Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego, Part 11

Author: Kingman, LeRoy Wilson, b. 1840
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Owego, N.Y., Owego Gazette Office
Number of Pages: 714


USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 11


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


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west side of Lake street, a little north of Front street, opposite where the Owego national bank now stands. He also built an ark yard below his resi- dence at the west end of Front street and carried on a lumber business. He continued the mercantile busines un- til his death January 31, 1839.


Mr. Reeves's character as a busi- ness man was that of sterling integ- rity. He was universally known as "deacon" Reeves long before the church had conferred upon him that title. He was the first merchant in Owego to banish intoxicating liquor from his store and take his stand as a consistent temperance man. He would not under any circumstances transact business on Sunday nor al- low it to be done for him.


It is related that on one occasion when on his way down the river with a shipment of lumber, he gave orders Saturday night to pull into shore and tie up the rafts. His men remon- strated-the water was falling rapidly and it would be impossible to go any further if they should lose a day. Mr. Reeves was deaf to every remon- strance, and every man left him and returned to Owego.


The next day he attended church, spending Sunday as if at his home. He arose early Monday morning with some anxiety, feeling that, although he had done right, he could illy afford to wait until the next freshet to re- alize on his lumber. 'Fortunately, while at breakfast, a man came on board and purchased the entire raft, paying a good price for it.


For a short period after his first coming to Owego Mr. Reeves was as-


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sociated with Elisha Bundy in the mercantile business. Their store was still on the west side of Lake street, one door north of Rollin block.


Mr. Bundy, who was commonly known as "judge" Bundy through his having presided at the mock trials in that travesty of the courts known as the "moral society," came to Owego from Vermont in 1815. He removed to the town of Catherine, Schuyler county, in 1826, and thence four years later to Elmira, where he became landlord of the old Mansion house and where he died in 1S3S. He also kept another hotel known as the Bundy house during his residence in Elmira.


While living in Owego Mr. Bundy was also in partnership with Joseph Berry and kept a meat market on the west side of Lake street, about where the Chamberlain brick block 110w stands. Bundy & Berry also con- ducted one of the several distilleries then existing in this vicinity.


Mr. Berry was an early settler in Owego. He came from the east about the year 1804. In 1822 he was in com- pany with one of the Ely brothers in a general mercantile business in "Cauldwell row." The same year he filled the office of coroner. He was the commissioner who had charge of building the first county clerk's office in Court street.


One of Mr. Berry's sons was Joseph Berry, who was successively a rail- road brakeman, a moulder, a photog- rapher, and at the time of his death in April, 1897, a member of the firm of Sporer. Carlson & Berry, piano manu- facturers. His wife was the daughter of Capt. Eliakim Goodrich, one of the


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early settlers of the town of Tioga. Another son was Frank Berry, who was engaged in the liquor business in Owego. Joseph Berry in the spring of 1826 bought a farm in the town of Newark Valley, upon which he moved and where he was living at the time of his death in 1830.


Mr. Berry built and lived in the house on the north side of Front street, east of William street, which was later occupied by Dr. J. H. Ar- nold and is now owned by W. N. Richards. Mr. Bundy lived in the next house west of it, now occupied by Mrs. Caroline Rounseville. These lots were owned by Mr. Bundy, who sold them for $500 to Mr. Reeves in August, 1826.


At the time of his death Mr. Reeves owned the ground on the west side of Lake street on which Hill & Par- ker's brick block now stands. His widow, Maria L. Reeves, who had con- ducted a millinery business several years, afterward became the second wife of Col. Benoni B. Curry. Col. Curry was a tailor. He came to Owe- go from Orange county in 1840. 11e died at Pleasant Valley, N. J., Jan. 19, 1875.


On this lot, a little back from the sidewalk, was Mr. Reeves's house, which Col. Curry in 1848 enlarged and converted into a temperance tavern and called it the Croton house. Col. Curry was landlord of the hotel when it was burned in the great fire of Sep- tember, 1849.


When the debris left from the fire had been removed Col. Curry caused to be built on the back part of the lot, near the Owego academy yard. a small one-story house, about 40 by


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30 feet in size in which he lived. This house was mounted on wheels taken from a railroad freight car and placed on an iron track which ex- tended out into Lake street. Col. Curry's idea was that in case his unique structure should be endan- gered by fire it could be run out of danger by pushing or drawing it along the track to the street. The building stood there, the subject of some curi- osity and much comment. until the property was sold in 1862 to Martin Ashley, who built Ashley hall thereon. Dr. James Wilson purchased the prop- erty in 1867 and in April. 1868.the hall was burned. It was rebuilt the same year as a theatre and again burned in February, 1904. The brick block erected by Chas. E. Parker and F. C. Hill in 1904 now occupies the site.


The children of deacon Lorenzo and Maria L. (Clark) Reeves were Ezra Warren Reeves, Edward Payson Reeves, Tapping Reeves, Jane Lucin- da Reeves, and David Wallis Reeves.


Tapping Reeves was born March 7, 1×32, at Owego. He went to Califor- nia in 1856. He died at Reeves's Mills, Cal., July 9, 1885. His mother and sister went also to California in 1867. Mrs. Maria L. Reeves died at Little River, Cal., April 28, 1870, aged 70 years.


Ezra Warren Reeves was born April 3. 1\26. at Owego, where he was for many years engaged in the book and news business. He married Caroline A. Slosson, daughter of Franklin Slos- son, Dec. 16, 1551. Mr. Slosson kept a book store in Owego several years. Mr. Reeves removed to California in 1573. He purchased a ranch in Men-


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dicino county, Cal., and died there Sept. 30, 1882.


David Wallis Reeves became fa mous as a musician and bandmaster He was born Feb. 14, 1838, at Owego. less than a year previous to his father's death. He received his musi- cal education under Thomas Canham. of Binghamton, a celebrated band leader of his day. At the age of 19 he was the leader of a circus band. and later was a member of the famous Dodworth's band in New York city. In February, 1866, he became the leader of the American band at Provi- dence, R. L., which under his leader- ship ranked as one of the greatest bands in America, and he was its leader at the time of his death on March 8, 1900. D. W. Reeves may have inherited his musical talent from his father, for deacon Lorenzo Reeves is said to have been proficient as a player of the bass viol, an instru- ment much in use in church choirs before the introduction of the organ.


CAPT. SYLVANUS FOX.


Capt. Sylvanus Fox was born May 6, 1797. at North Glastenbury, Conn., and came to Owego in 1803 with the Talcotts, when six years of age. He learned the carpenter's trade, which lie followed all his life. He lived at the southeast corner of North avenue and Fox street. The house still stands there but its appearance has been en- tirely changed by the building of a store thereto on the North avenue side. Capt. Fox died in this house Aug. 24, 1871. Fox street was so named in his honor in February, 1821. It had been previously known as Fourth street.


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Capt. Fox was a prominent and use- ful citizen. He was an active member of the fire department and was chief engineer in 1847, 1856, and 1857. He made the first hook and ladder equip- ment in 1847. Between the years 1832 and 1862 he was eleven times elected a member of the village board of trus- tees and he was president of the vil- lage in 1840.


Capt. Fox married Nancy Ann Tay- lor. of the town of Tioga, Dec. 23. 1821. She died Aug. 13, 1875, at the home of her son, George Fox, at To- wanda. Pa. Their children were as follows:


1. George Edward Fox, born 5 Nov., 1822, at Owego. Married Sarah Ann Leonard 14 Jan., 1843.


2. Eleazer Taylor Fox. born & Aug .. 1825, at Owego. Married Lydia Sophie Homet, daughter of Charles Homet, of Asylum, Pa., 7 Feb., 1847. He died at Towanda, Pa., 13 Dec., 1857.


3. Charles Sylvanus Fox, born 19 March, 1831, at Owego. Married his cousin, Harriet MI. Porter, at Glasten- bury, Conn .. 19 Sept., 1853. He died 9 March, 1876, in Jersey City, N. J.


4. Frederick Fox, born 13 Dec .. 1837, at Owego. Married Mary Schu- nunburger, of Warren, Ohio, 24 Nov .. 1864. He died in 1865 and his widow married S. Allen Richards, of Struth- ers. Ohio.


George E. and Eleazer T. Fox re- moved from Owego to Towanda, Pa .. about the year 1841, where Eleazer Fox engaged in the business of buying and shipping lumber down the Sus- quehanna river in rafts. His brother. George assisted him. Later Eleazer Fox engaged in the grocery business. and became one of the leading spirits in Towanda's enterprises.


Charles S. Fox was the station bag- gage master for the Erie railroad com- pany at Jersey City many years.


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Frederick Fox was a telegraph oper. ator. He was a soldier in the civil war, serving as first sergeant in Co. H, Third New York volunteers, mis- tered in May, 1861. After the war he lived at Leavettsburg, Ohio, where he was train dispatcher on the Mahoning division of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad. He died in 1865.


RICHARD E. CUSHMAN.


Richard English Cushman came to Owego in 1812 from Pomfret, Conn. Hle was born June 2, 1782, at Strat- ford, Conn., and was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade. He was of the seventh generation in descent from Robert Cushman, who was born between 1580 and 1585 in the north of England and removed to Holland in 1608 to enjoy religions freedom. Robert Cushman came to America in 1621 in the ship "Fortune," which was the next vessel that arrived after the "Mayflower," and landed at Ply- mouth, Mass., in November of that year. He crossed the Atlantic for the purpose of joining those already here in a mutual effort to establish and lay deep the foundations of civil and re- ligious liberty in the new world.


Robert Cushman's son, Thomas. born in England in February, 1608. also came to America in the "For- tune." His son. Isaac Cushman. was born Nov. 15, 1676, at Plympton. Mass .. Isaac's son, Nathaniel, was born at Plympton, May 28, 1712. His son. whose name was also Nathaniel.was also born at Plympton Sept. 2. 1738. He was the father of Richard English Cushman.


Richard E. Cushman's father, Na- thaniel Cushman. had explored this valley at an early day, having de-


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scended the Susquehanna river front Otsego lake to Wyoming in a batteau on a tour of exploration in 1784, the next year after the proclamation of peace and immediately upon the close of our border warfare, carrying back to his neighbors and friends an ac- count of the fertility of the valley as compared with the thinner soil of Connecticut. His representations caused many in the vicinity where he lived to leave home and friends in New England to become pioneers here. His son, partaking of the spirit of adventure and emigration, came here in 1812.


Mr. Cushman's carpenter shop was at one time on the north side of Main street opposite where St. Paul's rec- tory now stands. He lived below the bridge in Front street. He afterward bought the lot at the southeast corner of Main and Paige streets where he built and lived in the house still stand- ing there. He sold the property in 1850 to his son-in-law, John Cameron. and removed to Speedsville on a farm. Later he returned to Owego and in March, 1859, purchased the land on the south side of Main street, east of St. Patrick's church and built thereon the house now owned by H. Austin Clark, the second house east of the church, in which house he lived. He sold this property later and built the house which is now the second house east of Paige street on the south side of Main street and died there Aug. 19. 1863.


Mr. Cushman was twice married. He first married Hannah Reed, of Plainfield, Conn., March 19, 1806. She was born Jan. 30, 1783. She died at Owego Jan. 21, 1846. His second wife,


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Mrs. Martha Hill, was born at Athol. Mass., Ang. 5, 1787. She was married to Mr. Cushman at Speedsville, N. Y., Aug. 26, 1847. She died in Owego July 30, 1877.


The following were the children of Richard E. and Hannah (Reed) Cush- man:


1. Rev. Marcus Knight Cushman, born at Sangerfield (now Waterville), N. Y., 25 Oct., 1806. He entered the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church in 1836. Ile joined the Pres- byterian denomination and was re- ceived into the Presbytery of Tioga county 24 Sept., 1846. Married Mi- nerva Kenada & Sept., 1835. Died at Waverly, N. Y., 8 March, 1881.


2. Sarah Maria Cushman, born 19 May, 1808. Married Houghton But- ler 25 January, 1831. Died 5 Nov .. 1838.


3. Eliza Cushman, born 8 Decem- ber, 1810. Died 14 March, 1812. 4. Eliza Ann Cushman, born 15


Jan., 1816. Died 11 Aug., 1905, at Owego.


5. Mary Jane Cushman, born 9 Feb., 1818. Married John Cameron 17 May, 1841. Died 25 Nov., 1897, at Owego.


6. William R. Cushman, born 20 Aug., 1821. Died in Cincinnati, Ohio 21 June, 1887.


WILLIAM CAMP.


William, Nathan, Anson, and Her- mon Camp came to Owego from New Milford, Conn., in 1805.


Their grandfather was William Camp, who lived at New Milford. His four sons were Dr. Elisha Camp, and Daniel, Enos, and Nathan Camp. They were all farmers. Nathan Camp was born at New Milford in January. 1746, and married Esther Bostwick. daughter of Arthur and Eunice (Warriner) Bostwick Dec. 10, 1772. Their children were as follows:


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1. Anna Camp, born 28 May, 1775, at New Milford. Married Leman Stone in 1798. Died at Trumansburg, N. Y., 1 Aug., 1866.


2. William Camp, born 1 Sept., 1777, at New Milford. Married Abi- gail Whittlesey 27 June, 1801. They came to Owego in 1805. She was born at Kingston, Pa., 30 April, 1777. He died March 5, 1826. She married, second, judge Stephen Strong 10 July, 183S, and died at Owego 29 Oct., 185S.


3. Martha Camp, born 22 Sept., 1779, at New Milford. Married Isaac Stone in 1799.


4. Nathan Camp, born 11 Feb., 1782, at New Milford. Married Sus- anna P. Avery, daughter or Samuel Avery, of Owego. She died at Owego { Aug., 1813. His second wife was Fanny Collier, a niece of Thomas Col- lier. She died 21 Oct., 1819, and he 19 May, 1819.


5. Gen. Anson Camp, born 17 Oct., 1784, at New Milford. Died at Owego 22 March, 1838. He was un- married.


6. Hermon Camp, born 6 Oct., 1787, at New Milford. Married (1) Mary C. Cook 4 April, 1827. She was born 7 Oct., 1799, at Geneva, N. Y., and died at Trumansburg, in 1840. Married (2) Catherine Cook 1 Oct., 1840. She died at Trumansburg in


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1848. Married (3) Sarah (Platt) Camp, daughter of Jonathan Platt, 20 Sept., 1848. She was born 10 May, 1811, at Nichols, N. Y., and died at Trumansburg 23 Jan., 1894.


Nathan Camp died at New Milford Oct. 26, 1792. His widow married Jared Sperry in 1796. They had one child, Esther Henrietta Sperry, who was born Sept. 6, 1798, at New Mil- ford, and married Stephen B. Leon- ard, of Owego, Feb. 22, 1818. Mrs. Sperry died at Owego Sept. 2, 1840, aged $5 years and Mrs. Leonard April 5, 1879.


When the four Camp brothers came to Owego their mother and half-sister accompanied them. When they came


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here they lived at first in a log house which stood on the lot at the south- east corner of Main and William streets, this being the only vacant house in Owego at the time. This property they afterward purchased.


in 1814 William, Anson, and Nathan Camp purchased the property on the north side of Front street between the lot on which the Dugan house barn now stands, which was owned by William Pumpelly, and Camp's lane, now known as Parker's lane. William Camp owned the west one- third of the lot, Nathan the lot at the east end, and Anson Camp the lot be- tween the lots of his brothers. These lots extended back to Main street. Williani and Anson Camp also owned the property on the south side of Front street opposite their lots, ex- tending to the river.


William and Nathan Camp upon coming to Owego began a general mereantile business. Their store was on the south side of Front street where Camp's furnace now stands and was in the northwest corner of the lot then owned by Caleb Leach. The building was for many years known as the"white store." Mr. Leach sold the property in July, 1813, to William and Nathan Camp. Na- than Camp died May 19, 1819, and William Camp continued the business the rest of his life.


William Camp was fatally injured by the explosion of the boiler of the steamboat "Susquehanna" in the af- ternoon of May 5, 1826. The boat was coming up the river on her trial trip and while aseending the rapids at Nescopeck Falls, opposite Berwick. Pa., she struek a rock and the


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explosion happened. Mr. Camp died a few hours after the accident. Wil- liam Camp was known as judge Camp, having been in 1812 appointed an associate judge of Broome (now Tioga) county, and he was reappoint- ed in 1817.


William Camp's wife was Abigail Whittlesey, one of twin daughters of Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, who was killed in the massacre of Wyoming.


Capt. Whittlesey was a son of Eli- phalet Whittlesey, of Newington. Conn., and was born there May 12, 1753. He was one of the Connecticut settlers in the seventeenth township of the state of Pennsylvania, of which Wilkes-Barre was the centre and principal town. In May, 1777, he was commissioned a captain in the third company of the 24th Connecti- cut regiment of infantry. This con- pany was raised at Plymouth for the state service in the Wyoming valley. HIe was killed in the battle at the head of his men July 3, 1778.


Capt. Whittlesey was scalped by an Indian and afterward crawled to his home and was found dead on the doorstep. He had three daughters. Anna, Abigail, and Laura, who be- came the wives respectively, of Joel, William, and Enos Camp.


About a week before the massacre Mrs. Whittlesey started for Connecti- cut with a party of women, with her infant child, Laura, in her arms, rid- ing on horseback. They were in charge of Rev. Mr. Wattles, the cler- gyman of the Wyoming valley, who carried Mrs. Whittlesey's daughter, Anna, then nearly three years of age, on horseback.


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Abigail Whittlesey, who was then fifteen months old, was left with her father, Capt. Whittlesey. The night before the massacre he put her on a raft in charge of an old man and his wife, with instructions to take her to Baltimore, if possible. They floated down the river at night and tied up the boat during the day until they reached Havre de Grace, Md. The man and his wife both died afterward of small pox. A year later her grand- father came from Connecticut, found her, and took her to her mother in that state.


William Camp and Abigail Whittle- sey were married five years previous to their coming to Owego.


The children of William and Abi- gail (Whittlesey) Camp were as fol- lows:


1. Eliza Minerva Camp, born 15 Oct., 1802, at New Milford. Married Joseph Clizbe. They had no children. She died Jan. 29, 1871.


2. Henry William Camp, born 11 Feb., 1805, at New Milford. Married Lncy Ann Warren, of Woodstock, Vt .. 27 Aug., 1837. He died at Owego 11 Jan., 1874, and she 29 Aug., 1900. 3. Juliette Maria Camp, born &


April, 1807, at Owego. Married Joseph Merrick Ely at Owego 7 Aug., 1834. He died at Athens, Pa., 1 Jan., 1872, and she 28 Dec., 1888.


4. Abigail Whittlesey Camp, born 15 Oct., 1808, at Owego. Married Charles C. Noble. He died at Owego 13 June, 1851, and she 13 July, 1890. 5. Susan Laura Camp, born Sept.,1810, at Owego. Married Dr. Eze- kiel B. Phelps. She died at Owego 15 Jan., 1863.


6. Charlotte Caroline Camp. born 27 Jime, 1814, at Owego. Died 24 April, 1819.


7. George Sidney Camp. born 5 Feb., 1816, at Owego. Married Kate Cecil. They had no children.


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S. Frances Augusta Camp, born 9 Dec., 1817. at Owego. Married Aaron P. Storrs 15 Nov., 1842. She died at Owego 11 Feb., 1891.


9. Charlotte Caroline Camp, born 5 Dec .. 1820, at Owego. Married Jared C. Gregory at Unadilla, N. Y., 5 March, 1848.


DR. HENRY CAMP.


Dr. Henry Camp for many years conducted an iron foundry and fur- nace in Owego. His first foundry was on the southeast corner of Main street and Parker's lane on the spot where Mrs. J. A. Goodrich's house stands. Thefirst steam engine ever put up in Tioga county was in the foundry. It had a six-inch cylinder, and was used to drive the machinery. Previ- ous to the introduction of this engine the work had been done with a horse and tread-wheel. This furnace was burned in June, 1836. Dr. Camp af- terward built a much larger furnace on the south side of Front street where the "white store" of his father had stood. This furnace he conducted until it was burned in the night of Oct. 5. 1867, when all the buildings on both sides of Front street from the bridge west to Parker's lane were swept away by the flames. Dr. Camp afterward built a much smaller fur- nace on the site of the old one, which is still conducted by his son, Herman H. Camp. Mr. Camp studied medi- cine and practised Homoeopathy sev- eral years previous to his death. He died January 11, 1874.


DR. EZEKIEL B. PHELPS.


Dr. Ezekiel B. Phelps was born April 12, 1800, at Hebron, Conn .. where he studied medicine and was graduated from the New Haven medi-


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cal college in March, 1823. He prac- tised medicine at Manchester, Conn., with Dr. Samuel C. Cooley until Sep- tember, 1824, when he came to Owego and lived here until his death on June 2, 1892. Dr. Phelps's first wife was Sarah Hollenback Laning, daughter of Gen. John Laning. They were mar- ried May 12, 1833. She died Nov. 3. 1842. His second wife was Susan Laura Ann Camp. They were married Sept. 12, 1852. 1


Dr. Phelps lived and had his office on the north side of Front street on the lot west of and adjoining the First national bank on the ground where G. O. Steele's grocery store now stands. He lived there until he built the house now occupied by Wm. A. Smyth at the northwest corner of Front and Paige streets, where he lived all the rest of his life.


AARON P. STORRS.


Aaron P. Storrs was born Sept. 18. 1812, at Mansfield, Conn. He was a son of Rev. Samuel Porter Storrs, who was born at Mansfield and preached many years at Sherburne, N. Y .. where he died. He came to Owego in December, 1827, with his mother's brother, Rev. Aaron Putnam, who had adopted him. Mr. Putnam came here to assume the pastorate of the Pres- byterian church, and he was pastor of the church until his death, Dec. 28. 1831. Mr. Putnam's father was also a clergyman and preached fifty years in the church at Pomfret, Conn.


In September, 1835, Mr. Storrs, in company with Dr. Lucius H. Allen, be- gan a general mercantile business in the David P. Tinkham store, a wooden building known as Rollin block, which stood at the northwest corner of Lake


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and Front streets. In May of the next year Allen & Storrs removed to the south side of Front street, the first store east of W'm. A. Ely's brick store. This store had been occupied several years previous by Gen. Ansel Good- rich. At this time P. Halsey Ball, of Berkshire, who had been a clerk in Gurdon Hewitt's store, was in the mercantile business with Daniel Ely in the brick store west of the store oc- cupied by Allen & Storrs. In March. 1838, Allen & Storrs purchased Mr. Ely's interest in the store and took Mr. Ball into their partnership. A year later Mr. Ball retired from the firm. He removed to Erie, where he died. Dr. Allen afterward sold his in- terest in the business to Frank L. Jones, who had conducted a branch store for them at Sheshequin, Pa. Their Owego store was burned in the great fire of September, 1849, and they did not resume business.


In the spring of 1852 John R. Chat- field came to Owego from Great Bar- rington, Mass., with some capital to invest in business. He applied to Dr. Allen to recommend to him some good business man as a partner, and Dr. Allen recommended Mr. Storrs. In April, 1852, the firm of Storrs & Chatfield opened a hardware store in the brick store at the northeast cor- ner of Front and Lake streets under the firm name of Storrs & Chatfield. Frank L. Jones was a partner in the business until February, 1860. In


May, 1855, they bought the hardware store of R. Woodford & Co. at the northwest corner of Lake and Front streets and removed across the street thereto. In the spring of 1886 A. P.


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Storrs, Jr., and Geo. S. Chatfield be- came members of the firm.


Mr. Storrs died Sept. 9, 1888. He was one of the organizers of the Owe- go gas light company in March, 1856, and was for many years president of the company.


Joseph M. Ely was born Jan. 15. 1802, at West Springfield, Mass. The Elys came originally from Wales and were among the earliest emigrants in- to New England. He was a son of Richard Ely, who was a sergeant in the revolutionary war. He came to Owego in 1830 and was the second principal of the Owego academy from 1830 to 1835. From Owego he went to New York city, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business. About the year 1857 he came to Waverly, where he was station agent for the New York & Erie railroad. In 1859 he went to Athens, Pa., where he es- tablished a select school. He died there 15 Nov., 1873.




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