USA > New York > Tioga County > Our county and its people : a memorial history of Tioga County, New York > Part 71
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 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
JOHN GILBERT SMITH, son of Richard and Catharine (Decker) Smith, was born December 15, 1820, in Tioga. He carried on luni- bering very extensively in Tioga and was a very prominent man there. On September 21, 1845, he was married with Sally M. La- mont, by whom he had five children, Emma Ruth (Mrs. John E. Pembleton), Lauren G., Catharine M., Allen L. and Samuel. John E. Pembleton, son of Charles and Amanda (Ellis) Pembleton, was born November 2, 1842, in Waverly, where he was educated in the common schools and later attended the high school of Bingham- ton. He afterward entered the employ of Elmer Bros., bankers of Waverly, staying there five years. For the next eight years he was superintendent of the Waverly paper mills. He then pur- chased a farm in Tioga and lived there until he was kicked and killed by his horse, on December 25, 1896. He married Emma Ruth, daughter of John G. and Sally M. (Allen) Smith, May 25, 1870. Their children are Mary French (Mrs. Rev. H. Ellsworth, of Nichols), adopted ; Emily Ruth, and Jolm Gilbert.
758
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
SAMUEL KUYKENDALL, son of Peter and Deborah (VanDuser) Kuykendall, was born January 30, 1824, in Phillipsport, N. Y., where he attended the common schools until he was 15 years old. He then went to live with his uncle, Samuel VanDuser, of Litch- field, Pa., where he stayed until 1867, then he came to Tioga, sell- ing his property in Pennsylvania, and purchased a farm in Tioga, where he resided until his death, March 26, 1893. As a business he always followed farming. On March 20, 1880, he married Vio- letta, daughter of John and Violetta (Bates) Reynolds, who was born May 18, 1845, in Delaware county. She married, second, Fred Clark, son of Asa, on January 11, 1897. He was born Janu- ary 19, 1857. He has been a broker in New York city. He mar- ried, first, Etta Hoff, in 1874, by whom he had one child, Georgia A., born June 29, 1879. John Reynolds was born August 11, 1802. He, on January 29, 1831, married Violetta Bates, and died May 16, 1869. His wife was born August 22, 1808, and died June 30, 1891. They had nine children : John J., born March 30, 1832 ; Abby J., born September 16, 1834 ; Ezra E., born September 18, 1836 ; Lemon L., born January 9, 1839 ; Margaret C., born January 6, 1841; Nancy E., born May 25, 1843 ; Violetta, born May 18, 1845 ; Lucinda, born May 4, 1852 ; Sarah M., born August 11, 1856.
WILLIAM A. LOCKE, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth M. (Healey) Locke, was born in Providence, R. I., May 23, 1845. When 18 years old, while working in Chenango county, he enlisted in Co. L., 20th N. Y. Cav., and participated in the important battles in front of Petersburg, and took active part in many raids, capturing horses, destroying railroads and all kinds of other property to weaken the enemy. He was thrown from his horse in 1864, dis- located his shoulder and was long confined in the hospital at Ports- mouth, Va. He was honorably discharged at Watertown, N. Y., July 30, 1865. Three of his brothers were also in the war, Charles, Henry D. (wounded at Petersburg and taken prisoner), James A., of Co. I., 114th N. Y. Vols., was killed at Sabine Cross Roads, and buried by the enemy on December 25, 1864. Mr. Locke was mar- ried with Ann, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Newell) Baldwin, on February 9, 1860, at Truxton, Cortland county. They have five
759
TOWN OF TIOGA.
children, Minnie S., born February 7, 1869 ; Arthur J., born March 7, 1876 ; Earl W., born June 16, 1880 ; Clyde, born April 17, 1884, and Goldie M., born July 3, 1885. Mr. Locke was pathmaster five years, has been town clerk, served as deputy sheriff eighteen months, and was constable five years in Tompkins county. He is adjutant of his G. A. R. post. He came to Smithboro on April 14, 1891, and is an active citizen. He is district clerk, and is a mem- ber of both the town and the county republican committees. On arriving in Smithboro, Mr. Locke purchased the Mansion house which he conducted for five years. In September, 1895, he sold it to E. R. Cox, and is not now in any active business. He is a mem- ber of the I. O. R. M. lodge and has held all the chairs. He is also a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge, was its treasurer three years and is now right supporter of the vice-grand.
PROF. IRVING F. STETLER, the capable superintendent of the pub- lic schools of Sayre, Pa., is the son of Stokes and Ellen (Duff) Stetler, and was born in the town of Tioga, this county, on No- vember 28, 1860. Receiving his education at Tioga union school, Owego academy, and Cortland normal school, he was graduated from the latter in 1885. After teaching a few months at Chenango Forks, he was in charge of the public schools of Smithboro, N. Y., for two years, then was at Collins Center in Erie county for two years, next taught at Nichols for five years. His success was such that in 1894 he was called to take charge of the public schools of Sayre, where he is now located. In December, 1892 he was mar- ried with Miss Kate Sherwood of Nichols. Mr. Stetler's grand- father, Benjamin Stetler, came to Sayre from Pike county, Pa., about 1835, and in two or three years moved to Elmira, N. Y., re- moving from there to Tioga about fifty years ago. By a second marriage he had seven children. His son, Stokes, was born in Pike county and came to Tioga with his father.
·
760
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
TOWN OF NICHOLS.
After the revocation of the "Edict of Nantes " (1685), the Cory- ell family, Huguenots, left its home in the Alsace-Lorraine section of France, and, coming to America, landed at Perth Amboy, N. J. The ancestors of the judge bought lands at Lambertville in 1732, were granted a patent for a ferry by King George II, Jan- uary 7, 1733, and operated it when it was crossed by Washington's army en route to the battle of Trenton. In 1777, Emanuel Coryell, then a federal soldier, was appointed "forage-master " at " Cory- ell's ferry " by Col. Clement Biddle, forage-master general of the federal army, and from February 19 to February 22, 1778, he sup- plied the whole federal army with five days rations, while it was crossing the Delaware previous to the battle of Monmouth. In 1779 he resigned the position. In 1791 Mr. Coryell left Lanibert - ville, his native place, with a young family and settled on the Susquehanna in this county. He was one of the earliest settlers, became the agent of Robert H. Hooper and other land proprietors, and had extensive dealings with the settlers. From his upright and benevolent course in that capacity, he contributed much to- ward the prosperity and improvement of this part of the state. He possessed the confidence of the people in a high degree, was several times a member of the legislature, and for many years a first judge of the court of common pleas. In this and various other offices held in the course of a long life, he sustained a high character for talents, honor and integrity. A soldier of the army of Washington, Judge Coryell was ardently attached to and a firm supporter of Washington and his policy, and no dictates of interest or subserviency to the opinions of others could prevail upon him to withhold an honest and independent expression of his opinions. His private manners were marked by an easy and unrestrained affability, and upon the bench he arrogated nothing to himself from an undue estimate of his powers or of his posi- tion. His house was ever the center of good cheer for the vicinity . He died in 1835, aged 82 years.
D. T. Častun. 1
761
TOWN OF NICHOLS.
VINCENT MATTHEWS CORYELL, son of Hon. Emanuel and Fran- ces Coryell, was born in Nichols, June 28, 1800. His natural ell- dowments and gift were of a high order. An imposing physique, a fine voice for public address, and a strong mental sagacity and keenness combining, constituted him a person for distinction in any calling. Early in his "teens " he had mastered a good Eng- lish education, was well advanced in Latin and Greek, and, classed as a superior scholar, he was graduated from Union College. Im- mediately after graduation he was sent to the law office of Vincent Matthews (of whom he was named) and William B. Rochester at Bath, with whom he studied until his examination at Albany, where he received his diploma, signed by Chief Justice Savage. He immediately entered upon a flattering practice at Bath. He married in 1821 Jane, daughter of Hon. Dugald Cameron. Her illness and death changed him from skepticism to a christian be- liever and later brought him into the ministry. His call to preach was at first resisted but finally heartily responded to. He united with the Methodist church, received his license to preach from John Griffin in 1825, and began the work of an itinerant on Tioga circuit. In 1828 he was received " on trial" in Genesee conference and appointed to Canaan (Pa.) circuit. We trace his itinerant ca- reer from Canaan to Bridgewater, Wyoming, Scipio, Marcellus, Watertown, Syracuse, Rome, Cazenovia, Skaneateles, Coopers- town, Norwich, Waverly. In 1843-1846 he was presiding elder of Owego district. He was pastor in Syracuse twice, and while there built the First Methodist church edifice. Revivals swept over every station he occupied. His ministerial life covered more than sixty years and the number of conversions under his ministry was about 3,000. Twelve of his converts became ministers and four doctors of divinity. As a minister Mr. Coryell possessed more than ordi- nary mental grasp and intellectual preparation. Dogmas, and teachings of whatever sort that antagonized truth, were brought speedily to judgment by his logic and address. His personal expe- rience was preeminent. His soul flashed the light with which it was permeated. His second marriage was on February 11, 1833, and with Miss Rachel E. Lounsbury, a teacher in a young ladies' seminary at Troy. Of Mr. Coryell's children six are living : Eman-
762
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
uel Coryell, of Nichols ; Mrs. T. J. McElhemy, of Ithaca ; Mrs. Helen M. Scott and Mrs. Mary B. Sheldon, of Waverly : Mrs. Clementina C. Faulkner of Atchison, Kan .; and Mrs. E. Josephine Whitman of Syracuse, N. Y. Mr. Coryell died November 5, 1889.
JAMES HOWELL, son of Sampson and Elizabeth Howell, was born November 27, 1878, in Frelinghuysen, N. J. Sampson was the third farmer of that town in size of farm and success. James mar- ried Amelia Lanning about 1802. In February, 1806, he with his wife and two children and a younger brother, started for Nichols from New Jersey in a rudely constructed sleigh with wooden shoes, drawn by two horses, which contained all their goods. They came by the route of " The Shades of Death," presumably the route taken eastward by the survivors of the Wyoming massacre. James Howell settled one hundred rods below Judge Coryell, on the farm now owned by Mr. Stewart, but soon bought the farm re- cently owned by Emanuel Coryell, Jr., back of Hooper's Valley. Here he lived until 1815. Wolves and other wild animals were troublesome. Much corn was carried off and destroyed by bears, which also in a few weeks time carried off between thirty and forty pigs. In 1814, Mr. Howell traded this place for one owned by Elijah Cole, one mile south of the site of Nichols village. This farm comprised 126 acres of good pine and hemlock and a primi- tive sawmill with a "flutter wheel." This mill was used during a long period of lumbering, and was the sole survivor of the water- mills of this section when it was taken down, January 24, 1897. Both pine and hemlock have gone, the last of the latter on the Howell place being converted into lumber in the winter of 1896 and 1897. The early price of pine lumber down to about 1840 was from $5 to $6 per M. About 1827 Mr. Howell purchased an adjacent lot of heavy timber containing 162 acres. Soon after he bought the Robinson and Brewster lot, on the east hill, of 250 acres, so that his acreage was 288 acres on the west side of the creek and 250 on the east side. He was a good farmer, steady and industrious. He donated liberally to the churches, though not a church member. He was the smallest of his parents' eight sons, weighing but 200 pounds, while his heaviest brother weighed 340 pounds. James
763
TOWN OF NICHOLS.
Howell died December 23, 1837 ; his wife died March 30, 1823. Of their eight children six attained maturity and several advanced old age. A daughter, Fannie (Mrs. Stephen Morey), died in May, 1890, in her 89th year, and her brother, John, died the next August in his 86th year.
ROBERT HOWELL, the only survivor of James Howell's family, was born September 4, 1815, in a log house on the Howell home- stead, about one mile south of Nichols village. This house was 12 by 14 feet in size with a frame addition of 8 by 12 feet, and was within thirty feet of the Wappasening creek (west side). His pres- ent home is one mile further south, on his pleasant farm of 160 acres, lying partly in Pennsylvania. Robert was sent to school when eight years old and was also taught to work. Before he was ten he had dragged and "harrowed in " many fields of grain, and when but twelve was sent to aid a man in running a sawmill. (Sawing was hard work then, toiling all day and half the night.) The schools he attended were the district one now called the "line " school and that at Nichols. They were poor, and his at- tendance ended when he was seventeen. He was a natural student, with great preference for geography, boys' travels and hunting stories. An omnivorous reader, he early began to study geology, history, zoology, paleontology, ethnology, etc. Botany had great attractions for him and, in a time when books were rare articles, he had read much. A few school books and a much less number of other volumes were all he could get in boyhood, but his father took two or three newspapers and agricultural journals, which were eagerly devoured. Robert was early a collector, and when only eighteen owned about twenty bound books and as many pamphlets. Now his library contains about 4,000 books and pamphlets, hundreds of large quarto volumes and a few folios, many volumes weighing from ten to eighteen pounds. It has many books that cannot be duplicated in a radius of many miles. In August, 1852, Mr. Howell was elected a member of the Amer- ican Association of Science, which included the United States, British America and Mexico, and had members in Great Britain, France, Germany, etc. His name was proposedby Louis Agassiz,
764
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
the eminent scientist, and seconded by Dr. James Hall, our dis- tinguished state geologist. Mr. Howell then began to collect the Chemung fossils to supply the demand of geologists. Each of the more than fifty boxes of these fossils sent out by him was from 240 to 350 pounds in weight. These went to aid the state geol- ogists of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, etc., in their state surveys (with many duplicates for their private collections), and to the Smithsonian institution, the New York state geological collection, Prof. Agassiz, Cambridge university and numerous other universities and colleges. The last two boxes (one of fossils, one of drift bowlders) went to the university of Chicago. Mr. Howell for twenty years kept a record of the weather for the meteorological bureau at Washington, beginning with "old prob- abilities " and ending with General Greeley's term of service. For thirty years he has made reports of remarkable storms and events in Nichols to the regents of the state university. He has cata- logued the forest trees and shrubs of Nichols for the same body, and some years since made a report of the timber and wood in Tioga county for the United States forestry commission. These papers were printed in state and United States publications, and in reputable periodicals. Mr. Howell has had a busy life. He has helped to chop and clear over 200 acres of land, yet he has been an indefatigable student. Much of his study has been done in evenings and in mornings before day, yet so much study by lamp and candle light has little impaired his sight. In his eighty-sec- ond year he now reads hours daily without using glasses, which he has never needed. Never a member of any church, but an universalist in belief, he has aided in the building and support of several churches of different denominations. With remarkably clear understanding and faculties, Mr. Howell is passing the evening of an useful life and is tenderly cared for as the twilight deepens.
The ancestor of Miles Forman, Robert Forman, of Lincolnshire, England, who was persecuted for his faith by the church of Eng- land, went to live in Flushing, Holland, in 1618, then he and others of his faith came to the Dutch colony in America to live. They
Robert Howell
765
TOWN OF NICHOLS.
obtained from the government of the New Netherlands, under Governor Kieft, a grant of land on the north shore of Long Island, in Queen's county; they called the place Flushing. Robert For- man was one of the corporators of Flushing in 1645. He removed to Hempstead, L. I., and after the conquest of the New Nether- lands by the English in 1664, he removed to Oyster Bay, L. I. He had a son Aaron, who also had a son Aaron, whose son Aaron married Susanna Townsend, the daughter of the second of two brothers who came from England early in the seventeenth cen- tury. Aaron and Susanna had several sons; one, Jacob, settled in Westchester county, N. Y. Jacob's son, John, married Jerusha Lands, had daughters Betsey, Jerusha, Sally, Susanna, and one son, Miles Forman, who was born September 26, 1762. He enlist- ed when eighteen, May 4, 1780, in the continental army (Col. Albert Paulding's regiment), served until the close of the war, and was in several stirring engagements. Once when home on leave the tories surrounded the house, and he jumped from the window escaping unseen. The tories whipped his sister Jerusha with their ramrods because she would not tell where he was. Her father made an iron flail to whip them, and used it effectively several times. His arm with the flail is on one issue of the continental money-the $2.00 bill of 1780. Miles Forman, after the war, mar- ried Anna Platt, of Bedford, Westchester county, and afterward in 1790, came to Nichols, where he bought a large farm. He was twice sheriff of Tioga county when it also comprised the counties of Chemung, Tompkins and part of Schuyler. He died in Nichols, February, 1834, aged 77 years. He left six daughters : Jerusha, married with David Olds ; Torreta with James Bush ; Anna with Clark Hyatt ; Sarah with Ira Ransom; Rue with Jacob Wood ; Frances with Shevinus Dunham ; Elizabeth with Edmund Mc- Quigg. He had four sons. Smith married Martha Miller. His sons are the only ones of the name living in the county. They are Edmund Forman, of Barton, Miles Forman, of Nichols, and Samuel Forman, of Elmira. He has one grandson, John Forman, of Nichols. Sands married Mary Mathews. His sons live in Cali- fornia and Chicago; Miles, who married Hannah Brodhead, and Ferris Forman lives in Stockton, Cal. He is now eighty-eight
766
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
years of age. He was colonel of the third Illinois regiment during the Mexican war. He went to California in 1849, was a demo- cratic postmaster of Sacramento under James Buchanan. He was also counsel for Captain Sutter, the discoverer of gold in California.
SMITH FORMAN, son of Miles and Anna (Platt) Forman, was born February 3, 1787, in Westchester county. He was married with Martha, daughter of Jacob and Polly (Warren) Miller, in 1816. They had eight children : Mary A. (deceased), (Mrs. Abram F. Pruyn), John (deceased), Miles, Almira, (Mrs. Thomas Osterhout), Martha (Mrs. Jackson C. Bunnell), Edmond M., Samuel W., Julia (Mrs. Robert Howell) (deceased). Miles Forman was born Septem- ber 13, 1825, in Nichols, where he was educated in the common schools. He then for six years was in stock-raising and did a shipping business. Since then he has "lumbered "and, in 1860, he opened a retail liquor store in Nichols, which he conducted for six years, when he retired and is now not actively engaged in any business. He was married with Stella, daughter of Nehemiah and Diantha (Wilson) Platt, on November 14, 1854. They had two children, Martha and Charles P., both deceased. Mr. Forman now, at the age of 74 years, is as active as a boy. He is a mem- ber of the Westbrook Masonic lodge of Nichols, and is now its oldest member. (See page 475.)
The first ancestor of the Lounsberrys of Nichols that can be definitely traced is Richard, probably the English emigrant, whom Dutchess county records showed to have lived there in 1648. * He moved to Putnam county in 1660, and later to Rye, Westchester county, where he lived from 1672 until his death in 1693. He mar- ried Elizabeth DuBois, a member of a rich Hugenot family that was driven from France by Catholic persecution, and were later wealthy silk manufacturers in Holland. Family tradition claims their de- scent from a knight serving under William the Conqueror in 1060. The Nichols line comes down through Michael Lounsberry, son of Richard, who was born about 1685 and died in 1731. He moved
* This ancestral history of the family was procured by Fred H. Quintard, of South Norwalk, Conn., nephew of ex-Gov. P. C. Lounsberry of Connecticut ..
William Lounsherry.
767
TOWN OF NICHOLS.
to Stamford, Conn., as early as 1703 and bought land there. On June 19, 1707, he married Sarah, daughter of Lieut. Jonathan, and granddaughter of Robert Lockwood, who came from England to Watertown, Mass., with Winthrop about 1630. Their children are Elizabeth and Sarah, born June 13, 1708 ; Michael, born Jan- uary 23, 1709, died November 16, 1730 ; Jemima, born March 17, 1711 ; Joshva, born July 1, 1716 ; Monmouth, born December 23, 1717 ; Nehemiah, born December 23, 1718 ; Abigail, born Septem- ber 11, 1719 ; Jonathan, born October 20, 1721, died 1791. Mon- mouth married in 1738 and had these children : Thomas, born Jan- uary 16, 1739; Elizabeth, born July 25, 1741, died young ; Benja- min, Sr., born December 23, 1742, died in 1771 ; Michael, born Sep- teniber 12, 1744 ; Elizabeth, born September 6, 1746 ; Monmouth, born July 31, 1748 ; Willian, born February 28, 1749, died young ; Jemima, born December 4, 1751 ; William, born August 5, 1753 ; Tamar, born September 11, 1755 ; and Abigail, birth unknown.
BENJAMIN LOUNSBERRY, JR., was born April 11, 1767, in Stam- ford, Conn., and died in Nichols, May 31, 1857. After his father's death his mother married Jonathan Platt, and moved to Bedford, Westchester county, this state, where they lived until 1794, when they came to Nichols where Mr. Platt had purchased a large tract of land in 1793. Benjamin had married in 1792 Elizabeth, a daugh- ter of Mr. Platt by his first wife. Their children were Harriet (Mrs. J. W. Laning), born June 7, 1793 ; Hannah, (Mrs. Samuel H. Dunhanı), born May 23, 1795 ; Platt, born September 18, 1797 ; Charles, born July 19, 1800 ; Horace, born December 12, 1804 ; Benjamin, 2d., born May 4, 1807, died September 20, 1888 ; James, born October 7, 1809 ; William, born December 6, 1812, died July 12, 1887, and Norman, born May 7, 1815. Platt Lounsberry, son of Benjamin, Jr., was born in Nichols and was a farmer in that town all of his life. By his wife, Sarah Laning, he had these chil- dren, Sarah (Mrs. Robert Howell), Platt, Mary, Amos, Horace, Prudence (Mrs. James Morey), Betsey (Mrs. Andrew Hunt), Ben- jamin, Harriet, George, and Enoch.
WILLIAM LOUNSBERRY, son of Benjamin, Jr., passed his life on the old homestead at Lounsberry Station, married, first, Sarah Ray-
768
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
mond, who was mother of his three children : William R., Edward W., born Oct. 2, 1850, died March 2, 1864, and Jennie (Mrs. David T. Easton), born February 24, 1855. William R. Lounsberry was born on the ancestral acres at Lounsberry Station in Nichols on April 30, 1846, and has made his home there during his life, devot- ing himself wholly to the cultivation of the soil. On November 3, 1874, he was married with Mary, daughter of William McKerlie, of Waterford, Ont.
CLARK HYATT, son of John and Rachel (Clark) Hyatt, was born at Shrub Oak, Westchester county, N. Y., July 31, 1793. His grandfather, Joshua Hyatt, was an officer in the revolutionary army. Clark Hyatt came to Nichols, N. Y., in 1815. In 1822 he married Anna Forman, daughter of Miles Fornian, of the town of Nichols. He bought out squatter claims on Coxe's patent and cleared a large farm of 340 acres. He sold his farm in 1867 and removed to Flint, Mich., where he subsequently died. Clark Hyatt was appointed judge of the county court of Tioga county by Gov. William C. Bouck in 1844, and served during the time limited by the constitution. He was one of the best and most prosperous farmers of the county, and was much respected. To the poor and needy he always extended a helping hand, and his hospitality was unbounded. He left one son, Ferris Forman Hyatt, who died in Flint, Mich., some years ago.
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.