USA > New York > Erie County > Sardinia > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 24
USA > New York > Erie County > Collins > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 24
USA > New York > Erie County > Concord > History of the original town of Concord : being the present towns of Concord, Collins, N. Collins, and Sardinia, Erie County, New York > Part 24
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John Q., lives at home.
Alvin married Virgie Mason, and lives at home.
Jennie L., married Charles Churchill and lives in Springville. Carlton, lives at home.
Clinton, lives at home.
Ethan, died about 1872.
Andrew Adams.
Andrew Adams was born in this town in 1823. His father's name was Ezekiel Adams; his mother's maiden name was Mary Hickok; his grandfather's name was James Adams ; his grandmother's maiden name was Mary Currier. Ezekiel Adams came to this town from New Hampshire in 1817. He settled on lot 30, township 7, range 7, where he owned and occupied land until his death, in 1847. Andrew Adams resides upon the land which his father settled upon in 1817. He was married in 1848 to Vanila Francisco. Their children are :
Lenna R.
Leona A., married Milton Trevett.
Clellie M.
Edwin Anwater.
Edwin Anwater was born in the town of Collins Oct. II, 1854, lived in North Collins and came to Concord in 1857; his father's name is David Anwater ; his mother's maiden name. was Margaretta Basler. They emigrated from Wurtemburg
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Germany, in 1854; his father and mother are now living with him ; he is unmarried. The children are :
Edwin, born Oct. 11, 1854.
Mary, born July 18, 1858.
Charles, born Sept. 14, 1860.
When Edwin was three years old, one afternoon he went out into the fields and strayed into the woods. Night came on with a snow storm, it being in the month of November, The family and neighbors searched for him until 2 o'clock A. M., and did not find him. In the morning the search was renewed, and his mother found him under a log that rested on a stump, he came out all right and gives this narrative.
Henry Ackley.
Henry Ackley was born in Guilford, Vt., April 26, 1814. His father's name was Henry Ackley; his mother's maiden name was Chloe C. Putnam. Mr. Ackley came to this town when two years of age with his mother, and Uncle Daniel Putnam, the latter locating on lot 38, range 7, township 7. Mr. Ackley's grandfather, Jessee Putnam, having preceeded them in 1808 or '09, and located on lot 32, range 7, township 7. He died about 1834 at Pine Grove, Penn. He was one of our very earliest pioneer settlers. To illustrate the primitive condition of civil- ization in the early days of our town, Mr. Ackley relates that upon the death of his grandmother, Mrs. Putnam, about 1820, at the residence of his son, Daniel Putnam ; her remains were placed upon a rude bier and carried by men on foot through the woods all the way to the Boston cemetery, to be interred. Mr. Ackley has always resided in town and been engaged in farming, excepting five or six years subsequent to 1842, when he was employed in Harvey & Weston's tannery, then situ- ated at what is now known as Fowlerville. He was married in 1835 to Janette Drake. They had two daughters :
Louise, died in 1861.
Emma, married to Alphonso Smith, in 1871.
Oliver E. Alger.
Oliver E. Alger was born in the town of Concord, January 12, 1842 ; is an engineer by occupation ; was married May 10, 1864. to Florence J. Hinsey, of Pekin, Tazewell county, Ill.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
His father's name was S. W. Alger, who was born in the year 1803, came to Boston, Erie county, N. Y., in 1826, and served his time as an apprentice with Hatch & Alger, tanners, and settled in Concord in 1830. His mother's maiden name was Louisa Carr, who was a daughter of Elder Clark Carr.
David D. Barrett.
Mr. Barrett's father, Thomas M. Barrett, was born at Wood- stock, Conn., March 20, 1777 ; from there he moved to the vil- lage of Schenevus, Otsego county, N. Y., where he was mar- ried to Hannah Chase, daughter of one of the first settlers of Otsego, and sister of Judge Chase of that county. In 1810 he removed with his family to Concord, settling on lot forty, in the northwest part of the town. He bought his land of the Hol- land Company, paying $90 for fifty acres, and taking a deed, his deed being the first one given for land in the territory com- prising the present town of Concord, previous settlers simply having their land articled to them as it was termed. Mr. Bar- rett came with a span of horses and cut the first road through from the Boston Valley road on to Horton Hill. When set- tled in his new home he found himself surrounded for a con- siderable distance on either side by the primeval forest, as yet undisturbed by man. He related that in going in search of his cows, he sometimes found them feeding quietly in company with a herd of five or six deer.
Although meager educational privileges found Mr. Barrett at 20 years of age with scarcely the rudiments of an education ; his energy and perseverance secured sufficient education so that he taught school and understood surveying. He brought a compass with him to Concord, but never practiced surveying. He was the first Supervisor of the original town of Concord, and held the office eight years. He was also Supervisor of the present town of Concord eight years. The title of Major he acquired from the position he held in the militia while a resi- dent of Otsego county. He lived where he first located till his death in September, 1844. His wife died in 1867 or 1868. They had a family of twelve children, six girls and six boys. The five oldest were born in Otsego county : their names were Betsey, Clarissa, George, Liberty, Manly, Temperance, Josiah,
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Hannah, Reuben, Mary, Elvira and David. They all lived to years of maturity, but Reuben and David are the only ones now living.
David D. Barrett was born March 20, 1829, in Concord, in which town and Colden he has since been a resident. He is a farmer by occupation, and in 1882 was the candidate of the Greenback party for County Clerk. He married Sophina Pike, daughter of Isaiah Pike. They have no children, except an adopted daughter.
The Briggs Family.
MRS. E. A. BRIGGS.
Captain Samuel Briggs lived in Taunton, Mass., during the time of the Revolution. In his younger days he was Captain of a whaling vessel that sailed from New Bedford, Mass. His wife's maiden name was Ruth Paul. In after years he removed from Taunton to Franklin county, and bought a farm and mills on Miller river in the town of Orange. On a certain occasion, during a flood, he was attempting to save some logs which were going over the dam, when he was struck by one of the logs and knocked over the dam upon the rocks below and killed. Captain Tyrer, an early settler in this town who was at that time a young man and worked for Captain Briggs, ran down and picked him up and carried him to the house. Cap- tain Brigg's widow came to this town in 1816, and lived until 1830, when she died at the age of eighty-five years.
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His children were five boys : John, Samuel, Shubel, Simeon and Ephraim A., and three girls : Sylva, Nancy and Ruth. All of the boys except the youngest lived and died in Massachu- setts. Sylva married Sylvenus Bates. They moved here in the winter of 1811 and 1812 on an ox-sled from Massachusetts and settled in Collins where she died. Nancy married John Cobb. About 1816, John Cobb with his family came here, went to Olean and floated down the Allegheny and Ohio and went up the Wabash to Crawford county, Ill., where they set- tled and lived and died. They had a large family of children. One of them, Amasa Cobb, enlisted in the time of the Mexi- can war. After his return he studied law and was elected to the State Legislature of Wisconsin, first to the Assembly then to the Senate. When the late war broke out he raised a regi- ment and was appointed Colonel, and served under McClellan in the Peninsular campaign, after which he was promoted to Brigadier General. When he came home he was elected to Congress twice from Wisconsin. After a few years he removed to Lincoln, Neb., where he is now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
Ruth married Nathan Goddard.
Ephraim Allen Briggs.
Ephraim Allen Briggs was born in Taunton, Plymouth county, Mass., in 1783. He went with his parents to Orange, Franklin county. In 1806, he was married to Sally Townsend, of the town of New Salem, Franklin county, and they resided there until 1815. They had five children born in Massachu- setts. They came here with horses and wagon, and were four weeks on the road, and settled on Townsend Hill on the east part of lot sixty, township seven, range six, and cleared up a farm. In 1839, they removed to the middle part of the unim- proved lot fifty-three, township seven, range six, and cleared up another farm on which they resided until his death, which occurred on the 25th of February, 1861. He was seventy-eight years of age at the time of his death. After several years she went west to visit her children in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where she died at the residence of her daughter, Sally Briggs Canfield, in Waseca county, Minn., June 25, 1869.
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After a long life of useful toil they rest from their labors. They came here when the country was almost an unbroken wilderness, and they labored carnestly and continuously and cleared up two farms, and reared a large family of children. Although they never possessed a very large amount of this world's goods, yet they were generous and free-hearted, and no one in need who desired aid went away from their door empty handed, and the same might be said of most of the old pion- cers. My mother always enjoyed excellent health, and she endured and accomplished very much, beside doing the neces- sary household work and caring for a large family of children she spun and wove and frequently consumed the mid-night oil over her work. She carried us all safely through the measles, scarlet fever and other ailments, and doctors were very seldom seen at our home. Throughout her life of crowded care she did not worry or scold, but quietly and pleasantly pursued the even tenor of her way. She never spoke evil of others, but always found something in the character of every one that was entitled to a kind word. In life she "fought the good fight and kept the faith," and she approached the grave "soothed and sustained by an unfailing trust in the life to come."
Their children were:
Mary Elvira, born May 9, 1808.
Ephraim T., born June 8, 1810. Sylvia, born August 5, 1811.
Thomas M., born March 23, 1813.
Jonathan, born February 12, 1815.
Erasmus, born August 31, 1818.
Suel, born April 7, 1820. Sally, March 17, 1823.
Cinderrella, born October 5, 1825.
Christopher, born March 21, 1828. .
Chandler C., born July 20, 1830.
Mary Elvira married William Field and died March 19, 1847.
Ephraim T. married Jane Flemings. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade and also a farmer, and was at one time Captain of the Springville Rifle Company. He died June 30, 1848, aged thirty-eight years.
Their children were :
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Jane Ann, George W., Maria S. and Viola.
Jane Ann followed teaching for several years previous to her marriage and was an excellent teacher. She married William Baker of Buffalo, and died July 16, 1865, aged thirty-two years and four months.
Maria S. was also a teacher and died January 31. 1865, aged nineteen years and nine months.
George W. died young.
Viola married Ira C. Woodward and resides in Springville. Sylvia married Stary King.
Thomas M. married Phœbe Spaulding ; he is a farmer, and resides in La Crosse county, Wisconsin. They reared a family of seven children-Allen, George, Morris, Adelia, Fayette, Sarah and Chancey, who are all living in Wisconsin, except Fayette, who died in 1870.
Jonathan is unmarried, and his principal business has been teaching here and in the West, in which calling he has been very successful. When gold was discovered in Colorado he was among the first who went there to engage in mining. He is now and has been for several years engaged in teaching in Garnavillo, Clayton county, Iowa.
Erasmus lives in Springville.
Suel married Phœbe Ballou ; he is a farmer, and lives in La Crosse county, Wisconsin. He has been elected Justice of the Peace and Supervisor a number of times, and was also once elected Assemblyman.
Sally married Orville S. Canfield, and lives in Wanseca county, Minn.
Cinderrella married William Smith, and died July 5th, 1874. aged forty-eight years, nine months.
Christopher married Jane Colburn. He is a farmer, and lives in West valley, Cattaraugus county. They have one child, Charlotte, who married John West, and lives near West valley.
Chandler C. married Phœbe J. Woodward, in Concord, Oct. 5, 1853. She was born in North Collins in 1834. He is a far- mer, and lives near Blue-earth City, Minn. They have two children :
Arthur A., born July 18th, 1859.
Suel C., born Nov. 29th, 1865.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Julius Bement.
Julius Bement was born in Oneida county, N. Y., in 1789. He came to this town from there in 1811, driving a yoke of oxen all the way. He stopped in Buffalo three months and cut cord wood, reaching this town in August. He bought land on lot 11, range 6, township 7, upon which he always resided until his death, in 1876. He was married in 1824 to Sallie Chafee.
Their children were :
Diana Bement, married Sherman Jacobs.
Roxana Bement, married Daniel Willson ; reside in Illinois ; farmer.
Lucinda Bement, married Franklin Blake ; reside in Orleans county, N. Y .; merchant.
Elmore Bement.
Albert Bement, married Esther Twichell ; reside in Colden ; merchant.
Edward D. Bement, married Sophia Wilson; reside in Springville; barber.
Elmore Bement.
Elmore Bement was born in this town in 1834. At twenty years of age Mr. Bement went to California via Nicarauga, and engaged in gold mining, which he pursued for five years, when he returned via Panama and engaged for two years in the grain commission business at Chicago. In 1861 he again visited Cal- ifornia,via the Isthmus, and remained about five years, devoting his time to gold and silver mining, lumbering and the duties of a soldier. He was sixteen months in the volunteer service of the United States army, being attached to Company G, Second regiment California cavalry. The movements of his regiment led him into the wilds of Arizona and Nevada. Mr. Bement's experience and observations on the Pacific slope have been varied and extensive. He now resides in town and is a farmer. He was married in 1867 to Wilhelmina Splattar. They have three children :
First-Frank C. Second-George L. Third-Carlotta M.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Wells Brooks.
Wells Brooks was born in 1804. In an early day his parents came to the town of Boston. Subsequently they removed to this town. Wells, when a young man, taught school occasion- ally. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession for eighteen or twenty years in this town. While living here he held the office of Justice of the Peace, was twice elected Member of the Assembly, and in 1849 was elected County Clerk of Erie county, and removed to Buffalo. He was afterwards elected to the office of Supervisor from the Tenth ward for several terms. Mr. Brooks was a good law- yer and possessed fine talents and sound judgment. In all positions and relations of public life he enjoyed an enviable reputation, and deserved praise for the fidelity and ability he manifested in the discharge of his duties. Mr. Brooks married Helen McMillen, daughter of Joseph McMillen of this town, Jan. 1, 1833.
PARENTS.
Wells Brooks, born April 21, 1804: died Dec. 23, 1859. Helen McMillen, born Nov. 30, 1814; died Feb. 26, 1872.
CHILDREN.
Imogene, born Sept. 4, 1835 ; died March 13, 1841. Preston, born March 17, 1837 ; died Oct. 23, 1860. Sarah, born Dec. 21, 1331 ; died June 6, 1864.
Howard, born Aug. 14, 1839. Henry Wells, born Nov. 13, 1840.
Willis Herbert, born Jan. 12, 1843.
Helen McMillen, born Dec. 16, 1844.
Henry W. Brooks.
Henry W. Brooks, son of Wells Brooks and Helen McMillen Brooks, was born in Springville in 1841. When he was five years of age his parents removed to Buffalo, where he lived until 1875, when he became a resident of Springville. He was one of a family of seven children, three of whom are living- Henry W., the subject of this sketch, Willis H., who resides in Kent county, Mich., and Helen M., who married Charles G.
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Coss, and resides in Olean, N. Y. The three oldest, Imogene, Preston and Sarah, are dead. Howard, the youngest, was drowned near St. Louis, July 4, 1881.
Henry W. Brooks was married in 1863 to Amanda J. Hart- man. They have five children living : Robert W., Lillian W., Henry W. Jr., William M. and Charles W.
They have lost two-Sarah A. and Louisa May.
Eaton Bensley.
Eaton Bensley was a soldier in the war of 1812. He came to this town from Herkimer county, N. Y., in the Spring of 1816, and built a saw mill near the mouth of Spring brook, and engaged in farming. He resided in town until his death, in 1878. He was twice married, first to Sophia Russell, by whom he had six children, as follows :
John R. Bensley, died when a child.
George E. Bensley, married Anna L. Tanner; is in the grain commission business at Chicago.
D. Cytherea Bensley, married Rev. L. W. Olney ; reside in Chicago.
S. Vestina Bensley, married Alanson Chaffee ; both are dead.
John R. Bensley, married Mary A. White, first wife; Au- gusta Fuller, second wife ; is in the grain commission business at Chicago.
Sophia Bensley, married Herbert Scoby; reside in Union- town, Kansas.
Mr. Bensley's second wife was Agnes McCaa, by whom he had seven children, as follows :
¿ Agnes 1. Bensley, married Madison C. Scoby, stock dealer in Chicago.
Mary J. Bensley, married Elbert Cornwall, first husband ; M.
L. Price, second husband; United States surgeon, in Texas.
David W. Bensley, married Lucy H. Twichell; hardware merchant at Springville.
Malona Bensley, died in 1859.
Louis K. Bensley, grain shipper at Denison, Iowa.
Katie W. Bensley, resides at Chicago ; is a teacher.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
David W. Bensley.
David W. Bensley was born Nov. 9, 1845, near Springville. In 1864 he went to Chicago and engaged for eleven years in the grain business, when he returned to Springville and became a hardware merchant. He was married in 1874. They have four children, as follows : Agnes H., William Eaton, Bernes L. and Lucy.
Mr. Bensley's mother, Mrs. Agnes Bensley, died April 7, 1880, aged sixty-seven years ten months.
Mr. D. W. Bensley died in the Spring of 1883.
Elam Booth's Statement.
I came to this town in February, 1817, was not married at that time. I came from Tolland county, Conn., with John Brooks. We came with a yoke of oxen and span of horses, and were five weeks on the road. We came in the Spring to the Susquehanna river, Penn., staid there till the next Winter and then came through by way of Painted Post, Cayuga lake, Canandaigua and on to Buffalo. We staid at Heacox's tavern and next day went out to the Indian village and staid over night. We had to ford one branch of Buffalo creek, the ice was running. We got stuck in the creek, had to unload part of our goods, and wade out with them on our backs. Next day we got as far as Green's tavern, two miles south of Potter's Corners (Hadwin Arnold place) and staid over night. Next day came to Boston Corners and staid at Torrey's. Next day went up to where the State road and the valley road fork where Brooks had made a location and put up a shanty.
I was born in May, 1801, and was in my sixteenth year. I taught the first school in the Sibley neighborhood in the Win- ter of 1817-18, it was not an organized district school for there was no district organized at that time. I think the Sibley school house was built about 1821, and I think Mahala Eaton Mrs. Butterworth) taught the first Summer school in the new house, and Oliver Needham the first Winter school. I taught the Liberty Pole school in the Winter of '22-'23, the Townsend Hill school in the Winter of '24-'25, and in the Sibley district in '26-'27.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Booth died Nov. 2, 1882, aged eighty-one years, five- months and eight days.
Warren Booth.
Warren Booth was born in this town September 13, 1836, His father's name was Elam Booth. His mother's maiden name was Sibyl Ingalls. He has always resided in town, is a farmer by occupation. He was married in 1864 to Dora Rob- inson. Their children are :
Nettie L., born April 10, 1870.
Day E., born Aug. 26, 1878.
Mr. Booth is a member of the A. O. U. W., and Past Select Counselor of Boston Lodge No. 79, Royal Templar of Tem- perance.
Morgan L. Badgley.
Mr. Badgley was born in Cortlandville, Cortland county, in this State, December 29, 1808. In 1831 he removed to Buffalo. and was employed in the drug store of Messrs. Pratt, Allen & Co., and soon thereafter he became one of the proprietors. In August, 1832, he was married to Miss Harriet A. Colton. In 1835 he removed with his wife and child to Springville and entered into business. He came to Springville as the principal clerk and manager of the business of his brother-in-law, Manly Colton, then a merchant and the builder and owner of the mill still known as the Colton mill, on Main street. In 1836-7 Mr. Colton failed as did many others at that time. Mr. Badgley suffered much by the failure. However he was enabled soon after to engage in the mercantile business.
By his ability and integrity he soon gained the confidence of the citizens of this community and prospered in his business to such an extent that he in the course of time accumulated a large property. He was in the mercantile business tor a long time, and at one time owned the Colton mill. In the latter part of his life he loaned money and dealt in notes and mort- gages. He was kind to the poor and persons in sickness and distress. He and his wife suffered the great affliction of their lives in the death of their only son Henry, who died May 10, 1845, aged eleven years and seven months. The shadow cast by his early death never departed from their lives.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Badgley died March 18, 1878, in the seventieth year of his age.
Mrs. Badgley continues to reside at her home in Springville
Henry M. Blackmar.
The ancestors of the Blackmar family were of English descent. They located at an early day near the Connecticut River, in Connecticut, from whence Mr. Blackmar's grandfather, Martin Blackmar, emigrated to Greenfield, Saratoga county, N. Y., about 1780. He was a prominent and influential man and a surveyor ; possessing talent and skill sufficient to manufacture his own surveying instruments. He was accidentally shot in 1812, while hunting bears with others, in the Green Mountains. The bear-skin cap which he wore being mistaken for a bear, he became the unfortunate target of a brother hunter.
Mr. Blackmar's father, William Blackmar, was born in Green- field, Saratoga county, N. Y., Oct., 19, 1805. In Oct., 1825, he came to Erie county, being a passenger on the first regular packet-boat that passed over the Erie canal. He lived in Ham- burg three years, where he learned the trade of carpenter and taught school. In 1821 he went to Buffalo and served two years as jailor under Sheriff Lemuel Wasson.
He was married in 1831, to Almira Chafee and followed his occupation in Buffalo and Hamburg until 1837, when he moved to Concord, where he has since lived. He now resides with his son, Henry M. He has seven children living, resi- ding in different states.
Henry M. Blackmar was born in Buffalo, Oct. 24, 1831. When six years of age he came to Concord where he has since resided. His occupation is farming. Mr. Blackmar takes an active and prominent part in public affairs. He was Commis- sioner of Highways eight or nine years and twice, 1876-1877, represented with energy and fidelity his town on the Board of Supervisors.
He was married in 1862 to Lydia Ferrin. They have had two children :
Helen May, born March 20, 1867 ; died May 31, 1879.
Roy, born June 29, 1872.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Lothop Beebe.
Lothop Beebe came from the town of Silasbury, Addison county, Vt., to this town in 1816, and remained two years, then started to return to Vermont. He stopped at East Bloomfield, Ontario county, and remained there about three and a-half years and worked at blacksmithing. He was married Feb., 1820 to Sally Bemus and returned to Springville in June, 1821. He has lived in Concord about forty years of his life, and in Ashford about twenty, and has followed the business of black- smithing and farming.
In 1825, he built a blacksmith shop on Main street, in Spring ville, extending from George E. Crandall's store to the west. In 1826 he built a dwelling house where Richmond's brick store stands, on the corner of Main and Mechanic streets. He car- ried on the business of blacksmithing here several years. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812-15, in the eastern country and after he came here he held different offices in the militia and was made Colonel of the 248th Regiment, with Homer Barnes, Lieutenant Colonel and David Bensley, Major. Mr. Beebe and Mrs. Beebe are both living at East Ashford; he is eighty-seven years old and she is eighty-two. Their children were :
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