leyan Seminary, and graduated at Geneseo Normal and Training School in 1891, and has since been a primary teacher in Belding, Mich. Charles R., the youngest child, is at home.
Titus, Oliver S., Shortsville, was born at Phelps, May 13, 1843. He received a lib- eral education, and when nineteen years of age he enlisted in Company C, One Hun- dred and Forty-eighth N. Y. Vols., under Captain Dexter E. Clapp. This was on August 22, 1862. He was principally employed upon detached service at department headquarters at Fortress Monroe, and was mustered ont June 5, 1865. After the war Mr. Titus married Francis M. Upham, of Sherburne, Chenango county. He resided in Phelps and also in Kirksville, Mo., for a few years. Upon Christmas day, 1874, Mr. Titus occupied a position with the Empire Drill Company of Shortsville, with which company he has since been identified, and now holds the office of secretary and treas- urer. Mr. Titus is identified with local social, church and benevolent institutions here,
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such as Royal Templars of Temperance, etc., etc. He has a family of three children, one son and two daughters.
Tiffany, Francis J .. Hopewell, was born in Canandaigua, April 30, 1823, a son of Edmund Tiffany, a native of Massachusetts, who when six years of age canie with his parents, Zachariah and Susan Tiffany, to Canandaigua. Here the grandparents lived and died. Edmund Tiffany married Polly Jones, and they had one son and three daughters. He died in 1868, and his wife died in 1865. Francis J. was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools and Canandaigua Academy. He married Martha Faurot, a native of Hopewell, and they had one daughter, Mary E., who be- came Mrs. Henry A. Darling. She died in 1883, leaving two children: Grace and Henry T. Grace died in 1883. Since 1880 Mr. Tiffany has resided on a part of what is known as the Bush estate. He is a Republican, and has been inspector fifteen years. He and wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Canandaigua.
Taft, Capt. Robert, West Bloomfield, the largest landholder of West Bloomfield, was a native of Uxbridge, Mass., and bought of Phelps & Gorham seventeen lots, fourteen of which were one mile square, and three over one mile by half a mile. The deed signed in Boston bore date of February 20, 1790, the consideration being $654, and in that year Mr. Taft settled on his land and built his home, where his grandson, William P., now lives. During succeeding years Captain Taft acquired several other lots from Oliver Phelps and others, and some of "Frederick Taft, Gentleman, of Uxbridge," by whom the lands were surveyed, though it was not often that he resided here. Robert Taft first built a log house, and in 1801 built the brick portion of the house now oc- cupied by William P., the stone portion being added by his son Chapin about 1836. The children of Capt. Robert Taft were as follows : Josiah, Jesse, Robert second, Bezaleel, Chapin, Maria, Lydia, Nabby, Hannah. Maria married Abner Peck before 1815, their daughters being Louisa, Caroline, and Mary Jane. Hannah married Will- iam Pitts of Honeoye. Myron L. of this town is a grandson of Josiah, and Elvira L. of Elmira a granddaughter. Lewis H. Taft and Royal of Le Roy are sons of Robert second, and Mrs. Myron Shepard and Mrs. Chloe Thomas are daughters. Mrs. Charles R. Case of Allen's Hill (Chloe Joan) is a daughter of Bezaleel, and a son, Robert 3d, is in San Jose, Cal. William P. and Caleb of this town are sons of Chapin. Royal Wheelock is a grandson of Lydia, who married Royal Wheelock, and the venerable Nancy Peck of this village, now ninety seven years of age, is the daughter of Lydia and Royal Wheelock. Robert T. Leach of this village is a son of Nabby, who married Clement Leach. Henry Shelton, of New York city, and Frederick Shelton, of Silver City, N. M., are grandsons of Jesse.
Tibbals, Albert H., Canadice, was born in this town January 28, 1843. Arnold Tib- bals, who was born in 1713 in Connecticut, was of English descent, and a son of Cap- tain Tibbals, one of the founders of the Connecticut colony. Arnold was the father of David 1st, father of David 2d, father of Peter, father of Albert H. David 2d came to Canadice in 1818 and settled where his son Noah now lives. His son Peter was born April 22, 1821, in Canadice, and was apprenticed to Chauncey Parsons, a black- smith in Geneseo, and in that town gained part of his education. He married while
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there Jane Bennett, a native of England, who came with her father George and his six brothers to this country when ten years old. Peter lived in various places and came to Canadice and settled where Albert H. now lives in 1858, and here he was en- gaged in farming and blacksmithing until his death, July 17, 1878. Of his four chil- dren, one died young, and the others are: Albert H .; Addie L., born in 1857, wife of Rev. A. W. Fenton, a Methodist minister ; and Netta, born in 1860, wife of Stephen J. Cole, a farmer of Richmond. He held several of the town offices. Albert H. was educated at the district schools and Dansville Seminary, and worked on his father's farm, teaching school winters for three years. He then enlisted in Company K, One Ilundred and Forty -seventh New York Infantry, under Colonel F. C. Miller, in July, 1863. He was in several engagements, including all the battles of the Wilderness Cam- paign to the battle and charge of Petersburg, June 18, 1864. Of more than six hundred men of this regiment who went into the Wilderness on the 4th of May, less than one hundred were left and fit for duty after this battle of Petersburg. Mr. Tibbals was slightly wounded twice in these battles, but not disabled nor excused from duty till the latter part of June, when he went into hospital on account of sickness. Later he re- turned to his regiment and participated in the battles of Hatcher's Run, Gravelly Run, Five Forks, and at General Lee's surrender at Appomattox C. H. He was ad- jutant's clerk at headquarters much of the time when not in active movement, and was discharged in July, 1865. Returning home he taught school fourteen winters and en- gaged in farming. In 1866 he married Lucy E., daughter of Henry Slingerland of this town. They have two sons: Grant A., born November 4, 1867, for some time a teacher, and now clerk of the Surrogate's Court of this county ; and Walter H., born July 11, 1881. Mr. Tibbals is now serving his fifth term as justice of the peace; he was a notary public several years, a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1884-5, and justice of sessions in 1890-1-2.
Turck, M. D., William, Clifton Springs, was born in Ontario county, October 5, 1858. He received an academic education, and eventually graduated from the Buffalo Medi- cal College in 1886. He commenced practicing his profession at Orleans, this county, and after one year moved to Clifton Springs, where he enjoys a lucrative practice. Dr. Turck married Emma Williamson.
Upton, Hon. William W., now of Washington, D. C., one of the most distinguished men whom Ontario county has produced, was born in Victor, July 11, 1817, of a family, for two generations, among the most prominent in that town. His father, James Upton,* came to Victor from Charlemont, Mass., in 1797, and shortly afterwards brought to his new home his widowed mother, Catherine (Hartwell) Upton, his brother David, and his sisters Sarah, wife of Israel Blood, and Joanna. The brother David re- moved to Michigan, where his descendants still reside. The sister Joanna married, suc- cessively, Norman Brace and Isaac Marsh, both of Victor, and reared twenty-two adopted children, but none of her own. James Upton, long a prominent figure in Vic- ter, who was born in 1779, and died in 1857. married in 1808 Olive, daughter of Sam-
* For a full account of these Uptons, their ancestors and kindred, see W. H. Upton's " Upton Family Records " : London, 1893.
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uel and Lucy (Tracy) Boughton, of Victor. He very early acquired by purchase from his brother-in-law, Israel Blood, one of the finest farms in the county, the well known " Upton Homestead," situated about a mile from Victor village, and afterwards oc- cupied by his son Josiah and his daughter Mary E. Moore, and now in the possession of Jedediah Hawkins. Upon this farm James Upton spent a long and useful life. He was frequently chosen to fill important local offices, and was a man of much influence in the county. He reared a large family of children and was able to afford them a good education, and to present each of them the then large sum of two thousand dol- lars when they successively went forth from the paternal roof-tree. Of these children five were intimately connected with the history of Victor, viz. : Josiah W. Upton, of Victor, born 1812 ; was prominent in all affairs of the town until his death in 1888. James Upton, born 1815 ; died in Rochester, N. Y., where his son, Clarence H. Upton, now resides. Mary Emeline Upton, who married William C. Moore. Charles E. Up- ton, of Rochester, born 1833; died 1886. William W. Upton was pre-eminently the scholar of the family, and from his earliest years a love of learning, for its own sake , was, perhaps, his most prominent characteristic. After securing such education as the neighborhood afforded, including a course at the Lima Seminary, and mastering the art of surveying, he taught school for a short time in Bloomfield ; but, warned by the con- dition of his health to seek more active employment, in 1838 he went to La Grange county, Ind., under contract to survey and make estimates for a canal. Failing to re- ceive the compensation due him there, he went the same year to Victor, Mich., where his father owned some " wild" land. He made this trip on foot, carrying his cloth- ing, surveying instruments and - characteristic of the man - "about ten pounds of books" on his back. He immediately went to work clearing his father's land, as well as some which he and his brother James secured, hired oxen, planted a crop, and built himself a comfortable log house, besides surveying for the neighbors, taking part in town meetings, building a wolf trap, etc. Sundays he devoted to his books, among which were Voltaire's " Charles XII." (in French) and Burns's " Poems." In Septem- ber he was driven back to his native town by the famous " Michigan ague." He taught school in the district west of Victor village that autumn, and a year later was em- ployed as surveyor in the construction of a canal near Buffalo. In 1840 he married in Victor, N. Y., and began the practice of law in Victor, Mich. His ability and in- dustry soon gained him a prominent place at the bar of his adopted State, and he was frequently chosen to positions of trust. He was supervisor of Victor (Mich.), 1840-5 ; surveyor of Clinton county, 1841-5 ; county treasurer, 1845-7 ; and a member of the Legislature which made Lansing the capital. He was appointed district attorney for Ingham county in 1848, and was elected to the same office for two terms of two years each, in 1849 and 1851. He had removed to De Witt in 1845, and to Lansing, in which city he built the first house which was not of logs, in 1847. Although by this time Mr. Upton's success in life was assured, and no young man in Michigan seemed to have a more brilliant political future before him, the wonderful tales of the new land of gold, the fascinating perils of the trip across the plains, and his own sagacious conception of the great future of the Pacific Coast, led Mr. Upton to re- sign his office, and set out in April, 1852, with his little family for California. In that
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State he practiced his profession with great success, first at Weaverville and later at Sacramento, whither he removed in 1855. In 1856 he was a member of the Leg- islature. In 1861 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Sacramento county, a position which he held till 1864. The ill health of his family compelled him in the latter year to decline becoming a candidate for Congress, and in 1865 to remove to Portland, Oregon. Thither his reputation had preceded him. He at once took a fore- most position at the bar, and was almost immediately elected to the Legislature. From this time forward he was a power in the political and social life of Oregon. In 1867 Mr. Upton was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Oregon. In 1868 he was elected to the same position for a term of six years; he became chief justice in 1872. At the expiration of his term of office, financial reverses compelled him to decline a re-nomination and resume the practice of his profession. In 1877 he was appointed second comptroller of the treasury of the United States, and removed to Washington, D. C. His new position was practically a judicial one, and a court of last resort (the comptroller's decisions being reversible by act of Congress only) ; and Judge Upton filled it with great credit through three administrations, passing upon nearly one hnn- dred and sixty claims and accounts, involving about six hundred millions of dollars. Upon the inauguration of Cleveland, Judge Upton tendered his resignation, and retir- ing from office at the age of sixty-eight, he has since June 1, 1885, continued the prac- tice of his profession in Washington City. Early in 1885 the government published his " Digest of Decisions of the Second Comptroller of the Treasury, 1869 to 1884." Of the forty-five years of what we may call his active life, he spent thirty-three in pub- lic office, yet he was never defeated in an election. He is a Freemason of rank, a Knight Templar, and a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite; and his course in every rela- tion of life has ever been guided by the three great lights of that ancient craft. We cannot close our sketch without a further reference to the one thing that perhaps char- acterizes Judge Upton more than any other, his love of learning for its own sake. This made him, from his youth, distinctively a student. While it was always a source of regret to him that his career was not based on the substantial foundation of a collegiate education, he early acquired, by his own industry, a better education than that pos- sessed by most university men. He was twice married. His first wife, Maria Amanda daughter of Joseph and Amanda (Adams) Hollister of Victor, whom he married in that town February 8, 1840, died at Sacramento, December 24, 1858. His second wife, Marietta, daughter of Amasa and Alida Ann (Ketcham) Bryan, whom he married at East Avon, March 29, 1860, still lives. Of his eleven children, the six who survived infancy have all visited Victor, and have many friends in our county. They were : James Boughton Upton, of Oretown, Oregon, born 1844 ; is a lawyer retired from practice; a Freemason. HIas issue. Charles Backus Upton, of Walla Walla, Washing- ton, born 1845; a lawyer and large landowner. Unmarried. Marietta Upton, born 1848; died in Washington, D. C., unmarried, 1880. William Henry Upton, of Walla Walla, Washington, born 1854. Graduated at Yale 1877. He is judge of the Supreme Court, a F. R. S. A., member of numerous learned societies; a Royal Arch Mason, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, etc. Has issue. George Whitman Upton, of War-
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