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 71
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 71
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 71
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Mr. Foster is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having united therewith in 1870. He is now fifty-six years of age, hale and hearty, healthy and happy.
William Field.
William Field, son of Solomon Field, came to Concord from Madison county in 1810, with his father, with whom he resided during his minority, and assisted in improving his farm on
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Townsend hill. Mr. Field . was twice married, first to Miss Mary E. Briggs in 1827, by whom he had seven children :
Marvin W., Mary L., Emily, Charles, Perry, Sally and Man- ley.
Second to Mrs. Jane Briggs, by whom he had two children : Ellen F. and Ida F.
Mary L. married David Needham and lives in LaCrosse county, Wis .: they have had two children. Emily married Austin Agard ; lives in Missouri. Charles, died in Buffalo. Perry, died at his sister's in LaCrosse county, by disease con- tracted in the army. Sally lives in Iowa. Manley lives in Buffalo.
Marvin W. Field.
Marvin W. Field, son of William and Mary E. Field, was born in Concord, Erie county, N. Y., Feb. 22, 1828. He has been twice married, first to Miss Malissa Ann Agard, who was born in Concord, April 4th, 1839, by whom he had one child, which died in infancy ; second, to Mrs. Hannah A. Hill, Oct. II, 1870, who died at East Hamburg Nov. 5, 1883.
Mr. Field is by trade a carpenter, which calling he has fol- lowed several years, but is now a successful horticulturist and fruit-grower in East Hamburg.
Allen Drake.
Allen Drake was a son of John and Dorcas Drake, who came to what is now Concord in 1810, and settled on lot fifty. Mr. Drake had a family of four children : John, who died many years ago ; Angeline, who went west and married a man by the name of Williams ; Sarah Ann, who also went west and married, and Allen the subject of this sketch. Allen Drake married Mary Wheeler, daughter of Benjamin Wheeler, by whom he had nine children :
Whitney A., born Jan. 28, 1827 ; died Oct. 18, 1846. Sam- son P., born June 29, 1831 ; died Aug. 10, 1855. Caroline, wife of Samson P., died Jan. 9, 1864. Benjamin A., born Dec. 6, 1843 ; died Sept. 19, 1855. Mary O., married Marcus Scott and lives in Chautauqua county. Harvey W., married and is
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a prosperous druggist in Milwaukee. Almantha. John R„, married, is a partner with his brother in Milwaukee. Henry T. Angie.
William W. Hammond.
William W. Hammond, son of Charles Hammond and Clarissa Clark, was born in the town of Hamburg, Nov. 4, 1831. At the age of six years his parents moved to the town of Brant, while it was yet a part of the towns of Evans and Col- lins, and settled on lot number nineteen on the mile-strip, upon a piece of land comprising 120 acres, and which was then primeval forest. Here he was brought up, and here his parents lived most of their lives, after moving there, and the farm is still in possession of the family being now owned by his youngest sister, Mrs. Hicey.
His education was obtained entirely in the pioneer log school- house, except three terms of thirteen weeks each, at Irving, Chautauqua county, to attend which he walked six miles each day, and one term at Fredonia Academy in the Fall of 1848, where he worked for a widow lady, doing chores for his board, his father not feeling able to pay his board in addition to nec- essary books and tuition. Then teaching school Winters and working on the farm Summers until twenty years of age, when he bought his time of his father, paying him therefor ten dollars per month until he was twenty-one. Married at the age of twenty-three, he carried on a farm on shares for three years, then commenced keeping a country store, with a very small capital and devoted his unoccupied time to the study of " Cowen's Treatise," and "Barbour's Criminal Law."
His wife died in August, 1860, leaving him with a babe one week old, which was taken by his deceased wife's parents, and carly the next Spring, being then in his thirtieth year, he entered the law office of Sawin & Lockwood, as a law student, in the same rooms on the corner of Main and Seneca streets, still occupied by Hon. S. Lockwood, and at the same time that the late William H. Guerney was a law student in the office of Humphrey & Parsons, over the old postoffice just across the street on the corner below.
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At a general term of the Supreme Court, held at the old Court House in the City of Buffalo, on the second Monday of May, 1861, Hon. Richard P. Marvin, Justice presiding, and Hon. Martin Grover and Hon. Noah Davis, Jr., Justices, after a course of study of less than thirteen weeks, he was admitted to practice as an Attorney and Counselor of the Supreme Court. This is probably the shortest term of clerkship, in course of study as a law student, of any person ever admitted to practice as a lawyer in the City of Buffalo ; and many times in years since he has regretted the mistake of being admitted so soon.
After this he practiced law for four years in the village of Angola, then gave up the practice and engaged in mercantile and lumbering business, in the town of Brant for about eleven years, during which time he held the office of Supervisor of the town for nine years. In the Fall of 1877, he was elected County Judge in place of Hon. George W. Cothran, who was appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Albert Haight, and re-elected in the Fall of 1878.
In the Spring of 1878 he removed to Buffalo where he has since resided.
He comes from a long-lived race on the side of both par- ents ; his grandfather, Benoni G. Hammond, having died a few years ago, nearly ninety years of age, and his father died from the effects of a fall received after he was sixty. His mother died when he was about twelve years of age from an acute disease caused by an injury ; but her mother lived to a ripe old age, and died some years since at the residence of her son in Michigan.
Chauncey JJ. Hastings.
Chauncey J. Hastings was born in Sardinia, N. Y., May 16, 1826, where he lived until May 19, 1856, when he removed to Buffalo, where he has ever since been engaged in the real estate business in Brown's building.
He attended school at Springville Academy two terms in 1849 and '50. Was married in 1852 to Lydia H. Cheddock. They have a son, Charles R. and a daughter, F. Adeal, who resides in Binghamton, N. Y.
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Seymour P. Hastings.
Seymour P. Hastings was born in Sardinia July 4, 1824, where he lived until 1856, when he went to New York and gave his attention to mercantile pursuits for ten years. He then came to Buffalo where he has ever since been engaged in business. He is now in the real estate and insurance business with his brother Chauncey J. Hastings.
Mr. Hastings was a student of Aurora Academy. He was Supervisor of Sardinia in 1855 and was once a candidate of the national democratic party for Member of Assembly. He mar- ried Sarah E. Moshier: they have had two children : one son who is dead and a daughter, Grace H., born Aug. 22, 1854.
Harry H. Koch.
Harry H. Koch was born at Williamsville, County of Eric, N. Y., on the 10th of March, 1841. His ancestors were of Ger- man and English descent. His grandfather, Jacob Koch, lived in Chester county, Penn., where his father, John Koch, was born in 1811. When the latter was seventeen years old he came to this state and settled in Williamsville, in this county. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, carrying on the business of a general country store. In 1857 he sold out his business in Williamsville and built a saw-mill near Clarence Center. He was a prominent and leading citizen in Williamsville and vicinity and was called upon by his fellow citizens while yet a young man to fill various local offices, including Deputy Sheriff, Town Collector and Constable. In 1862 he was appointed to the office of Deputy Internal Revenue Collector and discharged its duties with rigid fidelity.
Mr. Koch was an old-time Whig, and a strong anti-slavery man. and therefore naturally drifted into the ranks of the Re- publican party at its formation and of which he was one of the founders. He was one of eleven persons in the town of Am- herst that voted the Republican ticket the first year of the existence of the party, and the ticket being successful in the state, the immortal eleven celebrated the victory with a grand banquet.
He married Elizabeth Spayth, a sister of Henry Spayth, the well-known author on checkers, of Buffalo, and raised a family
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of five children, one son and four daughters. He died at Wil- liamsville in 1879, mourned by a large circle of friends after a residence in that village of fifty-one years.
Harry H. Koch, the subject of this sketch, spent his boyhood at school and in attendance at his father's store. He graduated at Williamsville Classical School at the age of seventeen, and then devoted nearly three years in attendance upon his father's saw-mill. He received a thorough business training from his father, who ever held it of the first importance that young men should not only be educated, but instructed in business as well. After leaving the saw-mill young Koch came to Buffalo and attended the Business College of Bryant & Stratton, and grad- uated therefrom in 1861.
For several years after this he found employment as book- keeper and salesman with boot and shoe dealers in Buffalo. In 1869 he opened a small boot and shoe store on his own account ; he continued to enlarge and develop his business until it has reached large proportions.
Mr. Koch represented the 10th Ward in the Common Council in 1881 as a Republican. He was an influential member of that body and championed many measures tending to correct abuses and diminish taxation in municipal affairs. His efforts in the Common Council were appreciated by the people and rewarded by electing him Sheriff of Erie county, in 1882, by a majority of 1103. Grover Cleveland, Democratic candidate for Governor, receiving at the same time 734 majority in the same county.
Mr. Koch was married in 1865 to Hattie N. Coe ; they have two sons.
Frederick Miller.
Mr. Miller was born in Alsace, France, July 4, 1836 ; came from there to Buffalo in 1852, and engaged in carriage-making for five years ; then worked at bell-making at Boston, N. Y., awhile, when he started a blacksmith shop at the same place ; carrying this on a while, he returned to Buffalo to his former occupation of carriage-making, which he pursued until Febru- ary, 1864, when he enlisted in the army as a member of com- pany A, Seventy-fourth regiment New York State militia ; served about four months.
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In 1866, he went to Colden, N. Y., and opened a blacksmith shop, which he continued for six years, when he became the proprietor of the Boston Center hotel until 1875, when he re- moved to Springville and resided till 1877, when he went to Buffalo, where he now resides as proprietor of a restaurant opposite the City and County hall.
Mr. Miller was married in 1858, to Magdalene Hendrich. They have three children, viz .: Albert F., born in Boston, March 6, 1859. Magdalene, born in Buffalo, Nov. 20, 1864. Emma E., born in Colden, Nov. 14, 1866.
In 1854, Mr. Miller's father, one sister and six brothers came to this country, and at present (1882) are all living and residents of Colden and Boston.
S. E. S. H. Nott, M. D.
The Notts were of English origin. and a titled family in Eng- land. The Doctor's grandfather, Epaphras Nott, was a native of Massachusetts; he entered the Revolutionary War at six- teen, and served throughout as a marine. He had a family of three sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Ezra, father of the Doctor, was born in Wells, Vt., in 1787; he married Hannah Hardy; they came to Aurora, Erie county, in 1806, and while a resident of that place cleared the land where the Auro- ra Academy now stands ; he removed to Sardinia in 1809. He had a family of seven children, all born in Sardinia.
Samuel E. S. H. Nott was born Nov. 19, 1817. He attended school at Springville, Aurora and Wyoming academies, served as Inspector and Superintendant of Schools in Sardinia. Studied medicine with Dr. B. H. Colgrove of Sardinia ; gradu- ated at the Castleton (Vt.) Medical college in 1844; afterwards attended lectures in New York. Came to Hamburg, April 18, 1845, and began the practice of medicine, which he continued till December, 1849, when he removed to Buffalo and practiced eleven years ; when he returned to Hamburg, where he has since practiced his profession. While a resident of Buffalo, he served three years as Coroner. Is now President of the Erie County Medical society.
Dr. Nott was married in 1847, to Eunice Salisbury, of Ham- burg. They have three children living, viz .:
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Edward S., druggist, at Hamburg. Elon G., photographer, at Hamburg, and Nellie M.
George W. Nichols.
Alanson Nichols, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in the Town of Oneida, Oneida county, in 1804, and was married in the Town of Boston in 1826, to Miss Jerusha Irish, and went to live in the Town of Freedom, Cattaraugus county, where they resided about five years. They then came to Bos- ton and settled on East Boston hill, where they lived at the time of his death, which occurred Nov. 4. 1882, and where his widow still resides.
Their children are: Jeduthan married and lives in Evans. Angeline, a widow, and lives in Oshkosh, Wis. Adaline is married and lives in Brant. George W. Harriet married and lives in Boston. Emery R. lives with his mother on the old homestead.
George W. Nichols was born in the Town of Freedom, Cat- taraugus county, March 15, 1830, and came with his parents to Boston in 1832, where he resided till 1853, when he removed to Colden. He was married June 30, 1853, to Miss Helen Johnson, of Boston. He has been engaged in lumbering, farm- ing and the produce business. He was Justice of the Peace twelve years, Associate Justice five years, Supervisor of Col- den thirteen years, and Chairman of the Board two years.
They have two children: Eugene M., born in 1858, is a Civil Engineer in the employ of the N. Y. C. & St. L. R. R., with headquarters at Chicago.
Anna J., born in 1863, married William B. Courier, May 9, 1883, and lives in Colden.
William Wiley.
William Wiley was born Feb. 4, 1801, in Londonderry, Ire- land, and was married in 1838 to Miss Maria McClure, who was born in Londonderry, county of Donegal, in 1816. He owned and carried on a farm four miles from Londonderry. They had three children born in Ireland-and their ages ranged from two to nine years when they came to America. They came
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to this country in 1845, on a sailing vessel, and were twenty- eight days from Liverpool to New York. They came from Albany to Buffalo on the canal and settled first in Boston ; lived there two years, and then removed to the northeast part of Concord in 1848. They lived there five years and then bought the Holt farm on South Colden hill, and lived there until 1874, when they sold out and removed to Colden village. They had four children :
Richard, died in Colden Nov. 24, 1873. Margaret J., mar- ried William Kelso and lives in the Town of Aurora. John M. Andrew, born in Boston Aug. 4, 1845 ; died March 5, 1880
John M. Wiley.
John M. Wiley was born near Londonderry, Ireland, Aug. II, 1843, and came to this country with his parents in 1845. He is unmarried, and has always made his home with them ; he has worked on a farm in his younger days, has dealt in stock, bought, sold and shipped cattle from Canada, and from the West to the Eastern markets. In November, 1867, he bought a store in Colden, and kept a general assortment of goods and carried on a successful business for about seven years. He was elected Member of the Assembly in 1870, from the Fifth Assembly district, and was also elected a second time in 1871, being the first Democrat ever elected from the district. At the present time he is engaged in herding cattle in the In- dian Territory and in raising oranges in Florida. He owns real estate in Colden, Concord and Aurora, and also in Florida.
Christian Miller.
Christian Miller was born in Alsace, France, Feb. 26, 1832, and was married June 22, 1853, to Saloma Frautz. He worked at the trade of blacksmith and machinist in the old country. He came to America on a sailing vessel in 1854, and was forty- two days out from Havre. He came direct to Buffalo and worked there at his trade three years. From there he came to West Concord, Erie county, and conducted a farm two years and then removed to the northeast part of Concord. He then moved to Colden and bought a farm (which he still owns) and conducted it nine years, and then bought the hotel at Colden,
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which he has owned and managed ever since. He has been Constable, Collector, Assessor, Highway Commissioner and Deputy Sheriff. He has six children :
William C., born Aug. 6, 1854. Christian G., born Sept. 30, 1857. Michael L., born May 8, 1859; married Julia M. Buf- fom. Lewis, born March 2, 1861 . Fred, born Jan. 10, 1864. Maria L., born Sept. 3, 1865.
David C. Oatman.
Mr. Oatman's father, Lyman Oatman, was born in Hartford, Washington county, N. Y., Oct. 21, 1816, and came to Evans, N. Y., in May, 1848. He built the first store, which was also the second building put up in what is now Angola, but was then a wilderness region. He conducted mercantile and other pursuits in Angola until his death in 1877, Sept. 9. Mr. Oat- man was not only an early pioneer, but an active and promin- ent person in the public affairs relating to his region. He was Supervisor of Evans several times and represented his district in the Assembly in 1870. He was Postmaster at Angola from the commencement of Lincoln's administration until his death, except a short time during Johnson's administration. He was married in 1839 in the town of his birth, to Desire Barrell. He had two sons :
David C. and Leroy S.
David C. Oatman was born Sept. 11, 1840, in the same town his father was born in. He was eight years of age when the family came to Evans, where he has always claimed a residence. He attended school at Madison University in 1857-58, after which he entered his father's store and subsequently became a partner, and since his father's death continues the business. Mr. Oatman was Supervisor of his town five terms, and in the Fall of 1876 was elected County Clerk, which office he held one term. He is at present-1882-one of the City and County Hall Commissioners. At the expiration of his office of County Clerk he, in company with his brother Leroy S., engaged in the wholesale produce and commission. business in Buffalo,
Mr. Oatman was married in 1866 to Allette J. Arneson, of Newark, N. J. They have five children, viz .: Flora A., Lillian B., Orlin Lyman, Minnie D., and May H. R.
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Mr. Oatman's brother, Leroy S., was born July 6, 1844, at the same place where David C. was. He was a volunteer in the 116th N. Y. State Volunteers, and served throughout the war. He was ordinance Sergeant of his regiment. While his brother was County Clerk he acted as Clerk of the Supreme Court.
George Williams.
The Williams' were of English descent. Stephen Williams, grandfather of George and a prominent citizen of Danby, Vt., came to that town from Rhode Island in 1776. His children were: Hosea died in Ohio in 1851 ; Sally died in Niagara county about 1845 ; David died in Michigan, aged ninety-four ; John died in Concord, N. Y .; Hannah married Truman Austin and died in Hamburg ; Prudy married Hale Madison and died in Aurora ; Sylva married Horace Wells and died in Michigan ; Daniel died in Concord ; Isham died in Concord ; Phebe died in Concord unmarried ; Eliza married William Soule and died in Iowa; Lydia married Samuel Haight and lives in Canada ; Orilla married Joseph Hammond and lives in Wisconsin.
John Williams, father of George, was born in Danby, Vt., and came to Concord first in ISHI, and was engaged for a time in the old Gardinier grist-mill at Springville. He was married in Vermont to Betsy Giles and moved with his family to Con- cord in 1818, settling near the Cattaraugus creek. Their chil- dren were: Marshal, dead ; George ; Weighty, dead ; Elizabeth married Alanson McCoy and resides on the old homestead in Concord, and Marzavan who died April 10, 1818.
George Williams was born in Danby, Vt., in 1817. He re- sided in Concord until 1855 ; now resides in Arcade, N. Y., and is a farmer ; married a Miss Arnold; they have two children : Emma L. married a Mr. Miller, and resides in Yorkshire, and Gideon A. married Estella Strong.
While residing in Concord, east of Springville, in 1851, Mr. Williams found on his farm a mud turtle bearing on his shell this inscription-" C. Stone, 1808." The inscription was plain and distinct, and was undoubtedly the work of Christopher Stone, the first settler of Concord, and must have been placed upon the turtle the next year after Mr. Stone's coming. Seven
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years afterward-in 1858-fifty years after it left the hands of Mr. Stone, Mr. Williams found the same turtle again on a farm farther east. It was again given its liberty and how long it has existed to perpetuate the name of Concord's first pioneer, no one knows.
Charles Stowell.
Ebenezer Stowell, father of Charles was born in Worcester, Worcester county, Mass., in 1782. His mother, Hannah Meacham Stowell, was born in New Salem, Franklin county, Mass., in 1787.
Mr. Stowell came to Ashford with his family in 1836, and lived there until his death, which occurred in 1845. Mrs. Stowell died in 1862. They had eight children :
Luthera, born in 1808, married Andrew Stevens and died in Ellicottville in 1863. John T., born in 1813, died in 1814. Caroline, born in 1816; married John Squires and lives in Con- cord. Maria, born in 1818, lives in Springville. John T., born in 1820 and died in 1834. Charles, born in 1822. Betsey, born in 1824, married John G. Blake in 1842 and lives in Mt. Carroll, Ill. John, born in 1828, lives.in Des Moines, Iowa.
Charles Stowell married Susan West in 1846. They had eight children :
Hannah Hapalona married David J. Wilcox and lives in Springville. Ebenezer, born in 1853 died 1862. Hattie, born in 1855, died Nov. 23, 1862. Caroline, born in 1857, died in January, 1863. Luthera married Lewis Twichell, and had one child named Lewis Bertie, which child was given to Charles Stowell and wife by mutual consent of both parents previous to the death of the mother.
Mary, born in 1862 ; married E. A. Scott, in 1880. Charles E., born in 1866. May S., born in 1873.
Mr. Stowell was Captain of a militia company at one time and is at present a farmer and dealer in agricultural implements. His great uncle David E. Stowell, was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Joseph E. Ewell.
Mr. Ewell's paternal ancestors are traceable to Scotland, and his maternal ancestors were from New England. Mr. Ewell's
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father, Dexter Ewell, is ex-Associate Judge of Erie county. Mr. Ewell, after completing his college course preparatory to the study of law ; after the Battle of Bull Run, left his office and enlisted a company of volunteers in Kane and McHenry counties, Ill. It was designated as Fifty-second Regiment, Illinois volunteers. He was appointed First Lieutenant ; was ordered South and served in Missouri, Kentucky and Tennes- see, and participated in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing. His health failing, he was honorably discharged and returned home, but his patriotism made him eager for the service, and he en- listed a company in Erie county, and was appointed Captain, but was unable to accompany his regiment- the One Hundred and Sixteenth-to the field on account of ill health. In 1863, he accepted the appointment of Captain of a company of the Twenty-sixth regiment, United States colored troops, and early in 1864, was employed in detached service under orders from General Dix. He was finally discharged on account of ill health, August, 1864, and returned to his law studies, being admitted to the bar in May, 1867.
In 1869, he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Northern District of New York; in 1879, he was elected Supervisor of the Town of Alden for a term of two years; in ISSo, he was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He has been Deputy County Clerk since January, 1880.
He married Miss Carrie Farnsworth, and has one daughter, Florence.
Amos B. Tanner.
Mr. Tanner was born in Steventown, Rensselaer county, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1830. He came to Wales, Erie county, the year following, where he resided until twenty-one years old. He attended school at Springville Academy two terms-one under Principal Earle and one under Prof. Lanc. Mr. Tanner came to Buffalo in 1854, where he has since resided. He was for fourteen years principal searching clerk in the County Clerk's office. His present business is examining titles to and selling real estate, and loaning money on real estate. He is a brother of Alonzo Tanner, Esq. He has been a Member of the Board of Supervisors several terms, and also Clerk of the Board.
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