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 54
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 54
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 54
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
Aaron Lindsey, Jr., was born in the Town of Nelson, Mad- ison county, N. Y., April 19, 1807, and was married to Try- phena Bates, in the Town of Collins, Nov. 23, 1828.
Tryphena Bates was born in Orange, Franklin county, Mass., Aug. 4, 1811. They have resided in Collins about seventy years. Their children were:
Sylvia, born Nov. 30, 1829. Sylvenus, born Oct. 18, 1831.
Daniel F., born Aug. 21, 1833. Orissa, born May 15, 1836. Richard C., born April 8, 1838. Lucy, born Jan. 9, 1842. Mary Loretta, born Sept. 20, 1846.
Sylvia died Sept. 14, 1849. Orissa married William Barn- hart, and died July 28, 1856. Daniel died in December, 1877. Richard married Malora Chafee, and died May 2, 1877. Syl- venus married Dorcas Bartlett, since died. Lucy married Albert Halcomb, and resides in Collins. Mary Loretta married Nathan Peasley, and resides in Collins.
When Mrs. Tryphena Lindsey was a small girl four or five years old, her father, Sylvenus Bates lived at Taylor Hollow. One day she undertook to walk across the mill race there on a couple of poles, and fell into the water. David and John Wil- ber, then fourteen and sixteen years of age, happening to be at the mill, saw her fall in and ran and rescued her from drown- ing. This happened sixty-five years ago, and the parties are all still living in Collins.
George Lenox.
George Lenox, a native of Ireland, was born in 1809. In about 1830, he came to America and bought a farm in Collins, situated three miles north of Collins Center, where he was en- gaged in farming, until the time of his death, which took place May 16, 1871.
In 1832, he married Elizabeth Skeggs, daughter of William Skeggs. His widow survives him and resides at Collins Cen- ter. They raised a family of nine children :
Jane, who married Rufus Washburn, and lives in North Col- lins. William S., who was a Sergeant in Company D, Tenth New York Cavalry, and died in 1862, at Alexandria, from the effects of a wound received at Bristol Station. George H,, who
668
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
was also a soldier of his country in the darkest days of her tri- als and dangers ; he died in a rebel prison ; his friends were unable to learn the particulars of his capture and death. Lydia . M., who married Charles Potter, and lives in Collins. Francis, who married Lucy Washburn, and lives in Collins. Johanna, who married John Sherman, and resides in Collins. Chauncy B. and Selam, who own and occupy the old homestead, and Ellen, who married Charles Ottenbacher and lives in Collins.
The Lapham Family.
Abram Lapham came to Collins in 1809, from Genesee county. He was formerly from Ames, Mass. He purchased in the vicinity of what is now known as Bagdad, one thousand acres of fine timber land. The next year his son Stephen came, who, in 1814, built a saw-mill where the mill now stands at Bagdad. Stephen was married in Genesee county to Mar- garet Robinson. His brothers were John, Daniel, Savery and Ira. None of the family reside in Collins at present. Their - descendants are living in Oakland county, Mich.
Samuel Lumbard.
Samuel Lumbard, an old and respected citizen of Collins, was born in the Town of Wells, Rutland county, Vt., in 1820. He married Aurelia Hopkins and came to Collins in 1836. He owns and occupies a farm known as the Hopkins farm. He has one son :
Albertus, who married Matilda Wickham, daughter of Hu- ram and Louisa Wickham. Albertus resides with his father and assists in working the farm.
Mr. Lumbard has also an adopted daughter :
Ida, who married Walter Canfield, and lives in Collins Center.
John Millis.
John Millis and wife came to this country on foot, some three hundred miles. He brought a gun and pack upon his back and an axe in his hand, and she carried a child nearly two years old. Millis located some two hundred acres on lot sev- enty-five, township seven, range seven, which is now in the Town of Collins. The first night he built a fire by the side of
669
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a tree, and with the aid of his axe he constructed a shelter for his wife and child. The next day he set about preparing a more substantial abode for his family. He built a cabin, but had no door, this necessary article was improvised out of hem- lock boughs. Mrs. Millis, when in after years she related these experiences, often spoke of the wolves. When pressed with hunger they would often gather near the cabin, and nights would be weird and hideous by their howlings. She tells of the boldness of one old she-wolf; her husband was away; she was performing her usual household duties; her child was about the cabin ; she raised her eyes to the door ; a sight was there that would shock the nerves of almost any one ; the ugly and gaunt form of an old she-wolf stood peering in. She said " its eyes shone like balls of fire, and when it met her gaze it showed its cold, murderous teeth, then turned and slowly walked off."
John Millis was a character that pertained to that period, and one would almost infer that nature, at the start, had de- signed him for the very position which he occupied. Of low stature, broad shoulders and possessed of the strength of an ox, he had a constitution that never wearied, a will that never yielded until the object sought. had been attained. Uncle David Wilber says that he has often met John with two bush- els of corn upon his back, which would be carried to Aldrich's mill at Lodi and would be returned to his home in meal the same day, making the task in coming and going fully sixteen miles. He was a great chopper, and day in and day out, carly and late, Summer or Winter might be heard the echo of John Millis' sturdy and telling blows, and they were truly telling, and the dense, heavy forest soon crept away from his cabin door and its place was supplanted by broad, fruitful fields. A large family of stalwart sons and daughters (thirteen in num- ber) who partook largely of their parent's industrious habits, lent their willing hands in aiding John Millis to clear his farm. Scarcely had a score of years gone by before he sold one-half of his cultivated claim to Esquire Nathaniel Knight, who gave as a consideration enough to secure a clear title to the other half ; and he found the great aim of all his bitter toils and pri- vations accomplished. He held in fee-simple a deed to his
1
670
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
home, a home that was begun that dismal April night by the side of a tree in that great wilderness with only the compan- ionship of the wolf, whose weird howl often disturbed his slum- bers. A neat and tasty cottage had taken the place of the rude log structure, fruits and flowers grew, bloomed and ma- tured about its door, and ere this honest, industrious couple had attained the summit of life, they were enabled to spend the remainder of their days in comparative ease. John gave up the making of black salts, and Mrs. Millis did not toil as busy and constant with her loom and distaff.
Some thirty years ago Mrs. Millis died, and though this made a broken home and was a truly a great sorrow to the toil-worn pioneer, still he remained on the farm until all his large family of boys and girls had gone out into the world for themselves. The most of them had gone West. Some twenty-five years ago he sold the old homestead and followed them ; then he had reached more than the allotted span of three score and ten, still he was hale and active, and devoted his time and means in establishing each of his children in a home; he gave to each a deed of fifty acres of land and he passed his days in visiting alternately among them.
George J. Metzger.
George J. Metzger, son of George and Catharine Metzger, is a native of Germany, and was born Feb. 26, 1832. In 1842 he came to America with his parents, and in 1852 he was married to Catharine Scott, daughter of Robert and Lucina Scott, of North Collins. He is engaged in farming, owning a farm in North Collins, upon which his son Millard resides, and also one in Collins which he occupies. The names of his children are as follows :
Millard G., born March 30, 1855, who married Emma Al- drich and lives in North Collins. Caroline, born May 19, 1858, who married Ernest Valentine and lives in North Collins. Emma, who died young. Alice, born Aug. 11, 1861. John, born Jan. 18, 1863. Leonard, born May 15, 1864, and died March 15, 1866. Sylvester, born March 6, 1867, and died May 30, 1867.
671
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Samuel Talmage Munger.
Samuel Talmage Munger was born at Roxbury, Conn., . Feb. 6, 1805, and in the year 1816, his father, Samuel Munger, removed to Warsaw, Wyoming county, and soon after bound out his son Samuel to his brother, Deacon John Munger of Warsaw to learn the trade of tanner and shoemaker. After his majority he carried on the shoe business 'at Warsaw till the year 1829. In July he came to Gowanda, then Lodi, and engaged in the tanning and shoe business in connection with Nathaniel Frank, under the firm name of Frank & Munger. Subsequently Gideon Webster purchased the interest of Mr. Frank and the firm name became Munger & Webster, who for several years carried on-for those times-a large and success- ful business in which he achieved success. In 1839, Mr. Mun- ger retired from mercantile business and engaged in farming, having purchased the farm of Thomas B. Sowle, one mile east of the village, where he continued to reside until 1853, when he purchased the farm and built the house where he died. In the fall of 1829, Mr. Munger returned to Warsaw and married, October 1, Miss Cornelia Clark, daughter of Daniel Clark, Esq., of Pawlet, Vt., with whom he lived pleasantly until her death, June 19, 1852. In 1853, he married Eliza Haskell of Sandy Hill, N. Y., who survived him. Of his seven children, three sons died in infancy and William in Oct., 1863, at the age of twenty-five years, leaving a wife, Rachel, daughter of George Sisson, and a son. Milton H. Munger, now of Glens Falls, N. Y. Jennette, his only daughter, married Sumner C. Warren, and after his death in Oct., 1865, was married to George Kirby, Jr., of New Bedford, Mass., Oct., 1869, where she now resides. Charles, his eldest son, went to Kansas in 1868 and married Mary Walters of Effingham, Kan., where they now reside. Samuel Clark, his youngest child, succeeded to the homestead.
In all the relations of life Mr. Munger has acted well his part having been a kind husband and father and a good citizen. It is not too much to say that few if any shared more largely in the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and fellow- citizens.
He died April 14, 1875, aged seventy years, after a lingering illness, and his funeral was attended at his late residence, where
672
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a large number gathered to show respect for the dead and sym- pathy for the living. Truly it may be said of him, "The remembrance of the just shall not pass away."
James Matthews.
Mr. Matthews' father, Francis Matthews, moved to Collins from Essex county, N. Y., (formerly from Vermont), in 1833, where he lived until his death. He married Roxena Aldrich.
James Matthews was born in Irasburg, Orleans county, Vt., Feb. 3, 1823 ; came to Essex county when five years old and from there to Collins with the family. Has always claimed a residence in Collins and North Collins since.
In the Spring of 1849, Mr. Matthews went to Illinois, remained a year, then started for California and reached Salt Lake City in July, 1859: remained there until the subsequent Spring, teaching school during the Winter. In July, 1851, he reached California and was engaged in mining there until 1853. when he returned to Collins and engaged in lumbering until the Fall of 1861 when he enlisted, Sept. 16th, in Company D, Tenth N. Y. Cavalry. He participated in nearly every battle in which the Army of the Potomac took part. He was never wounded, sick, or excused from duty a minute during his ser- vice. He was commissioned second Lieutenant Dec. 22, 1862, and first Lieutenant July 16, 1864. He was mustered out of service at Petersburg, Va., Nov. 22, 1864. At the close of the war he returned and engaged in farming in North Collins where he resided until 1880, when he moved to Collins Center, where he is now engaged in the general grocery trade.
James H. McMillain.
Mr. McMillain was born in Aug., 1806, in Onondaga county, N. Y., from which place he came to Gowanda in 1821, where he resided until his death Sept. 26, 1879, which was occasioned by the running away of his horse in the streets of Gowanda. For several years after coming to Gowanda Mr. McMil- lain was in the employ of the Plumbs who were exten- sive real estate owners and business men. Afterward he engaged in the grocery trade for himself which he continued until his death. His sons Robert and George continue the business.
673
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. McMillain was Constable, Collector and Deputy Sheriff for thirteen years in succession, and Supervisor of Collins in 1854 and 1855. He received the appointment of Commissioner to locate and build the road through the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, which occupied a period of four years.
He was married in 1832 to Clarissa Grannis, daughter of David Grannis. Of their children there are living Robert and George, who are successfully conducting the grocery and pro- vision trade at Gowanda, and Frances, who married Henry Russell.
Their great-grandfather, James McMillain, was a resident of Perthshire, Scotland. Their grandfather was the youngest son by the last wife of their great-grandfather, which last wife was the sister of James Alexander, who figured in the war of the revolution in this country as Lord Stirling. He died in Phila- delphia before the war ended, The McMillains who came to this country were Peter, Jane and Joseph. The latter was their grandfather. Jane was married in the old country to a man by the name of James Miller. They all first stopped in Provi- dence, R. I. Joseph was married in Rhode Island to Avis Bowen and followed the sea some few years and afterwards moved to the State of New York, Town of Galway, Saratoga county. He was with James Alexander, or Lord Stirling, in his last sickness, in Philadelphia, but went home on business and Lord Stirling died in his absence and was buried before he returned.
Mr. McMillain was appointed to superintend the construction of a road across the Indian Reservation from Lodi to the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek. The following extract from a letter ex- plains itself :
BUFFALO, Sept. 22, 1843.
James H. MeMillain, Esq.
DEAR SIR :- Having traveled the road across the Indian Reservation from Lodi to the mouth of the Cattaraugus Creek, it affords us great pleasure to say that it is wisely located and better constructed than any public road we have examined for many years. We think it as perfect as it could have been made
674
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
with the sum expended, and that the Superintendent of the work is well deserving the public thanks.
THOMAS L. LOVE, Fudge of Erie county. IRA COOK,
Joseph Mugridge.
Mr. Mugridge was born in Kent county, England, April 8, 1822. He came to America in 1833 and settled in Utica, N. Y .; removed to Buffalo in 1841, and became a member of the firm of Mugridge & Son ; he remained a member of the firm a short time. In 1852 he went to California and engaged in mining for about two years when he returned to Buffalo and engaged in business, where he remained until the Spring of 1864, when he came to Collins Center and entered into the mercantile trade which he still pursues. He has been Justice of the Peace and Town Clerk. Mr. Mugridge was married to his present wife in 1860 ; her maiden name was Susanna Hill; they have one child, Edward C.
Ezra Nichols.
Mr. Nichols' ancestry can be traced back to the 17th century when three brothers emigrated from Wales and settled in Rhode Island. His father, James Nichols, was born in Rhode Island in 1768, and removed to Danby, Vt., in 1780, where Ezra the oldest of a family of eight, was born Jan. 19, 1795. He came to Collins in 1816 and located on lot fifty, where he lived until his death, Aug. 31, 1881.
He was married June 6, 1819 to Sarah Curtis, who died May 30, 1863, aged sixty-seven. They never had any children. By strict industry and perseverance he accumulated quite a large property. He was a man of exact honor and business integrity. It is said he never was in debt a dollar or paid a cent of interest during his life. Mr. Nichols was a Quaker, as were his ances- tors, and he was reared under rigid Quaker discipline.
Charles E. Ottenbacher.
Charles E. Ottenbacher, son of Charles and Sarah Otten- bacher, was born in North Collins, on the 21st of April, 1858. Jan. 29, 1878, he married Elli Lenox, daughter of George
675
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and Elizabeth Lenox. Soon after his marriage, he purchased a farm formerly owned by George Valentine, on which farm he now resides. He has no children.
C. B. Parkinson.
Mr. E. Briggs.
DEAR SIR :- You requested me to write a short sketch of my father's, C. B. Parkinson, life, to be published in your forth- coming history of Collins. In reply, I would say that father, in company with his brothers, came to Collins in 1816, being then sixteen years old, and from that time until a short time previous to his death, he was actively engaged in helping to make Collins and the surrounding country what we now see it. The greater and earlier portion of his life was spent in building barns, bridges and mills; while later he turned his attention more or less to farming.
He lived a temperate, peaceful and orderly life.
I suppose that you, in canvassing this country for informa- tion, find a great many men and women who can say the same, viz .: "They passed a busy, toilsome and honest life," you find that they "acted well their part." They are now passing rapidly away, and your efforts to perpetuate the memory of these old settlers should meet with the hearty support of their descendants. We scarcely realize the great work that they have accomplished so successfully. What are now fine farms was then a wilderness. Giant hemlocks, pines, beech and maples occupied the places where now we see orchards, barns farm houses and villages.
They were resolute men who could hew out a civilization in so short a time and with such limited means. Wolves were encountered in the woods, and the wolf of hunger in the house but their spirits never failed.
Difficulties were encountered only to be overcome. Mills were to be built. The irons to be brought from Albany by teams-so they used but very few irons. Father's bill for blacksmithing on the Gowanda bridge was only $18. The plows had wooden mold-boards; the sleighs were shod with wood, and their houses were built of logs; their clothing of flax and wool made at home, carded, spun and woven. In
676
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Summer, they went barefooted and walked four and five miles to church or to "raisings " and "loggings." Then they had fun, and it was lively fun. After they had worked all day roll- ing the big logs into heaps to burn, and our mothers in the house had been quilting, a supper was prepared and eaten with relish ; then log heaps were set on fire for light and warmth, and the deck was cleared for a"" dance." If they had no fiddler some one would sing ; where there was a will to dance there was a way.
The old log houses have vanished. The "logging fallows" have disappeared, and the old times have long since passed away, and with them passed many of the old folks. Their work has been well done, and we, their descendants, should feel a great pride in them.
We have a great national pride in the Puritans, whose achievements did not much surpass the deeds of the Pioneers of the Holland Purchase.
I hope your book will be a simple story of how our fathers and mothers lived, and of what they have done. It will be prized by us and the generations to come, and now, as these few remaining " old settlers " are silently and unostentatiously passing away, let us uncover and reverently bow to their " old fashions " as a record of a glorious past, and as the old gentle- man's eye lights up as he recites the " stories of the old times," let us tell him that we are proud of his achievements, and that his deeds shall not be forgotten, and after their footsteps are silent and that "old, old-fashioned " death has kindly helped them across the river, let us drop a tear over the grave of the " old pioneer." Very respectfully,
W. H. PARKINSON.
Philip H. Perry.
Philip H. Perry was born in Washington county, N. Y., April 26, 1816. His father, Philip Perry, was in the war of 1812. Mr. Perry came to Erie county about 1823. When six- teen years of age he went to Gowanda, where he learned the harness maker's and saddler's trade ; about 1845 he established himself in this business at Collins Center, and pursued it up to his death, Nov. 12, 1877.
677
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mr. Perry was a man who always sought the best interests of the community in which he lived. He was an ardent advo- cate of the temperance cause, and for many years occupied some position of public trust ; he was Postmaster at one time, and filled the office of Justice of the Peace twenty-five years in succession, and Justice of the Sessions one term, while Roswell W. Burroughs was County Judge. He was married in 1839 to Mariette Perry, by whom he had one son, Wilber C., who per- ished in Andersonville prison ; and one daughter, Alice G., who married A. R. Chase, and resides in Collins.
Mr. Perry was married a second time, in 1865, to Elizabeth Willson, daughter of Gideon H. Willson, of Mansfield, Catta- raugus county, N. Y., by whom he had one daughter, May.
Truman B. Payne.
Mr. Payne was born in 1797 in Essex county, N. Y., where he lived at the time of the war of 1812, in which he served as a soldier. He came to Collins in 1816 and located on lot forty- three. He remained four years ; then returned to Essex county and lived ten years, when he again returned to Collins and resided until his death, Sept. 30, 1872. He married Betsey Sampson in 1821 ; she was born in 1794 and died Feb. 18, 1860. They had a family of nine children, viz .:
Lucinda, born Sept. 13, 1824. Hamilton, born May 16, 1826; died in 1826. Rozilla, born July 30, 1827 ; married Al- vin Hopkins. Joseph, born May 11, 1829; married Wealthy Canadey. Emery, born Nov. 13, 1830; married Angeline Sin- gleton. Ira, born April 24, 1832 ; died in 1844. Almeda, born March 12, 1834; died in 1839. Truman W., born Nov. 2, 1835 ; married Mary A. Mason. Amos G., born April 19, 1838; married Sarah A. Mason.
Joseph Palmerton.
Mr. Palmerton's ancestors were a long-lived New England people of English descent. His paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier. Mr. P.'s father, Joshua Palmerton, was born in New England March 3. 1785 ; he came from Danby, Vt., in 1852 to Collins, from Farmington, Ontario county ; he came in company with Stephen and Abram Lapham and
678
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Stephen Peters. After inspecting and selecting lands, Mr. Palmerton and Peters returned to Batavia and articled their land. They went on foot, carrying the articles necessary for the journey in knapsacks. Mr. Palmerton in 1809 selected lands on the west part of lot forty-eight, and Mr. Peters selected lands on the east part of the same lot, and they both took con- tracts for the same. In 1810 Mr. Palmerton took a contract for lands on the east part of lot fifty, on which he settled, and where he cleared up. improved and owned a fine farm, on which
JOSHUA PALMERION
he lived from that time forward during the remainder of his life. He died July 12, 1870. He was married Jan. 26, 1812, to Hannah Nichols, who was born Feb. 18, 1793, and died Dec. 19, 1870. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. He was what is known among them as a recommended minister, and for many years after coming to Collins he preached much, over a wide extent of country. He usually traveled on horseback, and was often sent for from long distances to preach funeral sermons. He was a man of unlim- ited hospitality, his doors being always open.
679
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The following is the family record of his children :
Joel, born Sept. 4, 1814: died Aug. 27, 1815. Elisa (twin), born Sept. 12, 1816 ; married in 1839 to Louis Varney. Elisha (twin), born Sept. 12, 1816; married in 1843 to Lydia Ann Soule ; died Oct. 10, 1849. Lydia, born Dec. 8, 1818 ; married in 1837 to Gilbert P. Smith ; died Dec. 25, 1848. Joshua E., born Dec. 11, 1820; married in 1846 to Charity Bennet. Phœba, born Sept. 13, 1822 ; married in 1847 to Chauncey Bal- lard. Joseph, born Oct. 8, 1824; married in 1854 to Ruth
MRS. JOSHUA PALMERTON.
Allen. Eunice N., born May 5, 1827 : married in 1851 to John J. Gurnsey ; died Aug. 7, 1852. Hannah, born Oct. 16, 1829; died Dec. 27, 1848. James W., born Dec. 4, 1331 ; married in 1854 to Henerette Roberts; died Oct. 3, 1859. Mary, born April 4, 1836; married, first, in 1860, to Daniel Johnson ; sec- ond, in 1865, to Thomas G. Paxon.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.