USA > New York > Onondaga County > Pompey > Re-union of the sons and daughters of the old town of Pompey > Part 21
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Joseph Gilbert, from Harwinton, Conn., a nephew of my father, a hatter by trade, settled about two miles east from the Hill in 1793, and then quietly pursued his carly vocation of hat making, in connection with farming, on a limited seale ; wool hats and these usually exchanged for such com- modities as the inhabitants had to spare, were the main pro- duction of his log shop. Mr. Gilbert was an uneducated man, but a man of fine natural talents, and of rare Christian character; in him the word of Christ dwelt richly in all " wisdom ; his example and influence in attending funerals, visiting the siek and meeting with the brethren on the Sab- bath, were of the most salutary kind, and though dead, he yet speaketh. At the time of the Re-Union, June 29th, 1871, I visited his grave, and the graves of many others whom I well recollected from my boyhood, and found my- self irresistably impressed with the solemn fact that the fashion of this world passeth away.
THE BALL FAMILY.
Stebbins Ball, Jr., who came to Pompey in the winter of 1799, from Saratoga County, was born in Granville, Conn., in 1775; his father was Maj. Stebbins Ball, who served seven years in the revolutionary army, and was wounded ; at the close of the war, he was honorably discharged, with the rank of major. Stebbins Ball, Jr., settled on lot num- 29 Pompey, on the farm now owned and occupied by Ben- jamin F. Wheeler ; he was a carpenter and joiner, an excel- lent mechanic, and gave promise of great usefulness in the new country where house-builders were so much needed; but death early closed his career, in the year 1802, at the age of twenty-seven years ; his children surviving him were Stephen C.,and the twins, Alvin M., and Calvin S., also two daughters, Betsey and Charlotte ; Betsey married William J. Millard, of Watervale, in Pompey, and Charlotte mar- ried, Manoah Pratt, Jr., of Pompey.
Stephen C. Ball, son of Stebbins Ball, JJr., was born in
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Charlton, Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1797, and came to Pompey with his parents ; he served in the war of 1812, and was in the battle of Niagara; he died in Homer, Cortland County, N. Y., February 22d, 1871, leaving nine children, -one son and eight daughters ; he was a tailor by trade.
Alvin M. Ball, (twin with Calvin S.) was born in Charl- ton, N. Y., October 11th, 1798, married Miss Lucretia Vickery, of Pompey, and settled on the farm now occupied by his son Frederick, two miles north east of Pompey Hill. He raised a family of ten children-one son and nine daugh- ters.
Calvin S. Ball, (twin with Alvin M.) was born in Charl- ton, N. Y., October 11th, 1798 ; lived in Pompey about sev- enty years ; was a silversmith, and taught school several years in Watervale and Pompey Hill ; was Town Clerk of Pompey, from about the year 1837 to 1862, excepting one year; he also held the office of School Commissioner, and that of Inspector of Schools for several years. He was twice married ; first to Miss Adaline M. Wood, of Watervale, by whom he had four children -- three sons and one daughte, who are now living. His second wife was Miss Sarah H. Hun- gerford, of Watertown, N. Y., by whom he had two daugh- ters, twins, one of whom lived to the age of seven years ; both wives, and the twins lie burried in the grave yard at Pompey Hill.
Mr. Ball, moved from Pompey in 1869, and now resides at Milo Center, Yates County, N. Y., in the enjoyment of good health, having outlived the expectation of everyone who knew him in early manhood. About 1822, when at Trenton Falls, he was attacked with pleurisy, which left him with a severe cough. From Trenton Falls, he was brought on a litter to his home inPompey, and with him a cof- fin and shroud, as the doctor declared it was very doubtful whether he could survive the journey ; but he arrived in safety, and finally after four years of suffering, he recovered from what all supposed to be an incurable consumption, and entered upon the active duties of life. The coffin is still in
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existence, but long ago the shroud was used for other pur- poses ; his son Calvin S. Ball, Jr., is a dealer in Watches, Silver Ware, Jewelry, &c., a prosperous business man, and resides in Syracuse.
JOSEPH BAKER,
Was born at Chesterfield, Mass., November 21st, 1778; at the age of twenty-six years, he moved, following his broth- ers, Erastus, Lemuel and Thomas, to Pompey, west Hill, now LaFayette, where he settled on a farm near his broth- ers, where he remained till 1810, when he removed to Otis- co, where he died June 8th, 1855, aged 77 years; he was married March 23d, 1802, to Betsey Danforth, by whom he had eleven children ; she died April 4th, 1840, aged sixty- two years ; he was again married to Mrs. Hannah, widow of Captain Timothy Pomeroy, of Otisco; he is described as a very tall and straight man, with lungs of unusual size, possessing a strong loud voice, a robust constitution, never sick, and scarcely knew how to sympathize with those who were; at last without a moments warning, while at work fixing some brine in the pork barrel, he was stricken down, and in an instant fell upon the floor from the effects of a paralytic stroke. He was a farmer, and spent the greater part of his early life in clearing the forest; he in company with Lewis Billings, used to take land to clear at $10 per acre; they would go out in the morning and each strive to be the first to fall a tree, which was no sooner down, than the sturdy pioneer was cutting it into logs; the first finished, they would run to the next, and all day long the strife was continued. The logs were drawn into heaps by the neighbors, every man owning a team participating in the bee; on these occa- sions, song and mirth, strife and victory, made all joyous and happy.
Mr. Baker was in the habit of calling his boys, seven in number, in the morning, saying in his stentorian voice, "come boys, shoulder arms," and suiting the action to the word, would swing his axe on his shoulder, the boys following in
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single file to the woods. He was a very hard working man, and often when working and sweating in the field,he would say to one of his boys, "go to the well and get me a drink from the bottom, and out of the north west corner."
He survived two years and a half after one side was para- lyzed and his mind gone; then as of old he would call his boys, and when they failed to come, he would say, " I have brought up a large family of boys, and not one will now come at my call!" When in health he was fond of music and fun, and was a leader in the sports of the day ; his tenacity to life was strong, and not till one foot had decayed from the body, did he yield to the fell destroyer.
BENSON.
Peter Benson came to Pompey about the year 1793, be- ing then thirteen years of age; he came to assist his old- er brother in building a barn, for Samuel Sherwood, on lot number 84; the compensation for building which paid for 100 acres of land on the same lot.
This farm is located about one mile north-west from the village of Delphi, and was afterwards owned by Peter Beu- son. The father of Mr. Benson, came a few years later : his name was Stutson Benson, was a farmer, and resided . in Pompey till his death, which occurred in 1820. One in- cident of his life is worthy of note. At the time of his mar- riage, he was unable to read or write ; like Andrew John- son, he learned his alphabet of his wife ; he became a well read man, particularly in the Bible, and occasionally engag- ed in preaching the Gospel ; much of his writing is now in possession of A. P. Benson, of Pompey, and is a neat legi- ble hand with correct orthography. Peter was the eighth child and fifth son, in a family of ten children ; he was five feet and ten inches in height, with broad shoulders and firmly knit frame, and weighed in the prime of manhood, 200 pounds ; he had a firm, quick step, and never would allow his children to move at a slow pace, or as he termed
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it, "as though they were pulling stakes out of the ground ;" he was of รก jovial turn, was never morose or austere in his family, though his rule with his children, was in- stant obedience, and they found it the part of wisdom to pay strict attention to this inflexible rule. He was a farmer, and acquired a fair competence in his calling ; he died in 1864, at the age of eighty-four years ; at the time of his death, he was a resident of Fabius.
EBENEZER BUTLER, SR.
Ebenezer Butler, Sr., who accompanied his son, Ebenezer, . in making the first white settlement at Pompey Hill, was born December, 1733. He was grand-son to Jonathan But- ler, one of two Irish adventurers who came to Connecticut about the year 1710; he served with the Connecticut troops against the French during the French and Indian War ; he was with Washington in the revolution ; and also, in a de- tachment called out to suppress "The Shay's Rebellion " in 1787. Although a farmer by occupation, after locating in Pompey he took little part in business life ; he was a relig- ious man, and took a very active part in organizing the first church established in Pompey, being chosen one of its trustees. This church or religious society was formed June 16th, 1794, and was called "The First Presbyterian Society of Pompey." This was not only the first religions associa- tion in Pompey, but in Onondaga County, when it embraced the whole military tract; he was also a member of the church subsequently organized by Rev. Ami Robbins, in 1800, under the name of the " First Congregational Church of the Town of Pompey." He lived in Pompey till his death, which occurred in 1829, enjoying in an unusual de- gree that choicest of Heaven's temporal blessings-good health. He never was ill, and died at the age of ninety-six years, falling dead with a quantity of wood in his arms which he had just been preparing for the fire.
Ebenezer Butler, Jr., the first white settler at Pompey
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Hill, and within the limits of the present township, was born at Harwinton, Conn., in 1761. He served, as did his father, in the Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner and suffered all the hardships and cruelties imposed by the British upon those unfortunates who were confined on board " The Prison Ships" in New York harbor. After his re- lease, and at the close of the war, he returned to his native town ; married Miss Rebecca Davis, and moved to Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y. When located there, he bought a soldier's claim to Lot No. 65, of the town of Pompey, and in 1791 or 1792, moved with his family, consisting of his wife and four daughters, his father, aged about sixty years, and a maiden sister, to, and made a settlement upon this Lot, at what is now Pompey Hill. He built a log house for himself near where is now the ruins of the old stone black- smith shop; another for his father and sister, near the cor- ner by the wagon shop. He afterwards bought Lot No. 64, and in 1797, put up the first frame building in this vicinity; this was a house located on the present site of Hon. Manoah Pratt's residence. Here he kept a hotel for a number of years; he was largely engaged in buying and selling real estate, and for many years also bought cattle in Central New York, and drove them to the Philadelphia market. Before he came to Pompey, in 1791, he was Collector of the District of Whitestown; he was Supervisor of the town of Pompey, Justice of the Peace, a Member of the State Leg- islature in 1799 and 1800, Judge of the County Court, and one of the first Trustees of Pompey Academy before its in- corporation by the Regents ; he was associated with the first company formed for the manufacture of salt at Salina. He left Pompey in 1802 or 3, and moved to Manlius. His wife (lied in 1808, and her remains lie buried in the cemetery at Pompey Hill. He lived in Manlius till 1811, and then moved to Central Ohio, where he died in 1829, aged sixty- eight years ; he has descendants living near Columbus, Cir- cleville and Chillicothe, Ohio, many of whom rank among the first families of the State.
THAN
ENU ATT &
Victory Bilgiye
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VICTORY BIRDSEYE.
Victory, eldest child of Ebenezer and Eunice (Tomlinson) Birdseye, was born at Cornwall, Conn., December 25th, 1782.
Through each of his parents he came of the best stock of his native State. His paternal grandfather was the Rev. Nathan Birdseye, who was born August 19th, 1714, graduated at Yale College, 1736; was settled as pastor of the Congregational Church, at Westhaven, Conn., in 1742; remained in that pastorate for 16 years; in 1759, removed to Oronoque, in the town of Stratford, Conn., where he resided till his death on the 28th day of January, 1818, at the age of 103 years, 5 months and 9 days. A single fact will show of what stuff, both ot body and mind, this man was made, who, born in the first month of the reign of George I,lived to within two years of the end of the reign of George III. After he was more than 100 years old, he rode on horse-back one Sunday, to and from the Church, in the village of Stratford, a distance of some five miles ; went into the pulpit, and conducted all the exercises of the wor- ship; and, fbeing too near-sighted to read, repeated from memory, the chapter and psalms which were read and sung, and preached the sermon, much to the pleasure and edifica- tion of the audience.
The maternal grandfather was Beach Tomlinson, of Hunt- ington, Conn., a man of uncommon strength, both of body and mind, and who died early in the present century, at a very great age.
Among the objects most early sought, obtained at great sacrifice, and cherished during his whole life by the sub- ject of the present sketch, were the portraits of his grand- parents Tomlinson. Many of the residents of the town have seen these portraits in his dwelling ; and all the older inhabitants will remember the pride and affection with which he regarded them.
The unusual name of "Victory," came into the family by
18
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.
an incident so singular as to be not unworthy ot mention here. It was first given to the infant son of Captain Tom- linson, under the following circumstances :- The child had been born in the early fall of 1759, in what was then one of the outer and most exposed settlements of the Colony of New Haven. It was during the "Seven Years' War," as it was called in Europe ; but known in America by the name, implying so much, of the "French and Indian War." Wolfe had gone up the St. Lawrence with his fleet and army, to attack the French in their strong-hold of Quebec. On his success seemed to depend the safety of almost every family in all the Colonies; especially those in the back- wools-on the edges of the wilderness. For the defeat of the English army would let loose on the Colonies the French, with their murderous allies, the Indians.
On a Sunday morning, late in the fall of 1759, as this in- fant was being carried to the church to be baptised, and to receive some name that had been borne by older members of his family, and just as pastor and people were gathered at the Church, an outery was heard in the distance. A Couri- er from the back settlements on the Hudson came riding up, waving a white flag, and shouting "victory, victory, victo- ry !" For a moment he drew rein at the steps of the Church, to give breath to his horse, while he told to pastor and peo- ple the story of the battle of the Heights of Abraham, on the 13th of September, the death of Wolfe, and the great vic- tory of the English. To every one who heard, the tidings seemed as of life from the dead. For the power of the French and Indians was broken; and now the Colonists could lie down and rise up, without fear of riffe or toma- hawk, or scalping knife. After a short halt, and repeating his glorious news, the messenger departed, bearing the glad tidings to the eastern towns; still, as he went, waving his flag, and shouting "victory." When he had vanished, the congregation gathered in the Church for worship and thanksgiving; but before they could proceed, the child must be christened. As he was brought forward for baptism, the
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minister, an aged man, dipping his hand in the water, and placing it on the forehead of the child, and apparently for- getting the family name which it was intended he should bear, said :- "Victory, I baptize thee, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
Such a name, so given, became so dear to the family, that when at the successful close of another great war, the first child of a new generation was born to them, it was, as a mat- ter of course, given to him.
This second Victory early displayed great aptness, as well as fondness, for learning. He was fitted for college, partly at the Grammar School at Cornwall, and partly at Lansing- burgh, N. Y., where one of his uncles, Tomlinson, then re- sided. Entering Williams College, Massachusetts, in Sep- tember, 1800, he graduated there September 5, 1804, in the same class with Luther Bradish, Robert and Henry D. Sedg- wick, and others, and preceding only by a year, Daniel Moseley and Samuel R. Betts, subsequently so prominent in the judicial history of this State. Returning to Lansing- burgh, he pursued the study of the law with his uncle, Gideon Tomlinson, and Cornelius Allen. There, as at school and in college, he was noted for the thoroughness of his studies. Mr. Allen said of him many years after, that he was the most industrious student he had ever known.
Mr. Birdseye was admitted an Attorney of the Supreme Court of New York, Feb. 12, 1807, and as Counsel, Feb. 15, 1810. He removed to Pompey in June, 1807. On the 14th of October, 1813, at Onondaga Hill, he married Electa, daughter of Capt.James Beebee, of the Revolutionary Army. He carly took high rank, and obtained decided success as a lawyer, commanding, at the same time, the respect and good will of his neighbors and the whole community, and receiv- ing, during his whole life, many tokens of public confidence, both private, political and professional.
In November, 1814, he was elected to the Fourteenth
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Congress, in which he served from March 4th, 1815, to March 4th, 1817.
He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1821, which formed the second Constitution of New York.
He was a Member of the Assembly for 1823, and of the Senate during 1827 and 1828. He there took a leading part in the perfecting and passing of the Revised Statutes of the State.
He was also a member of the Assembly in 1838 and 1840, and in Nov., 1840, was elected to the Twenty- Seventh Con- gress, in which he sat from March, 1841, to March, 1843.
At the extra session, held in the summer of 1841, perhaps the most exciting question presented arose out of the pro- posed Bankrupt Law, which was very strongly pressed. The Whig party was then in power for the first time. Mr. Birdseye was a Whig. The Bankrupt Law was proposed and passed as a party measure; but he deemed it so im- practicable, as to be unworthy of his support; and, after striving in vain to perfect it, he voted against it with the warning that it would prove unsatisfactory to the country, and dangerous to the party.
The soundness of his judgment was vindicated by the re- peal of the law by a large majority of the very Congress which had enacted it.
But, while thus made known to the public at large by these offices, he was best known at home and among his immediate neighbors, by the services which he rendered them in their own affairs.
Soon after his removal to Pompey, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and held that office for the term of four years. On the 8th of April, 1811, he was appointed a Commissioner in Insolvency, under the Act of April 3, 1811. He was appointed Postmaster at Pompey, April 25, 1817, and held that office for about twenty-one years. On the 13th of April, 1818, he was appointed Master in Chancery, serv-
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ing a term of four years. On the 20th of June, 1818, he was appointed District Attorney of Onondaga County, and held the office for about fifteen years.
On the 26th of May, 1830, he was appointed Special Coun- sel, in place of John C. Spencer, resigned, to conduct the prosecution of the persons accused of the abduction and murder of William Morgan.
Within the town of Pompey, and in its vicinity, Mr. Bird- seye was as well known and as greatly esteemed and beloved for his services in connection with the founding and putting in operation of the Academy at Pompey, as for any other services ever rendered by him. Up to the time when he became a resident of Pompey in 1807, all the efforts for the obtaining of the necessary endowment of the Academy and the erection of its building, though vigorously prosecuted, had failed of success ; but, shortly a.ter his settling in the town, he devoted himself to the establishment and endow- ment of the Academy. From that time forth, nearly every paper connected with its history was prepared by him, and many of them are still in existence, in his well known and peculiar handwriting.
Within less than three years after his removal to the town, a sufficient endowment had been raised. Within an- other year, the building was completed ; and directly thereaf- ter the Academy was put in operation.
Until his death, he remained closely connected with it; being for many years Secretary, Treasurer or President of the Board of Trustees, and at times holding all these offices, and performing their duties. He prepared the reports ; he invested and made available its funds; he procured for it the grant of the lot of land(number 15,in the Township of Ca- millus,)which formed a large part ofits property ; and during the last 30 years of his life, while he was carrying on a very large professional business, was weighed down by political cares and labors, and was rearing and educating h is large fami- ly, he gave the same attention to the interests of the Acade-
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my, conducting its affairs, investing and collecting the in- come of its property, collecting the tuition bills, and giving personal attention to the course of instruction in the School, with apparently the same zeal and interest and affection with which he had assisted in laying the foundation of the Institution, in his earliest manhood.
Besides this active political and professional life, and his zealous labors in behalf of the Academy, he was the com- mon adviser and friend of the people of the town, and of many in the surrounding towns for long distances. The natu- ral kindness of his heart, the fairness and openness of his mind, his love of truth and justice, and fair dealing, his dislike of strife, and his hatred of litigiousness, made him the general arbitrator and peace-maker of the neighborhood; he brought and defended no suits which could be avoided by any efforts at peace-making, short of most serious sacri- fices ; and, with all his other occupations, he superintended the large farm he had acquired, giving much care and no little time to its management. He seemed rarely happier than when he could turn his back upon the Courts and his law office and give himself up to the care of his farm. He often said that in the hay field, in the harvest, and the care of his sheep, he was again a child on his fathers' farm and in his fathers' family, and that such occupations alone had made possible his professional labors.
His life, filled with such labors, drew gradually, and in fact imperceptibly, to its close. On Christmas day, 1852, he attained the age of three score and ten ; but he was appar- ently in the enjoyment of as good health, and nearly as great vigor, as he had ever known ; he had, years before, had sev- eral serious attacks of disease of the lungs ; but they had all passed off, leaving few, if any, visible traces behind. For months, he continued to perform all his accustomed la- bors in the office, on the farm and about the Courts; he was as full of interest as ever in public affairs, and in all that . claimed the thoughts of those around him. He conducted his cases, and attended the trials in which he was engaged,
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with undiminished vigor ; there were, certainly, occasional symptoms and indications of advancing age and approach- ing weakness ; and late in August, 1853, when some such sign had attracted attention and caused remark, he said : "It is of little moment; merely something to remind me "that I grow old ; I must not forget, and I am not allowed "to forget, that I am a mere tenant at will of this frail "tenement of a body ;- that I may be called away to leave "it at any time; lest I forget it, my Great Landlor.] gives "me occasionally a notice to quit."
Scarcely any words could better indicate his temper and the tone of his mind. Early in the last week of his life, he had kept an appointment, made sometime before, to try a case in a neighboring town. He returned in the middle of the week, apparently well ; Thursday and Friday were spent as usual ; a part of each day in his law office, and at his usu- al labors, and the afternoon upon his farm ; on Friday even- ing, he received his mail matter, and looked it over as usual, conversing of the news of the day ; he retired early, remark- ing that he must rise early, in order to visit the county town on the morrow.
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