Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 33

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084

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Their children were Francis M , Almira (Brown), Paul H., Dolly A., (Arnold), Joseph C. (drowned in 1887), Henry G., Sarah V. (Reuben), Seraphine M. (Le Valley), and Simeon C. The youngest of these was born in 1831.

Levi Davis, the son of a Revolutinary soldier, was born in Wards- borough, Vt., in 1793. With his father's family he went to New Salem,

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Mass., and in 1814 served a short time as a soldier in the war with England. In 1816 he was married to Miss Lorana Hunt, and soon afterward started, with an ox team, for Chautauqua county, N. Y., where they arrived after a journey of thirty-five days. He cleared and improved a farm there, and reared a family of eight children. Business reverses overtook him, and in 1833 he removed to Ridgeway, where for several years he worked at the trade of a mason.

Jeremiah Brown, the son of a Revolutionary officer, was born in Che- shire, Mass., in 1780. In 1799 he made a journey on foot to Farming- ton, Ontario county, and again in 1807. In 1809 he married Abigail, daughter of Rev. Paul Davis, of New Salem, Mass., and in 1811 they removed to Farmington. He was an officer in the militia, and in the war of 1812 he was called into service and went to Buffalo. In 1815 he removed to Massachusetts, and the next year came to Ridgeway. During the first few years they suffered much from sickness, and en- countered many privations. They sometimes subsisted on unripe grain, boiled, and on the flesh and fat of raccoons. Mr. Brown related that in the sickly summer of 1828 he did not undress at night during eight consecutive weeks, being constantly engaged in the care of the sick. In 1816 he was chosen commissioner of highways, and assisted in laying out five roads from the ridge to the lake. At different times he was elected to all the offices in the town except clerk, constable and collector. In 1822 he erected a furnace in which he cast the first iron plough ever made in the State west of Rochester. He was a man of large stature, with a firm and vigorous constitution. He was the father of Albert F. Brown, once mayor of Lockport, and of Colonel Edwin F. Brown, of the 28th Regiment New York Volunteers. He died in 1863.

Daniel F. Hunt was a native of Vermont, born in 1790. His wife was Abigail Batcheller, a native of New Hampshire. They came to Ridgeway in 1816, and located three and one half miles north from Ridgeway Corners, where they remained till their deaths. She died in 1851, and he in 1878. Of their nine children who lived to adult age Daniel F. settled near his father, Aaron B. in Medina, and Hannah (Mrs. John H. Mean) on the Ridge road west of Ridgeway Corners.

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Andrew Stevens was a native of New Hampshire, born in 1789. In 1810 he removed to Riga, Monroe county, N. Y., and in 1816 to Ridge- way, where he took up a part of lot 58, at Knowlesville. His father, Jesse, and his mother, Martha (Seaton), came with him and remained till their deaths. He died in 1826, and she in 1837. In 1819 Andrew Stevens married Sally, daughter of Judge John Lee, of Barre. Their children were : Charles L., Sarah W. and Clarissa O. Charles L. be- came the owner of a portion of the old homestead. He was born in 1820 and was the first white male child born in the village of Knowles- ville, and was during all his life a prominent citizen of that village, and for many years a justice of the peace. Mrs. Stevens died in 1828, and in 1829 he married Sophronia Harding, of Barre. They had five children, of whom the youngest, John, settled on a part of the home- stead. Mr. Stevens died about 1870. His wife had died ten years previously

David Hood, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1794. When he was three years of age his parents removed to Romulus, N. Y. In 1813 he was drafted and served three months. In 1816 he came to Ridge- way, and in 1817 purchased an article for 119 acres of land. In 1818 he built a log house, and in 1819 was married to Miss Elizabeth Bur- roughs, of Shelby.

Samuel Church settled in North Ridgeway in 1816. His wife was Ann Daniels, and they reared four sons.

William Cobb and his wife, who was Hannah Heminway, were natives of Massachusetts, and settled on lot 40, north from Ridgeway Corners, in 1817. In 1855 Mr. Cobb died at the age of sixty-six years. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter.

William M. Alcorn was born in Northumberland county, Pa., in 1808. In 1817 he came to Ridgeway with the family of Judge Turner, to whom he had been bound. They settled on the Ridge, about a mile east from Ridgeway Corners, and he remained there till the age of twenty-six, when he removed to Palmyra, N. Y., where he married Electa B. Howland of that place. They at once came to Medina. They reared three daughters: Frances (Mrs. David Parks), Mary A. (Mrs. Charles E. Clark), and Helen A. (Mrs. Edward O. Draper).

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Edward Raymour, a native of Vermont, was born in 1801. At the age of thirteen he removed to Ontario county, N. Y., and in 1818 to Ridgeway. In 1825 he married Almira, daughter of George Bayne. She died in 1835, and in the same year he married Abigail Davis, a native of Connecticut, who came to Ridgeway in 1817.

William N. Preston, born in Lyme, N. H., in 1781, married Sarah Daniels, who was born in Pembroke, N. H., in 1785. They came to Ridgeway and settled a mile and a half north from the Ridge in 1819. Their sons were Isaac, Samuel and Williston. Mrs. Preston died in 1831, and he died ten years later.

Ephraim G. Masten and his wife, Nancy G., were married in 1815, and settled in Bethlehem, Albany county, N. Y. In 1819 Mr. Masten came to Ridgeway and purchased an article for land on lot 17, two miles east from Medina. He made some improvements, and in the same year moved his family there. They lived in a log house till 1831, when they built a stone residence on the same site. Mr. Masten died in 1860.

William Cochrane, a native of New Hampshire, was born in 1781. He married Rhoda Wright, of the same State, and they settled in Ridge- way in 1819. Their family consisted of four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, William, became a resident of Waterport in Carlton.

Lyman Bates, or Judge Bates, as he was commonly called, was born in Palmyra, N. Y., in 1798. In 1819 he came to Ridgeway and began the career of a farmer, which he afterward followed when not discharg- ing official duties, He was a justice of the peace several terms, nine years supervisor of Ridgeway, five years a judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, was a member of the Assembly in 1828, and president of the Farmers' Bank of Orleans. His wife, to whom he was married in 1821, was Abinerva Kingman, who was born in Palmyra in 1796.

Avery V. Andrews was born in New Hampshire in 1798. In 1802 his father removed with his family to Vermont, and in 1817 to Gaines, where they arrived after a journey of thirty days with two yoke of oxen. In 1819 Avery V. purchased an article for 50 acres of land in Ridgeway, and in 1821 another for 62 acres, the last parcel having on it a small log house. Seventeen years later he built a stone residence, in which he passed the balance of his days. His wife was the sister of

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Gen. William C. and Josias Tanner. She came to Ridgeway with her brothers in 1818.

Parley Gillette was born in Madison county, N. Y., in 1805. He removed with his parents to Dansville, N Y., in 1816, and to Ridgeway in 1820. He afterward purchased a farm on lot 20, one and a half miles northwest from Knowlesville. He was first married in 1835 to Miss Emeline H. Bottom, of Vermont. She died in 1853, and in 1854 he married Miss Sarah Whittaker. She died in 1855 and in 1856 he married Mrs. P. Dow, who died in 1881. He had four children : Willis, Dyer, Mrs. Mary Brace, and Emma. Nelson and Joab Gillette, brothers of Parley, came to Ridgeway with him, and all first settled on lot 10, one and one- half miles southwest from Knowlesville. Joab died more than twenty years since, and his widow and three children moved to Kansas. Nelson died in 1882, leaving a widow (second wife) and five children.

Richard Fancher was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., in 1793. He came early to Ridgeway and took an article for a part of lot 12, a mile and a half northwest from Knowlesville, and resided on that farm till his death in 1871. His son, William, removed to Knowlesville, and a daughter, Mrs. Jennie Ough settled at Eagle Harbor. Mr. Fancher was twice married. His last wife died in 1875.

Solomon Newell was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1778. His wife was Sarah Stedman, a native of Rhode Island. They went to Chenango county, N. Y., then came to Gaines in 1820, whence they removed to Middleport, Niagara county, and in 1845 settled in Medina. He died in 1846, she in 1875. A grandson, George A. Newell, was nine years county clerk, is cashier of the Union Bank of Medina, and eminent in the Masonic fraternity and now county treasurer.

Joseph L. Perry was a native of Huntington, Conn., born in 1794. With his father's family he removed to near Auburn, Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1804, and in 1819 was married to Julia Ann Reed. In 1820 they removed to Ridgeway and located on lot 24, half a mile west from Ridgeway Corners. He held offices in the town prior to the organiza- tion of the county of Orleans, and was a deputy sheriff in this and Genesee counties. In 1825 he became a merchant and hotel-keeper at " the Corners " and continued to keep a tavern many years. He was

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also a manufacturer of potash, a partner in the old stage line on the Ridge road, postmaster, mail contractor, and produce dealer. He owned, ran, and sometimes commanded boats on the Erie Canal, and was noted for shrewdness, wit, and joviality. He died in Ridgeway in 1845-

James Jackson was born in Duanesburg, N. Y., in 1798. He re- moved with his mother's family to Onondaga county, and in 1819 mar- ried Maria Marlette. In 1823 they came to Ridgeway and settled on lot 20, west from Medina, where their six sons and four daughters were born. His wife died in 1870. Of their ten children two sons and three daughters settled in and near Medina. Mr. Jackson was a man of energy and industry, and achieved success as a farmer.

William Jackson was born in Duanesburg, N. Y, in 1799, and was married to Martha Comstock in 1822. They had eleven children. In 1826 he came to Ridgeway and bought an article for a part of lot 21, north from Shelby Basin. He built a log house, returned to Onondaga county for his family, and brought them to their new home the next year. He remained on this place till about 1880, when he removed to Holley.

Richard Gordineer, son of a colored woman, Jacob Gordineer's slave, was born in 1794. He and his mother were sold when he was two months old to Joseph Grant, the father of L. A. G. B. Grant, of Shelby, and both were made free by law in 1825. In 1823 he came to Medina and was a cook in the family of Walter Grant, on a farm south of that place. He remained with the Grants till 1824, after which he worked on the canal till 1839, when he settled in Medina. He was a good cook, and his services in that capacity were often required on important occa- sions. He was a cartman and whitewasher many years, and by indus- try and frugality accumulated a comfortable property, but in 1862 he lost everything. He lived to be over ninety-two years of age.

Benjamin Jackson was born in Duanesburg in 1803, and removed to Onondaga county, N. Y., with his mother's family in 1805. At the age of twenty-two, or in 1825, he came to Ridgeway, returned to Onon- daga county, and in 1828 came again to Ridgeway, and resided on dif- ferent farms west from Medina till 1842, when he removed to the vil- lage. He first married Wealthy Ann Terry, of Onondaga county, in

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1823. She died in 1842, and in the same year he married Clarissa McCormick. They had five daughters.

Simeon Bathgate was born in Scotland in 1788. In his native country he learned the trade of a millwright, which he followed there till 1818, when he came to America. He first lived at Caledonia, afterward in Batavia, and early in 1825 he came to Medina. In that year he built the machinery for D. E. Evans's mill, and afterward established a foundry and machine shop near the canal for the manufacture of mill machinery. In this business he continued till his retirement in 1850. He died in 1865. He was married in Scotland to Euphemia Atchinson. They had ten children, three of whom died in infancy. Allison, the oldest daughter, born in Scotland, married C. R. Ganson, and died in Buffalo in 1890. George succeeded his father in the foundry, and died in Medina in 1854. William, a partner with George in the foundry, sailed for California in 1852, and died at sea of yellow fever. Sarah Atchin- son, who married Reuben Castle, was born in Medina in 1826, and was the first white child born in that village. Margaret married George Shattuck and resided on the Bathgate homestead. Jane Ann married Waldo Stebbins, and died in Medina in 1858. Cornelia Euphemia settled in Medina. Mrs. Bathgate died in 1869.

Simeon Downs was born in Vermont in 1800. In 1825 he removed to Medina, where he engaged in general blacksmithing. He afterward became a manufacturer of edged tools, and subsequently a daguerrean artist, and finally an insurance agent, in which business he continued till his death in 1876. His wife, to whom he was married in 1826, was Sophronia Bailey, born in Essex county, N. Y., in 1808. She came to Medina in 1826. Of their four children three lived to adult age : Les- ter C. married Susan Garter, and died in 1861, leaving two sons, Frank and Fred ; Henrietta married M. W. Ryan, of Medina, and Pleuma P. married Edwin H. Sanborn.

Chauncey Brinsmaid was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1799. In 1823 he married Rachel Cannon and in 1825 they came to Ridge- way and located on lot 2, near Knowlesville, where he remained till his death in 1883. His first wife died in 1840, and in 1842 he married Eunice Stevens. She died in 1858, and in 1859 he married Susan A. Taylor, who after his death removed to Salt Lake City. He had eight

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children. Samuel Brinsmaid, a younger brother, came here in 1836. He was born in 1811.

John Ryan was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1801. In 1810 he went to Lycoming county, where he learned the trade of a mason, at which he worked there till 1825, when he removed to Batavia, N. Y., and in the same year to Medina. He followed his trade and was a contractor from time to time. He built all the bridge abutments on the enlarged canal between Lockport and Albion, and had many other large jobs. He was for five years superintendent of repairs on the canal. His wife was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1811. They were married in 1837. Ten children lived to adult age.

Moses S. Hicks was born in Rhode Island in 1804. With his father's family he removed in succession to Oneida county, N. Y., to Onondaga county, to Wayne county, and in 1825 to Ridgeway, and followed the trade of a carpenter and joiner. He was first married in 1833 to Mary Adams. She died in 1847, and in 1850 he married Ellen Barlow. He resided in Knowlesville.

Stephen Welch was a native of New England. In his childhood he was adopted by a Quaker in Pennsylvania and remained with him till he reached his majority. In 1823, with his wife and one son, he re- moved to Western New York and located within what is now the city of Lockport. In 1825 they removed to Ridgeway, near Knowlesville, and in 1833 he purchased a part of lot 57, a mile south from that vil- lage. He died there in 1835. His wife was Jane Jacobs, a native of New England. She continued to reside on this place till her death in 1866. Their children were John and Benjamin, who settled on the old homestead, and Elizabeth, who died in 1866,

Botsford Fairman, born in Massachusetts in 1806, was educated in the common schools of his native State, and early in life became a clerk. In 1823, he removed to Cooperstown, N. Y., and in 1826 to Medina. He at once engaged in mercantile business, which he followed about thirty-five years, and in that time, in company with T. R. Austin, he built the Medina Falls mill. He was then a banker and produce dealer till 1870, when he removed to New York city and was again engaged in mercantile business till 1885. He then retired from business, removed to Albany and resided with his daughter, Mrs. H. E. Sickels, till his

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death, in 1889. His wife, to whom he was married in 1828, was Delia A. Austin, Otego, N. Y. Their children were: Carrie (Mrs. H. E. Sickels), of Albany ; George, of Chicago; Heury, of Medina ; Delia, (Mrs. L. J. Ives) ; Charles, Elizabeth, Richard, and Susan.

Joseph Nixon was born in England in 1796. He received a liberal education and graduated at Cambridge. He then studied theology for a time, but abandoned the idea of becoming a clergyman and studied medicine. He came to America in 1819, landing at Baltimore, where for a time he practiced as a physician. He there became acquainted with the Seneca chief Red Jacket, and was by him adopted, in the presence of a large concourse of people, into the Seneca tribe. The name given him was " Wy-nish-e-u, signifying " a fair day," the name by which he was ever afterward known by the Senecas, who visited him in Medina. He removed to Brownsville, Pa., and thence, in 1824, to Batavia, where he engaged in teaching. In 1826 he came to Medina and erected a brewery and distillery and also the stone tenement house long known as the nunnery. He continued in business till 1848, and died in 1850. In 1819 he was married, in England, to Mary Anderson who died in 1848. Of their seven children who lived to adult age, Elizabeth married George H. Thatcher ; Mary married Benjamin Thom, and died in Albion ; Sarah married Louis Isbel, and died in Albany ; Joseph Carr Nixon died in Medina; Alice married Daniel Clark ; Alderson Nixon settled in Medina; and William H. died in Nebraska.

Isaac Caswell was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., in 1800. In 1825 he married Betsey Sternberg, and in 1827 they came to Murray, in this county. During the first few years of their residence here they suffered much from sickness and endured many privations. In 1849 he removed to Ridgeway, where his wife died in 1852. In 1854 he married Adaline Tuttle, a native of New London county, Conn. Mr. Caswell died in the autumn of 1872.

Henry A. Hess was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., in 1791. His great-grandfather, John Hess, a relative of John Hess, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, came from his native country to Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1709, where the grandfather of Henry, Augustin Hess, was born in 1719 ; his father was also born in that county. . They removed to Herki- mer county and during the Revolution his father was engaged in the de-

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fense of Fort Stanwix, and at the battle of Oriskany received a wound which caused his death in 1805. His grandfather was killed in the defense of Fort Herkimer, their buildings were burned, and their stock killed or driven away. In 1798 they moved to Onondaga county, N. Y., where his father died in 1805. On the breaking out of the war with England in 1812, he enlisted in the army and became a first lieutenant. He was honorably discharged in 1814. In 1815 he married Prudy Har- vey, of Herkimer county. His mother died in 1821, and in 1822 he removed to Clarendon. In 1847 he came to Ridgeway and located about midway between Medina and Knowlesville. The farm which he pur- chased there he sold to his son, James Hess, in 1865.

Mrs. Ann Mckean was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1799, and was married to Pierce N. Mckean in 1828. She settled in Medina and lived on Orient street, in a log house where the nunnery now stands. Joseph Nixon lived in the house north. All woods around there then. On the other side of the race was a slaughter house and a brewery built of logs, also a saw mill belonging to Joseph Ellicott. Mr. McKean removed to Middleport, then to Ridgeway, and in 1839 returned to Medina, where he died in 1854. Their youngest daughter married J. N. Card, of Medina village.

Nathan Bancroft was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1803. His father's family removed to Avon, N. Y., in 1806. In 1823 he removed to Elba, N. Y., and thence, in 1828, he came to Ridgeway and purchased land just west of Medina. He engaged, during several years, in the manufacture of brick, and was afterward a farmer. In 1867 he removed to a place within the present limits of the village of Medina, where he died in 1886. In 1826 he married Hulda E. Turner, of Elba. They reared five sons and two daughters to manhood and womanhood. Of these the daughters settled on the place where he died. Mrs. Bancroft died in 1888.

James Kearney was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, born in 1810, and in his youth he learned the trade of a stonemason. He removed to to Canada in 1828, and to Medina in 1830. He worked at his trade. there for some years, then became the proprietor of a quarry, which he operated till within a few years of his death. He died in 1866. His wife was Ann Kelly, also a native of Tipperary, born in 1815. She

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came to Canada in 1824, and to Medina in 1825. Of their eleven chil- dren nine lived to adult age. John D. married Jennie Mead and died in 1882; Ellen married, first, Michael Shanley, then Patrick Horan, and died in 1876; James A. married Kate Lahey, and removed to Cali- fornia ; Anna E, married Daniel Barret, of Niagara Falls ; Michael is deceased ; William E. married Mary E. Smith and moved to Pennsyl- vania; Richard married Evangeline Gardner and settled in Boston ; Sara M. became a resident of Medina with her mother ; and Margaret A. (now deceased) married Charles A. Gorman.

John Parsons was born in the city of New York in 1809. His father was an Englishman and a sea captain, and his mother was a native of Scotland. They became residents of New York in 1804. The son learned the trade of a coppersmith in his youth, and in 1832 he re- moved to Medina, where he followed the trade of a copper, tin, and sheet iron worker. In 1832 he married Elizabeth Cogswell, a native of Monroe, county, N. Y. They reared two children : Mary and John C. The latter died at the age of twenty. Mrs. Parsons died in 1888.

Lewis Marshall was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., born in 1806. In 1826 he married Sarah Angevine, also a native of Dutchess county, born the same year. In 1831 they removed to Palmyra, N. Y., and in 1832 to Ridgeway, two miles north from Medina. Thence he removed to Jeddo, where he was many years the owner of the mills at that place, and where he died in 1888. His wife died there also in 1879. Five of their children were: Susan (Smith), John L., Edward, William H., and Angevine.

David Danolds came to Avon in 1816 and was engaged for two years in making brick. He then removed to Stafford, Genesee county, where he became a hotel keeper, a merchant, a miller, a distiller, and a manu- facturer of potash. He removed thence to Batavia, where he remained two years, then went to Elba, where he became a merchant and a manufacturer of potash, having four asheries in different towns, and also carried on a flouring mill, clothiery, saw mill, distillery, and ashery at Rushville. At his distillery he did a large business buying, fattening and selling cattle and swine. In 1832 and 1833 he purchased 2,600 acres of land near Oak Orchard, in Orleans county, and engaged on a large scale in clearing land, farming and getting out timber, lumber, and

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staves. He built two single mills and a double one, built and carried on a large ashery, where he made potash from the ashes of the timber which he burned the first year, and cleared and sowed to wheat about 200 acres in one year. He employed many men ; and built a school house and employed a lady teacher for their children. He furnished most of the timber for the Medina and Akron horse railroad. He con- tinued his large business here till 1835, when, by reason of circumstances which he could not control, he was compelled to make an assignment, and his extensive property was sold at a sacrifice. He then went to Black Rock, where he engaged in brick making, but lost heavily by the failure of Rathbone, the great contractor and builder. He returned to Oak Orchard for a time, then went to Galena, Ill., prospected for lead, and struck the best claim ever found there, but became involved in liti- gation with those to whom he sold his claim, and pending this he died. His son, Charles A. Danolds, cared for his father's family, and during ten years kept a hotel at Oak Orchard, while the Ridge road was still a thoroughfare for stage coaches and emigrants. In 1848 he removed to Eagle Harbor, where he sold goods and run four canal boats. In 1850 he became a contractor, and continued in that business for thirty- five years. He had large contracts on the Welland Canal, and he lias probably constructed more miles of canal than any other man in the State of New York. He was for a time engaged in the milling business at Eagle Harbor, but is now living comfortably on a farm at that place.

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Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 33

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084