Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York, Part 60

Author: Kingman, Leroy W., ed
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Elmira, N. Y. : W. A. Fergusson and Company
Number of Pages: 932


USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 60


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).


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academy, and his work was prospered. When he died Waverly institute ranked with the best schools in the country, and few attained so just a popularity in so brief a time. All over the land men and women filling most responsible positions testify to the thoroughness of his work. Former students tell in glowing words of the man who inspired them to lofty ideals of character. To ambitious pupils he gave extra attention, books, and, if needed, free tuition, and spurred them to highest endeavor. To capture a youth for a college course was his delight. He was strict in discipline and stern in his manner, but beneath was a sensitive, modest nature. He had bitter intolerance for laziness and under- hand dealing. His withering sarcasm was reserved for the incor- rigible. To one who idled away his time or strove to get through exercises by dishonest means he was utterly merciless. He saw the intent by intuition and did not conceal his contempt. With the dull student he had unbounded patience ; indeed, was patient with everything but duplicity and sham. Principle with him was far above intellectual achievement. Distinctly christian in its con- ceptions, aims and spirit, this school sent out not merely youths with minds trained by mental gymnastics, but disciplined spirits and sanctified hearts. After four years of heroic endeavor the needed appliances were secured and the school was in good run- ning order. Then the civil war broke out and schools and colleges were well nigh paralyzed. The first person to enlist in Waverly was a student, DeForest Payne. Others quickly followed. Obliged to remain at home, Mr. Lang was yet at the front in devising means for the comfort of the soldiers. The "boys in blue " were never forgotten. He visited Gettysburg just after the battle, and saw the grand review in Washington at the close of the war. The depleted classes in the school brought consternation to teachers and to trustees. Through the press a card was sent out for aid. This attracted attention and kept the school afloat. In 1863 Mr. Lang's failing health induced mental depression, little suspected by his intimate friends. The mental strain of five long years, increased by the anxiety inevitable to one who could not lightly carry his country's woes, prostrated him. Defeat seemed staring him in the face, his life a failure. In this crisis it was


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suggested that the duties of county commissioner of schools might give him the needed out-of-door life, and possibly restoration of health. Stipulating that he should hold his place as head of the school, the trustees consented to his candidacy. As political offices are not free gifts of the people, this one was not gained without a struggle. His combative side was called out and the excitement was a tonic. He was elected and entered upon his new duties. The pure air of the hills invigorated him and no doubt prolonged his life. His methods were carried out faithfully in the institute, it progressed, his interest in it increased, and the cause of the dis- trict schools and the academy became identical in his mind. The training in the academy appeared essential to the upbuilding of both. To aid this cause he allowed himself to be renominated for commissioner and was again elected. Thus for six years his talents were given to the schools of the county. The steady ad- vance of teaching and of the schools attest to his labors. He re- organized the defunct teachers' association and conducted insti- tutes where he impressed his ideas upon the teachers. His work was done well. Always mindful of the highest aims Mr. Lang in- sisted on the daily reading of the scriptures and the repeating of the Lord's prayer in the schools. Wherever material was found a Sunday school was organized, and many a Sunday found him present at one of these. When Mr. Lang's term of office expired he had an almost national reputation as an educator. He was suggested for the head of the new normal school at Geneseo, was urged to take charge of the embryotic normal school at Wilming- ton, Del., and was called to resuscitate the Susquehanna seminary at Towanda, Pa. But the larger activities of business attracted him, and once more his thoughts turned to the west. After visiting the northwest and Kansas, he hastily returned home, only to be at once prostrated by typhoid fever, of which he died on August 22, 1870. "The life of the principal, and with it the life of the Wav- erly Institute went out." Originally a democrat, Mr. Lang early became a strong republican, but was too strong and conscientious a reformer to win largely the support of opponents. He was urged to become a candidate for assemblyman in 1870, and had he lived and been elected he could not have failed of winning high honors.


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He was an ardent Sunday school worker, and his addresses were sought for Sunday school conventions. He was a devout student of the bible, and a loyal member of the Presbyterian church. He was ever the affectionate husband, the loving and exemplary father, the devoted friend and the model citizen. Prof. Charles Davies, LL. D., said of him : "Such devoted enthusiasm could not fail to achieve important results. An iron will, a ceaseless energy, and an unfaltering trust, made him a power for good over all who associated with him." Hon. S. B. Woolworth, chancellor of the state university, wrote on his death : "I regard him as a martyr to the cause to which he devoted his life. I have always known him as laboring with increasing assiduity in his profession, and have often feared that his life would be a penalty of his labors. The testimony of his high christian character confirms and culmi- nates my estimate of Prof. Lang."


PERCY J. LANG, son of Andrew J. and Elvira (Lyford) Lang, was born in 1861. He attended the public schools at Waverly, was graduated at Elmira free academy in 1879, studied at Hillsdale college, Mich., then attended Williston seminary, Mass., where he was graduated in 1881. In 1885 he was graduated from Yale. and for the next two years was engaged in the hardware business. In 1887 he was assistant cashier of the First National bank, of Wav- erly, and in 1892 was made cashier. He has been school treasurer since 1890, and was appointed loan commissioner of Tioga county by Governor Morton. In 1897 he was appointed by Governor Black one of the managers of the Craig Colony at Sonyea, N. Y. Mr. Lang was the first president of the Waverly Electric Light and Power Co., and is a member of Waverly Lodge of F. & A. M .; Cayuta Chapter, St. Omer's Commandery, and Zyara Temple of Knights of the Mystic Shrine. In 1885 Mr. Lang married with Alice S., daughter of Nathan S. Johnson, of New Haven, Conn., and has three daughters.


HENRY G. MERRIAM, son of Henry and Ann E. (Reeve) Merriam, was born March 5, 1836, at Goshen, Orange county, N. Y. He prepared for college at Farmer's Hall academy at Goshen, and en-


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tered Brown university (Providence, R. I.,) 1854. He was princi- pal of Leicester (Mass.) academy from 1861 to 1865. In 1865 he came to Waverly and opened a hardware and iron store, which he conducted until 1890. In 1873 Mr. Merriam was elected secretary and treasurer of the Gas Light Co., of Waverly, and held those offices until he was elected president and treasurer of the same cor- poration in 1890. Mr. Merriam was for eleven years a member of the school board of Waverly, and was its first president. In Jan- uary, 1867 he married with Fannie White Cummings, daughter of Estes Cummings, of Worcester, Mass. They have two children, Henry E. Merriam, M. D., of Owego, and Grace M. (Mrs. William A. Stevenson), of Sayre, Pa. A republican, Mr. Merriam takes an active part in politics. His great grandfather, Benjamin Tusten, M. D., was both a colonel in the American army of the revolution and a surgeon in its service.


JOHN SHEPARD, who is so prominently mentioned in connection with the pioneer and early history of both Barton and this region of country in another department of this work, was born in Con- necticut April 17, 1765. His first wife was Anna Gore, born Feb- ruary 8, 1772, and died September 7, 1805. They were married January 3, 1790, and had these children ; Prentice, who died young ; Isaac, born February 16, 1793, and was a prominent figure in early history in this region ; Miama, who married with Jesse Floyd and died on Long Island ; Amanda, who married with Charles Hopkins and lived and died in the Susquehanna valley ; Julianna, who married with George A. Perkins, of Athens, she was a lady of cultivated literary tastes, the author of valuable his- torical works, and died January 4, 1824 ; Job, a farmer, who spent his life in the Susquehanna valley, and by whose marriage with a Miss Ellsworth reared a family of prominence ; Phebe, who mar- ried with John Hepburn, of Auburn. The second wife of John Shepard was Deborah Hawkins, born in 1778. The children of this marriage were Ruth, Lettie, John L., Mary (wife of Silas Fordham), and Joseph Shepard. John, the pioneer, died in Barton, May 15, 1837, and his wife, Deborah, January 18, 1844. Isaac Shepard, son of John the pioneer, married with Deboralı Mills,


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who bore him these children ; Charles Henry, Edward Prentice, William Wickham, Isaac (died on steamer Oregon in the Pacific), Mary Elizabeth, Anna, and Martha Shepard. Charles Henry Shepard was born December 2, 1814, and has been for many years a prominent figure in business and social circles in Waverly, a merchant, banker, real estate dealer, and public spirited citizen. His wife was the daughter of Dr. William Magee, of Paterson, N. J. Of their four children only one survives, Isaac Prentice Shepard, of Waverly.


WILLIAM W. SHEPARD was born February 11, 1818. He read law with Wm. H. Seward and was his partner for a time, but went to California in 1849, and lived there until 1858, when he re- turned east. He was in the assembly in 1865, but generally lived in quiet retirement at his home in Waverly. He was a strong man mentally and socially, and was much respected in this part of the state. He died in Waverly, April 10, 1887.


BENJAMIN SAWYER, born at Drowned Lands, Orange county, N. Y., July 8, 1800, was the son of Moses and Eleanor (Holly) Saw- yer, and a grandson of Major James Sawyer, of revolutionary fame. This Major Sawyer at the breaking out of the revolution. resided on his farm in the Drowned Land district, near Goshen, N. Y. He was made a captain in Col. William Allison's Goshen regiment, February 6, 1776, subsequently appointed quarter-master with rank of major February 28, 1776, and was re-appointed February 28, 1778. He was with his regiment in the Minisink campaign, where family tradition says he was wounded. He was also present at the engagements at Forts Clinton and Montgomery, October 7, 1777. In this last engagement James Sawyer, Jr., the uncle of Benjamin, was taken prisoner and never returned, dying in captivity. His name will be found in "the history of Orange county " among the prisoners taken from Col. Allison's regiment in this engagement, spelled James Sardyer. From Decen ber, 1776, to April, 1778, the regiment was called into service twelve times and was 292 days in the field. February 26, 1825, Benjamin Sawyer married Elizabeth Johnson (Johnston) and in 1834 drove


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from Orange county to Tallmadge Hill, where he resided for a number of years, engaged in farming and in the lumber business with his brother, John L. Later he removed to Factoryville (East Waverly). Here, January 16, 1858, his wife died. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer were active workers in the First Presbyterian church of Waverly from its organization, he being an elder for many years. Mr. Sawyer died February 12, 1864, survived by his second wife, Mary Wilbur Sawyer. By his first wife he left six children ; Charles H., who died in April, 1892 ; Moses E., a farmer residing on the old homestead and one of Tioga county's staunch republi- cans ; William A., of Waverly ; Rachel Ann, who died in youth ; James M., died February 12, 1877 ; Mary E., wife of Amasa Finch, - of Waverly.


A prominent figure in Waverly for many years from 1855 was Daniel Blizzard, a native of Orange county. He purchased a 60- acre tract of land, laid it out into village lots and sold on such terms that it became a portion of the village. He was a leading member of the Methodist church, a trustee thereof and also a village trustee. He died December 13, 1878.


STEPHEN BENNETT, son of Benjamin and Mary (Hosier) Bennett, was born on April 30, 1808, in Orange county. (Benjamin was a son of Abraham Bennett, an early emigrant from England to Orange county, and was one of a family of fourteen children. Benjamin had five children ; Stephen, Eliza, Samuel, Eliza, and Edgar, all born in Orange county.) Stephen came in 1834 to Barton and conducted a blacksmith shop for the Erie rail- road, which stood near where now stands the old brick school- house. At that time there was no " Waverly," nothing but farms stretching away in all directions. In 1850 Mr. Bennett purchased the hotel owned by Captain Davis, situated near the present hotel Warford, and kept a restaurant and lunch room in the basement, which was the first " store " in Waverly. He changed the name of the hotel to the Bennett house. Selling this property to Cyrus Warford in 1853, Mr. Bennett opened a grocery on Broad street, which in time he changed to a drug store, and this he kept for


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many years and until his death. He was twice married, first, in 1832, with Margaret Little. Their children were Morris L., Oscar F., Mary E. (Mrs. Daniel Sharpe), Frances M., and Alice M. He married, second, Saphronia, daughter of Dexter and Laurinda Newton, in October, 1854. Children ; Rosman A., Alice S. (Mrs. A. K. Gore), and Morris E. Bennett.


ADOLPH K. GORE, son of Obed R. and Matilda (Shaw) Gore, was born July 2, 1855, in Sheshequin, Pa. He was educated in the Waverly schools, and learned the tinner's trade, at which he worked for several years. He later engaged in the insurance business at Waverly, and for five years was secretary of the National Protec- tion Legion. Since 1894 he has devoted his time to dealings in real estate. By his marriage to Alice S. Bennett he has one son, Elting, born December 25, 1883.


SYLVESTER GIBBONS was born in Granville, Mass., about 1825. When a young man he peddled goods for N. Watson of Owego. He came to Waverly in 1848 and built the first store on Broad street and conducted it until his death, in 1852. His wife was Hannah, daughter of Moses Hill. Their children were Martha P., and James S. Gibbons, who was born in Waverly, March 4, 1852, and has been in the mercantile business since 1877. Mrs. Gibbons died April 10, 1896.


MOSES HILL was born August 12, 1795, near Phillips Mills, Orange county, N. Y. In 1820, he married a lady named Quick, and settled in Waverly, the same year. They had ten children. He was a farmer. His wife died in 1869, his death occurred in 1874.


"JEAN GUENON, one of the exiled Hugeunots who took refuge in Holland, set sail from Amsterdam, April 2, 1657, in the ship "Draetvat," and came directly to New Amsterdam (New York). The next year he settled at Flushing, L. I., where he acquired land, and died in 1714. His wife was Greta Sneden, of Harlem, whom he married August 30, 1660. They left two sons, John,


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born in 1669, and Jeremiah, born in 1671. From these it is be- lieved, have descended all the American families of Genung. Ben- jamin Genung, a soldier of the revolution, settled in New Jersey, and at an early day came to Dryden, then a part of Tioga. He had six children ; Barnabas, Aaron, Rachel, Philo, Peron, and Timothy. Barnabas married Susan Johnson, by whom he had twelve chil- dren who arrived at maturity-Lydia, Nathaniel, Abram, Harrison, Ann, Rebecca, Sally, Enos, George, Merilda, and Barnabas."


NATHANIEL GENUNG, son of Barnabas and Susan (Johnson) Ge- nung, was born March 9, 1812, in Danby, Tompkins county. His father died when Nathaniel was a young lad and he worked on the farm with the other members of the family, and attended to some extent the district schools. In 1835 he married Lizzie, daugh- ter of Salmon Stewart, of Lansing, N. Y., and made their home on a farm near Barton Center, which, when bought, had a log house and a few acres cleared. From this humble beginning Mr. Genung developed a fine farm, and here was reared his family of ten children, all now living. He died in February, 1878. Mrs. Genung resides on the homestead.


SHERMAN A. GENUNG, son of Nathaniel and Lydia L. (Stewart) Genung, was born November 17, 1848, in Barton Center. He learned the trade of a carpenter when a boy, and since he was eighteen years of age he has been working for himself. In 1868 he commenced contracting and building. In 1870 he married Emma D. Hornell and has one child, Mabel. Mr. Genung is a member of Waverly Lodge, 407, F. & A. M., and of Cayuta Chap- ter, 245. He is a wholesale and retail dealer in lumber, coal and building materials.


GEORGE D. GENUNG was born in Brookton, Tompkins county, N. Y., May 26, 1853. He was the son of Enos H. and Sarepta C. Genung, and one of a family of six children. He attended the district schools in his youth and later the high schools in Slater- ville Springs and in Waverly, N. Y. He also taught district schools for several years. He was married June 28, 1876, with


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Miss Mary A. Van Derlip, of Waverly, and the following April they removed from Danby to Waverly, where he has since resid- ed. Here he engaged in the grocery business until April, 1882, when the publication of the Waverly Tribune was commenced and he became editor of that journal. A year later he became asso- ciate editor of the Waverly Advocate, of which O. H. P. Kinney and William Polleys were publishers, and a few months later both the publishers died, Mr. Polleys in June, Mr. Kinney in Septem- ber. He continued to edit and publish the paper for the heirs and for subsequent owners until September, 1887, when he received the appointment of assistant postmaster under Charles C. Brooks, as postmaster. For five years he filled this position, having entire charge of the office, and during this time the free delivery service was established and many other improvements made. October 20, 1894, he formed a partnership with Clayton A. Smith, under the firm name of Genung & Smith, and purchased the Waverly Free Press, of which he became the editor and which is being suc- cessfully published by them. Mr. Genung has always been a staunch republican, active in politics and prominent in public and church work. He has served several terms as clerk of his town and is serving his third term as member of the board of education and second term as president of that board. He has two children, George L., born in 1881, and Lucille S., born in 1883.


FRED. W. GENUNG, son of Solomon, was born January 8, 1864, in Barton. In 1887 he married Winifred Nash. In 1884 he came to Waverly and engaged in selling coal, wood, lime and masons' supplies. He has served four years as trustee of the village. In 1890 he was chief of the fire department and has held all the offices in the department. He is a member of the order of American Firemen, was secretary eight years and state director for two years.


CHARLES C. BROOKS, who for thirty years has been a conspic- uous figure in Waverly, town of Barton and county public and business life, and to whom is due the honor of having driven from Waverly village the most miserable element of humanity that


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ever infested any community, was a native of the neighboring village of Athens, born April 19, 1826, and was the son of Thomas Irving Brooks. In 1862 Charles C. Brooks came to Waverly and began the manufacture of fanning mills and agricultural imple- ments in connection with a foundry, on the site of the Decker tannery. Later on he was connected with a sash and door factory, . then in the manufacture of carriages, and afterward established the insurance agency with which he is now connected, by pur- chasing the business formerly conducted by James Tozer & Co. Under Thomas Pearl, who was sheriff in 1869-71, Mr. Brooks was deputy, and in the fall of 1871 was himself elected to the shrievalty of the county. In 1885, and again in 1889, he was appointed post- master at Waverly. From this it will be seen that in a measure Mr. Brooks has been a public man both in local and county affairs; and indeed it may be said that no man in the county takes greater and more unselfish interest in the welfare of Waverly than he. He is and always has been generous and public-spirited, and his commendable work in ridding Waverly of its undesirable element of population several years ago, fully attests his interest in the public weal. In 1847 Mr. Brooks was married with Rhoda B. Davidson, of which marriage one child has been born, Charles E. Brooks, chief of the Waverly police.


LEONARD D. MYERS, sheriff of the county, was born at Decatur, Otsego county, March 6, 1833, and was the youngest of eleven children of Peter and Hannah Myers. Leonard was brought up on a farm and attended the district school, but at the age of eigh- teen began clerking in a general store at East Worcester, remain- ing two years. He then went in business with his brother, continuing two years longer, when he sold out and moved to Clarksville. Later on he was clerk and deputy-postmaster at Gil- bertsville, but in 1861 removed to Waverly, in this county, where he has since been well known in business circles. He has been engaged in livery and hotel business, but unfortunate fires have twice caused him serious loss. He served as constable and deputy- sheriff eighteen years, deputy-sheriff twelve years, and under- sheriff three years. In the fall of 1895 he was elected sheriff of


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the county. As is well known, Mr. Myers is an active, earnest re- publican of twenty-five years standing in Tioga county. His first wife, with whom he married in 1854, was Mary Chamberlain. She died in 1855. His second wife was Mary Simpson, of Ovid, with whoni he was married November 24, 1862. Of this marriage three children have been born. His eldest son is a painter in Waverly, the second, agent of Wells Fargo express company at Jamestown, N. Y., and the youngest, a stenographer.


JAMES LEMON was born in Newburgh, N. Y., on March 26, 1814. He learned the trades of pattern inaker and moulder and also that of a carpenter. In 1850 he came to Waverly where he purchased a small foundry of Gilbert Hallock, and from that time and with enlarged facilities he has operated a foundry or been closely con- nected with its interests in Waverly. In 1852 he married Sarah J. Satterlee. They have a son and four daughters. The family are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Lemon is a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows fraternity of long standing, having joined the order in Middletown, this state, over fifty yearsago. In politics he affiliates with the democrats.


RICHARD D. VANDUZER must be mentioned among the repre- sentative men of Waverly who have by their energy and indomit- able will been the factors in forming a large business centre where was formerly only a hamlet of inconsiderable proportions. He was born in Warwick, N. Y., on August 7, 1827, and came to Wa- verly on December 22, 1851, and was a merchant until 1863, deal- ing also in produce and live stock. About 1864 Mr. VanDuzer was instrumental in building the first steam flouring mill of the county at Waverly and after the burning of the mill, three years later, was engaged in an extensive flour and feed traffic for some years. He was not alone a merchant. He was largely engaged in lumber manufacturing on Shepard's creek in mills several times built, · burned and rebuilt, did a wholesale lumber business of magnitude and himself built later two planing mills in Waverly, both of which burned. Further than this Mr. VanDuzer was an organizer of and the first depositor in the old Waverly bank, helped to organize the First National bank of Waverly, superintended the construc-


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tion of its bank building, and was the bank's first president, hold- ing the office seven years. In 1882 he established the Sayre butter package company, now one of the leading industries of Waverly. An active republican, Mr. VanDuzer has not been an office seeker, the only ones he has accepted being local, trustee of the village and president of the village board. A loyal and public spirited citizen, he has ever aided in all good causes tending to benefit the com- munity, has been long a consistent member of the First Presby- terian church of Waverly, always contributing liberally toward its support, and for many years he was president of its board of trus- tees. It was during his incumbency of that office, and under his direct supervision, that the beautiful new church edifice was built, of which Waverly is justly proud. A man of generous and liberal views in all matters pertaining to the elevation and advancement of the home of his adoption, he has done much toward making it what it is to-day, a progressive, wide-awake town. He was one of the founders of the Waverly institute, now the Waverly high school, and was one of a few early settlers who gave generously of his limited means to insure its construction and success. Mr. VanDuzer married first in 1850, Harriet S. Everson, who died in 1873, leaving five children ; Fannie A. (Mrs. W. H. W. Jones, of Binghamton), Howard C., Mary C., Anna L., and Richard D. Van Duzer. The two children of his second marriage with Mary E. Dill, of Middletown, N. Y., died in infancy.




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