USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 2 & 3 > Part 21
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McClelland, David, was born in Lyons, December 6, 1824. His father, John, came from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1811. In 1813 he took up a farm from the United States government, four miles northwest of Lyons. After living a snecessful farmer, upright and honest with all men, he died in 1870 at the ripe age of eighty-four years, leaving three sons and one daughter. David, the youngest son, married Lettie, daughter of Jacob Vanderbilt, in 1819, at the age of twenty-four. To them were born two ehil- dren, Almeda, who died at the age of eight years, and Morgan, who still resides on the
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old homestead. David, like his father, has been a successful farmer, purchasing the old homestead of 166 acres in 1850, and raising hay, grain, fruit and stock, also grow- ing and distilling peppermint oil.
Merchant, John, was born in Fort Edward, N. Y., June 23, 1811. His father, John, came to Wayne county September 1, 1817, and settled in the northern part of Lyons, buying fifty acres at the start. At the time of his death in 1867, at the age of ninety- one years, he owned 220 acres. IIe married at the age of twenty-seven, Ehza Closson, and bad a family of nine children, of whom John Merchant is the sole survivor. He was educated in the common schools and finished at Ostrander's Academy in Lyons, after which he taught winter school six years. At the age of twenty-four he married Cynthia, daughter of Nehemiah Reynolds, who died in 1851. By her he had four children : Riley P., John A., Mrs. Eliza Mesick, who died at twenty years of age, and Charles E., who died in 1889, at forty years of age. Mr. Merchant married second, Harriet, daughter of Joseph Cole. In 1837 he bought the Oliver Evans property and in 1857 bought part of the Joseph Gee farm, raising frnit, hay, grain and stock. Our subject is one of the representative men of his town, filling the offices of school com- missioner, town auditor, also a member of the M. E. Church of Lyons fifty years, of conservative character and sterling integrity, his life has ever proven his word to be as good as his bond.
Moran, Daniel, was born in Queens county, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1851 and resided with his parents in Waterloo, N. Y., assisting his father, who was engaged in the clothing business. He came to Lyons in 1861 and engaged in merchant tailoring, gents' furnishing and ready-made clothing business, which he continues at the present time, carrying the largest and finest stock in Wayne county. He is also inter- ested in the water works, electrical company, the pottery and the Manhattan Silver Plate Company, and is recognized in his town as one of the most active business men, identified in advancing the best interests of his town and the leading events of the day. At the age of thirty-five he married Bridget A., daughter of John Fitzpatrick, of Flor- ence, N. Y., formerly of Ossory, Ireland, and they are the parents of eight children. Our subject has always led a very active business life, but has found time to take an interest in school and church matters, and is recognized as a man whose life has proven his word to be as good as his bond.
McMath, William, was born in Lyons, February 11, 1836. His father, M. McMath, was a native of Ovid, Seneca county, and was born August 8, 1802, and died in 1881 at the age of seventy-nine. William MeMath was educated in the Lyons Union School, after which he entered the employ of Mrs. William Sisson, and learned the druggist business. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, 160th N. Y. Infantry Volunteers, and took part in the engagement of the gunboat Cotton, Bayou Teeche, Fort Bisland, Port HIndson, the Red River Expidition, going as a private and receiving his commission of lientenant in his second year, and an honorable discharge in 1864. In 1872 he married Mary A., daughter of Thomas Smith, of Clyde, and they have one daughter, Margaret J. He remained in Louisiana and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits for seventeen years. In 1874 he came to Clyde and engaged in farming.
McLouth, Judge Charles .- From 1828 to 1888 Dr. John McLouth was a practicing physician at Walworth, Wayne county. He died at the advanced age of ninety-one, and celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his marriage six years before his death. His widow is still living, above ninety years of age. His son, Charles, was born at Wal- worth in May, 1834, and received his education in the common school and academy at that place. He read law with Judges Ketcham and Ceske it Clyde, and was admit- ted to the bar in December, 1857. In 1858 he moved to Palmyra and formed a part- nership with William F. Aldrich, one of the oldest and most profound lawyers in that
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part of the State, which continued for six years, since which he has been alone. His practice has extended to all the tribunals below the Supreme Court of the United States, both State and Federal, and has connected him with most of the important liti- gation of Wayne and the adjoining counties. Since the war he has been an active Democrat, and in later years he has been closely identified as an uncompromising Hill man, and he has made his influence felt in both State and National Conventions. He has done a great deal of speaking in political campaigns as well as the making of many addresses upon publie or civic occasions. He is a ready writer and a speaker of force and conciseness. In 1869 he was appointed county judge by Governor Hoffman. Judge MeLouth is an ardent and active churchman, and has been for twenty-five years or more a member of the vestry of Zion Church, Palmyra, and was for eighteen years, and until he refused to be re-elected, a trustee and the treasurer of the fund for dis- abled clergy and the widows and orphans of deceased clergymen. He has been for several terms of three years each a member of the Board of Education of the Palmyra Classical Union School and was for six years its president, covering the time of the building of the beautiful new school buikling, in which he was much interested, and to which he gave elose supervision and attention every day. In the building of the new Zion Church in 1872 he was one of the building committee and gave similar service. From 1864 to 1893, when he was relieved at his own request, he was a director of the First National Bank of Pahnyra, of which he has always been the attorney, and during the same time he was and still is a director of the Palmyra Gas Light Company, and is now its president, secretary and treasurer. In 1890 Governor Hill appointed him a trustee of the New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women, located at Newark, N. Y., to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. David Decker, late of Elmira, N. Y., and in 1892 Governor Flower appointed him for the full term of six years. In the extensive building operations of that institution he has always been on the building committee, and he has given to that extensive and valuable charity his time and labor without limit. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Flower one of the three commissioners in reference to the storage of the water of the Genesee River for the benefit of the Erie Canal and the city of Rochester. Judge MeLouth has a fine law library of about 2,500 volumes, and an equally fine private library of 1,000. He has a magnificent residence at the corner of Chyler and Jackson streets, built by him- self in 1886, where he resides with his wife and two children, Mary Scotland and Charles. He is a very able man and has deserved personal influence in the community, but this is not superior to his interest in the village and everything connected with the interests of it or its citizens. The kindly feeling of his neighbors towards him was well expressed in the fall of 1893, when Governor Flower visited the village and made an address at the agricultural fair. Judge McLouth was chairman of the Committee of Arrangements and entertained and introduced the governor, and the Courier said, among other things: " While the Palmyra Union Agricultural Society appreciates, as does every citizen, the great honor conferred by the presence of Governor Flower among us on Friday last, it is only proper to state that to Judge MeLouth islargely due the credit of securing the presence of his excellency on that occasion. Interested as he is, and always has been, in the Palmyra Fair he believed the presence of the governor and an address from him to the farmers, would give renewed interest to this annual exhibition, and fortunately his efforts in this direction were erowned with success. Doubtless the judge is, upon occasion, a hot partisan, but no man knows better than he how to keep politics out of a non-partisan gathering, and as chairman of the Reception Committee he eliminated every particle of partisanship from the affair, as was right and proper, and from the dignified and admirable manner in which every detail of the arrangements was carried out, he is entitled not only to the thanks of the society, but to words of praise from every citizen."
Merrill, William H., was born in Wolcott in 1846 and is one of eight children of Benjamin and Harriet Merrill, who settled here in 1820. The elder Merrill was a maker
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of boots and shoes, and in later years a dealer in the same. He was born in George- town, Mass., January 1, 1808, and died in 1888, aged eighty years. His wife was born in Lyndeborough, N. HI., April 6, 1817, a sister of Nathaniel Merrill, of this locality, who was one of the best lawyers in the county. Benjamin and Harriet had eight chil- dren, of whom John H., Edward P., James A., and William II. were in the late war. William H., who is a life-long resident of this town, was with the 9th Artillery in the thick of the fight at Cedar Creek. He married November 30, 1872, Margaret, daughter of William Anderson, of Wolcott, and has two daughters: Mary, born September 1, 1883, and Harriet, born January 30, 1888.
Millard, George F., was born in Stamford, Vt., May 6, 1828. His father, Stephen C., was a native of Vermont, and was a prominent farmer of his town. George F. laid the foundation of his education in the common schools, to which he added through life by reading and close observation. He was one of ten children in his father's family, seven brothers and three sisters. In 1850 he came to Clyde, N. Y., and established his present business of manufacture of tinware, both wholesale and retail, and is one of the largest dealers in rags, paper stock, old rubber, old metals, and old iron in Central and Western New York. At the age of twenty-six he married Marietta Barnes, of Galen, who died April, 1869, leaving him two children : Hattie Bell, now Mrs. E. E. Sampson, of Atchison, Kan. ; and Ernest G., now of South Omaha, Neb. In 1872 he married second S. J. Porter, of Cazenovia, by whom he had three more children : Adelbert C. (deceased), George Porter, and Flora, George F. is a prominent business man of his town, and is also a steward of the M. E. Church, of which he has for many years been a worthy member.
Miles, William, was born in Mount Morris, N. Y., August 21, 1816. His father, William, came to Wayne county in 1820, settled in the town of Sodus, and took up 200 acres of land, what is known as the Hopkins farm. William was educated in the conmion schools. At the age of twenty-four he married Isabel, daughter of John But- ler, of Lyons, and they have had one son, W. II. Miles, who is married and lives on the homestead, and a daughter, Elizabeth B., born October 7, 1841, who married, aged twenty-four, Edwin R. Sweezey, of Marion. They are both deceased. They left one daughter, who died aged thirteen. In 1885 Mr. Miles bought the John Butler property of seventy-five acres, also bought the balance of the John Butler farm in 1879 of forty- four acres, and through life has been a prominent farmer and producer of garden seeds. He takes an active interest in educational and religious matters, having been trustee of the M. E. chinch of South Sodus for a number of years.
MeOmber, Frank II., was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 24, 1859. His father, Mansfield S., was a native of Jefferson county, N. Y. Frank II. was educated in the common schools and finished at Ann Arbor, after leaving which he followed farming for five years, then entered the dental profession under Dr. A. W. MeNames, of Water- loo, and in 1885 entered the Pennsylvania Dental College, graduating in 1887, and the same year came to Lyons and established the dental parlors occupied by him, where he is recognized as one of the most progressive and enterprising men in hns profession, using the latest and most approved methods and appliances in his business. At the age of thirty-three he married Marguerite, daughter of James Gibbons, of Newark. He is a Republican in politics, and in 1894 was elected justice of the peace, receiving the larg- est majority of any candidate on the ticket. Our subject is one of the progressive men of the town, taking an intelligent interest in educational and religious matters, and in advancing its best interests ; where he is recognized as a man of conservative character and sterling worth.
Mathews, F. II., elder son of Lawson Mathews, at present one of the largest land holders of his native town. He was educated at the Leavenworth Institute, where he took the highest contested prize for scholarship and ability in his department during
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two successive years, and was awarded a full regents' certificate at fifteen years of age. After a long course in the special study of jurisprudence, and as confidential clerk for William Roe and E. M. Walker, esq., Mr. Mathews was admitted to the bar in 1881. F. H. Mathews is of old Puritan stock, his ancestors emigrating for conscience sake in the times of the "Merrie Monarch," and afterwards resisted British oppression upon the battlefields of the Revolution. Jesse Mathews and Lucius Hibbard, who were re- spectively his paternal and maternal grandfathers, were two of the six pioneers who came from New Hartford, Conn., in 1809 and 1810, and settled npon that portion of the Clyde road running south from Wolcott village, and hence known as New Hartford street. The old Mathews homestead, one mile sonth of Wolcott, is one of those rare pieces of property which has never changed ownership only by the laws of natural snc- cession. Jesse Mathews died while supervisor of his adopted town before the forma- tion of Wayne county. His wife, Ahee Mathews, died on the old homestead in 1871 in her ninety- third year, after fifty years of widowhood. Lueins Hibbard lived to become the wealthiest farmer in the town of Butler, and was well known as an active Aboli- tionist in ante-bellum days. Owing to lung weakness and consequent ill health, F. II. Mathews was compelled to abandon his chosen profession and seek relief in a warmer elimate. In 1886, while principal of the High School in Seddon, Ala., he married Mol- lie E., elder daughter of Willis HI. Rober-on, a prominent citizen and politician of St. Clair county, and formerly an officer in the 10th Alabama C. S. A. Army of Northern Virginia. Mr. Mathews was a local correspondent for the Lyons Republican for ten years. Subsequently he has written several series of letters to the local press from Florida and the industrial centers of the New South. In 1892 Mr. Mathews purchased the old Moore farm, and now resides adjoining his ancestral homestead, upon which his aged father is passing his more than three score years and ten in peace and comfort.
McKee, Joshua, was born in Webster, Monroe county, in 1846, son of Josialı McKee, born in Washington county, Vt. The grandfather was Josiah McKee, of Vermont, and a farmer. Subject's father was also a farmer. His wife was Electa Rodgers, and their children were : Josiah, Mrs. Mary A. Thayer, of Ontario, John, David, George, Simeon, Lemun, Nathan, and Joshua. He died in 1885, and his wife in 1888, aged ninety, re- spectively. In 1874 Mr. McKee came to Huron, in 1877 he purchased a farm, later sold and returned to Webster. In 1883 he purchased his present farm of seventy-five acres, on which he erected a modern dwelling ; also made other essential improvements. In 1866 he married Maria, danghter of Joseph and Hannah Lake, of Huron, born in Farm- ington, Ontario county. Subject is a member of the Odd Fellows, from 1891 to 1894 was overseer of poor, and always takes an active interest in polities. He and wife are members of the Huron Grange.
Milhan, David R., was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., September 1, 1834, and is the oldest of six children of Martin and Maria Rhoda Milhan. The father of David R. moved to Columbia county in 1837, and in 1849 came to Williamson, Wayne county, and settled on what is now known as the Plyster farm (formerly as the Gilbert farm), where he resided for five years, then went to Marion, where his last days were passed, dying May 28, 1877. June 27, 1860, Davis R. married Orvilla S., oldest daughter of Colonel Cephas and Sally Porter Moody, who was born and brought up on the place they now occupy, which has always been known as the Colonel Moody farm, it having been cleared from a wilderness by him, when he came to this place from Amherst, Mass., in 1812, and remained at his home until his death, November 24, 1869. He was, colonel of a standing regiment for several years, deputy-sheriff two years, and overseer of the poor fifteen years, until his health failed, being abont eighty-one years of age. D. R. Milhan resided on his father's farm for three years after their marriage, then settled permanently on the Moody homestead. He has since bought the Vanghn farm, making in all 160 acres of land in a high state of cultivation. He has been a dealer in all kinds of agricultural implements, fertilizers, etc., for twenty-five years, and for several years
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a partner in the firm of Bennett & Milhan, general dealers in produce at the warehouse at Williamson depot. Mr. Milhan's politics has always been Republican, and for twenty- one years in succession he served as poormaster. . He and his wife were charter mem- bers of Williamson Grange. They have three children : Warren C., who married Minnie l'inklepaugh, who have one daughter and one son ; Sidney D., who married May Wilder, they have one son; and Winona O., who married Benedict Cook, of Webster, Monroe county, N. Y.
Moore, Isaac, was born in Seneca county, September 10, 1835. When about twelve years of age, his parents removed to the town of Manchester, Ontario county. Hle is and always has been a farmer. He married Clarissa Short, of Manchester, and to them five eluldren were born : Marion S., Mary E., Floyd N., Clara I., and Lillian A., all residing at home. Mrs. Moore died in 1882, and in 1883 the family moved to Palmyra, and in 1884 to Newark, where Mr. Moore bought the farm on which they now reside. Mr. Moore's father, John Moore, was born in Columbia county in 1802, a .. d when a boy went to live with an unele in Cayuga county. He married Margaret Howell, of Cayuga county, and located east of Seneca Falls on the State road. They had eight children, only three now living. The three surviving members are: Harriet, Isaac, and Emily. He died in 1854, and his wife in 1874. Mr. Moore has bought lots on Mason street, on Madison, north and south side of Miller, and on Main street, and has sold sixteen build- ing lots, residences erected on thirteen of them.
Mead, John G., was born in Dutchess county, March 16, 1824. His great-grand- father, Jonathan, was one of the first settlers in Connectient. Nathaniel, the grand- father, was born August 19, 1750. He was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war. Richard T., the father, was a native of Dutchess county, born June 22, 1787. He mar- ried Phebe, daughter of John Gurney, of Stanford, Dutchess county, and their children were : Thomas W., Judith G., Hannah, Nathaniel, John G., Phebe S., and Mary, of whom three are now living: Nathaniel and Mary (Mrs. Wm. Cline), who live in Rochester, N. Y .; and John G., who married, October 20, 1848, Emma B., daughter of William Cookingham, of Livingston county ; these are their children: Edgar L., Alfred M., and E. Louise (now deceased), wife of Dr. C. M. Briggs, of Fairport, Monroe county. Edgar B. married Alice HI. Smith, of Macedon Center, N. Y., and has two children : E. Louise, and Alvin S., who reside in Rochester, N. Y. Alfred M. (physician and surgeon), of Victor, Ontario county, married Hattie A. Brown, of Ontario, Wayne county, and has three children : Edgar R., Dora E., and Mary E. The occupation of John G. has always been farming. He has held the office of road commissioner six years and was county superintendent of the poor nine years. They are members of the M. E. Church.
North, Miss Orissa, was born May 17, 1848, at Rose. Her father, John North, came here in 1834, and bought the farm four miles north of Savannah, where she now lives. He was one of the sturdy pioneers of this locality, who helped to clear away the wilder- ness, a man of much ability, who served in his later life as assessor for twelve years and it is worthy of remark that he did not omit his presence and vote at a single election or town meeting from the date of his majority until his death, July 18, 1892. March 7, 1832, he married Sebel Campbell, who was born at Elbridge, August 1, 1812, and reared three children : Elias W., born February 10, 1833, married, September 22, 1869; Sarah E. Mills, of Palmyra, who died November 1, 1869 ; Fitz Alen C., born March 16, 1835, married Julia P. Gay, of Savannah, October 31, 1855, and died February 26, 1892 ; and Orissa, now left sole representative of her family, her mother having died February 23, 1892. Miss North was educated at Wolcott Academy and elsewhere, and is a lady of much ability and refinement.
Mitchell, D. P., town clerk of Butler, and junior member of the firm of Wilson & Mitehell, general store keepers at South Butler, was born at Rose, Wayne county, De-
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cember 19, 1861. He is the oldest son of Philander and Margaret (Barnes) Mitchell, for many years residents of Rose. His paternal grandfather, Philander Mitchell, was of Scoteli aneestry, a man of great energy and ability, a prime mover in the business affairs of Rose in earlier days, holding the office of justice for a long period. Darwin became a citizen of South Butler in 1883, and was for three years principal of the public schools. In 1886 he engaged in the mercantile business with Gorham Wilson. A Re- publiean in politics, he was elected to his present position (town clerk) in March, 1894. November 18, 1885, he married Jessie, only daughter of William HI. Clapp, of Sonth Butler. Mr. Mitchell has been the regular local correspondent for the Clyde Times from South Butler for eleven years.
Nutten, Wilbur F., was born in Churchville, Monroe county, December 2, 1839. He was educated in the public schools in various places and in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary of Lima. He first began to study medicine in Hornellsville, Steuben county, attended lectures at Buffalo Medical College one course, and one course at Ann Arbor Medical College, Michigan. Ile graduated from the Medical College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city in 1863. His father and family came to Newark in 1860. Dr. Nutten began to practice in Newark the year that he graduated in company with Dr. Pomeroy, under the firm name of Pomeroy & Nutten, which continued over four years, since which time he has practiced on his own account. He has married twice, first, November 20, 1867, Mary E., daughter of Rev. Orrin Trowbridge, of Lima, N. Y. She died January 24, 1885, mourned by a bereaved husband and regretted by many friends. September 30, 1888, he married, second, Mrs. Addie J. Jewell, nee Green, of California. She had one son, Frank J. Jewell, who is a student in the Academy. Mrs. Nutten's father-in-law, Rev. F. F. Jewell, is a presiding elder in the M. E. Conference in San Fran- cisco, Cal. The doctor's father was a preacher in the M. E. church fifty years. The doctor is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, also of the Central New York Medical Association, New York State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. He is a member of the Newark Lodge, No. 83, F. and A. M., and Newark Chapter, No. 117, R. A. M.
Norton, G. P., was born on the old Norton homestead at Lakeside, N. Y., in 1851. The great-grandfather of our subject, Felix HI. Norton, came from England to America and settled at Old Guilford, Conn. Five of his sons moved to Ontario, Wayne county, N. Y., in 1811, settling on what is now known as the Lakeside Road. Lester, the grandfather, of our subject, married Matilda Allen, who died in 1826, leaving eight children, of whom four are now living. He married, second, Nancy Taylor, who died in 1863, and the death of her husband occurred in 1864. Philetus II., father of our subject, was born on the old homestead in 1822, and followed farming, besides speculat- ing in horses, cattle, produce, wool, ete. He lived on the old homestead during his life, except one year in Rochester. In politics he was a staunch Republican. In 1850 he married Cordelia Whitcomb, a daughter of Samnel Whitcomb, whose father came from Scotland and was a soldier of the Revolution. Mrs. Norton died in 1873, leaving a daughter, Frances A., of Marion, Wayne county, N. Y., and a son, Gilbert P. the subject of our sketch. Oscar, the second son, died at the age of three years. He mar- ried, second, Mrs. Emily Merritt, widow of Calvin Merritt and a daughter of Uzial Brown, of Penfield, N. Y., who served in the war of 1812. Mr. Norton died July 4, 1891, and his wife, who still survives him, resides on the Norton homestead. G. P. Norton was reared on the farm and obtained his education at a common school and Macedon and Canandaigua Academies, and taught school for a short time after he had finished his education. A Republican in politics, and an ardent worker for the suc- cess of the party ; has always followed farming, except three years in the marble and granite business at Webster, Monroe county, N. Y. He now has the Norton home- stead, settled by his grandfather, and carries on general farming and fruit growing. In 1885 he married Mamie B., a daughter of Robert and Eliza Thompson, now of Detroit,
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