USA > New York > Wayne County > Landmarks of Wayne County, New York, Pt. 2 & 3 > Part 41
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Sparks, Jefferson (deceased), was born in Ulster county, November, 1818, was edu- cated in Montgomery county, and finished at Hobart College, Geneva. At the age of twenty-six he married Esther M., daughter of Chada Watkins of Fairfax, Va., and they were the parents of three children: Eli J., Mary A. and Harriet E., neither of whom is living. Jefferson Sparks came to Ontario county when he was seventeen years of age, and removed to Wayne county in 1860, settled east of Alloway and bought the Burnett property, in 1868 bought the .Nathan Gere property of 132 acres, raising mint, hay, grain and stock. Our subject was one of the leading men in his town, taking an active interest in educational and religious matters. He died June 5, 1883, a loss not only to his family and friends, but to the community in which he lived, leaving a wife and danghter.
Schwab, Philip, was born in Alsace, Germany, May 1, 1821, came to the United States and settled in the town of Arcadia. In 1873 he came to Lyons and bought the Barriek estate, in 1886 bought the La Rue estate, having 475 acres, raising fruit. hay, grain and stock. At the age of twenty-six he married Elizabeth Studor and they were the parents of six children, two of whom are now living, Mrs. Frederick Stolz and George. George Schwab married Lena Brubacher, daughter of Martin Brubacher of Lyons, and they are the parents of two children : Charles E. and Lizzie M. Our sub- jeet with his son are among the largest and leading farmers in Wayne county.
Shannon, Lester II., an old and respected resident of Huron, was born on the farm he now owns in October, 1850, son of Archibald R., a native of Ireland, who settled in Huron in 1808. Archibald R. married Jane Hyde, and their children were Albert and Lester. Onr subject has always followed farming, and served as poormaster and con- stable two years and as excise commissioner. In 1874 he married Frances Helen, danghter of William and Jane (Twombley) Burns of the town of Rose, born in 1850. Their children are: Marvin L., born October 28, 1875; Frank M., born February, 1877 ; Albert (deceased), and Nettie B., born February 19, 1887.
Sntphen, John M., was born in Cayuga county, February 8, 1812. He was educated as a lawyer, reading law under Judge Hastings of Rochester and was admitted to the bar. Ile taught school for abont twenty years and then practiced his profession for a short time. He afterward abandoned the practice of law and devoted himself to farm- ing, which ocenpation he has since followed. In 1863 Mr. Sutphen married Mary E. Boothe of Manchester and settled on the farm on which he now hves. This farm con- sists of eighty- five acres of land. He has four children : Minnie C., Eleanor E., C. Ames and Clarissa H. The two older daughters are teachers, the son is at home with
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his parents, and the youngest daughter is attending the Palmnyra Union School. Mr. Satphen was justice for eight years and is a Republican.
Robinson, C. K., manager of the Lyons Road Cart Co., was born in Lyons January 7, 1853. Ilis father, Jolm, came from England in 1840 and settled in Lyons in 1846, was a blacksmith and wagon manufacturer and achieved a prominent position in his town and trade of the county. C. K. Robinson was educated in the Lyons Union school, and after leaving engaged in the business with his father, and enlarged and extended the business, to-day having an output of 800 buggies per year. He is a Republican in politics, having been trustee of the village, and takes an intelligent interest in educa- tional and religious matters, and is identified in advancing the best interests of his town, where he is recognized as a man of business ability, of strict integrity and ster- ling worth.
Snyder, J. F., born in Saratoga county January 23, 1821, and came to Wayne county in 1855. Ilis earlier years were spent as a carpenter and builder, and since 1883 he has been engaged m farming. During the latter part of the war of the Rebellion he was a member of Company C, 96th N. Y. S. Vols. July 28, 1844, he married Melinda Drigman, of Gloversville, N. Y., and they have five children : Hiram, Sarah M., Eliza- beth, Frances, and George Henry, who died in 1856 in infancy.
Strait, John G., son of J. G. Strait, of Savannah, was born at that place in 1842. He enlisted Angust 21, 1861, in Company 8, 137th N. Y. S. Vols., and with the great Army of the Potomac, participated in the battles of Antietam, Winchester, Chancel- lorsville, and Gettysburg, and was honorably discharged in 1864. After the war he engaged for many years in carpentry and building in Wolcott and established his pres- ent business in 1882, that of mannfacturer and wholesale dealer in lumber, and in 1884 erected his large and modern planing null and factory. In 1867 Mr. Strait married Sarah E. Rumsey, of Wolcott. She died in 1882, leaving four children, Walter, Mabel, Lena, and Leon. He again married in 1884 Hattie, danghter of H. P. Lewis, of Inron, and has two sons, Robert and Archer.
Schuyler, Henry, was born at Orleans August 23, 1844. His business training was completed at the Albany Commercial College, after which he engaged in farming for a period of ten years, and in 1885 began keeping books for a mercantile honse at Lyons, where he remained for five years. In 1890 he came to Red Creek, where he operates a surburban farm of eighty acres. Mr. Schuyler is a Republican and holds the position of overseer of the poor. In 1880 he married Elizabeth Reese, of Pavilion, N. Y., who died five years later. His present wife was Ida Dominick, of Fulton, N. Y. During the war of the Rebellion he enlisted in the 132d Illinois as chief of the headquarters guard, and holds a certificate of thanks for honorable service, from Abraham Lincoln, a document which he naturally prizes highly.
Seymour, L. D., son of Orrin D. Seymour, of Inron, was born July 25, 1850. He left home at ten years of age, being compelled by circumstances to make his own way in the world, and was for a time a sailor on the lakes. When sixteen years old he de- cided to adopt he profession of veterinary surgery, and to that end became a student under John Graves of Pultneyville, studied one year with Professor MeKenzie in Bnf- falo, and one year at the Veterinary College at Adrian, Mich. In 1874 he came to Wolcott, where he has practiced his profession twenty years. April 4, 1872, he married Harriet, danghter of Jacob Reynolds, of HInron. Their children were: Susie M., born May 4, 1873, who died soon after her gradnation from Leavenworth Institute, at the age of nineteen ; Eugene, born November 28, 1876, and Draper, born October 28, 1893.
Risley, Charles M., was born in Russell, St. Lawrence county, November 28, 1848, the second of nine children of Marvin A. and Mariette (Bishop) Risley, natives of Massachusetts, who early caine to Russell. Later they came to this town, and after-
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wards removed to Webster, but again came to Ontario, where they died, he in 1892, (May 27), and his wife March 22, 1889. Mr. Risley served as constable two years, and was a Republican. Charles M. was educated in the public schools, and is a mason by trade. He follows farming, owning forty-five acres of land, and raising stock, also devoting some attention to fruit raising. He is a Republican and a Granger, also a member of Fish Post, No. 406 G. A. R. In 1864 Mr. Risley enlisted in Company B, 9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, serving till the close of the war. He was at Cold Harbor, Monocaey, Winchester, Sayler Run, Cedar Creek, Petersburg. At the close of the war he went to Webster, and in 1868 came to Ontario, where he has ever since resided. In 1876 he married Marion, daughter of Hubbard Risley, of Russell, and they have one son, Manley H., who resides at home.
Sheldon, Roger, and Elizabeth Marsh, his wife, came from Hartford, Conn., to Huron in 1809, and took up a farm about two miles east of Sodus Bay. Their family con- sisted of these children : Norman, Wareham, George, Grove, Ralsoman, Ralph, Amanda, Maria, Flora, and Harriet. Norman lived and died in Huron, aged ninety-eight ; Wareham spent most of his life in Huron, but died at Geneva, aged ninety-ilve; George resided near the homestead; Grove died aged sixteen ; Ralsoman lived in Genoa, and died at the age of nearly 100; Ralph died in Wolcott October 4, 1871, aged seventy- six. His widow, Minerva Flint, also died there, aged seventy-six ; Maria married a Mr. West and died at advanced age at Victor; Amanda married a Mr. Humphrey, of Albany, and ched aged ninety-six; Flora married Win. Mudge, and died in Huron ; Harriet married John Wood, and died in Clyde. On the way from Hartford to Huron Roger Sheldon and family stopped over night with Judge Johnson in Dutchess county, and Mrs. John- son gave the children some pears, the seeds of which they saved and planted in their new home. From this source came the Sheldon pear, a famous variety, the original tree yet standing on the old homestead. The children of Ralph and Minerva Sheldon were as follows: Hiram, who married Hannah Demmon, and resides in Huron ; Sophronia, who married Rev. George Paddock, and resides in Rochester; Henry, one of the first settlers of Kansas, where he now lives in Burlingame ; Andrew F., who married Lucetta Salsbury. He graduated from the University of New York, having previously read medicine with Dr. E. W. Bethune, formerly of Huron, and practiced at Wilhamson before the war. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the 7th N. Y. Cavalry, known as the Black Horse in 1861, remaining until April, 1862, when he was appointed assistant surgeon in the 78th N. Y. Inf., and detailed for duty on General Wadsworth's staff in the medical director's office at Washington. Here he remained as executive officer until August, 1863, when he was commissioned surgeon of U. S. Vols. by Lincoln and assumed charge of Campbell U. S. general hospital at Washington, serving till the close of the war. He has been in the active practice of his profession since the war, except for nine years while he served as county treasurer. His eldest son, Ralpb, is a graduate of medicine ; and Albert, the younger son, is one of the pro- prietors of the Silver Metal Manufacturing Company at Oswego. The daughter, Nora, married Fremont Powers, and resides at Junius. Edwin Pomeroy Sheldon, youngest son of Ralph, graduated in mechicine from the University of New York, and located in Burlingame, Kan., marrying Matilda, daughter of Judge Schuyler, of Ithaca. He was appointed surgeon of the 5th Kansas Cavalry, and after a few months of service died at Fort Scott, Mo. His wife still survives him at Ithaca, Jerome P. married Lydia Saxton and resides in Dodge City, Kan.
Randall, Peleg, was born in the town of Corinth, Saratoga county, November 24, 1806. His father, Hathaway, came to Wayne county in 1816 and settled in the town of Lyons. Peleg was educated in the common schools, only being able to attend through the winters. In 1835 he bought the John Seabring property of sixty acres, to which he has added, having 135 acres of some of the best farm land in the town, rais- ing mint, hay, grain, and stock. In 1879 he married Mrs. Rebecca Wright, daughter
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of William Throop, of England. Our subjeet is one of the prominent farmers of his town, having been assessor, highway commissioner, trustee of school, and is identified in advancing the best interests of the town.
Robinson, Jolm W., was born in the town Huron of September 27, 1843 Ilis father, Thomas, was a native of the northern part of Ireland, and came to the United States in 1830, first settled in Phelps and moved to Huron in 1834, where the family home- stead is now located. John W. was educated in the common schools, the Academy at Red Creek, Falley Seminary, Wolcott, and in March, 1867, graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. In 1869 he located at Alloway and estab- lished a general practice, which he still continues. At the age of twenty-eight he mar- ried Mary E., daughter of John B. Gorwey of Rensselaer county, and in 1890 was ap- pointed physician to the Wayne county Alshouse and Insane Asylum. Our subject is one of the leading men in his profession, identified in advancing the best interests of the town.
Riee, Amman, second child of Isaac and Maria Rice, was born in Wolcott in 1847. Ilis father, Isaac Rice, was born in Seipio, Cayuga county, in I811 and came to Wol- cott in 1839, cleared np the farm now owned by our subject, erecting thereon a log house. He died June 12, 1893, and his widow, Maria, who was born February 8, 1818, survived him with her three children, Augustus, Amman, and Adelbert. In 1865 Am- man married Helen Morey, who died May 28, 1880, leaving four children, Gilbert and Charles, both of whom died in infancy, Anna M., born June 29, 1869, and Emma A., born August 31, 1874, who is a teacher. Mr. Rice's present wife was Melissa Quick, of Junius, Cayuga county, N. Y., and she has one son, Claude, now fifteen years of age.
Reeve, Abraham, was born in England April 3, 1830. His father, Abraham Reeve, was born and died in England. Abraham Reeve, jr., came to this country when twenty years of age. He went to Pennsylvania where, after working on a farm for some time, he learned the carpenter's trade. He worked at his trade twenty years then engaged in farming. He moved to Binghamton in 1872 and took up farming there. In 1855 he married Adaline Tompkins and they have five children. In politics Mr. Reeve is a Republican.
Richards, D., M.D., born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, September 16, 1835, is the seventh of thirteen children of Joseph and Selinda (Benjamin) Richards, natives of Otsego county, born in 1801 and 1805 respectively. The grandfather of subject was John Richards, a native of Otsego county, where he died. He was in the War of 1812, and his father was in the Revolutionary and French and Indian Wars. The family is of English deseent and date their ancestry back to three brothers who came over in the Mayflower. Joseph Richards was a hatter and spent his life in Onondaga county. Ile,died in 1885 and his wife in 1844. Our subjeet was educated in the Union school of Marcellus, followed teaching six years and then studied medicine with Dr. Dimock of Phelps, N. Y., graduating from the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1865. The same year he came to Marion where he has since had a very successful practice. Ile is a member of Pahnyra Lodge No. 294 F. and A. M., and of the A. O. U. W. No. 296 of Marion. Dr. Richards married in 1858 Maria H. Bellows a native of Cortland county, and danghter of Zebulon Bellows, a manufacturer of furniture and pipe or- gans. He died in Cortland county in 1865. Dr. Richards and wife had one daughter at home, who graduated from the Syraense University in class of 1894. Dr. Richards is a member of the Eclectic Medical Society of New York State.
Russell, Darins F., was born in Williamson, January 24, 1839, and is the third son of Na- thaniel and Rachel W. Russell, he a native of Williamson, born 1804, and she born in Ver- mont in 1803. Nathaniel was a son of Daniel Russell, elsewhere mentioned in this work,
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a farmer who had only four months education in the common schools. He owned the 130 acres now owned by the subject of this sketch. Our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and the Monroe Collegiate Institute, and began teaching at the age of eighteen, and taught seven years. Mr. Russell was the first man that enlisted at the first war meeting in the town of Williamson, although others had gone from the town and enlisted elsewhere previously. He enlisted September 11, 1861, in Co. 1, 17th N. Y., and served three years in the Army of the Potomac, and was in the Seven Days before Richmond, 2d battle of Bull Run. He is a Prohibitionist in polities and has been chairman of the Wayne County Prohibitionist Committee for seven years. He has been justice of the peace two years. He is a member of the Grange and was master one year. He organized the town Sunday School Association and was president for seven years. He and his wife are members of the M. E. church, and have taught the Young People's class for eighteen years. Mr. Russell has been twice married : March 19, 1865, to Maria Van Ostrand, a native of Monroe, and they had two children, Fred D., aud Katie I., both residing in Buffalo. Fred is a real estate dealer. The second time Mr. Russell married Dora V. Tuttle, a native of Steuben county, N. Y., and they have three children : Charles P., Rachel E., and Mildred.
Rodgers, Mason L., was born in Palmyra, N. Y., November 17, 1825, the son of John and Mary Mason Rodgers, he born in Rhode Island May 21, 1786 and she in Somerset, Mass., May 18, 1787. Mr. Rodgers came to Palmyra when five years of age with his father William, who spent the rest of his life in that town. He died at the age of eighty-two years in 1836. John Rodgers was a farmer and lived in Palmyra until 1836 when he moved to Marion and there died October 11, 1864, and his wife July 25, 1873. Mason L. resided in Marion until 1881, when he came to Williamson, and there spent the remainder of his days. He built the store now owned by Lewis P. Rodgers in 1877. In 1848 he married Lydia Putnam, of Macedon, born June 14, 1826, and a daughter of Stephen and Doreas Smith Putnam. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers have five children: Mary A., wife of Dr. Clark, of Williamson ; Lewis R., a fruit grower of Albion, N. Y .; Ida M., wife of Charles F. Adams, of Williamson, who died in 1892; Willis P., who married Matie II. Tuttle and resides on the old homestead in Marion ; and Carrie P., at home.
Roe, Mrs. Sophia II., widow of the late John S. Roe, of Butler Center. Mr. Roe was born in Northern Wolcott in 1819, son of John Roe, one of the pioneers of that section. Liberally educated at Lima, N. Y., he became a man of influence in Butler, and held many positions of responsibility, among them for ten years county superintendent of the poor. His wife was Sophia Henderson, daughter of Worcester Henderson, of Butler Center. They were married December 25, 1814, made their home upon the farm, and reared two daughters, Jennie W. and Helen W. Universally respected and widely monrned, John S. Roe died October 8, 1893.
Reed, Enos H., oldest son of Daniel and Mary C. Reed, of Huron, was born there in 1842. He was educated in the common schools and at twenty years of age engaged in farming, which he followed twelve years with marked success. In 1874 he came to Wolcott and formed a co-partnership with Zenas Booth, establishing a warehouse busi- ness, which in 1879 became the firm of Reed & Cornwell. In 1884 Mr. Reed purchased the Empire Roller Mill, which he operated for five years, being now interested in agri- cultural machinery. In 1862 he married Enuna, daughter of Loomis and Arvilla Webb, of Huron, and they have seven children.
Roe, George G., was born in Rose July 25, 1847, a son of John B. Roe, a prominent farmer and a member of the M. E. Church of Clyde. The latter died in 1885, aged sixty-six years. George B. laid the foundation of his edneation in the common schools, the Falley Seminary at Fulton, and is pre-eminently a self-made man. After traveling on the road for seven years Mr. Roe came to Clyde in 1874, where he established his present business, that of harness manufacturer and dealer in wagons, buggies, bicycles,
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etc., carrying the largest and best stock in Wayne county. In 1885-86 our subject was elected supervisor, has been notary publie for ten years, and in May, 1890, was ap- pointed by President Harrison to the office of postmaster of the town of Clyde, taking possession in the spring of 1891. At the age of thirty-seven he married Frances J. Wood, daughter of Hudson R. Wood, of Rose, and they have one daughter, Edith J. Mr. Roe is one of the conservative men of his town, thoroughly alive to all things that will advance its best interests, and taking a prominent part in its political and educa- tional affairs.
Reed, John Sherburne, M. D., was born in Rochester, April 19, 1864. His father, Isaac F., was a native of England. Dr. Reed was educated at the Academy in Roches- ter, graduating in 1883, read law for a year and then went to Cleveland, Ohio, and took the medical course at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, graduating in March, 1888, and was made house surgeon at Buffalo Hospital, and then went to London, England, and took a post-graduate course at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He returned to the United States in 1891 and located at Lyons, and established a general practice, succeeding Dr. J. C. MePherson in business. At the age of twenty-seven he married Ida L., daughter of John Wesley Slaughter, of Benton, Yates county. He is a Repub- lican in politics, and was appointed health officer of his town in 1893. Our subject is one of the best read members of his profession, identified in advancing the best interests of his town and recognized as a man of sterling character and worth, being a member of the N. Y. State Homoeopathic Medical Society, of which he has been secretary and treasurer two years.
Reeves, Stephen, born in East Palmyra August 21, 1825, is the oldest of twelve chil- dren of Howell and Phoebe J. (Howell) Reeves, he a native of East Palmyra, born in June, 1797, and she a native of New Jersey, born July 19, 1803. The grandfather of subject was Elias Reeves, a native of South Hampton, born in 1762. He came to Pal- myra in 1792, where he died. He and another young man named Foster were sent to represent a colony from Long Island. His wife was Eunice (Howell) Reeves. Howell Reeves was educated in the common schools. He came to Marion in 1837, and settled on a farm now owned by subject, where he died October 7, 1865. and his wife Sep. tember 13, 1876. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in Marion Academy, has always followed farming and owns eighty acres of land. He enlisted in 1862 in Com- pany B, 9th N. Y. Artillery, and served three years. He was at Cold Harbor, Win- chester, Cedar Creek, and Monocacy. He has been assessor twenty-five years. He married September 18, 1868, Dolly Williams, widow of Alvan Andrew, who was killed at the battle of Winchester. She was a daughter of Albert and Eliza Williams, who came to Ontario in 1836 and then to Marion previous to the war, where Mr. Williams died January 6, 1884, and his wife April 28, 1891. Mr. Reeves and wife have had two sons : Albert II., a clerk in Rochester, and George S., at home. Mr. Reeves had three brothers in the late war.
Richmond, Thomas J., was born in Onondaga county February 3, 1824. His father, Jacob Richmond, was a native of New Jersey, moving to Manlius, Onondaga county, where he married Esther Clark, daughter of Christopher Clark. He was a tailor by trade, and for several years he followed this occupation, when he sold out his business and invested his money in a farm, and was engaged in farming up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1842. Ten children were born to him, Thomas J. Richmond, the subject of this sketch, being the third child. Mr. Thomas Richmond was connected with the building of several different railroads, viz. : The Ogdensburg R. R., portions of the Malone, N. Y. Central from Palmyra east, and eight miles west of Batavia. He has built several miles of canal and about forty miles of railroad in Canada, and in company with Nathaniel Green built the aqueduct in Macedon. He is the owner of one hundred and ninety acres of fine land. In politics he is a Republican.
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Roe, William, born December 14, 1834, is the second son of Willis and Flora S. Roe, of Wayne county. Daniel Roe, the paternal grandfather of William Roe, came to Butler from Connecticut in 1812, and was a man of nich prominence. He died in 1852, at the age of ninety, leaving five sons and five daughters. William Roe was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1855, and after the study of law with Judge Collin, was admitted to the bar in 1862. He was for six years the partner of his former preceptor, Judge Collin, beginning an independent practice in 1868. Mr. Roe has a large legal business, and has been a member two years of the Democratic State Central Committee. He married, June 30, 1857, Sarah Dill, of Wolcott, and they have two sons and four daughters.
Rogers, Hiram C. (deceased), second son of Col. Bartlett C. Rogers, was born July 21, 1835, educated at Lyons and Fort Plain, after which he accompanied his father, who went out as captain of the 160th N. Y. Vols., to the war, acting as sutter to that regiment, returning in 1865. He served as deputy sheriff. At the age of thirty-one he married Julia C., daughter of H. G. Dickerson, of Lyons, and who are the parents of two sons, Heman D., of Detroit, Mich .. and Percy L. Hiram C. died October 28, 1888, at the age of fifty-three, leaving a wife and two sons to take up his many plans and carry them to completion. He was generous and benevolent in disposition, taking an active interest in educational and religious institutions, being a member of the Pres- byterian chireb. He was ready to answer when called.
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