History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 133

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112

USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 133
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 133
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 133
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 133

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

John Tucker, private, 15th Cav., Co. F; must. Feb. 2, 1862, three years; disch. at close of the war.

Edward H. Teater, private, 76th Inf., Co. C; must. Nov. 5, 1861, three years ; disch. for disability, Ang. 20, 1862.

Lyman Tanner, private, 32d Inf., Co. E; must. June 2, 1861, two years; disch. at expiration of term.

Theodore F. Thomas, private, 15th Cav., Co. I; must. Ang. 1864, three years ; disch. at close of the war.

William C. Tripp, private, 15th Cav., Co. I; must. Feb. 2, 1864, three years; disch. at Louisville, Ky., close of war.

Garret S. Tanner, private, 143d Inf., Co. I; must. Aug. 1864, three years; no record found.

Nathan Underwood, private, 109th Inf., Co. F, three years; no record found. Ogden G. Underwood, private, 109th Inf., Co. F, three years; no record found. Ferd. Van Order, private, 32d Inf , two years; no record found.

Eugene Van Order, private, 32d Inf., two years ; no record found.

J. W. Vanderpool, private, 76th Inf., Co. F ; umust. Nov. 5, 1861, three years; dischi. at expiration of term.

Eugene Van Valkenburgh, corp., 109th Inf., Co. F; must. Ang. 27, 1862, three years; disch, by reason of wounds received at Spottsylvania.

Samuel J. Vail, sorgt., 109th Inf., Co. F; inst. Aug. 27, 1862, three years; wonuded at the Wilderness; d'ed of discase, Oct. 4, 1864.

Theodore Vanatta, private, 15th Cav., Co. F; must. Jan. 13, 1864, three years ; disch. at close of war.

Abraham Valluschamp, private, three years ; a recruit from Pennsylvania. Nathaniel Van Horn, private, three years; a recruit from Pennsylvania. Ilampton Vanhorn, private, three years; a recruit from Pennsylvania. Samuel Vanhorn, private, three years; a recruit from Pennsylvania.

Henry D. Weaver, corp., 76th Inf., Co. C; must. Oct. 1861, three years; killed at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.

John A. White, private, 76th Inf., Co. C; must. Nov. 5, 1861, three years; died of disease in Virginia. Aug. 27, 1862.

JOHN SOUTHWORTH

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AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

Alonzo B. Waggoner, sergt., 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Jan. 20, 1864, three years; disch, at close of war ; served two terms in same regiment.

Garrett Waggoner, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Nov. 5, 1861, two years.

Marion Wilcox, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Nov. 5, 1861, three years ; disch. before doing any actual service.

Ilenry Wilson, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Nov. 5, 1861, three years ; trans. to Vet. Res. Corps; disch, at close of war.

William R. White, corp., 109th Inf., Co. F; must. Ang. 27, 1862, three years; disch. at close of war.

Johan W. Wh'te, private, 109th Iuf., Co. F; must. Ang. 27, 1862, three years ; killed at battle of Spottsylvan'a, May 12, 1864.

William L. Wallace, private, 109th Inf., Co. F ; must. Aug. 27, 1862, three years ; killed in battle before Petersburg, Ang. 17, 1864.

Albert M. West, privato, 109th Iuf., Co. F; must. Aug. 27, 1862, three years ; died of disease, Sept. 12, 1863.

George W. Wright, private, 143d Inf., Co. I; three years.

A. Ward, private, 143d Inf., Co. I ; must. Oct. 8, 1862, three years; disch. for disability, March, 1863.

James Welch, private, 143d Inf., Co. F; must. Oct. 8, 1862, three years; disch. at close of war.

Henry B. Wait, private, 143d Inf., Co. I ; must. Oct. 8, 1862, three years; disch. at close of war.

Andrew Wait, private, 21st Cav., Co. M ; must. Feb. 20, 1864, three years ; disch. at close of war.

James Wait, private, 143d Inf., Co. I; inst. Oct. 8, 1862, three years.

Georgo Woodmancey, corp., 143d Inf., Co. I; must. Oct. 8, 1862, three years; diseh. at close of war.

Lyman Wilcox, private, 143d Inf., Co. I; must. Oct. 8, 1862, threo years ; dischi. on account of age, Nov. 9, 1862.

Clark Williamson, private, 18th Car., Co. F; must. June, 1864, three years; disch. at close of war.

Joseph L. Wilcox, private, 15th Cav., Co. F; must. June, 1864, three years ; no record found.

Geo. R. Wilcox, private, 15th Cav., Co. F; must. June, 1864, three years; no record found.

Audrew Wait, private, 143d Inf., Co. I ; must. Oet. 8, 1862, three years; diseb. for disability, Dec. 13, 1862; re enlisted in 2Ist Cav.

J. Henry Wallace, private, 15th Cav., Co. G; must. Sept. 5, 1863, three years; wounded in " The Valley," Dec. 21, 1864; disch, at close of war.

ADDENDA.

Joseph Aiken, private, 32d Inf., Co. A ; must. June 2, 1861, two years; disch. at expiration of term.

Wm. II. Barton, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Sept. 1861, three years; wounded at Gainesville; died at N. Y. City, Feb. 1863.

John G. Apgar, private, 76th Inf., Co. C; mnst. Sept. 1861, three years; trans. to Vet. Res. Corps; disch, at closo of war.

Earl Evans, capt., 76th Iuf., Co. F; must. Sept. 1861, three years; served first term, and re-enlisted ; pro. to capt .; served till close of war.

Myron Haivland, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; umst. Sept. 1861, three years.

Thomas 11, lloffman, private, 76th Inf., Co. F; must. Sept. 1861, three years; wounded at battle of Galuesville, and died from wounds.

David Mattison, private, 76th Iuf., Co. F; must. Sept. 1861, three years ; taken prisoner at the Wilderness ; died of starvation at Andersonville.

George Wickham, private, 143d Iuf., Co. I; must. Ang. 10, 1864, three years ; disch. at tho close of the war.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOIIN SOUTHWORTII.

The genealogy of the Southworth family is preserved for nearly two centuries back. Faber Southworth, who was born Sept. 1, 1710, married Mary Seabury, Oct. 19, 1738. Their son, John Southworth, was born Jan. 4, 1743, and was married to Elizabeth Wightman, Dee. 6, 1762. Thomas Southworth, the son of John and Eliza- beth, was born July 11, 1772, and he married Sally El- dridge, of Hancock, Berkshire Co., Mass., who died April 11, 1814. Thomas lived to the age of ninety-one years, and died at Dryden, July 27, 1863.

John Southworth, the subject of this notice, was the son of Thomas and Sally, and was born at Salisbury, in the county of Herkimer, N. Y., a short distance from Little Falls, Sept. 26, 1796. Thomas, his father, was an

exemplary man, of good common education, and a tanner and eurrier by trade. In the month of August, 1806, when John was ten years old, the father removed to the town of Dryden and bought a farm of eighty aeres, about two miles west of Dryden village, since ealled the " Willow Glen." Mr. Southworth was fond of relating the story of the first bargain he ever made, when, having been sent some distance from home with his father's team, he took the liberty of exchanging it for another. It proved to be an excellent bargain ; but the first announcement of it to his father was received with very harsh reproof, and was for a few hours the occasion of much evil augury as to his future. In 1816, when Mr. Southworth was twenty years of age, he inarried Naney, the daughter of Judge John Ellis, and bought a small farm of about fifty acres adjoin- ing his father's. At this time he was so destitute of means that he was obliged to run in debt for the pair of steers with which to work his farm. In a few years he disposed of his interest in this first purchase, and bought a farm of a few aeres in what afterwards became the village of Dryden, and on which he resided till his death. At this early period, he developed that remarkably prompt and accurate judgment as to the values of property which characterized all his subsequent eareer, and that enabled him, thus early, to operate with great success in the buying and selling of land. In ten or twelve years he became worth as many thousand dollars.

His first wife died March 16, 1830. By her he had five children,-Rhoda Charlotte, Sarah Ann, John Ellis, Nancy Amelia, and Thomas G. The eldest, Rhoda, mar- ried John McGraw, and became the mother of Miss Jeunie McGraw, who has survived both her parents, and now re- sides at Ithaca, N. Y. Rhoda dying Dee. 14, 1847, Mr. McGraw married, for his second wife, Mr. Sonth worth's daughter, Naney Amelia, who died Feb. 29, 1856. Sarah Ann married Thomas, the brother of John McGraw. He died July 1, 1838. She afterwards married John Beach ; and, he dying, she married, Oct. 10, 1860, for her third husband, Dr. David C. White. John Ellis Southworth, who was an able business man, married Sarah Simpson, and died about 1860. His widow afterwards married Thomas, an adopted brother of John and Thomas MeGraw. Thomas G. married Malvina Freeland, and resides at Ro- chelle, Ill. Their son, John Willis, with the exception above noted, is the only surviving grandchild of Mr. South- worth by his first marriage.

In November, 1833, and for three years following, Mr. Southworth engaged in the business of a merchant at. Dry- den, in eopartnership with Thomas McGraw, who subse- quently, as above stated, became his son-in-law.

Mr. Southworth had acquired by his skill and success in business a property of about $20,000 in amount, when he was induced to take an assignment from the failing firm of Lent & Whiteomb, as one of the unfortunate consequences of which, he became involved in a lawsuit, in which a judgment for about $10,000 was obtained against him, thus throwing him baek, in property, to where he stood iu 1826.

This loss, however, was soon retrieved, and many times overbalanced, by a purchase of 1200 acres of pine-timbered

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HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

land in the county of Allegany, N. Y., into which Mr. Southworth entered upon equal terms with his son, Ellis, and his son-in-law, John McGraw. The net profits of this enterprise were very large, and from this time onward Mr. Southworth made money very rapidly, principally, if not wholly, as at the commencement of his business life, by buy- ing and selling lands.

In 1831, Mr. Southworth married Betsey Jagger, of Dryden, who was born May 16, 1805, and died February 6, 1873. By her he had the following children : Betsey Fidelia, who died at the age of fourteen ; Rowena, who married Hiram W. Sears, and died Oct. 9, 1866, leaving one only child, John G. Sears, who still survives her; Charles S. Southworth, who remained unmarried, and died, at the age of thirty-five, May 28, 1872; William H. Harri- son, who married Ella Ward; and Albert, who married Dianthe Bissel.

Mr. Southworth died at Dryden, Dec. 2, 1877, of what appeared to be in the nature of a paralytic attack.

He left a very large estate. Ile never held any public office. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, in addi- tion to liberal contributions made by him in other ways, although exempt by age from the performance of any mili- tary service, he voluntarily, and at his own expense, as an act of disinterested patriotism and public spirit, furnished several recruits to serve in the military forces of the Union.

He was a man of strong will, that would bear no contra- diction ; of untiring industry and energy, and a resolution that was absolutely proof against all obstacles and discour- agements. In his prime, he had a cool and unerring judg- ment in business matters, a very remarkable memory, and great clearness and quickness of perception. Although his education was limited and imperfect, he was remarkably terse in his expressions, and would draw a contract in ex- ceedingly brief but very comprehensive terms, that was almost certain to provide for all contingencies. Strong in his likes and dislikes, there was no limit to the confidence he reposcd in those by whom he thought confidence was merited. There were many of his best characteristics for which he never gained any credit with those who were only superficially acquainted with him. Extremely close and un- yielding in money matters, he nevertheless performed numer- ous acts of great generosity ; but, unlike the great mass of mankind, when he did a generous deed he never praised himself for it; he never claimed any gratitude or other return for it; he never afterwards alluded to it in the way of reproach, even though the object of it proved conspicu- ously ungrateful. In all cases of such acts, he was so utterly unconscious that he had done anything praiseworthy or extraordinary, that he seemed to be the first to ignore and forget them. He was especially prone to aid any one, not only with his advice but with his purse, whom he theught was unjustly oppressed, or over whom another seemed to have obtained, and to be pursuing, any undue advantage. It was a common expression of his that he could not bear to see a man " crowded." He was extremely simple and eco- nomical in his personal tastes and habits. His hospitality was unbounded. He practiced no reserves or concealments. He abhorred all pretension. His speech and manner were rather rough. His faults lay on the surface, perfectly open

to observation and criticism. He scorned to make an osten- tatious parade of his good qualities, but his kindly acts are gratefully remembered by large numbers who survive him.

LEMI GROVER

was born in Dryden, Nov. 16, 1817. Ile passed his youth on his father's farm, and was educated in the common schools of Dryden. His mother died in 1861, and three years later his father died.

LEMI GROVER.

At the age of twenty-three he married Miss Sallie Brown, of Dryden. There were no children by this union.

Of town office, he has been street commissioner and supervisor for several years. He died April 17, 1876. After his death his wife moved to Varna, where she now resides.

Mr. Grover was a thorough and successful farmer, a genial companion, and fully deserved the confidence and esteem in which he was held in the community where he passed his whole life. Few men were more missed by the town of Dryden, or more highly respected, than Mr. Grover.

OAKLEY ROBERTSON

was born in Dryden, Tompkins Co., April 24, 1820, on the farm where he now lives. His father, Philip Robertson, made the first improvement on this land about 1809. His grandfather, Robert Robertson, lived at Saratoga ; served as a soldier through the Revolution ; died at Saratoga soon after peace was declared, leaving five children, three of whom, viz., Philip, George, and Nancy Mccutchen, came to Dryden about 1798. George Robertson had previously purchased a tract of land here, and was the first freeholder in the town of Dryden. The immediate subject of our sketch, Oakley Robertson, was. the youngest of seven chil- dren, all now living and residents of this State, and all

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AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

engaged in agriculture. Oakley lived with his father, assisting on the farm until he had gained his majority, when he purchased the farm. The family continned the same until the death of his father, which occurred Aug. 4, 1842. His mother died in 1860, in her eighty-third year. Oakley was married, April 28, 1844, to Miss Sylvia M. Fulkerson, daughter of Burnet C. Fulkerson, whose father, Cyrus Fulkerson, purchased a large tract of land in Dryden, and made farms for himself and four sons. HIe was a man of remarkable energy and enterprise.

Mr. and Mrs. Robertson have three sons. In politics Mr. Robertson was originally a Democrat, but upon the organization of the Republican party became identified with the same. Is a man of liberal ideas and independent action. May be termed a representative farmer.

DAVID J. BAKER,

son of John Baker, a native of Hatfield, Mass,, was born at Great Bend, Pa., March 3, 1795.

He was the fourth in the family of six children, only two of whom are now living. IIe lived at home until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to Homer, N. Y., to learn the saddle- and harness-maker's trade, with James MeNeal of that place. His educacion was limited to the common schools of Homer. In 1813 he went to Aurora, Cayuga Co., to complete his trade, where he remained a year. Ile thien went to Montville, Cayuga Co., and con- tinued at his trade until about 1816, when he came to Dryden and entered into partnership with Thomas Ilunt, his employer at Montville.

On Nov. 10, 1823, he married Miss Semantha, daughter of Hooker Ballard, Esq., of Homer, N. Y. The result of this union was five children, namely, Albert J., born March 16, 1826; Ilelen A., born Feb. 8, 1832 (married Jared Frost, of Medina, N. Y.) ; Semantha, born June 3, 1835 (married Augustus Tabor, of Dryden) ; Mary Ann, born Feb. 22, 1838 (married Henry Thomas, of Dryden) ; Caro- line A., born Jan. 19, 1840 (married F. S. Howe, of Ithaca). Mrs. Baker was born May 9, 1804. IIer father was a native of Massachusetts.

Mr. Baker continued at the saddle- and harness-maker's business in Dryden till 1850, when he gave it to his son, Albert J. Since that time he has been engaged in working his farm, near the village of Dryden. His residence in the village where he has lived for the past fifty-five years, together with the portraits of himself and wife, may be seen elsewhere in this work.

In 1827 he raised and equipped a company of cavalry of the State Militia, and on October 6 of the same year he received his commission as captain of the same. On March 5, 1830, he was promoted to major of the Twenty- second Regiment Cavalry, of New York State Militia, which position he filled till June 3, 1833, when he was honorably discharged. He was road commissioner of Dry- den for several years, and was one of three to lay out the boundary of Dryden village. He was also one of the com- missioners to distribute the stock of the Tompkins County Bank, in 1836. In politics, originally a Democrat, but since the formation of the Republican party has been a stanch

Republican. Very few men have spent so long a life of activity and usefulness as has the subject of this sketch, and he now lives (in his eighty-fourth year) to see the results and fruits of his labors.

JACOB ALBRIGHIT,

son of Elisha and Elizabeth (Smith ) Albright, was born in New Jersey, Sept. 4, 1819. IIis father was born in New Jersey, in 1799. He moved to Dryden, Tompkins Co., when Jacob was a small boy, and purchased a farm, upon which he resided till his death, which occurred in 1872. He reared a family of eleven children,-six boys and five girls,-six of whom are now living. Ile was considered one of the most thorough and successful farmers of his town, and was honored and esteemed by all who knew him.

Jacob Albright spent his youth on his father's farm and in the common schools of Dryden. He remained on the homestead farm till he was twenty-nine years of age. On Oct. 20, 1842, he was united in marriage with Miss Susan, daughter of Jacob and Anna Brown, of Dryden. By this union two children were born to them, viz., Sarah M., born July 13, 1843 (married George Snyder, of Dryden), and George W., born Aug. 28, 1849.

In 1850 Jacob purchased what was known as the Sand- bank farm, in Groton, upon which he resided until 1863, when he sold out to his father and removed to Dryden, where he purchased the farm upon which he now resides. A view of his beautiful residence may be seen elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Albright died in March, 1861, beloved by all who knew her. IIe married for his present. wife Mrs. Jane E. Snyder, daughter of Josiah and Mary Fulker- son, of Dryden. Mr. Albright is considered one of the foremost farmers in his town. He has always taken a warm interest in agricultural pursuits ; has been president of the town and county agricultural societies ; has been an exhibitor of stock in town, county, and State for the past thirty-five years.

In politics he was originally a Democrat, but at present votes, as he thinks, for the best man, regardless of party.

Mr. Albright is justly entitled to the respect and esteem in which he is held by all who know him.

CHAPTER LXX.

1 ENFIELD.

This town lies upon the centre of the west border of the county. The surface is rolling, and it has a mean elevation of 500 to 700 feet above Cayuga Lake.

The swelling slopes are crowned with fertile farms and dotted with woodlands that but a generation since were portions of the native forests.

The soil is principally a gravelly loam, and well adapted to the raising of hay, grain, and for dairying purposes. The attention of the people is mainly directed to agricultural pursuits.

The principal stream is Five-Mile Creek, which rises in

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HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

the northwest part of the town, and flows in a southeast direction, with contribution to its waters from many lesser streams, on both sides, till, in the southeast part of the town, it enters a deep gorge, and forms one of the finest cascades in this region. The ravine above the fall is one of great beauty, very irregular and picturesque in its out- line, with great variety of scene in all its windings. Now we sec the waters tumbling over precipitous rocks, from whose edges the wild vines hang in festoons, adding graee to their wildness, where walls of rock reach many feet above us, fallen trees from their projecting sides bridging the chasm over our heads. But a few steps farther on the great rocks recede, as if to give the impetuous waters room, which, after a few hurried leaps over the shelving rocks, suddenly glide and spread into a miniature lake, with circling eddies and a rocky shore. But they are still drawn onward, and once around the roek which pushes itself into the stream a little way on, the capricious spirit of the waters takes full possession onee more, and they are again hurrying forward to the great leap beyond, ever seem- ing to be controlled by the " Mighty Spirit of the Water- Fall," beekoning them with strong persistence to their fate. Onward steadily they flow, through a narrow, deep cut in the rock, and when they again emerge, and the stream widens, they murmur over the gently-descending bed of slate rock, " as if to glide were all their life, and happiness were but to be." And now they have reached the grand rock where dwells the mysterious beckoning finger, which has controlled themu since first they left their primitive springs. Over its brink, " impatient, chafing, shattering, crystalline, capricious, and full of various forms, yet all ap- parently instantaneous and accidental," they are broken up and dashed to pieees, and, falling into the secthing mass and foam-cireled abyss at the foot of the fall, ever adding beauty and color to its sea-green depths with the sparkle of their translucent edges, they tire at last of aimlessly whirling upon its bosom, and, finding an outlet, glide away ealmly, beneath tall trees, past many a picturesque rock and fern- fringed lowland, and are lost at last in the waters of the fair Cayuga.

The town embraces an area of 23,086 acres, of which 19,383 are improved, and contains a population of 1684 inhabitants, according to the census of 1875.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

Far back in that dim period beyond the existence of the North American Indians, human beings, known as the Mound-Builders, had lived, enjoyed, suffered, and died in this region, leaving to us, who came after, strangely-written records of their existence, in embankments of earth, which still tell their story. But these evidences of a state of civilization are only reminders of the past, for the historie links are now missing, and we know that long after this people lived the Indians occupied these peaceful grounds ; and where the Mound-Builders pursucd their industrial avocations, the land was changed into the hunting-grounds of the wild tribes. The successful hunters ranged through the forests for game, which fell before the twang of their bows and flights of deadly arrows, and at night the light of their camp-fires gleamed on groups of dusky faces gathered

there, making fantastic shadows and grotesque images of the swarthy forms dancing in their demoniae glee, and singing until the forests rang with their barbaric melody. Not until after the beginning of the present century did the pioneers begin their work of elearing the land and founding settlements. The spirit of enterprise, and the desire to enter a new country and develop new resources of wealth and prosperity, had already sown seed in the breasts of a few sturdy men, who were ready to brave danger, if necessary, to found new homes for themselves and families. Several years previous to this seed-sowing, settlements had been formed at what are now Ithaca, Trumansburg, Jack- sonville, and Goodwin's Point. Jabez Hanmer, in 1798, lived on the south line of the present towu of Ulysses, where - Wager now lives.

John Giltner, in 1804, pushing still farther into the wil- derness, settled on lot 45 in the limits of this town, and on the farm familiarly known as the John Horton farm. He remained a few years and moved away. Judah Baker, a sturdy pioneer, who was determined, with his family, to wrest a home from the wilderness, started from Coxsackie, Dutchess Co., with his wife and seven children, three horses and a wagon, with his effects, and by following Indian trails and the primitive roads of that time, reached Fall Creek, near Ithaea.

He left his family there, and started out alone to find his way, and see if he could get through with his wagon and family. He followed up the inlet some distance, and turned west. Before reaching the land he had not yet seen, he was compelled to chop a road for three miles, that the wagon might pass. After reaching the place, he chopped a little clearing, and built a temporary hut, and returned for his family. They arrived in June, 1804, having $11 in money left for future expenses. The site of the first house is where J. M. Baker, his grandson, now resides. Mr. Baker, at one time, owned a large tract of land, and Enfield Centre is mostly on this tract.

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History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 133

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 1112

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112