USA > New York > Erie County > Memorial and family history of Erie County, New York, Volume I > Part 2
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
9
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
prepared, the land bought and a great proportion of the work of embellishment carried on. He was repeatedly tendered nomi- nations for high official places, but refused them, consenting, however, to allow his name to be placed upon the Republican electoral ticket in the Presidential campaign of 1872, and casting his vote in the Electoral College for President Grant. In 1883 Mr. Pratt, Luther R. Marsh of New York and Matthew Hale of Albany were appointed Commissioners to appraise the land taken by the State for the Niagara Falls Reservation. Mr. Pratt's expert judgment of real estate values and his unassailable integrity enabled him to render services of great worth to the commonwealth, and awards amounting to about $1,500,000 were made by the Commission, whose findings were approved by the Supreme Court, the Legislature and the State Executive, and were most favorably received by the public.
Mr. Pratt was one of the strongest friends of the Buffalo Young Men's Christian Association, serving as the first Presi- dent of the organization and President of its Board of Trus- tees. He was the largest contributor toward the erection of the old Y. M. C. A. structure at No. 19 Mohawk street, built at a cost of $120,000, and also gave generously toward the Asso- ciation's present home. For twenty years he was President of the Buffalo Seminary, and in 1862 he was one of the founders and became a life member of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. He was a connoisseur of art and a liberal patron of artists, his walls being hung with many fine canvases. He served as trustee of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, trustee of Forest Lawn Cemetery, and Vice-President of the Civil Service Reform Association, was President of the Board of Trustees of the North Presbyterian Church, and Vice-President of the Presby- terian Union of Buffalo. He was one of the charter members of the Buffalo Club, and was also connected with the Ellicott, Country and Falconwood Clubs. In his early days he belonged to the old Eagle Engine Company No. 2, later became one of the original members of the Volunteer Firemen's Benevolent Asso-
1
10
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
ciation, and was a member of the Buffalo Exempt Volunteer Firemen's Association. Always a man of strong patriotism Mr. Pratt was an active member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and his solicitude for the well being of its sister organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution, found expression in many generous acts. He was a member of the Bankers' Association and for many years served as President of the Buffalo Clearing House Association.
September 1, 1845, Mr. Pratt married Phebe Lorenz, daugh- ter of Frederick Lorenz, a prominent iron and glass manufac- turer of Pittsburg. The children of the union are Katherine Lorenz, now Mrs. John Miller Horton, of Buffalo; Frederick Lorenz, married to Jeannie Williams; Annie Lorenz, wife of John S. Chittenden; Melissa Dodge, wife of Robert Livingston Fryer; Samuel Fletcher Pratt, of Buffalo; Emma, wife of Dr. Charles Sumner Jones, a well-known Buffalo physician, and Edward Pascal Pratt, of Kansas City, married to Annette Perrine.
Pascal Paoli Pratt was of that rare type of individuality which stamps a lasting impress on the events and conditions with which it is brought in contact. No man did more for Buffalo than he, and his name is permanently enshrined in the annals of that city's progress.
HON. CHARLES TOWNSEND, son of Nathaniel Townsend, was born in Norwich, Conn., January 22, 1786, and came to Buffalo in 1811. In 1814, with his partner, George Coit, he engaged in ship-building and lake transportation, the firm of Townsend & Coit being until 1821 the only Buffalo house fol- lowing these lines of business. In 1813 Mr. Townsend was appointed Judge of Niagara County, an office which he held till 1826. As a jurist he showed an impartiality and good sense which went far to supply the place of a technical training in the law, and were amply sufficient for the needs of the com- munity. Judge Townsend took a leading part in securing a
11
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
harbor for Buffalo. In 1821 he with his partner, Mr. Coit, and other citizens mortgaged their private property to the State and obtained a loan of $12,000 for the purpose of building the harbor. The work was accomplished, and on its success the project was taken up by the State and later by the Federal Government, the outcome being the rebuilding of the harbor in its present form. In the courageous and disinterested act of Judge Townsend and his coadjutors in pledging their own prop- erty for the benefit of the public, was the germ of the greatness of the port of Buffalo. The Townsend name is also identified with the origin of that standard financial institution, the Buf- falo Savings Bank. The bank was organized May 9, 1846, Judge Townsend being elected its first President, an office which he continued to hold until his death.
Judge Townsend married Jane Corning at Albany, N. Y., June 5, 1819. Their children were Anna M. (Stone), born April 23, 1820; George C., born September 25, 1821, died January 30, 1852; Jane C. (Wilson), born November 30, 1823; Mary W. (Rich), born December 5, 1826, died February 11, 1896; Charles, born April 12, 1831; Frances H. (Rosseel), born July 25, 1835. The death of Judge Townsend occurred in Buffalo, September 14, 1847. He survived his wife by six years.
CHARLES TOWNSEND, son of Judge Townsend, was born in Buffalo, April 12, 1831, and was educated at Andover, Mass., and Yale College, graduating from the latter in 1853. Return- ing to Buffalo he became cashier of the Bank of Attica, and ยท continued in this capacity till 1872, when failing health obliged him to resign. After this he made several trips to Europe, in the hope of regaining his health by travel. His life was pro- longed several years, but he died September 1, 1877, at Has- lach, Germany. Mr. Towusend was a man of brilliant literary attainments and enjoyed the friendship of many scholars and artists. His religious convictions were deep and he was a devout member and a ruling elder of the North Presbyterian
12
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
Church. Of pure life and kindly nature, genial and possessing a keen vein of wit, he was a charming companion and was beloved by a large circle of friends.
June 10, 1856, Mr. Townsend married Martha S. Rich, daugh- ter of Gaius Barrett Rich. Their children were Charles, Har- riet, Edward Corning and Cora.
THE WILKESON FAMILY. The founder of the American branch of the Wilkeson family was John Wilkeson, who, with his wife, Mary Robinson, came to this country in 1760, and settled in Delaware. Upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, John Wilkeson entered the Patriot army with the com- mission of Lieutenant, and served until the end of the war.
SAMUEL WILKESON, son of John and Mary Robinson Wilkeson, was born in 1781, at Carlisle, Pa., and in his infancy he accompanied his parents to Washington County, Pa., where his education was obtained in a log school-house. After his father's death, Samuel Wilkeson settled in Southeastern Ohio. Later he removed his family to Chautauqua, N. Y., and engaged in boat building. During the War of 1812 he built a fleet of transports for the Government, and took part in the defense of Buffalo. At the close of the War of 1812 he removed to Buffalo, where social and civic conditions had become unsettled to a degree that threatened the total disruption of law and order. It was to Samuel Wilkeson that the people turned to defend the rights of honest citizenship in this crisis, and in 1815 he was induced to accept the then important office of justice of the peace. Up to the time he was elected a magis- trate he had probably never opened a law-book, yet he rose to the situation in a manner which made his record as a justice, and later as a judge, memorable in the annals of jurisprudence in Buffalo. In February, 1821, he was appointed First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County. In 1824 Judge Wilkeson was elected to the State Senate, and in 1836 he was
13
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
elected Mayor of Buffalo. He was among the leading advocates of the Erie Canal, and in 1822 he successfully argued before the Canal Commissioners the claim of Buffalo to be chosen as the canal's western terminus in preference to Black Rock. Among the many episodes of Judge Wilkeson's eventful life, his con- nection with the building of Buffalo Harbor has won for him the most accurately defined place in local history. While Judge Wilkeson was occupied with public services, his business activity was undiminished. He was a merchant, warehouse- man, vessel owner and lake forwarder. He built the first iron foundry ever erected in Buffalo, and a section of the Erie Canal. The death of Judge Wilkeson occurred in July, 1848, in his 67th year.
Judge Wilkeson was married three times. His first wife was Jean Oram, daughter of James Oram, who was of Scotch- Irish extraction and served through the War of the Revolu- tion. The second wife of Judge Wilkeson was Sarah St. John, of Buffalo. His third wife was Mary Peters, who was famous as an educator of girls. Judge Wilkeson was the father of six children, all issue of his first marriage. They were Elizabeth, John, Eli, William, Louise and Samuel.
JOHN WILKESON, eldest son of Judge Samuel Wilkeson, was born October 28, 1806. When a young man he went to Central America, and on returning to the United States in 1840, he became secretary to his father. Two years afterward, President Tyler appointed him United States Consul to Turk's Island, in the West Indies. After he resigned from his con- sulship, Mr. Wilkeson spent many years in iron manufacture. In 1858 he built one of the first elevators on the Buffalo lake front. He was a strong Republican and a personal friend of Millard Fillmore, with whom he made a trip to Europe in 1866.
In 1832, Mr. Wilkeson married Maria Louise Wilkes, of Portsmouth, England, a daughter of' William David Wilkes and Elizabeth Fry. Mr. Wilkeson was the father of three chil-
14
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
.
dren, John Wilkes, Col. Samuel H. and Maria Louise Wilkeson. The death of John Wilkeson occurred on the 4th of April, 1894.
COL. SAMUEL H. WILKESON, second son of John Wilkeson, was born in 1836. With the outbreak of the Civil War he en- listed in the 21st New York Volunteer Infantry, as First Lieu- tenant of Company H. On February 22, 1862, Col. Wilkeson was mustered into the 11th N. Y. Cavalry (Scott's 900) as Captain of Company C. He was promoted to Major June 24, 1862, Lieut. Colonel December 24, 1862, and Colonel March 15, 1865, and was discharged March 27, 1865, at Memphis, Tenn. In the Davidson raid in the far South, he was Inspector General in the field, and was the commanding Lieutenant-Colonel in the Ripley raid. In addition to his services in Maryland and Vir- ginia, he served in Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Tennessee. His official stay in the Gulf Department lasted eighteen months. In August, 1864, he participated in the Mobile expedition, as an officer on the staff of Gen. Gordon Granger. His total time of active service lasted about four years.
In 1868, Col. Wilkeson married Matilda Gertrude Franks. Mrs. Wilkeson was born on Mackinac Island, November 4, 1849, and died in Buffalo, February 24, 1903. She was promi- nent in the affairs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, for many years was a member of the managing board of the Church Charities Foundation, and was actively interested in the chari- ties of her own church, St. Mary's on the Hill. Mrs. Wilkeson is survived by her husband and six children, John, born Sept. 11, 1869; Edward Samuel, born in August, 1871; Mary Juana, ) Elizabeth Wilkes, now the wife of John K. Freeman; William, born in 1885, and Margaret Livingston.
+
MISS MARIA LOUISE WILKESON, sister of Col. Wilkeson, was a lifelong resident of Buffalo, where her death took place on the 24th of March, 1903, in the 66th year of her age. Miss
15
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
Wilkeson was one of the representative women of Buffalo, being noted for her wealth, culture, benevolence and social distinction. For many years she occupied a brilliant and distinctive position in the social world of Buffalo. Miss Wilkeson was keenly interested in the fine arts, of which she was a liberal patron. Her collection of paintings, bric-a-brac and other articles of vertu was a notable one. The patriotic spirit so conspicuous in her family was also a marked charac- teristic of Miss Wilkeson. She was an honorary member of Bidwell-Wilkeson Post, G. A. R., which, after her death, paid her memory an honor said to be unprecedented in the history of the G. A. R., the Post attending her funeral in a body. In her will, Miss Wilkeson left generous endowments to the Children's Hospital and the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy.
JOSEPH ELLICOTT was the founder of the city of Buffalo. He selected its site, designed its plan, prevailed upon the Indians to surrender their title and upon the Holland Company to secure possession, and used his resources and influence to induce immigration and settlement. He was the central figure of early Buffalo, a pioneer of pioneers.
Born in Bucks County, Pa., Nov. 1, 1760, Joseph Ellicott gained the rudiments of knowledge in the common schools, but he was practically self-educated. The son of a farmer and miller, in early life he worked on his father's farm and assisted him in his milling business. Meantime he began the study of surveying and mastered that profession. His elder brother was also a surveyor and young Ellicott became his assistant. He was chosen to survey the disputed line between South Caro, lina and Georgia, and later became the chief surveyor of the Holland Purchase.
In the fall of 1797, Mr. Ellicott came to Western New York, being accompanied by several assistants. To determine the number of acres in the Holland Purchase a preliminary survey was made, but the real surveying campaign began in 1798.
16
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
Besides Mr. Ellicott eleven surveyors were employed, each having a corps of assistants, the whole force being under his direction. He himself surveyed the east line of the purchase, usually called the East Transit, and the others worked at dif- ferent points. It was a task of toil and critical negotiation to preserve the site of Buffalo, there being reason to apprehend that the State and Buffalo Creek Reservations would be so bounded as to interfere with the future city's building and growth. The danger was obviated by Mr. Ellicott's skill as a surveyor and diplomat, and through his efforts the Indians were persuaded to leave the city site out of the reservation. In the spring of 1798 Mr. Ellicott opened the first wagon track in Erie County by improving the Indian trail from East Tran- sit to Buffalo. The first map of Buffalo was made by Mr. Ellicott in 1804, the place being then called the village of New Amsterdam. For many years and throughout the rest of his active career Mr. Ellicott continued to be the local agent of the Holland Company. He energetically furthered the settlement of Buffalo and the building up of the place along broad lines of commercial advancement. He was also an earnest pro- moter of the Erie Canal and one of the first Canal Commis- sioners appointed by the Legislature. About 1824 Mr. Ellicott's health failed, his mind being seriously affected, and at last he became a hypochondriac. He entered the Bloomingdale Asy- lum at New York, but his malady was hopeless, and August 19, 1826, he died by his own hand. Mr. Ellicott never married.
THE CLINTON FAMILY in America is descended from one of the most ancient families of Great Britain. Geoffrey de Clinton, the founder of the house, was Lord High Chamberlain and Treasurer to King Henry I., who reigned from 1100 to 1135, and received from that monarch immense grants of land. Geoffrey de Clinton built Kenilworth Castle, whose ruins are still to be seen near Warwick, and which became famous, not only through its historic association, but because it was chosen
17
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
by Sir Walter Scott as the scene of one of his most celebrated romances.
From Osbert, the brother of Geoffrey de Clinton, descended Edward Clinton, first Earl of Lincoln, who became Lord High Admiral of England. His son Henry, second Earl of Lincoln, was the father of Sir Henry Clinton, who was born in 1587 and whose death occurred in 1641. Sir Henry's son was William Clinton, who in the struggle between King and Parliament espoused the Cavalier side and became an officer in Charles the First's army. His son, James Clinton, married Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of one of Cromwell's officers.
Charles Clinton, son of James, was the founder of the American branch of the family. He was born in the county of Longford, Ireland, in 1690. In May, 1729, he sailed from Dub- lin in a ship called the George and Anne, himself paying the passages of ninety-four persons, and settled in the Massachu- setts Colony. Mr. Clinton remained in that colony till 1731, when he removed to Little Britain, Ulster County, New York. He took an active part in the wars with the Indians and the French, and in 1758 was Colonel of a regiment of provincial troops, and was present at the capture of Fort Frontenac. Col. Clinton was a man of mathematical attainments, and his ser- vices were much in demand in land surveys. He was judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ulster County. Col. Clinton died November 19, 1773. At that time the Revolutionary conflict was distinctly foreshadowed, and Col. Clinton in his last moments told his sons to espouse the cause of liberty. Col. Clinton's wife, Elizabeth Denniston, whom he married in Ireland, was an accomplished woman who earnestly shared the patriotic spirit of her husband. She died December 25, 1779, being then in her 75th year. Of the four sons of this marriage, Alexander, Charles, James and George, all attained distinction. The two first-named were prominent physicians. George Clinton, the youngest, participated in the French and Indian War and the Revolution, was the first Governor of
18
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
the State of New York and was continued in that office for twenty-one years. At the time of his death he was Vice- President of the United States.
James Clinton, son of Col. Charles Clinton, was an ensign, first lieutenant, and captain in the provincial army. After the war he became Lieutenant Colonel of an Orange County regi- ment. Upon the outbreak of the Revolution he entered the Patriot service, in 1775 being appointed Colonel of the Third New York Regiment. In 1776 he was made Brigadier General and took part in the attack on Quebec. The next year he was stationed at Fort Montgomery, on the Hudson, and bravely resisted the British advance under Sir Henry Clinton. In 1778 Gen. Clinton was stationed at West Point. After the discovery of Arnold's treason, Washington ordered Gen. Clinton to assume command at Albany, at which important post he con- tinued until August, 1781.
After the close of the Revolution, Gen. Clinton was a member of the convention called to ratify the Federal Constitution. He also served in the convention to revise the Constitution of New York, was chosen a commissioner to determine the New York and Pennsylvania boundary, and was elected State Senator.
The wife of Gen. Clinton was Mary De Witt. She was a daughter of Egbert De Witt, and came from an excellent family of Holland extraction. Four sons-Alexander, Charles, De Witt and George-were the issue of this marriage. Gen. Clinton died at Little Britain in 1812.
DE WITT CLINTON, third son of Gen. James Clinton and grandfather of Spencer and George Clinton of Buffalo, was born March 2d, 1769, at the family home in Little Britain, Orange County. His early education was gained at the gram- mar-school in Little Britain and at the Kingston Academy. His studies were rudely interrupted by the Revolutionary War, but in the spring of 1784 he entered the junior class of Colum-
19
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
bia College. An address delivered by him in later years to the Columbia alumni contains a vivid description of the college building as it was at the close of the war. Young Clinton was one of the most systematic and careful of students. His cus- tom was to read pen in hand, and he continued the practice to the end of his life. In 1786 he was graduated at the head of his class. Shortly after his graduation he began reading law with Samuel Jones, a noted lawyer of New York City. At this time an event occurred which marked an epoch in the life of De Witt Clinton, and had much to do with determining his career. This was the assembling of the convention which formulated the Constitution of the United States. The youth- ful law student assiduously read the publications relative to the proposed Constitution, and his attention to Constitutional subjects was intensified by his attendance, in 1788, at the New York convention which met at Poughkeepsie to ratify the United States Constitution.
About 1789, on the death of his brother Alexander, De Witt Clinton succeeded him as private secretary to Governor George Clinton, his uncle, and he held this situation till 1795. In 1797 he was elected Member of Assembly, and in 1798 became State Senator, becoming very prominent in the political controver- sies and legislative measures of the day.
In 1802 Mr. Clinton was elected to the United States Senate. At this time he was only thirty-three years of age. In Febru- ary, 1803, Mr. Clinton took a leading part in the Senate debate on Mr. Ross's resolutions authorizing the President to take possession of New Orleans. The summer of the same year Mr. Clinton succeeded Edward Livingston as Mayor of New York, and with the exception of a year or two, continued in that office till 1815. By his acceptance of the mayoralty, Mr. Clin- ton was obliged to resign his place in the United States Senate, but he was elected to the State Senate and served as State Senator for several years of his mayorality, his name becoming identified with a large amount of State legislation.
20
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY HISTORY.
In 1810 Mr. Clinton took the first step in the enterprise which was destined to link his fame with the greatest artificial waterway of the continent and to give him for all time the popular appellation of "Father of the Erie Canal." In the summer of that year he and the first Canal Commissioners, his associates, made a journey through the Mohawk Valley and Western New York in order to ascertain the practicability of constructing a canal from the Hudson to the Lakes. The fol- lowing year Mr. Clinton was elected Lieutenant-Governor of New York. In 1811 he received the nomination for President of the United States. His opponent was Mr. Madison, who was elected, obtaining 128 electoral votes, the number received by Mr. Clinton being 89. In December, 1811, Mr. Clinton read be- fore the New York Historical Society his discourse on the Iroquois Indians. This dissertation is a notable example of deep research and eloquent style.
The period immediately after the War of 1812 was marked by a revival of public interest in the project of a canal from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. Mr. Clinton was insist- ent in bringing the subject before the people and the Legisla- ture. He prepared on behalf of canal construction a most able memorial, which was adopted at a meeting held by representa- tive citizens of New York, in 1816. April 15th, 1817, the Canal Bill was passed, the work of construction being begun on the 4th of July. In the fall of the same year Mr. Clinton was elected Governor of New York by a nearly unanimous vote. This triumph was all the more signal because of the fact that two years before, Mr. Clinton's political adversaries had suc- ceeded in depriving him of the Mayorality of New York City. In 1820 he was re-elected Governor. During both of these terms the canal enterprise was pushed with energy.
In 1822, the year of the new Constitutional Convention, Joseph C. Yates was elected Governor, but in 1824 Mr. Clinton was again elected to that office, in which he was continued, by successive re-elections, to the day of his death. In October,
21
MEMORIAL AND FAMILY : HISTORY.
1825, the Erie Canal was completed. Mr. Clinton made a tri- umphal journey from Lake Erie to the Hudson, and in his message of January, 1826, he referred in characteristic and appropriate terms to the consummation of the canal enter- prise. Governor Clinton's last message to the Legislature was delivered Jan. 1st, 1828. Its opening sentences were strikingly expressive of gratitude to the Providence which had guarded the destinies of the young State and nation, and it may be observed in this connection that Mr. Clinton was the first Gov- ernor who recommended the observance of days of public thanksgiving by the people of the State.
De Witt Clinton died February 11th, 1828.
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.