Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 82

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 82

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LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY.

to Syracuse, where he organized the Fourth Presbyterian church of that city, and which he served as pastor for six years, from 1870 to 1876. He preached the sermon on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the church, on the first Sunday of February, 1895. In 1876 he accepted a call from the First Pres- byterian church at Niagara Falls, N. Y. This pastorate extended from 1876 to 1883. His last parish was Corning, N. Y. He ministered to the First Presbyterian church of that city from February, 1883, to May, 1893. After continuous service as pastor, for more than thirty years, he now felt that the time for him to take a rest had come, and so at the close of his Corning pastorate he retired to his pleasant Pulteney home where he now resides. Though retired from the pastoral care of a congregation, still as a preacher his service is in active demand, and he is unable to answer all the calls which he receives. Mr. Bacon has been exceptionally happy in his ministerial life. He insists that he has had the best parishes in the State of New York. Certain it is that whenever he visits any one of his four parishes his welcome is unmistak- ably cordial. He received the degree of A.M. from Hamilton College in 1875. He is a Free and Accepted Mason of the thirty-second degree, and he has been for sev- eral terms grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Masons in the State of New York.

Harrison, J. S., who ably represents in the county legislature the important town of Addison, was first elected to that office in 1893, and is now filling his second term. Salmon Harrison, his father, was born in Otsego county, and removed to Woodhull in 1848, where he continued to reside until his death in 1892, aged eighty-two years. He was a justice of the peace for twelve years, and during his residence in Otsego county he married Amy E. Haight, by whom he had four children: James S., Adelia, deceased, and Howard B., the well-known school commissioner of District No. 2, and a resident of Woodhull. James Harrison was educated at Alfred University, completing his course in 1871, being then twenty years of age. Purchasing and en- larging the plant at the eastern suburb of the village, he at once began his business career as a manufacturer of agricultural woodwork, making a specialty of steam bent handles and sled woods. In the fall of 1895, while this book is in press, he received the nomination for member of assembly from the First District of Steuben county ; as his nomination is almost equivalent to his election, it may not be pre- sumptuous to say that his record at Albany will equal his home reputation. June 5, 1883, he married Carrie E. Griswold, of Addison, by whom he had two children: Howard B. and Celestia G.

Holden, Joseph .- His grandfather, Stephen Holden, born in Bedford, Vt., in 1774, came from the East and was one of the first settlers in Steuben county. Mr. and Mrs. Holden had three sons and three daughters, namely: James, born October 10, 1800, in Pulteney, Vt .; Polly, born in 1802; Amie, born in 1804; Stephen, born in 1806; Nancy, born in 1810; and Jediah, born in Greenwich, Washington county, N. Y., in 1819. The latter came with his father, Stephen, to Dansville (now Fre- mont), where he purchased a farm on Windsor Hill. He married Polly Mariah, daughter of Jesse Wheeler, of the town of Dansville, and the following children were born to them: Joseph, the subject of this sketch, born October 27, 1837; Laura (Mrs. Andrew Harrison), deceased: Eveline (Mrs. George Davis), born February 26, 1843, deceased; and Franklin, born March 21, 1854, a farmer of Howard. Mrs. Polly M. Holden, born March 20, 1840, died March 16, 1883, and Jediah, her husband, died

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October 20, 1880, aged sixty-two years. Joseph Holden has followed farming as his principal occupation, also dealing in stock. He owned and occupied the old home- stead of 110 acres until 1893, when he sold it and purchased what is called the Cole farm of 103 acres, which he now owns, together with five houses and lots in Hor- nellsville. He enlisted in Co. I, 15th N. Y. Engineers, and served about ten months, building hospitals, bridges, docks, etc., in various parts of the South, and serving in the engagement at Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865. He is a member of G. A. R. Post No. 226 of Hornellsville. He married Fanny, daughter of Melancton Barber, who was a soldier in the Rebellion and died in a field hospital. Mrs. Joseph Holden attended school at Rogersville Seminary, and taught school four terms, Four chil- dren were born to them: Fay E., born June 26, 1866, married Cory M. Flint, daugh- ter of James Flint, a farmer of Howard; Frederick M., born February 19, 1871, deceased; Scott J., born January 1, 1877, deceased; and Agnes M., born March 20, 1881.

Allen, Alvah J., is a son of George and Louisa (June) Allen, who had eight chil- dren: Alvah J., Isaac, Sarah M. Wood, Flora A. Dillenbeck, Moses M., Aaron T., Nancy Rowen, and Mary Orton, who were all born on the old homestead in the town of Cameron. Alvah J. married Abbie A., a daughter of James H. and Charity France, by whom he has one child, Ethel M. Mr. Allen has been a member of the East Cameron Baptist church for thirty-three years and is active in the Sunday school. He is engaged in farming on the Allen homestead of 210 acres, where he lived for twenty years. George was a son of Thomas and Margaret Allen, who set- tled in this county in 1826. Their children were George, William, Nancy Northrup, Joseph, who were born in New Jersey, and T. Alfred, who was born on the Allen homestead in the town of Cameron.

Didas, jr., Peter, was born May 24, 1844. His father, Peter Didas, was born in Prussia, Germany, November 29, 1810. In 1838, in the old country, he married Elizabeth Grim, born February 20, 1815, and died in Wayland, N. Y., July 15 1856, by whom he had these children: Angeline, born September 2, 1839, and died in 1883; Mary, born January 9, 1842, and resides in Rochester; Peter, as above; and Louisa, born April 24, 1849. He married for his second wife, Wilhelmina Vonbose, born in 1828, by whom he had one child, Sabina, born June 1, 1864. Mr. Didas was a tanner by trade, and worked in the Patchinsville tannery, which was owned by Augustus Whitman. Peter Didas, jr., was educated in the public schools of Wayland, and at the German School at Perkinsville, after which he learned the tanner's trade of his father, and worked in the Patchinsville tannery. In 1865 he, with his father, erected a tannery one and one-half miles south of Patchinsville, which they run until 1894. Peter Didas, jr., is now engaged in farming, and in the manufacture of feed. He has held the offices of town collector, commissioner of highways, and has been elected justice of the peace three terms of four years each. He enlisted in Co. E, 188th N. Y. Vols., served until the close of the war, and was discharged June 5, 1865. He took part in the battles of Hatcher's Run, Warren's Raid, Weldon Railroad, Five Forks, and Appomattox. At Wayland, N. Y., Novem- ber 15, 1866, he married Elizabeth Hemmer, born June 18, 1849, and died August 19, 1887, by whom he had these children: Mary Ann, born January 21, 1868; Peter J., born Jnne 5, 1869; John, born February 7, 1871; Catherine, born October 1, 1872;

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Urban, born September 8, 1874; Frank J., born June 4, 1876; Elizabeth S., born Feb- ruary 12, 1879; Nicholas, born March 13, 1882; and William, born August 7, 1887, and died January 30, 1888.

Huy, Abram D., was born on the farm where he has always resided in 1830. His paternal grandfather purchased and his father located on this place about 1808. John Huy, his father, was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and is of German descent. He died in 1854, aged sixty-four years. He married Susan Minier, a native of Ulster, Bradford county, Pa., and died in 1861, aged sixty-six. In 1865 Abram D. Huy mar- ried Emma Minier, a native of Big Flats, Chemung county, by whom he had four children: John M., a resident of Butte, Mont., Abram W., Charles F., and Will- iam F.

Wilber, Murray, was born in Bath, November 28, 1838, son of John Wilber, and grandson of Samuel Wilber, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. John was a carpenter and farmer, and resides in Bath. His first wife was Luna A. Gleason, and they were the parents of three children: Alanson D., deceased, Murray, as above, and Sarah M., wife of James Holliday, of Thurston, N. Y. Mrs. Wilber died May 10, 1875. For his second wife Mr. Wilber married Harriet Squires who died, and he married for his third wife, Eliza Billington. Murray Wilber was reared on a farm and learned the carpenter's trade, but his principal occupation is farming, and he owns a farm of 170 acres. November 28, 1862, he married Lucinda Grant of Bath, by whom he had one child, Cora, wife of Mahlon Walker of Bath. Mrs. Wilber died September 18, 1865. November 28, 1868, he married Hattie Buck, daughter of Will- iam and Adelia Richtmyer Buck, and they had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Wilber died September 15, 1895. Mr. Wilber is a member of Bath Grange.

'Day, Ira G., was born May 17, 1841. His grandfather, Chauncey Day, was born in Vermont, and was one of the pioneer settlers of Dansville, where he settled about 1811. He bought the Mint farm and afterward owned the Pine farm and built the saw mill on Stony Brook. He afterward settled in Hillsdale, Mich., where he died. He was drum major in the Revolutionary war. Chauncey Day, father of Ira G., was born in Dansville, N. Y., in 1811, and died in 1885. He started a lime kiln in Rog- ersville and burnt lime for twenty years, when he bought a farm of 234 acres in Rogersville and built a commodious hotel which he run for twenty-five years. Octo- ber 18, 1837, he married Almeda, daughter of Charles Oliver, one of the pioneers of the town. She was born in Rogersville, N. Y., and died March 25. 1895, aged seventy-seven years. They had ten children: Phoebe C., born September 4, 1838, and died May 15, 1860; Ira G., as above; Charles D., who was born August 3, 1843, and died November 27, 1845; Charles O., who was born April 13, 1846, and died No- vember 19, 1891; Chauncey D., who was born April 27, 1848, and died June 29, 1849; De Ayllon, who was born January 13, 1851, and died January 19, 1892; Adah I., who was born December 20, 1854, and died March 27, 1858; Ida B., who was born February 14, 1859, and died June 5, 1885; and Mary and Sarah, twins, born Novem- ber 16, 1860; Mary died February 15, 1863, and Sarah died July 15, 1885. Ira G. Day was educated, in the Rogersville Seminary, and has always followed farming and produce buying. He has held the offices of supervisor, commissioner of high-

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ways, and superintendent of the poor of Steuben county one term. He is a member of Dansville Lodge, No. 478, F. & A. M., and Chapter No. 101 of Hornellsville. At Canisteo, January 1, 1863, he married Martha A. Jamison, who was born in Canisteo, March 6, 1841.

Prentiss, Anson A., was born in the town of Tyrone, now a part of Schuyler county, February 11, 1840. The youngest son of Watson and Susannah (Price) Prentiss, he was given a good common school education and his first occupation was with the Erie Railway when he was fifteen years of age. Starting as a water boy he went as brakeman until the breaking out of the war, May 16, 1861, when he enlisted in the 23d N. Y. Inf. as a private and served with this regiment two years. He was at Rapahannock Station, the second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and many minor engagements, and honorably discharged under general orders May 22, 1863. Returning to Hornellsville he was for a short time on the farm and then returned to his former employment on the railroad as foreman on the construction of what is now the N. Y., P. and O. R. R. He went from there to Buffalo and Oil Creek Cross Cut and returned to the Erie in 1868 and has ever since been in their employ, and for over twenty years filling the position of conductor. Thanksgiving day, 1877, he be- came the victim of an accident by which he lost his right leg, but with the persist- ence of his race he still follows his calling. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., the Order of the World, the G. A. R., and the Conductors' Brotherhood. He is a mem- ber of the M. E. church, and his family also. In 1865 he married Susan McGill, by whom he had two children: Evangeline K., wife of James B. Kinne, a conductor on the Erie, and Albert A. Prentiss, an operator for the Erie, and located at Depew, N. Y.

Van Vliet, Levern H., was born in Tuscarora, N. Y., on the farm he now owns, December 11, 1861, son of Asa, native of Chenango county, N. Y., and Electa (Hig- gins) Van Vliet. He came to Tuscarora in 1831, and she, in 1833, where they were married and where he died March 12, 1884, and his wife in 1871. He was a farmer by occupation. They had eleven children: Caroline, Isaac, Julia, Electa, Delos, Wilson, Albert, Ellis, Simeon, Elsie, and Levern H., who was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and Wellsboro Academy of Pennsylvania. He has followed lumbering and is now engaged in farming and owns 135 acres, the old homestead. In 1894 he married Kate, daughter of Edmond Whitcomb of Bath.

Land, Fred, was born in Prussia, in 1841, son of Michael and Caroline (Shurger) Land. Fred Land came to America in 1867 and settled in Cohocton, where he was for eighteen years employed in the mills of the late Thomas Warner. In 1886 he en- gaged in the wholesale beer business. He is a member of Zion Lutheran church of Cohocton, Liberty Lodge No. 510, F. & A. M., and Cohocton Council, E. K. R. O. In 1870 Mr. Land married Helen Stein, by whom he had seven children: Julia, Charles, Katie, Mary, Helen, Fred, and Frank.

Perkins, Samuel O., was born in Canada, August 28, 1826, son of John and Rebecca (Webster) Perkins, natives of New Hampshire, and he died in Canada. She is a niece of Daniel Webster. Samuel O. was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. In 1850 he came to Tuscarora, where he has since resided, with the exception of one year in Illinois. He has always followed farming, and owns 110

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acres of land. In Vermont, September 27, 1849, he married Mariette Brown, a native of Vermont, born June 20, 1824, and daughter of Philip and Maria (Lewis) Brown, he born in Poultney, Vt., and she, in Fair Haven, Vt. They went to Illinois where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins had seven children: Sarah S., born August 24, 1851, and resides in Osceola, Pa .; Samuel L., born August 27, 1853, and married Jennie Fuller of Elkland, by whom he had seven children: Walter, Samuel, Roy, Lena, Cora, Raymond, and an infant; Elma M., born July 7, 1855, and resides in Centerville, South Dakota. She graduated from Oswego Normal School; Elva A., born July 7, 1855, twin sister of Elma E., and died when seven years of age; Jennie A., born September 26, 1857, and died at one year of age; Jennie M., born August 6, 1859, and resides in Osceola, Pa .; and Ella G., born September 12, 1862, is a teacher and makes her home with her parents.

Scherer, John P., was born in Dansville, N. Y., September 14, 1852. His father, John P., was born in Germany and died in Cumminsville, N. Y., in 1883, aged seventy-three years. He married Mary Elizabeth Schnyder, who was born in Ger- many, and died in Dansville, in 1854, aged forty-four years. They had twelve chil- dren; Elizabeth Raich, deceased; Catherine Raich; Mary Flickner; Harriet White; Effie Philips; Flora Wildey, deceased; Cordelia Dimick; Louisa White; Conrad, who resides in Louisiana; Endress, deceased; John P., as above; and Henry, who was born October 14, 1854. Mr. Scherer worked the Russel Day farm from 1841 to 1881. John P. Sherer received his education in the common schools of the town of Dansville, after which he engaged in farming, and now owns ninety-four acres of land. In 1887 he took the agency for the Sweet Manufacturing Co., of Dansville, dealers in reapers, mowers, spring tooth harrows, and spring tooth cultivators, and has also sold binders and mowers for the McCormick Co. for five years. He is a member of South Dansville Lodge, No. 478, F. & A. M., and Oak Hill Grange No. 574 of Dansville. At Dansville, N. Y., in January, 1875, he married Amelia Hul- bert, who was born in Dansville, N. Y., May 6, 1851, daughter of Justice Hulbert, by whom he had two children: Floyd J., who was born October 20, 1880; and Clifford, who was born February 8, 1887.

Richtmyer, J. H., was born in Tompkins county, N. Y,, January 4, 1843, son of John and Harriet (Head) Richtmyer, natives of Schoharie county, N. Y. John Richt- myer was a farmer and came to Risingville, Steuben county, N. Y., about 1848, and settled on a farm, where he died March 15, 1878, and his widow lives with the son, and is ninety-two years of age. J. H. Richtmyer was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools, after which he engaged in farming and lumbering, and now owns 124 acres of land, known as the Edmunds farm. He is a member of Cameron Lodge, F. & A. M. April 13, 1864, he married Azalia Niles, of Bath, N. Y., by whom he had three children: Lottie, wife of James Crawford, of Cameron Mills, and they have two children: William and Ruth; Arthur, who was educated in the com- mon schools and Addison Union School. August 2, 1891, he married Mrs. Mary W. Graves, of Greene, Chenango county, N. Y .; and Ellery, who was educated in Cam- eron Mills, and married Ernie Smith, by whom he has one child, Beatrice; they also have an adopted daughter, Ada K.

Merriman, La Frone, was born at Richburg, Allegany county, N. Y., in 1859, and

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has resided in Hornellsville since he was three years of age. He comes of a musical family ; his father taught singing school and also music at Alfred University, and his mother was a singer and played the organ in church. His own first musical study began at an early age, and was continued in Buffalo in 1874 under J. Kuhn and Albert Poppenberg in violin playing, and L. G. Chaffin in organ and harmony. In 1876 he went to Boston, where he studied for some years under Julius Eichberg, Eugene Thayer, Bernhard Listemann, J. W. Tufts, Louis Mass, and J. Harry Wheeler. While in Boston he was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra under Listemann, playing violin. He also played in the Harvard Orchestra under Zerrahn and under Maas, Henschel and B. J. Lange. In 1886 he accompanied a party of eighteen pupils and friends to Berlin for study, and while there studied counterpoint, fugue, musical form and composition under Phillipp Scharwenka, and violin under Heinrich de Ahna, having access to the rehearsals of the Joachim Quartet at Hoch- schule, and where one of his vocal pupils was granted a free entrance and orchestra chair at the Imperial Opera as long as she remained in Berlin. Mr. Merriman, who is a Mus. Doc., is director of a flourishing Conservatory of Music, which, together with Merriman Bros.' music store, occupies one-half of the P. O. building. This Conservatory, which attracts pupils from all sections of the country, is finely fitted up and has a handsome large music hall, where concerts are given by the pupils and by celebrated artists. There are instruments for practice, including a large, modern and complete two-manual pipe organ, and also one of the celebrated Brackett pedal pianos. All branches are taught, including composition and orchestration (Mr. Mer- riman being a successful composer, whose compositions are well known throughout this country and Canada), and it is unnecessary to say that the best methods are used. He is assisted by a corps of competent teachers, and has always had success in assist- ing pupils to seaure good position, and many of them hold high and lucrative posi- tions in New York, Brooklyn, and other cities in this section, and in Southern and Western schools and cities. He is an active member of the State Music Teachers' Association, representing Steuben county in that organization. He at present has charge of three church choirs.

Clarkson, David, was born in the town of Ovid, Seneca county, N. Y., April 15, 1843, and is the oldest of seven children born to Abraham P. and Matilda Combs Clarkson. The grandparents, Philip and Sarah Palwellson Clarkson, came to Seneca county, where she died in March, 1824. For his second wife he married Jane Sebring, who was born in 1792, and died in 1842. He died August 5, 1830. Abraham P. was bound out to learn the trades of wagonmaker and blacksmith, and in 1854 he came to Rathbone, N. Y., and worked at his trade and farming, and in 1862 he located in Troupsburg, where he died in 1866. Mrs. Clarkson died in 1872. Politically, he was a Republican, and was assessor at the time of his death. David has always followed farming with the exception of the time spent in the war, three years. In 1864 he bought a farm in Squat Hollow, which, in 1869, he sold and came to the Jordan set - tlement and bought a farm consisting of about seventy-eight acres, making a spe- cialty of hay and sheep. In 1867 he married Irene E., daughter of Alanson and Sarah Bowman Cady, of Brookfield, Pa., by whom he has had six children: Halzey A., de- ceased, Harry W., a farmer of Washington, Sarah B., wife of Fred Briggs, of Knox- ville, Louisa M., Lena M., and Ina D. Mr. Clarkson enlisted August 17, 1861, in

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in Co. K, 86th New York Volunteers, and was honorably discharged September 14, 1864. He was in the battles of 2d Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Beverley's Ford, and Gettysburg, and was taken sick but remained until September 14, 1864. He has been constable three or four years, and is a member of S. A. Baily Post No. 351, G. A. R., of Troupsburg.

Pierce, Henry C., was born in the town of Naples, Ontario county, August 27, 1842, son of Jerry W., whose father, Jonathan Pierce, was the pioneer of the family in Western New York, and came from Connecticut as early as 1800, and settled in Naples, where he was a shoemaker by trade. He had three sons: Jerry, Jonathan and Otis, the two latter of whom were soldiers in the war of 1812. Jerry W. Pierce was a millwright and mechanic. He built the Covel mill in Naples, and many other buildings in that and surrounding towns. In 1856 he moved to North Cohocton, and purchased the farm now owned by S. Coroy, where he lived for fifteen years. He soon after purchased a farm and mill site at Bloods, now Atlanta, and completed the grist mill then under construction, built a saw mill, and carried on that business until his death, which occurred in 1866. In 1860, with his eldest son, he engaged in the mercantile trade at Bloods, which they conducted for several years. Mr. Pierce mar- ried Mrs. Eliza Watkins, widow of C. W. Watkins, of Naples, and a daughter of Dr. Newcomb, the first physician in Naples. Their children were Harvey, who married Hannah, daughter of William Wait, of Cohocton, and settled in Michigan; Jonathan, who enlisted in 1861, in Co. C, 6th N. Y. Inft,, as lieutenant, rose to the rank of major, and was killed at Morton's Ford October 22, 1863; Silas N., who enlisted in the same company as private, rising to the rank of captain, and served until the close of the war. He married Rhoda Welch, and settled in Shiawassee county, Mich. ; Jerry W., who also settled in the same county; and Eliza L. (Mrs. W. A. Woodward) deceased, of Owassa, Mich. Henry C. has spent his life in Cohocton, and upon the death of his father he carried on the store and milling business for several years. Since 1885 he has given his attention to farming and dairying. In 1866 he married Libbie Layton, by whom he had four children: Nellie M., Alice E., Charles W., and William J.

O'Connor, William, was born in the town of Andes, Delaware county, August 27, ' 1827. James, the father, was a blacksmith by trade, and also a native of Delaware county, and William was nine years of age when the family removed to Steuben county. They remained in Hornellsville but a year, then moved to Mt. Morris, Liv- ingston county, where he died August 7, 1847. The mother of our subject was also of Delaware county, and died in 1880, aged sixty-six. Of their three children, two survive: James, a tanner, and William. The latter was educated in the public schools, and at the age of eighteen engaged in tanning, which trade he learned in Mt. Morris, and which he has ever since continued. In 1850 he bought a small tan- nery at Almond, which was burned in 1864, and he then removed to Hornellsville and bought the Rose & Benton tannery on Seneca street, which has become noted as the O'Connor Tannery. The output has always been of rough leather, but he is now changing it to sole leather, with an output of about 90,000 sides per year. In 1879 he took his son, George W., as partner, until September 29, 1894, when the latter died. Mr. O'Connor has made a fine success of his business to which he has given most of his attention, excluding all outside matters. For over thirty years he has

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Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 82

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