USA > New York > Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume II > Part 59
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Mary, daughter of Richard Irvin; she sur- vives him, a resident of New York city; he succeeded his father as the head of the Bur- den Iron Works; was a thoroughly practical machinist and manufacturer, as well as a ca- pable man of business. 7. Isaiah Townsend, born April 21, 1838; married Evelyn Moalte, of Baltimore; was vice-president of Burden Iron Works; now retired; children: Town- send; William M., deceased, married a daughter of William H. Vanderbilt ; Gwendo- lyn and Evelyn. 8. Jessie, married Charles F. Wadsworth, son of General Charles Wadsworth, who was killed in the battle of the Wilderness, and nephew of Hon. James Wadsworth, congressman from New York City ; she survives her husband, a resi- dent of Genessee; their daughter Mary mnar- ried Porter Chandler, deceased, who left a son Porter Chandler (2).
(III) James, son of Peter (2) and Janet (Abercrombie) Burden, was born at Pen- brighan, Scotland, December, 1794, died at Stirling, Scotland, July 28, 1863. He was a brewer. He married Mary McLay, born at Clagburch, died at Stirling, Scotland, July 21, 1861. Children: I. Isabella, married Robert McNicol; children: i. William, lived and died in Scotland; ii. Robert, born in Stirling, Scotland; now living at Elmhurst, Long Island, New York ; married ; children : Henriette, Eleanore and Margery Bruce, all residents of Long Island ; iii. Janet, deceased; iv. Archibald, living in Canada; v. Isabella, married and lived in Scotland. 2. Janet, married Ladd; children: Mary McLay and James. 3. John, see forward.
(IV) John, only son of James and Mary (McLay) Burden, was born in Stirling, Scot- land, June 15, 1834, died May 22, 1910. He married, in Stirling, Scotland, April 30, 1843, Janet Duncanson ; of their six children three died in infancy, and the survivors are: I. James, see forward. 2. Mary McLay, now of Troy, New York. 3. Morton, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, class of 1895, degree of C. E .; he is now engineer with the American Bridge Company, located at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(V) James (2), son of John and Janet (Duncanson) Burden, was born in Troy, New York, January 12, 1864. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, class of 1892, ·degree of C. E. He was in the engineering corps of the Chicago & Northwestern rail- road for three years; then connected with the Boston Water Works until 1897. In 1907 he joined the state engineering forces on the barge canal, and is now (1910) resi- dent engineer with headquarters at Albany.
His particular specialty is hydraulic engineer- ing. He is a member of the American Socie- ty of Civil Engineers and the Society of Civil Engineers of Eastern New York. He attends the Second Presbyterian Church of Troy.
The origin of the name Avery
AVERY has occasioned much discussion. According to the "Patronymica Britanica" it may come from any of the fol- lowing : Aviarius-"A keeper of birds"; Avery-"A place where forage for the kings horses were kept"; Alberic-"German per- sonal name, softened in Norman times to Aubray." Another authority traces the name to Avernum, from the French Avoir, to have or to hold. The name has been spelled Avery, Avrey, Auvrey, Auerey, Averie and Averye. The Averys have been found in the south- western counties of England. In Cornwall (whence the Groton Averys, from whom Philo Avery descends) Thomas Avery appeared at Bodmen in 1310; William Avery in 1333; Michael Avery was mayor in 1544; Thomas Avery was mayor of Tintagel in 1603; Wil- liam Avery in 1746, and Richard Avery in 1801, etc. ("History of Tugg Manor.") In 1579 a grant of arms was made to William Avery, of Filongley, Warwick. There were many Averys in Somerset also. Arnold Av- ery was a justice of the peace in 1650; Henry Avery was a soldier in 1654; Joseph Avery was deputy governing the Merchant Adven- turers Company in Holland in 1660; Robert Avery was a Royalist officer in the civil war ; Benjamin, Richard and Timothy were Pres- byterians in Berkshire in 1697. The Averys were in the clothing trade in Newbury. The English residence and parentage of Christo- pher Avery, the immigrant ancestor, is un- known, consequently the Groton Averys have no established claim to any coat-of-arms.
(I) Christopher Avery, a weaver, was born in England, about 1590. The date of his death is not sure, but Minor gives it in his diary as March 12, 1679. There are several traditions as to the date of his coming to America-one that he came from Salisbury, Wilts, England, in the "Arabella," with John Winthrop, and landed at Salem, Massacl111- setts, June 12, 1630; another that he came with the younger Winthrop in 1631. The family is very old in Cornwall, England, and the best opinion is that he came from there. He was selectman of Gloucester, Massachu- setts, in 1646-52-54. At Salem he took the freeman's oath June 29, 1652 ; was chosen and sworn clerk of the band, constable, and clerk of the market. His wife did not come with him to this country, and in 1654 he was re-
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lieved of a fine that had been imposed on him for living apart from her. From "Rec- ords of Massachusetts," vol. 3, p. 364: "Oc- tober 19, 1654. Christopher Avery being fined at Ipswich court for living from his wife, upon his peticon to the court being aged, poore, havinge used means to procure his wife hither the fine is remitted." In 1658 he sold his lands in Gloucester and removed to Boston, where March 18, 1658, he purchased a home in what is now the business centre of Boston, paying therefor forty pounds. The lot was twenty-six by forty-six feet, and loca- ted in what is now the centre of the post- office building on Devonshire street. The famous old spring (which gave the name to Spring Lane) was near, and is now preserved under the postoffice. He sold the lot in 1663 for the same price (£40), and followed his son James to New London, Connecticut. Here he claimed exemption from watching and training on account of his age, in June, 1667, and was made a freeman of the colony of Connecticut, in October, 1669. According to an affidavit in the probate court he left an only son James.
(II) Captain James Avery, only child of Christopher Avery, and probably the founder of the family that is known as the Groton Averys, was born in England, about 1620, died April 18, 1700. He came to America with his father, and lived at Gloucester, Mas- sachusetts, for several years. Miss Caulkin's "History of New London," p. 67, says: "On the 19th of October, 1650, grants were made by the townsmen to Mr. Blynman, Obadiah Biven, Hugh Caukin, Hugh Roberts, John Coile, Andrew Lester, James Averye, Robert Isbell." He received many other land grants in the several distributions, and others for public and military service. His dwelling in New London, once "the unadorned church and watch tower of the wilderness," is still in good repair and was owned and occupied by an Avery in 1893. He was active in military affairs and is generally spoken of as ensign, lieutenant or captain. In the English-Dutch quarrels and in their own Indian troubles he saw much military service and fully earned his rank of captain. He was equally promi- nent in civil affairs; he was chosen selectman and held office for twenty years; he was a commissioner to "try small causes." Here he gained his title of judge. Before his court came actions for small debts and complaints of evil speaking and disorderly conduct, wills were proved and marriages performed. He was in this office many years. From 1658 to 1680 he was elected to the general court twelve times. In 1871 Judge Wheeler pub-
lished a list of representatives from Groton which was set off from New London in 1705- "It is worthy of note that out of 545 repre- sentatives of the town of Groton, 104 have borne the name of Avery, and all were de- scendants of Captain James Avery." He was. prominent in church affairs, and the refer- ences to him in the records are numerous. He married, November 10, 1643, in Boston, Jo- anna Greenslade, born about 1622 and living in 1693. Children, the three first being born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the others in New London, Connecticut : Hannah, James, Mary, Thomas, John (see forward), Rebecca, Jonathan, Christopher and Samuel. Captain Avery married (second), 1698, Mrs. Joshua Holmes, a widow.
(III) John, third son and fifth child of Captain James and Joanna (Greenslade) Av- ery, was born in New London, Connecticut, February 10, 1654. He was of Groton, that part of New London lying on the east side of the river (Thames). He conveyed land in 16QI, was appointed "ensign" by the general court in 1692 and again in 1693, and May 13, 1697, "John Avery was appointed captain of the train band at New London, on the east side of the river." His name appears with the title in the patent of New London granted by the general court, October 14, 1704. In 1700 he became one of the original proprietors of New Lebanon, Connecticut, and May 10, 1705, the general court con- firmed him and his associates in the possession of lands in that town. He is known to have held lands in Preston, Connecticut, in 1706. There is no record of him later than Janu- ary 5, 1713. Captain John Avery married November 29, 1675, Abigail, born September 30, 1656, daughter of Samuel and Abigail Cheseborough, and granddaughter of William and Ann (Stevenson) Cheseborough. Wil- liam Cheseborough was of Lincolnshire, Eng- land, and founder of Stonington, Connecticut. Children of Captain John and Abigail (Chese- borough) Avery; Abigail, Abigail, Mary, John, Benjamin, William, Elizabeth, Anna, Elisha, Desire, Josiah, Daniel, Nathaniel, see forward, Thomas.
(IV) Nathaniel, thirteenth child and sev- enth son of Captain John and Abigail (Chese- borough) Avery, was born about 1701. There is little in the records concerning him. He. married, about 1724-30, Abigail - -, and the children's names are taken from the will, the sons being named first, therefore the chronological order is not to be depended upon : Andrew, baptized April 16, 1732; Na- thaniel, Elisha, William (see forward), De- sire, Mary, Amy (Amie), Abigail.
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(V) William, son of Nathaniel and Abi- gail Avery, married, about 1750, Mary children: William (see forward), John, Daniel, Silas, Betsey, Temperance and Amy.
(VI) William (2), eldest child and son of William (1) and Mary Avery, was born prob- ably at Lyme, Connecticut, about 1751. He removed to Sharon, Connecticut, where he learned and worked at the trade of hatter. He removed with his family during the latter part of the century to Duanesburg, Sche- nectady county, New York. From there the family scattered. He married, in 1772, at Sharon, Connecticut, Lucy Everett. Children : I. William, removed to Oswego county, New York, died in Parish, February 13, 1849. 2. Eliphalet, see forward. 3. Moulton, removed to Onondaga county, died in De Witt, New York. 4. Ira, removed to northern part of Schoharie county. 5. Whitfield, also removed to northern part of Schoharie county. 6. Shuman, removed to southern part of Oneida county, New York. 7. Anna, married Ste- phen Smith, of Chatham, New York. 8. Amy, married Henry Fairchild, of Conneaut, Ohio. 9. Lucy, married -- - Watch. IO. Amos.
(VII) Eliphalet, second son and child of William (2) and Lucy (Everett) Avery, was born at Brahams Corners, Schenectady county, New York, June 25, 1775. He be- came a farmer, and settled in Florida, Mont- gomery county, where he was the owner of a substantial estate accumulated through his own energy and thrift. He married, in Sche- nectady county, May 27, 1796, Celinda Bur- chard, of Connecticut, born May 2, 1778. She survived her husband, and died aged ninety, at Duanesburg, New York, where she was well known as an active Christian worker in the Methodist church. Children: 1. Aus- tin, born April 20, 1800, died February 28, 1846; a farmer of Duanesburg : married Eliz- abeth Young. 2. Amy, born September 17, 1803; married Abraham Hitchcock Foote. 3. Lucy, born September 3, 1805; married Rev. Frederick Brazee. 4. John, born November 13, 1809, died February 13, 1888; married Lavinia Nobles. 5. Lucinda, born April 14, 1812, died September 20, 1816. 6. Moses Chauncey, born January 20, 1815, married Emmaline Cornell. 7. Philo, see forward. 8. Lewis, born August 20, 1820, died May 6, 1883; married Phoebe Ladd.
(VIII) Philo, fourth son and seventh child of Eliphalet and Celinda (Burchard) Avery, was born on the farm in Schenectady coun- ty, New York, October 7, 1817, died in Florida, July 6, 1879. He was reared on
the farm, and after his marriage removed to Florida, Montgomery county, where he pur- chased and cultivated one of the farms of that town. He was a substantial, prosperous man and left behind him a goodly estate, on which his widow now resides. He married, in Duanesburg, July 5, 1841, Clarinda How- ard, born April 18, 1825 (see Howard). Chil- dren : I. Edna, born June, 1846, died at age of sixteen. 2. Sarah C., born April 29, 1850, died April 18, 1907; married Henry Clay Young, of Buffalo county, New York; had Edna, Harry, Clara and Marjorie Young. 3. J. Alice, born November 6, 1853, married Alva J. Merry, a prosperous fruit grower of Benton Harbor, Michigan; have Wayne A. and M. Eveline Merry. 4. Beulah, born Jan- uary 3, 1857 ; married Charles Currie, a farm- er; live upon the Avery homestead, which Mr. Currie operates : children : i. Mabel, born August 31, 1882, wife of Howard O. Pat- terson, an attorney of Brooklyn, New York, and has a son, Howard O. Jr., born July 26, 1908; ii. P. Avery, born December 8, 1883, resides in Dakota, unmarried; iii. W. U. Thomas, born February 17, 1886, married Grace L. Cooper, born December 11, 1885 ; iv. Alice, born December 15, 1888, married John H. Schuyler and has Donald A., born No- vember 28, 1908; v. Clara, born August 21, 1892; vi. Laura H., born December 13. 1894.
Mrs. Philo Avery (Clarinda Howard) is a daughter of George WV. and Sarah (Ketchem) Howard. George W. Howard, born Decem- ber 14, 1799, lived to a good old age, and died on the old Howard farm, taken up and cleared by his father, Enos Howard, a pio- neer of the county, coming here from Colum- bia county, New York, and dying at age of eighty-eight. Sarah (Ketchem) Howard, wife of George W. Howard, was born in 1809, died in Duanesburg, November 17. 1898; daughter of William and Sarah (Cornell) Ketchem, pioneer settlers of Schenectady county. By his two wives William Ketchem was father of eleven sons and seven daugh- ters. George W. and Sarah (Ketchem) How- ard were parents of eleven daughters and a son. Ten of the daughters married, and three of them yet survive (1909) but are very old. The son and a daughter Harriet died in childhood. The families of Avery and Howard in both Montgomery and Schenec- tady counties through their long connection have been active church workers and commun- icants of the Baptist church. Their political preference has been generally for the Repub- lican party. They have usually been agricul- turists, although some have gone into com- mercial life, while the trades and professions.
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have claimed others. They have generally been men of substance, largely gained through energy and thrifty habits. The women of the families have been fitting helpmeets, good wives and faithful mothers.
This branch of the Avery family AVERY . descend from the Pennsylvania family who were of the Groton, Connecticut, line. The absence of records prevents the connection being traced from Pennsylvania. John Avery, the first of rec- ord in the Mohawk and Hudson region, was born in Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, May 13, 1813, died at Charlton, same county, July 3, 1897. He was a farmer. He married Marie Stevens, born in Glenville, Schenectady county, New York, August, 1822, died in Kansas, September, 1874, dauglı- ter of Richard Stevens, of Glenville. Chil- dren: I. Mary Jane, married Eli Claussen, both deceased. 2. Enlitia, married William Matthews, of Glenville. 3. Isaac, a resident of Glenville. 4. Rachel N., married Alfred Edwards. 5. William Henry, of Utica, New York. 6. Charles, of St. Joseph, Missouri. 7. John Seymour, see forward. 8. Arthur I., of Troy, New York.
(II) John Seymour, seventh child of John and Marie (Stevens) Avery, was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, January 10, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of Milton township, and at Charlton Acad- emy. He removed to Schenectady, New York, where for three years, until 1890, he was engaged in the express and slate roofing bus- iness. In 1890 he opened a grocery store in Schenectady on State street, removing in 1907 to a larger store on Glenwood Boulevard, where he is now located (1910), enjoying a liberal patronage. He is an active member of State Street Presbyterian church, which he has served for nine years as trustee. In poli- tics he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Xenodchy Club connected with the church. He mar- ried, September 7, 1887, Jennie, born at Burnt Hill, Saratoga county, New York, daughter of Alfred and Harriet (Millard) Hiller, and granddaughter of Somers and Betsey (Bail- ey) Hiller, long time residents of Charlton, New York, where they died. Alfred Hiller, born in Charlton, June 24, 1827, died at Sche- nectady, New York, February, 1893. He was a farmer of Burnt Hill, Saratoga county, where he also served as school trustee. Har- riet Millard, born in Saratoga county, New York, July, 1828, died in Schenectady, De- cember 13, 1901, daughter of Deacon Syl- vanus Millard and his wife Marjorie Stew-
art. Deacon Millard, born in Saratoga coun- ty, New York, was a prominent member of the Baptist church. His wife, Marjorie Stew- art was born in Burnt Hill, daughter of Al- exander Stewart, born in Scotland, and brought to America when nine years of age. He was an educated man, strict in the Pres- byterian faith. His wife, born in Scotland, came to America on the same vessel with him. They married years afterward and set- tled in Saratoga county, New York. Children of John Seymour and Jennie (Hiller) Avery : Hazel, born March 9, 1890, died March 12, 1891. Earl Stewart, July 21, 1892. ..
In the county of York, Eng- HARTLEY land, the family of Hartley was one of great antiquity, where as well as in Dorset, Berkshire and Cumberland are several distinguished families of this name, also claiming a common origin to the Hartleys of Chorton in Lancashire and having essentially the same insignia and motto. The ancestor of the Cockermouth branch was (I) Henry Hartley, who lived in the middle of the sixteenth century. He was succeeded by his son (II) Anthony Hartley. By the marriage of the latter's granddaugh- ter, sole heiress of her father (III) Chris- topher Hartley, the family name in the elder line became extinct and the estates diverted. The line is resumed with (V) Rev.
Hartley, vicar of Armley, in York, who was third in descent from Anthony (II), and the more immediate progenitor of the Hartleys of New York. The vicar's son (VI) James Hartley was a woolen manufacturer, as were his son (VII) Robert Hartley and his grand- son (VIII) Isaac Hartley, the American an- cestor and first to settle in the United States. It is from Isaac of the eighth English gen- eration and founder of the American branch that Reuben M. Hartley of the third Amer- ican generation descends. Intimately con- nected with the Hartley history is that of Rob- ert's wife, Martha (Smithson) Hartley. They were an Anglo-Breton family that can be traced back to the eleventh century. In Domes- day Book the name is written Smethton. Hugh Smithson, Esq., of Stanwick, county York, becoming famous for his devotion to the King during the civil war, was created a baronet. Second in descent from Sir Hugh through his second son was Isaac, father of Martha (Smithson) Hartley. In the line of the elder sons was Sir Hugh Percy Smith- son, the fourth baronet, who married Lady Elizabeth Seymour, only daughter of Alger- non (?) Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Earl of Northumberland, who succeeded to
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the same titles, which are still continued in the Smithson family. Close allied to Isaac by the ties of blood was James Smithson, who bequeathed $500,000 for the establishment of a national scientific institution in the Uni- ted States. The wonderful Smithsonian In- stitution at Washington, D. C., is the out- growth of that bequest and very properly bears his name.
(II) Isaac, son of Robert and Martha (Smithson) Hartley, was born at Cocker- mouth, Cumberland county, England, Decem- ber 30, 1765, died in Saratoga county, New York, October 6, 1851. Like his father and grandfather he was a woolen manufacturer, learning and following the lines followed for generations. He was industrious, prudent and frugal in the management of his affairs, and of a contented mind. He did a good bus- iness, and shipped extensively to the United States, and his American customers getting behind in their accounts, he resolved to come over and collect his dues, see the country for himself, and be governed by his own opinion. The result of this visit was that he never went back after his arrival in New York, July 4, 1797. He purchased lands in .Charlton, Saratoga county, New York, and at once began arranging for the settlement of his family in this country. In company with his brother Thomas, later a wealthy Pittsburg manufacturer, his wife and four children arrived in New York, September, 1799. Isaac met them there, but as the yel- low fever was raging in that city they pro- ceeded up the river to their new home in Saratoga county, then almost an unbroken wilderness. He was not fitted for the life of a pioneer farmer, and after two years he abandoned it and returned to a manufactur- ing life, in Schenectady, New York. Later, after the death of his wife, he bought a farm at Broadalbin, on Chuctenunda creek, erecting a mill that he equipped with machinery for the manufacture of woolen fabrics, and divi- ded his time between mill and farm until his death at Broadalbin, in his eighty-sixth year. He married, in England, in 1787, Isabella, daughter of Joseph Johnson, Esq., of Emble- ton, near Cockermouth. She was a woman of fine literary attainments, then in her twen- tieth year. She was born in 1768, and died in Montgomery county, New York, Septem- ber, 1806. Children, the first four born in England : 1. Martha, born February 16, 1789, died January 26, 1856; was wife of Alexan- der Ferguson. 2. Isabella, born August 5, 1792, died July 10, 1875, unmarried. 3. Jane, born December 25, 1794, died April 19, 1836; married (first) William Anderson (second),
a Mr. Swart. 4. Robert Milham, (see for- ward). 5. Mary, born September 15, 1801, died May 11, 1871 ; married John Barlow. 6. Isaac, born in 1804, died April 22, 1880; married Sarah Barlow ; he married (second), 1812, Catherine Vedder, a widow, born in Schenectady county, New York, 1767, died February 22, 1846, without issue.
(III) Robert Milham, son of Isaac and Isabella (Johnson) Hartley, was born in Cockermouth, England, February 17, 1796, died in New York City, March 3, 1881. He was but three years of age when he was brought by his mother and uncle, Thomas Hartley, to join his father in New York. His childhood was spent in Saratoga and Mont- gomery counties, New York, where he re- ceived his early schooling. He grew up under the guidance of a godly mother whose gentle teachings had their result in his later life. He was taught the business of his father and was well equipped for the duties of a woolen manufacturer. He was not a natural business man; his nature was spiritual, and his ambi- tion was for the ministry. Guided by his father's wishes, however, he remained in bus- iness with and near him until he was twenty- three years of age. At that time he entered Fairfield Academy, intending to prepare for the ministry, but his health failing, was obliged to give up his dearest wish and re- turned to business life. He later located in New York City, in the dry goods business, and that was his home until death. His after life was devoted to his Master's service, and, although in a different way, it was work for humanity that he could not have done had his ministerial ambition been gratified. He be- came widely known as a Christian philanthro- pist and was untiring in his work for the poor and afflicted. He was the colleague and coad- jutor of those wealthy men who were always ready to supply the funds needed to carry forward or consummate his benevolences. He was vitally associated with several institu- tions, but his best service was given to the one that lay nearest his heart, "The Associa- tion for Improving the Condition of the Poor." He was one of the founders and was the most important officer of this as- sociation from 1843 until 1876. He was the founder of the New York City Tem- perance Society and its secretary for nine years. He founded the Working Men's Home, the De Milt Dispensary, the Juvenile Asylum, the Society for the Ruptured and Crippled, and the Presbyterian Hospital. He published many articles and essays on re- ligious, sanitary and scientific subjects. He was ruling elder of the Broome Street (after-
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