Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 84

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 84

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Northrup, James, was born in Sussex county, N. J., September 12, 1819, son of Benjamin D. Northrup, who is mentioned in this work. James came to Rathbone in 1835 and at the age of twenty-six years came into possession of 100 acres of the old homestead, and afterwards bought 114 acres of land, and later fifty-four acres. He followed farming until 1883, at which time he retired. He is a Democrat and has served as supervisor one year, and assessor one year. In January, 1846, he married Eliza, daughter of Isaac Bowyer, one of the early settlers of Jasper, where he lived and died, Mr. and Mrs. Northrup had seven children: Sarah, deceased; Watson T., who resides at Cameron Mills; Isaac, deceased; M. Electa, deceased; Amanda H., deceased; Ella E., wife of Frank L. Johnson, who was born in Penn Yan, Yates county, N. Y., son of Samuel and Ann Perry Johnson, who came to Howard about 1835, where Mr. Johnson died in 1892, and his wife in Rathbone in 1879. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born three children: Royal J., Charley B., and Watson F. The seventh child of James Northrup is Carrie, wife of John McWilliams of Rathbone.

Rutherford, Mrs. T. R. - Thomas R. Rutherford was a native of County Cavan, Ireland, and came to Bath, Steuben county, in 1852. He received an excellent edu- cation from private tutors, and then gave his attention to teaching school for some years, and in 1854 he entered the county clerk's office, remaining through Major Campbell's term. He afterwards learned the photographer's business and located in Seneca Falls and Rochester. In 1870 he again entered the county clerk's office, where he remained until the time of his death. In 1868 he married Sarah, daughter of John R. Smith, by whom he had two children, Katherine and Mabel. He died August 11, 1890.

Wheeler, Andrew Jackson, was born in Bath, November 26, 1824. His father, George, was a native of Rhode Island and came with his parents, Jeremiah and Mary (Joselyn) Wheeler, to Bath in 1805. George Wheeler married Grace, a daughter of Nathaniel Stearns, of Hinsdale, N. H. He was one of the prominent men of early times, serving as justice of the peace, postmaster of Kanona, etc. He died in 1870 at the age of eighty-six years, leaving three children: Andrew J., Elizabeth S., and Mrs. Dr. Jones, of Danville, Ill. Mr. Andrew J. Wheeler is one of the practical and successful farmers of the town, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious affairs.

Smith, O. H., was born in Bath, March 12, 1840, son of Charles A. Smith, who was born in Bath in 1797, and grandson of Andrew, who came to Bath with Colonel Williamson in 1793, and purchased a tract of woodland, in 1794, of the Pulteney estate, which still remains in the family. He acted as foreman and agent for Colonel Williamson. Charles A. Smith married Azilla, daughter of Stephen Morgan. He

269

FAMILY SKETCHES.

was a prominent and successful farmer, and died in 1865, in his sixty-eighth year. O. H. Smith was educated in Bath, and Franklin Academy, and in 1862 enlisted in Co. D, 161st N. Y. Vols., and took part in the battle of Port Hudson, and receiving a severe wound at Cox's Plantation, La., in 1863, and afterward took part in the Red River campaign, the siege and capture of Mobile, and received an honorable dis- charge at the close of the war in 1865, with the rank of first lieutenant, Co. B, and then returned to Bath. In 1866 he went to Hornellsville and engaged in the mercan- tile business, and in 1872 went to Waterloo, from there to Syracuse, and Elmira, re- turning to Bath in 1877. In 1883 he was elected police justice, serving five years, and in 1889 established his present business, carrying a full line of of insurance policies. In 1868 he married Elizabeth, daughter of David Sherwood, and they are the parents of two children: William J., and Maud E. Mr. Smith was commander of the G. A. R. Lodge for three years, and at the present time is a trustee of the New York State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, and secretary of the board.

Beecher, Fary B., was born in Fremont, Steuben county, N. Y., June 2, 1856, a son of Randall F. Beecher, deceased. The family is of English descent, the ancestors having come to America in the Mayflower in 1620. Of the next generation there were three brothers: Hezikiah, Linus, and Lyman. Among the direct descendants of Lyman Beecher were the Rev. Henry Ward, Thomas K. Beecher, and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. From Hezekiah Beecher is descended Fary B. Beecher. Randall F. Beecher came from Madison county, N. Y., to the town of Fremont in 1840, where he engaged in farming, and was also a licensed veterinary surgeon. He was born in Madison county, N. Y., June 2, 1814, and died November 12, 1876. He was three times married, first to Serepta Cass, by whom he had three children : Andalusia, Nason, and William Henry. For his second wife Mr. Beecher married Weltha Donahe, by whom he had one son, John D. He then married Statira San- ford and they had eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity: Weltha, Orin H., Eunice C., now Mrs. Lewis B. Ward; Mark H., Fary B., Luke A., Menzer J., Murray C., Scott M., and Gertrude C. Fary B. Beecher received his education in the com- mon schools and Rogersville Union Seminary, following which he taught for several years. He studied law with the late O. S. Searl of Cohocton, and was admitted to the bar in 1891, settling at Atlanta, where he has since practiced in his profession. He is a staunch Democrat and is an active member of the party. He is a member of Kanawha Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Atlanta, and has held nearly every office in the lodge. He has taken the past official degree in the district Grand Commandery and the Grand Lodge degree at Buffalo in 1893. In 1881 Mr. Beecher married Miss Emma E. Johnson of North Cohocton, N. Y., to whom has been born four children, two sons, Don L., and Dana C., and two daughters, Una M. and Marion.

Oliver, Gale, was born October 18, 1853. His grandfather, Charles Oliver, was born in Athol, Mass., June 8, 1789, and moved to Shoreham, Vt., where he learned the trade of blacksmith. He settled in Dansville in 1816, and bought 200 acres of land and built a blacksmith shop near Loon Lake, where he remained about six years, when he built a shop at Rogersville and carried on the same business there until his death, February 20, 1866, aged seventy-six years. He married Phoebe Wil- son, who was born in Vermont, December 11, 1795, by whom he had these children: Charles, who was born in Shoreham, Vt., August 22, 1815, and died August 19, 1887;

270

LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY.

Almeda, who was born September 9, 1817; Lois, who was born September 26, 1819; Seraph, who was born November 3, 1831; Sally W., who was born January 5, 1824; Phoebe, who was born June 11, 1826; Amory G., who was born December 26, 1828; and Mary P., who was born June 27, 1832. Charles Oliver, father of Gale, was a man of affairs, having held the offices of assessor sixteen years, justice of the peace and supervisor four years; he was a surveyor. He married Clarissa Griswold, who was born January 10, 1817, on Lake Champlain, by whom he had these children: John Tyler, who was born March 31, 1840, and died August 29, 1840; Phoebe A., who was born October 16, 1841; Daniel H., who was born March 19, 1843; Charles, who was born December 18, 1845; Woodruff, who was born October 8, 1852, and died April 21, 1888; and Gale, as above, who received a common school education and took a course in the Rogersville Seminary. He has always followed farming, and now owns a farm of 200 acres. He has held the office of assessor nine years.

Bailey, Charles L., was born on the farm now occupied by his brother, Adsit, in the town of Urbana, August 7, 1830. In 1808 David Bailey, the grandfather of Charles L., who was a native of Ovid, came to Steuben county bringing a family of three sons and one daughter, and took up a tract of one hundred and seventy acres on lot 9 in the town of Urbana, and his first residence was a log house, where he made his home until about 1839. David, the father of C. L., was the youngest of a family of eight children, and was born in February, 1805, in Ovid, and when a boy learned the tanner and currier's trade in the town of Pulteney, which trade he fol- lowed for twenty-five or thirty years, building a tannery on the old homestead, a part of which still stands in a tenement house belonging to Mrs. John Argus. He died August 19, 1872. In politics he was a Whig, and one of the town officers, and also a school officer of this district. David Bailey married Sabrona Stone who was born August 29, 1808, daughter of Capt. Amos Stone, who settled in Pleasant Valley

in 1793. She died February 26, 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were the parents of seven children: Lewis, a farmer who died February 22, 1868; Charles L., Christina, Elzina, Edna, Adsit and Ida, who died at the age of sixteen years. Charles was educated in the common school, and select school at Hammondsport. He taught for five win- ters in different districts and worked his father's farm for two years. In 1857 he re- moved to Savona and conducted a farm for ten years, and then took charge of a farm of one hundred acres, where he now lives, and where he has a vineyard of thirty acres, and has also increased the farm to one hundred and thirty-four acres, which is devoted to the cultivation of grain and stock products. In politics Mr. Bailey was in early life a Henry Clay Whig, but is now a Republican, and in 1877 and 1878 he rep- resented his town on the board of supervisors, and served four terms as justice of the peace of this town and in Bath. July 3, 1854, he married Amanda Ide of Post Creek, who died in 1866 leaving two children: Layfayette, who is a farmer with his father on the homestead; and Sabrina, who is the wife of LeRoy McCorn of Hammonds- port. Mr. Bailey married for his second wife, in 1868, Mrs. Lydia Backus.

Holliday, Franklin E. and Amos O .- The family are of New England stock. The grandfather, Amos Holliday, was a native of New England and settled on the place where Franklin E. and Amos O. now reside, about 1815, purchasing 200 acres and building a log house. His wife was Azubah Brewer, of Hartford, Conn. He died April 9, 1853, aged 106 years, and she died August 3, 1848, aged eighty-four years.

271

FAMILY SKETCHES.

They had the following children: Jonathan, Amos, Enoch, Peter, Osni, Sylvester, Clorina and Lucy. Sylvester Holliday was educated at Pompey Hill Academy, On- ondaga county, N. Y. and taught school for several years in Dansville, Sparta, and other places. He was also justice of the peace for many years. He married Hannah Townsend, who died December 23, 1887, aged eighty-six years. He died April 5, 1870, aged seventy-seven years. Their family consisted of five children: Rachel, born February 26, 1819, married Daniel Ward, of Spring Water, and had two chil- dren, Minerva, born November 14, 1822, died March 16, 1890, married twice, first to John Pettis, afterwards to James G. Huff; Miranda, who married James Wood; Amos O., born December 31, 1829; and Franklin E., born April 23, 1837. Rachel attended Dansville Academy, Amos attended the Alfred Seminary, and Franklin, the Rogersville Union Seminary. The family are well to do and respected citizens of the town. Amos Holliday was in the War for Independence, was at Yorktown, Va., when the British surrendered to Gen, Washington, and Sylvester Holliday was in the war of 1812.

Swink, Nelson H , was born in Dansville, Livingston county, N. Y., in 1845. He received a common school education, and attended Rogersville Seminary six months but has improved his scanty opportunities when a boy by a thorough course of read- ing and is well posted on many subjects. He is a farmer by occupation and owns a fine farm on Oak Hill. His father, Henry Swink, was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Dansville, N. Y., March 10, 1886, aged seventy-two years. He married Sarah Miller, who was born in Dansville, in 1825, by whom he had three children: Nelson H., as above; Jennie, who was born in 1849; and Charles, who was born in 1852. In 1876 Nelson H. Swink married Amanda M. Kreidler, who was born in Dansville, April 29, 1844, daughter of Edward Kreidler, by whom he had three children: Edna S., who was born April 30, 1877; Essie M., who was born September 9, 1878; and Edward H., who was born March 28, 1887.

Crance, Jules, was born in the Province of Champagne, France, March 7, 1854. He was given a good educution in his native land, and being reared in a wine coun- try, naturally took to that as an occupation. In January, 1872, he came to the United States and spent one year with an uncle in Tioga, Pa., and one year in Ohio. In 1874 he came to Pleasant Valley and engaged with the wine company of that name, and in April, 1877, became associated with the Urbana Wine Company, the first and third years as foreman of the champagne department, and in 1880 he became gen- eral superintendent of wine making, which position he still holds. He has been a faithful and efficient employee of this company. and a great portion of their success has been due to his ever zealous and watchful care. In connection to his other duties he owns and manages a vineyard of fourteen acres. In 1877 he married Eugenie Masson, of Dayton, Ohio, by whom he had four children: Charles T., Eugene Jules, Josephine, and Albert Morris.

Barrett, Samuel H., was born in Farmer's Valley, Mckean county, Pa., March 22, 1860, son of Henry and Julia (Maynard) Barrett. Henry Barrett spent his life in Farmer's Valley, where he died in 1864. His widow married Thomas Utter, a native of Allegany county, where he lived and died. Mrs. Utter now lives in Woodhull. Samuel H. was reared in Chicago, Ill., and Olean, N. Y. He was educated in the

272

LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY.

common schools and at the age of fourteen started in life for himself by working out by the month. He was then in a saw mill for four years. He afterward learned the barber's trade and in 1884 opened a shop in Woodhull, where he now has an exten- sive and successful business. In 1895 Mr. Barrett was elected town clerk. He is a member of the Restoration Lodge, No. 777, F. & A. M., Elkland Lodge, No. 800, . I. O. O. F., and Woodhull Tent, No. 174, K. O. T. M. January 12, 1878, Mr. Barrett married Alice Applebee, a native of Friendship, Allegany county, by whem he had three children: Bertha, died at the age of seven years; Christina, died at the age of two years; and Ethel, who died at the age of four years.

Sebring, James Oscar, was born in the town of Pulteney, November 4, 1860, the third son of Charles W. Sebring, a farmer and resident of that town. James Oscar Sebring received his primary education in the common schools of his native town, supplemented by a course of study in the famous Franklin Academy of Prattsburg. After completing his education he decided to become a lawyer, and to acquire the necessary means to fit himself for his chosen profession of the law, followed teaching for seven years and at the same time devoting all his spare time to the reading of in the law office of Jay K. Smith of Prattsburg and Hon. I. W. Near of Hornellsville. He completed his law studies in the law office of Hon. John F. Little of Bath, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1885, standing first in a class of twenty-five. The September following he began the practice of law in Hammondsport, where he con- tinued to practice until in September, 1895, when, desiring a larger field in which to carry on his large and increasing practice, he opened an office in the city of Corning, where he has since been. Of the younger members of the bar of this county he ranks with the best of them. He is active in politics and is a Democrat. He has been a member of the County Committee and of the County Executive Committee for a number of years, and has once or twice accepted nominations from his party. By industry and thrift he has accumulated considerable property, the most of which is located in and about Hammondsport. August 21, 1889, he married Mary Arnold, daughter of the late Watts Bushnell, formerly a prominent merchant of Bath. Mr. Sebring is a member of Hammondsport Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 584

Wheeler, Graham H., was born in the town of Wheeler, N. Y., January 1, 1845. He was educated in the common schools, Lima Seminary, and Poughkeepsie College, and his first occupation was in the coal trade with the Ohio River Coal Company, near Wheeling, W. Va., from 1866 to 1869; the latter year he returned and married and went to Nashville, Tenn., where he engaged in the Life Insurance business un- til 1872. He has since been engaged in the wine business at Hammondsport, being one of the organizers of the Hammondsport Wine Company, of which he is the sec- retary and business manager, and was also one of the directors, and organizers of the Lake Keuka Wine Company. He has been interested in local politics, and is at present president of the Board of Water Commissioners, and has also been president of the village board several terms. He has been president of the Board of Education for a number of years, and is president of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church. In 1869 he married Florence M., daughter of the late Solomon Clark, a na- tive of New Jersey and a resident of Hammondsport for over sixty years. They have three children: Harriet M., Fanny C., and Grattan H.

273

FAMILY SKETCHES.

Kilbury, Andrew, was born February 22, 1844. His grandfather, Robert Kilbury, was born in Vermont, and moved to South Dansville, then to Indiana, where he fol- lowed farming. Robert Kilbury, father of Andrew, was born in Vermont, May 9, 1796, aud came to Dansville in 1814, and located on a farm one mile north of Fre- mont Center. He married Eunice Karington, who was born in Waahington county, N. Y., January 29, 1804, by whom he had ten children: Sarah Jane, who was born December 20, 1821; Eli C., who was born in 1823; Edwin R., who was born Septem- ber 2, 1825; Robert S., who was born June 9, 1827; Phebe A., who was born July 15, 1829; Mary M., who was born December 9, 1832; Patience B., who was born Febru- ary 1, 1834; and died Febuary 6, 1841; Joel C., who was born September 13, 1838, Andrew, as above; and Lafayette, who was born August 21, 1846, and died January 12, 1849. Mr. Kilbury died in 1884. Andrew Kilbury was reared on a farm, and has followed farming the most of his life. He enlisted in the 189th Regt., which served in the Army of the Potomac, Fifth Army Corps, and was discharged at the close of the war. He is a member of Doughty Post, G. A. R., No. 226, also a mem- ber of the A. O. U. W. January 15, 1877, he married Harriet McNaughton, who was born in Howard, March 20, 1847, by whom he had two children: Dee, who was born August 30, 1874; and Camilia, who was born February 11, 1884.

Conine, Gamaliel T., was born in Bath, February 7, 1854. His father, Lorenzo, was a native of Greene county, who came to Steuben county in 1851, and through life was identified as a farmer. He married Abbie, daughter of Jacob Townsend. He has held various positions of honor and trust, and has taken an active interest in the M. E. Church of Bath. Gamaliel T. Conine was educated at Haverling Acad- emy, and in 1869 entered the post-office at Bath. In 1873 he engaged in the wall paper business, which he continued in for four years, then engaged in the clothing business at Dundee from 1877 to 1882. In 1882 he went to Prattsburg and engaged in the clothing business at that place, where he was one of the founders of the Prattsburg Agricultural Society. In 1878 Mr. Conine married Estella, daughter of George Shults, by whom he has two children: Leon and Fannie. Mr. Conine is one of the leading men of the town, and was elected county treasurer in 1894. He has also served as postmaster for four years under Benjamin Harrison. Heis a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. Lodges.

Friedell, Joseph Conrad, was born in the village of Hammondsport, N. Y., Au- gust 17, 1862. His father, Matthew Friedell, is a native of Germany, and a grape grower of this town. Joseph Conrad is the oldest son of a family of four children. He was educated in the Hammondsport Union School, and his first occupation was in his father's vineyard. At fifteen years of age he engaged as clerk in the store now conducted by George H. Keeler, where he remained for eleven years. In 1888 he formed a copartnership with L. D. Masson, and established a hardware store on Water street, where we now find him located. In 1893 he married Laura L. Brown, of Penn Yan.

Boult, Charles E., was born in the town of Masonville, Delaware county, N. Y., March 31, 1862, and is the son of J. M. and Harriet (Thompson) Boult, both natives of Delaware county, he born June 12, 1834. she born February 21, 1834. The grand- parents, John and Phebe (Teed) Boult, were both natives of Delaware county, he

274

LANDMARKS OF STEUBEN COUNTY

born in 1808, and she in 1818. The great-grandfather of Charles E., William J. Boult, came from France to Delaware county at an early day and was owner of a large tract of land and engaged in farming and lumbering. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. John Boult is a farmer and carpenter, and still lives on the farm in Delaware county. His wife, Phebe, died in 1870. J. M. Boult was a boot and shoe merchant at Nelson, Pa., but gave up the business on account of poor health, and spent his last days on a farm in Tuscarora, Steuben county, where he died in 1885. Mrs. Boult still survives and resides in the village of Troupsburg. Charles E. was educated in the village of Nelson, Pa., and at the Cortland State Normal School. He was then for eight years engaged in teaching, after which he attended the medical department of Buffalo University, from which he was graduated in May, 1892, and located in the village of Troupsburg, where he has established a good practice. He is a member of Grange Lodge No. 374, of Troupsburg Tent, No. 339, K. O. T. M, and McClellan Lodge, No. 649, F. & A. M.

Shafer, Jacob, was born in Wayland, February 12, 1852, son of John Shafer, who was born in Germany, in 1822, emigrated to this country and settled in Wayland in 1845, where he has since been engaged in farming. He married Barbara Nice, who was born in Germany in 1832, by whom he had ten children: Jacob, born February 12, 1852; Fred, born February 20, 1854; Lizzie, born April 1, 1856; Mary, born Au- gust 15, 1858; Helen, born February 25, 1861; Kate, born April 8, 1863; George, born September 9, 1865; John, born October 27, 1867; Frank, born June 10, 1870; and Amelia, born October 11, 1877. Jacob Shafer started in life for himself by working at the carpenter trade, which he followed for thirteen years, as contractor and builder. He built three stores, school house, and one church, the Catholic church of Wayland. In 1886 he formed a partnership with Anthony Wolf, in the lumber, shingle, lath, brick and cement business, also run a saw mill under the firm name of Shafer & Wolf. He is a member of the C. M. B. A., of Wayland. In 1879 he mar- ried Mary Shubmehl, who was born in South Dansville, January 22, 1856. They have two sons: William, born October 22, 1880, and Herman, born July 9, 1883.

Rumsey, Adson J., was born in Delaware county, N. Y,, December 15, 1847, son of Simeon K. and Miranda (Bogart) Rumsey, who settled in that county about 1856. They had ten children: Emily Davison, Charles W., Anna E. Cleveland, Frances H., deceased, Harriet C. Aldrich, Peter B., Adson J., George Y., Edward A., and Sarah E. Simeon K. followed blacksmithing and farming. He was active in the Thurston M. E. church. Adson J. married Henrietta L., daughter of Lewis and Henrietta (Dean) Haseltine, of Cameron. Mr. Rumsey is a charter member and first master of Hedgesville Subordinate Grange No. 697. He has also been chaplain. In early life Mr. Rumsey followed lumbering, but in 1879 he commenced farming and now owns 100 acres of land.

Sedam, Henry S., was born in the town of Hornby, Steuben county, in 1833. Charles Sedam, his grandfather, was a native of Holland, and a pioneer settler in the town of Charlestown, Herkimer county, in whose honor the town was named, and where he spent his remaining days as a farmer, and reared four sons and one daughter. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Cornelius, Henry's father, was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1793, where his brother, Henry, owned and conducted a

275

FAMILY SKETCHES.

nail factory. He began work in this factory, first as grinder of the knives, and later as foreman, which position he held five years. In 1817 he settled in Benton Center, where he did farm work for three years, and then removed to the town of Hornby, where with two other men he purchased 300 acres of heavily timbered land for five dollars per acre. He cleared his portion of the land, which he tilled, and becoming a prosperous farmer he added sixty acres more to his farm, where he spent the bal- ance of his days. In politics he was a Whig, and held many of the town offices. His wife was Deborah, a native of Troy, N. Y., and daughter of Isaiah Marble, and their children were Fannie, Charles, Isaiah, William, Amanda, Henry S., Phebe, Jane, and Mary. He died in 1854, and his wife in 1887. Henry remained at home until twenty-one years of age, and conducted the farm for a time after his father's death, about which time he had the misfortune of having his leg crushed in a horse power of a thrashing machine. He then learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed until 1866, when he and his brother Isaiah came to Wheeler and purchased his pres- ent farm of 170 acres, on nearly all of which stood a heavy forest, but which with energetic toil he has cleared, and now has an excellent and well equipped farm. For many years he was a breeder of large numbers of thoroughbred merino sheep. In 1857 he married Irene, daughter of Peter and Polly Ostrander, and who was born in Post Creek, Chemung county, N. Y , and their children are Maud, wife of Sumner Sedam, of Iona, Mich., Emma, wife of William Dildine, and Martin S.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Landmarks of Steuben County, New York, Part 84

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