Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 63

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > New York > Steuben County > Landmarks of Steuben County, New York > Part 63

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Stuart, Morey, was born in Cameron and married Jane, a daughter of George and Martha Punches. Their children are daughter Frances and son Winfred. Mr. Stuart is a school teacher, having taught for thirteen years. He is also engaged in farming. He is excise commissioner of the town, justice of the peace, etc., having been in office most of the time since he was twenty-one years of age. His father, Girdon Stuart, married for his first wife Katie Leach, by whom he had two children: Malissa and Amos. October 9, 1841, he married Sarah Winship, by whom he had eleven children: John, George, Henry, Norman, James, Kate, Amelia, Samuel, Dewitt, Morey, and Lula. Girdon was a member of the Baptist church. He was a carpenter and builder in early life, but was engaged in farming the latter part of his life.

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Angel, Prentis, settled in Urbana with his wife (Dollie Mitchell) and family of nine children: Sylvester, Silas, Lucy, Thomas, Betsie, Hannah, Calvin, Prentis and Abner. Thomas married Axie Pope, by whom he has seven children: Almira, Alonzo, Edwin, Julia, sarah. James, and Prentis. Thomas married Elma Stratton (deceased), by whom he had five children : Helen, Abner, Mary, Isabelle, and Fanny. Prentis married Lois, a daughter of Silas and Lucetta Babcock, by whom he had five children: Ray, Fred, Bert, Floyd, and Walter. Mr. Angel followed railroading in early life, but is now engaged in farming on a farm of 104 acres.

Heseltine, Eugene A., was born in the town of Independence, Allegany county, N. Y., October 18, 1843. Ezekiel Heseltine, his father, was a native of New Hamp- shire, born September 30, 1799, in the town of Dairyfield, now the city of Manches- ter. He came to New York State in the fall of 1816 and settled on a farm in Middle- sex, Yates county ; then went to Independence in 1821, and to Hornellsville in 1860. His death occurred December 21, 1886. Harriet E. Allen, mother of Eugene A., was a native of Barnstable, Mass. She died October 20, 1848. They also had one other son, Leonidas B., who was shot at the battle of the Wilderness, May 10, 1863, and died June 9. He was a member of Co. D, 86th N. Y. Vols. Eugene was educated in the common schools of his native county, and at the breaking out of the war was one of the early volunteers for his country's service August 29, 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, under Captain Ellsworth, in the 86th N. Y S. Vols , and was with this regiment three years. He was at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and in all the engagements under General Grant from May to September, 1864, and Colonel Lansing has written on his discharge, which is dated September 4, 1864, that he was a good soldier, always willing and faithful in the discharge of his duties. Returning home, he was made adjutant of the (0th Regt., N.Y. S. M., and was also given a commission by Governor Fenton as brevet second lieutenant, N. Y. Vols. After the war he came to Hornellsville and was engaged in the mercantile business about seven years, after which he became interested in farming. In 1876 he bought a farm in the town of Hornellsville, to which he has added until now he has 157 acres handsomely located on the line of the Hornellsville and Canisteo Electric Railway. July 16, 1873, he married Olive P., daughter of Rev. E. P. Huntington, then of Phelps, N. Y. Mr. Heseltine was the founder of the New York State Breeders' Asso- ciation, organized in February, 1891, of which he is vice-president. He was also the first owner in this county of the imported Percheron horse, and of Red Polled cattle.

Barrett, William W., was born in New Jersey, January 13, 1838, son of John and Mary (Westervelt) Barrett, who settled in Bath in 1842 and had four children: Julia, John W., Mary, all deceased, and William W. William W. married Lovina J. Niles and has two children: Moses J., who married Eva Jackson; and Jerome W., who married Fannie Parker and has two children: Clarence and Blanche. Moses J. Barrett has three children : Pearl, Lawrence, and Ethel. William W. is an active temperance advocate and is a member of the Good Templars, also the Town Grange.

Brewster, C. A .- Gilbert Brewster, his father, was born at Red Creek, N. Y. sixty- six years ago, of old English ancestry, and came to Addison soon after attaining his

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majority. He was by trade a machinist and farmer, and married Martha, daughter of the late William Wombough, by whom he had four children, of whom Charles and Gilbert are the only survivors. She died in 1886. William Wombough occupied a central position in the early annals of Middletown, now Addison, having been not only one of the first comers here, but a man of wonderful energy and character, and at one time owned nearly 2,000 acres of land in and about Addison. He built grist, carding and saw mills in the vicinity, and it is related that in order to equip his first mill with machinery, he made a trip to Philadelphia with a team, and he thought little of an overland trip to Syracuse for a load of salt. C. A. Brewster, a grandson of William Wombough, was educated in the common schools and Cornell University, after which he occupied a clerical position in the Baldwin Bank, until the formation of the firm of Brewster Brothers, dealers in hardware, etc. In 1890 the firm dis- solved, and Mr. Brewster thenceforward devoted his time and attention to his whole- sale lumber business at Corning and Painted Post. He has served his town as village trustee, and in other positions, which he filled with great credit.

Zeliff, Samuel J., was born in the town of Burns, Allegany county, N. Y., June 16, 1832, and is the son of Joseph Zeliff, who was born in France, and came to the United States in 1812, when a young man. Settled in Pennsylvania, then near Ark- port, Steuben county, they took up land for a farm consisting of 108 acres, where they remained until a few years ago. The homestead is known as the Albert Ellis farm. The antecedents of Samuel J. have always followed farming. He was edu- cated in the district schools of South Dansville, but has greatly improved his educa- tion by his judicious reading. Mr. Zeliff for a time was engaged in dealing in agricultural implements, but now devotes his entire time to farming, owning a farm of 155 acres mostly of improved land. Mr. Zeliff married, first, Theoda, daughter of Sidney Frisbey, of Hartsville, who was one of the first settlers of that town. They had one daughter, Emma D., who married Milton Grey, of Hammondsport, N. Y. Mr. Zeliff married, second, Ann K., widow of George O. Henry, of Hartsville, by whom he had two children: Clayton and Merton, both living at home. Mr. Zeliff has served as highway commissioner, excise commissioner, and assessor. The heads of the family are members of the M. E. church.

Morgan, S. Maurice, was born in the town of Lindley, November 6, 1839, son of Albert C. and Catherine Barnard Morgan, who settled in Lindley in 1828 and 1830. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan were the parents of five children: Harriet A., Sarah E., Nellie A., Catherine A., and S. Maurice. The latter was married to Helen B. Williams, and they have one child, Rose W. S. Maurice enlisted in Co. F, 86th N. Y. Vols., September, 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant, Co. F, 86th N. Y. Vols. ; May, 1862, was appointed aide-de camp to John C. Robinson in Kearney's Division, Army of the Potomac, afterwards served in First Division, Third Army Corps, also Second Division of First Army Corps, and February, 1864, was appointed assistant adjutant-general, U. S. Vols., and was assigned to the Second Division of Fifth Army Corps, was appointed adjutant-general in First Army Corps in May, 1864. He was captured May 30, 1864, at Cold Harbor, and confined in Libby Prison, Rich- mond, Va., Macon, Ga., Charleston, S. C., and Columbia, S. C., and was paroled for exchange from Columbia. Escaped from Columbia prison and was free fourteen days. He holds a commission as brevet lieutenant-colonel, given by President

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Lincoln for meritorious services in the field. He is now commander of the G. A. R. Post at Lawrenceville, Pa.

Putnam, Aaron H., was born in Steuben county, N. Y., July 2, 1838. He is the son of Aaron V. and Mary Putnam, and grandson of David Putnam, of Holland descent, who came from that country with his family and settled in Montgomery county, N.Y. He was a Revolutionary soldier and noted Indian fighter under Gen- eral Van Rensselaer. After his return from the war he was captured by Indians, killed and scalped. Aaron V. was born in Montgomery county in 1790. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and married Mary Rose in 1820. To them was born twelve children. He was a blacksmith by trade, and in 1832 came to Prattsburg and settled on a farm where he plied his trade in connection with his farming, they re- maining on the farm they settled in Prattsburg until their death, both living to the advanced age of eighty-four years. Aaron H. Putnam was the eighth of this family of children and remains on the homestead farm of 130 acres, to which he has added 175 acres. Politically Mr. Putnam is a Democrat and has always adhered to the principles of that party. He has held the office of commissioner of highways, and assessor at different times. In 1866 he married Ada, daughter of Dwiglit Graves, of Prattsburg, by whom he had eight children: Cora, Ella, Mae, Arthur, Lillie, Aaron, Clara, and Dwight, all living except Clara, the youngest daughter, who died at the age of four years. The girls are school teachers, and the boys remain at home on the farm. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam are both members of the Ingleside Grange, in which they have both held offices.

Stewart, George Edmund, was born in the town of Howard in the place known as Dublin, February 20, 1854, son of George W. Stewart, who was born in Ireland, and came to the United States when about seventeen years of age, and became a farmer. He married Sarah A., daughter of the Rev. Adonijah Ford of the town of Howard, and they were the parents of five children: George E., A. F., Abby L., Sarah M., and Eugene, all of whom live in the town of Howard except A. F., who lives in Hor- nellsville. George Edmund was first a teacher, and afterwards worked for the N. Y., L. E. & W. R. R. Company as car repairer, but for many years has devoted his time to farming. He acquired his education in the district schools and was also in the Haverling Academy for three years. He married Lydia Jane, daughter of Orren W. Emerson, a farmer of Bath. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have one daughter, Nora Irene, aged fifteen years. She is now attending the district schools. Mrs. Stewart died November 6, 1893, aged forty-one years.

Olmsted, Milton, was born in Avoca March 18, 1843. John Olmsted, his father, was born in Connecticut, February 23, 1800. In childhood he came with his parents to Montgomery county, N. Y., and when twenty-one years of age came with his brother James to Avoca, Steuben county, and settled on the farm now owned by his son, which was then a wilderness. He bought land and cleared the farm on which he spent the remainder of his life, and on what has since been known far and wide as Olmsted Hill. He afterwards purchased two different farms in the same locality which has since been owned by his sons. He married Amanda Edwards, formerly of Montgomery county, but who came to Avoca with her people some years later than the Olmsteds. She died in 1863, after which he married Lucinda Van Wie,

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widow of the late John Van Wie of Howard. She died in 1881. He lived to the ad- vanced age of eighty-eight years, and died July 6, 1888. The result of the former marriage was ten children, of which Milton, the subject of this sketch, was the eighth. Three died in childhood; the remainder grew to manhood and womanhood, and six are still living. Milton Olmsted received the education and common school training common to farmers' sons of that time, after which he engaged in farming which business he has followed all his life. In 1868 he was married and went to Schuyler county, where he resided until 1886, when he returned to Avoca and came into possession of the homestead farm and cared for his invalid father until the latter died two years later. He married Esther S., daughter of Isaac W. Fero of Beaver Dams, Schuyler county, and grandfather of the late Chester Knowlton of Hornby. (Both pioneers of Hornby, Steuben county, the former assisting his parents to locate and clear land in what was at that time Hornby, but now Orange, Schuyler county). The fruits of this marriage were two daughters: Alida T. and Iva Viola. The old- est (Alida) is now a nurse in the hospital at the Soldiers' Home at Bath. The young- est is with her parents at their home on Olmsted Hill. Mr. Olmsted is a member of the Grange and a Knight of the Maccabees and politically is a Prohibitionist.

Bennett, Oscar F., was born in the town of Howard, September 3, 1832, on the farm he now owns and occupies. He is a son of Benjamin B. Bennett, who was a descendant of Jacob Bennett, who settled in this town in 1808, in what is known as the Howard Flats, and was the seventh settler of the township, which at that time comprised a great part of Fremont, and a portion of Hornellsville and Avoca. This family are extensive land owners. Benjamin Bennett married Mariette Mapes, and no children were born to them. He married the second time, Mary A. Armstrong, and seven children were born to them: David, Adelia, Amanda, Oscar F., as above, Asenith, Omer, and Mary. The occupation of Oscar F. has been farming with the exception of two years when he was proprietor of the Lyman Jones hotel in Howard Flats. He married Maria Huganer of Fremont, and they had one son, William, who married Maud Burleson, and they have one daughter, Neola. Mr. Bennett was supervisor of the town in 1883-4, being elected over a Republican majority of nearly 100. He is a member of the Masons, Lewis Lodge, No. 104.

Wagner, Hiram R., was born in the town of Wheeler February 22, 1847. Ingle- hardt Wagner was a native of Montgomery county, and came to Wheeler in 1818 when he was eighteen years of age. He took 100 acres of land in the normal condi- tion, which he cleared of wood and made a farm, and made his home there the bal- ance of his days. He died in April 1865. His mother was Christina Collier; she died when Hiram was only old five years of age. Hiram was the next youngest son of a family of ten children that reached adult age. He was educated in the common schools, and his first occupation was a clerk in the law office of C. F. Kingsley at Bath, where he was employed eighteen months. In 1870 he came to Hornellsville and was employed with his brother in the hotel business. In 1873 he engaged in the insurance business, which he followed for two years, and was two years with Miles W. Hawley, and was then for thirteen years bookkeeper and superintendent of Terry's flouring mill. In 1892, in partnership with Edgar Boynton, he bought out the Loucks bakery and grocery store, at the corner of East Washington and North Church streets, where the firm of Wagner & Co. is still engaged. Mr. Wagner in

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early life was a Democrat, but now a strong Prohibitionist. In the city election of 1895 he was elected to the office of excise commissioner, the first member of temper- ance principles ever elected in this city. He also filled the office of collector in 1883 and 1887 and was two years a member of the Board of Health. He has passed all of the chairs of the A. O. U. W., and been three times elected delegate to the Grand Lodge. He was married in 1872 to Celestia Snell of Avoca. They have one child, Floyd, a student of Hornellsville Graded Department. Mr. Wagner has been a member of East Avenue church for seven years and five of that time a trustee, and is the present superintendent of the Sabbath school.

Young, Benjamin F., was born in Boston, Mass., September 27, 1822. His father, William, was a native of London, England, who moved to Halifax, Novia Scotia, then came to the United States, settling at Geneva. Here he entered the employ of Sir William Pulteney's estate in the Geneva Land Office. From Geneva he came to Bath in 1856, at which time the two land offices were consolidated. In 1862 he was succeeded by his son, Benjamin F. Young, who still remains in charge. William Young married Jane T. Brabiner of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Entering the land office as a clerk he was subsequently made agent with full power of attorney of the Pulteney estate with Joseph Fellows. He died at his son's home, Ontario, N. Y., aged seventy-one years. In 1845 Benjamin F. Young married Helen A., daughter of Elisha Johnson, of Rochester, N.Y. They had three sons and five daughters: William H., Frank J., Joseph F., Mrs. Emily H. Thorp, Mrs. M. Lillian Chitry, Helen B., Ada L., and Elizabeth J. Mrs. Helen Young died in November, 1873. In 1882 Mr. Young married Lucy L., daughter of the late Daniel Knight, of Bath, by whom he has one son, Daniel K, Mr. Young is one of the leading business men in Bath and has been an officer in the Episcopal church for nearly fifty years.

Young, Peter, was born at Rathbone, in 1833, son of Martin B. Young. He first engaged in lumbering and farming He married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Ostrander, of Penn Yan, Yates county. Martin B., who was born in a log house in Addison, in 1804, and died at the home of his son Peter in 1885, was of German descent, his father coming here at an early age. Mr. Young devoted his time to lumbering and speculating and was financially successful. In 1827 he married Martha Craw- ford, of Rathboneville, and they were the parents of five children: Sarah, widow of the late Harvey Burgett, and resides in Sayre, Pa .; William, a farmer of Rathbone; Margaret, widow of the late Libbius Phillips, of this place; Mary, widow of the late John Kinneley, and resides at Elmira; and Peter.

Foster, Mrs. E. L .- Eddy L. Foster was born in the town of Barrington, Yates county, in 1848. William Foster, his grandfather, a native of England, came to America in 1770, and was a soldier in the Revolution. During his younger days lie was a blacksmith by trade, but devoted the latter part of his life to farming in Yates county and Wheeler, to which place he removed in 1805. Lindley, the father, was a carpenter and farmer, and spent his life in Yates county. When eighteen years of age he purchased a farm, which he owned at the time of his death, which occurred in 1888. He married Betsey Mapes, of Dutchess county, and their children were Jeremiah, Marilla, William, and John. For his second wife he married Abigail Campbell, by whom two children were born: Mary J. and Lindley. The third time

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he married Margaret Eddy, and to this union were born five children: Hulda, Eddy L., Frank, Charles M., and Minor. His wife survives him and resides on the home- stead in Yates county. Eddy L. remained with his father until twenty-five years of age when he engaged in the vineyard and farming business, and in 1876 came to the town of Campbell, where he purchased a farm, and thirteen years later removed to the town of Wheeler. In 1891 he purchased his present farm of 260 acres, it being the original Grattan-Wheeler homestead. For a number of years he followed the lumbering business in connection with farming, and for the past twelve years was successfully engaged in buying and shipping cattle and sheep. Mr. Foster was a Republican, and held the office of assessor, and for some time was a member of the Grange. In 1873 he married Lola Straight, who was born in Bradford, Steuben county, a daughter of Samuel and Sally Straight. Mr. and Mrs. Foster had these children: Minor, Burr, Belle, Edna, Charles, Flossie, and Eddy W. On May 30, 1895, Mr. Foster was accidentally drowned while in bathing in a creek that flowed through his farm.

Soule, Eli, was born in Euclid, Tompkins county, N. Y., January 20, 1829. His father's family resided in the city of New York before the war of the Revolution. His father, Lambert Soule, removed from Orange county to Tompkins about June, 1820, and married his mother, Catherine Rickey, in 1827, and settled on a farm in the town of Euclid the next year, where he resided till his death in 1880. Eli Soule spent his minority on his father's farm, was a student of law in the office of Boardman & Finch at Ithaca, N. Y., was admitted to the bar in 1860, commenced practicing at Canisteo in 1863, where he yet remains. He was married to Miss Jane Ferris of Galesburg, Ill., in 1871.

Smith, Mrs. Zidana .- The subject of this sketch was born September 18, 1827, on the homestead farm, which was settled by his grandfather, Andrew Smith, who had come to this country from Scotland in 1791, and who was associated with Captain Williamson in the clearing of land for cultivation, and the construction of roads. Jackson Smith was the son of Charles, the second son of theearly pioneer. His early life was passed at home on his father's farm, during which time he spent several months at Lima Academy (Livingston county), where he learned the science of land surveying. This art he put into practice a great deal, and a very large number of the roads and boundary lines of the surrounding country were laid out by him. In 1858 he married Zidana, the daughter of Samuel Le Gro. Mr. Le Gro was a ship carpenter in Maine in his younger days, but had come to Bath in 1814, where he helped erect some of the first houses in the village. He married Betsey, daughter of Jeremiah Dudley for his first wife, by which union seven children were born, Mrs. Smith being the third eldest. For his second wife Mr. Le Gro married Almira Tiff- any. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Jeannie A. Downing, William C., Sherman T., Hoxie W., Fred D., Nellie L., J. Lee. In 1863 Mr. Smith purchased the Alexander Freeman property, a few miles below Bath and adjoining the old homestead farm, where he passed the remainder of his life, engaged in the occupation of farming. Besides adding many acres to his original purchase he expended a large portion of his income and wealth in the edu- cation of his children, five of whom have graduated from Cornell University. He was a man of a very quiet and reserved disposition, caring nothing for public office

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or public mention. He believed in training his sons and daughters by his own ex- ample of hard labor, strict honesty in all dealings and charity to the poor, and realized that he could leave them no more valuable legacy than these traits and a thorough education. Though directly connected with no religious circle, he always had a strong leaning towards the Universalist faith, trusting fully in the kindness and mercy of his Maker and believing that " by your works, ye shall be judged." In his home and family circle, only, was he satisfied to be, and although he took no part in public affairs, yet he was well read and conversant with the topics of the day, being always found on the side of Americanism and temperance. In politics, he was a Republican, having always voted with the party of his first belief. He died of strangulated her- nia, November 26, 1889, in his sixty-third year.

Davis, Edwin F., a native of Caton, who is the state electrician, is the son of Dan- iel and Bates Davis, natives of Massachusetts, who were married there and settled in the town of Caton in 1844, where they are stil residing. Mr Davis at the age of twenty-one went to Massachusetts a short time, and was then in the milling business in Pennsylvania one or two years, also following the carpenter's trade about ten years in the Fall Brook shops. He then followed photographing about three years in Corning and had the telephone exchange in his gallery, by which he became interested in electricity. He was afterward with the Edison Electric Company during the New Orleans Exposition and continued with them several years, after which he went with the Westinghouse Company about three years, contracting and establishing plants all over the country. He put in the electrical plant for three State prisons, Sing Sing, Auburn, and the Clinton Prison, and has since had charge of them.

Bailey, John S., was born in Urbana, N. Y., June 8, 1826. His grandfather Bailey was a native of England, and came to Philadelphia about 1774, and during the Rev- olutionary war he aided very materially the American cause by furnishing the sol- diers with provisions. His son Barila was an officer, connected with William Henry Harrison on the frontier. Nicholas Bailey, father of John S., was born in Philadel- phia in 1778, one of nine children, and at fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to learn the wheelwright trade, and served until he was twenty-one years of age. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, ranked as corporal, often detailed to hunt desert- ers, and after the war he plied his trade. In 1821 he moved to Urbana, Steuben county, and from then until his death he followed the carpenter's trade and saw mill building. He sold his soldier's land for thirty dollars and took his pay in sole leather and built the first store in Hammondsport. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Perry of New Jersey, by whom he had these children: Lewis, Sarah, Nelson, John, Artemas, Edwin, Bradley and Margaret. Mrs. Bailey died in September, 1885, aged eighty-five years. John S. Bailey remained with his father until twenty- one years of age, when he engaged work on the canal, and a year later purchased a small tract of land, farming summers and Inmbering winters. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, 161st Regt., but was discharged soon after on account of sickness. In July, 1863, he was drafted, paid his draft, and in 1864 he again enlisted in Company C, 188th Regt., and served until the close of the war. He was at the battles of First and Second Hatcher's Run, Weldon Raid, and received a flesh wound in the leg at Hatcher's Run. In the spring of 1865 he was detailed to drive and care for the tent and provision wagons of General Gregory, and in 1867 he purchased his present farm.

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Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 63

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Hakes, Harlo, 1823- ed; Aldrich, Lewis Cass. cn
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1180