USA > New York > Wayne County > Rose > Rose neightborhood sketches, Wayne County, New York; with glimpses of the adjacent towns: Butler, Wolcott, Huron, Sodus, Lyons and Savannah > Part 10
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Next west is the place held by Charles Ullrich. The latter was a good soldier in Company A, of the 9th Heavy Artillery. Members of that company will recall "Charlie " as a man always ready to do his duty ; but the hot firing down in front of Petersburg, one day, drew from him this speech, which was taken down by our reporter on the spot, "Uncle Sam might get pretty rich out of dis business if he vas a mind to, for I would give more as one thousand dollars to get out of dis, if I had it." But Charles came home with his regiment like a man, having been made a corporal for bravery at Monocacy. He was from Hesse-Darmstead, a Hessian who came to help, not to destroy, as did the Hessians of the Revolution. He had served in the army of his own country, knew what fighting was, and to avoid further unrequited service there, he had come to this country in 1851. His wife is Catharine Stopfel, and their children
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are : Charles H., of Wolcott; Sarah J. Tracey of Weedsport, and Irving T., at home. Ullrich has had many predecessors, the first occupant, perhaps, being a Weir, who built a log house. Then came Mr. Freeman, father of Charles and George F., referred to in the District No. 7 letters. Thomas Smith lived here, too. He was a cooper by trade, but he was known familiarly as " Honey " Smith, from his wonderful faculty of finding bee trees. For many years an old maple stood on the farm of Dudley Wade, readily recognized as the " bee tree." This " Honey " had found out, and driving pegs into its side, he easily climbed to the orifice whence toll could be taken from the honey makers. A man named Sovereign lived here, too, and I am told the prefix "old" was usually applied to his cognomen, the fact that, Mormon like, he maintained two wives at the same time not contributing to his popularity. I am not sure but a Galen Gardner lived here also for a time. Then came Isaac Doughty, who passed the property to one Boardman, and he to the present proprietor.' The house, I have heard, was erected just to the east of the old blacksmith shop and was afterward moved to its present site.
We next reach the farm of the Osborns. John O., we have already found as a builder of log houses, on the Valley road. The first one is the home of Samuel Osborn ; but the most of his time is passed in the next abode, that of his son. I believe that John O. found a log house here, built by a Mr. Ward, who here had an ashery, where was made potash, which, in the early days, was a prominent article of commerce. It was one of the very first houses consumed in this vicinity. The present framed house was built by the first Osborn, who died in 1853, aged nearly seventy- three years. His wife, Elizabeth, who, after his death, had married George Doughty, died in 1860, in her seventy-first year. Samuel Osborn succeeded, and few men in town are better known. His wife was Elizabeth Oaks, who died in 1885, aged fifty-eight. She was a daughter of the family living further west. (Though past four score years, Mr. Oshorn is still hale and hearty. )
The next house is that of Samuel Osborn, Jr. Some rods back of it is an old log house, standing by a well, which doubtless marks the site of a spring in the years agone. To the best of my knowledge, it is the very last remnant of early architecture in these parts. It, too, was built by John Osborn. In the house of Samuel Osborn, Jr., his uncle Isaac was killed by lightning, in 1854, at the age of thirty-five years. Mr. Osborn's wife is Ida M. Ballou, a native of Oswego county. They have five children : Mamie, Maud, Louella, Corinne and Lizzie.
We find our next house on the south side of the road, the home to which Lampson Allen took his bride, and here he died in 1878, aged forty-two. He left two children-Leona, who married Frank Henderson, son of Eustace, of the northern part of the district, who lives on the farm, and
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Florence, who is with her mother in Clyde. Lampson Allen was one of the best of the young men who, thirty years ago, taught school in the dis- tricts adjacent, and many men and women of Rose, now nearing middle age, will recall his pleasant yet firm way in the school room. He was a capable farmer and a good citizen. A log house preceded Allen's structure, but I am ignorant as to the builder. It may have been a Green, but I am not certain. (The Henderson children are Helen and Gertrude.)
The western confines are reached when we come to the Oakes farm. Nelson Crisler lives here now ; but the place belongs to the family still. Alonzo Mace was the first settler, and after him came Charles G. Oakes, from Vermont. His wife was Sally S. Hills, and their children numbered seven-five boys and two girls. Of these, Joseph and Henry are dead ; Samuel is in Michigan ; Mary married Harry Valentine, and lives in the Valley ; Seth married Mary Lowell, of South Butler, and went to Wiscon- sin. (He has since died.) The writer remembers him as one of his early instructors in Butler Center. Charles G. Oakes died in 1883, aged eighty- one. His widow is still living in the Valley. (As tenants, John Kellogg and wife, met in the Butler portion of No. 7, have been upon this place for the past five years. )
Coming back to Stewart's corners, and turning to the west, with the exception of an old tenant house on the Stewart farm, we find nothing in the shape of a house till we come to that of Alonzo Chaddock. Reviewing the past history of this farm, there is presented a very confusing array of possessors. The order may be wrong, but, as owners or occupants, I find the names of Murray, E. A. Aldrich, Zenas Fairbanks, who married a Wade, John Lee, Samuel Stevens, Darwin Norton, and many others. Hiram Sprague, whose wife, a Calkins, was aunt to Mrs. George Seelye, came here from Chenango county, but afterward returned. There was also a Donaldson once in possession. It is possible that the above Murray was John N. If so, he had sons, Eron and Halsey, and was tax collector in 1811. It is safe to say that most of the foregoing went to the boundless west, so often named. Alonzo Chaddock, now the owner, is the son of William, one of the very first settlers in town. His wife is Betsey Elwood, of Aurelius, in which town, I believe, Mr. C. was also born. He has six children-John and Marion, both married, and Belle, Dora, Adelle and Eva are at home. (Mr. Chaddock died in 1890. Belle married Mr. Burt Sours, of Huron, and with him manages the farm; Dora is Mrs. Leonard Smith ; Adelle and Eva are school teachers.)
Just over the hill is an old house, long used for tenants, and, I think, belonging to Mr. Chaddock, in which once lived Roger Barnum, a brother of Mrs. Benjamin Seelye. He was something of a character in his way. He was a great Bible reader and expounder. Perhaps there was only one thing that he loved better than a Bible exposition, and that was rum.
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Fondness for the latter article led to the fight with Peter Aldrich, whereby he lost his eye, and his devotion to the former gave him a measure of respect in the community. His wife was Ann Wheeler. They had several children, viz. : Charles, Van Rensselaer and Mary Ann, who married Abram Wood. All went west. What will migratory people do when the west, completely filled, affords no further place for them to ramble about in ?
Returning to the corners and going north, we pass over a bridge which spans a small stream, the only trout brook in the neighborhood. Having its source only a short distance away, in a large spring east of Mr. Stewart's house, it affords a cool and shady home for the speckled beauties. Up the hill to our left we find a barn, the property of Mrs. Lawson Mun- sell, received from her father. The place was taken from the land office by
Mr. Graves. Several owners followed till we find Abiah Blaine in possess- ion. He sold to the canal company, whence it passed to Mr. Watkins and to Mrs. M. The log house long since disappeared. ( Mr. Munsell has recently built here a tenant house. ) The Blaines were from Orange county, town of Warwick, where the father was born, on the 17th of June, 1799, and the mother, who was Fanny Baird before marriage, August 4, 1800. They were married December 28, 1820. Mr. Blaine learned the wagon maker's trade in Newburg on the Hudson, and worked at the same while a resident of Orange county, where three of his children were born. In 1826, Mr. B., in true emigrant style, took up his march across the country, having two wagons and three horses. On November 26th he reached the home of Mrs. B.'s brother, Abiah F. Baird, whose home was so long known as the Center place. In the following spring, the family occupied the log house just north of Stewart's brook. He bought of Parmer Lovejoy, father of Silas and William. In 1837, Mr. Blaine sold, as we have seen, to the Sodus Canal Company, and bought of Orrin Moore in Butler, near Whisky Hill, where he died September 23, 1847. His wife, still active in body and clear in mind, lives with her son, William, in Illinois. This son, William, who married a Center, lived on the Butler farm till 1866, when he sold to Hudson Wood, and moved to Illinois, where he is now living in Fairbury. He has two sons-Theron, married, and Nathaniel, unmar- ried, and at home. His only daughter, Ida W., is the wife of Henderson Fugate. Since moving west, Mr. Blaine has followed to some extent his well-known calling of singing master. In a letter to the writer, he recalls, graphically, his recollections of the old school-house, and of one mnaster, George Seelye, who taught there in 1835. Abiah Blaine had other children, viz .: Sarah Jane, who married Henry Lovejoy. They went to Grundy county, Illinois, where she died January 28, 1887 ; Mary Elizabeth died in Auburn in 1836, and is buried in the Lovejoy burial ground. These three were born in Orange county. Three were born in the old log house.
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Cynthia, who married Geo. B. Howland, also went to Grundy county, where she died in 1870; Paulina, who died in Butler in 1842 ; Christina, who married, in Illinois, Win. Zeek, and died in Ottawa in 1866. The youngest child, Abiah N., was born in Butler. He went west also, and there died in 1885.
The adjoining place on the north was taken from the land office by Epaphras Wolcott, and after many changes came into the hands of Elisha Brockway. The latter has a fine peach orchard, and a large field of black raspberries, thus entering upon what bids fair to be one of the chief farming interests of the town. In the old land book of Osgood Church, Jonathan Wilson was entered as taking the south part of lot No. 140, where Eustace Henderson is now, April 3, 1811, fifty acres, at $4 per acre. This he must have passed over to the Hendersons, for December 29th of the following year, he is put down as taking thirty-one acres from lot 161, at $4.25 per acre, near where Brockway now lives. Here, on the knoll in the northeast corner of the garden, the Wilson log house was planted. Jonathan was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, and his wife was Damaris Munsell, a sister of Dorman, who lived next, to the north. He came to these parts first in 1810, stopping in Wolcott village. From Rose, he went to Huron, thence to Phelps in 1824; came back to Galen in 1830, and there died, in the same year, a young man, being only forty-eight years old, worn out by pioneer work. His wife survived till 1848. Both are buried in the Collins burial ground. They had numerous children, as Clarissa, who married Stephen Collins ; Jonathan, to be met in the Valley; Damaris, the wife of Arthur Dougan, to be met in the Jeffers district ; Ephraim B., west of the Valley ; Ralph, who died in Waterloo ; Henrietta, the wife of Joseph Andrus, now in Huron ; Fortescue, who went into the army during the War, and is now buried in the Collins burial ground ; and lastly, Walter, who lives in Castleton, having married Louise Whitney. ( Mr. Brockway now lives in Ovid, and the place is in the possession of Mr. George Stewart, late of the corners.)
Our road, by which we may reach Wolcott, bears off to the east, and just before reaching a direct turn to the east, we find the home of Lawson Munsell. To this place, as the original owner, came Dorman Munsell in 1813. He was from the east, and came with an older brother, Silas, who settled further north. His wife was Jerusha Lovejoy, of the family living near. His oldest son, Dorman, married Laura Mason, and lives in the adjoining district west ; Emeline is the wife of Orlando Ellinwood, and resides in the Valley ; Mary married Byron Wells, and moved to Spring- ville, Erie county ; Lawson married Lydia Watkins, and has had children as follows : Will, who married Florence Soule for his first wife, and had been for several years in the map and book business in New York, has taken Ida Hamilton for his second wife, and, as a banker, now resides in
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Spearville, Kansas (now in Chicago); D. Levern married Emma Falker- son, and is a railroad engineer in Chicago ; Lucien married Mary Honsel, and is in Kansas ; the only daughter, Maggie E., is at home. The Mun- sells were of the very best Connecticut families of English descent. Their home in Connecticut was ancient Windsor. Dorman was born in 1788 and died in 1853. He is buried in the Lovejoy neighborhood. Dorman's brothers, Elnathan and Silas, went to Michigan, and there reared large families. Lawson Munsell and his family have long been members of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Rose and Wolcott.
Going further north, and almost facing the road we have been traveling, is the home of the Hendersons, long identified with the vicinity. It fronts upon an east and west road, and is the only house on the street belonging to this district. Eli Ward took up the farm, and cleared three acres of land, selling, in 1817, his log house and his improvements to Gideon Henderson, a thrifty young man from New Hartford, Conn. He made his first trip from his native town to these parts a-foot. What grit had our ancestors! Mr. H. was another of those New Hartford people who, early in the century, made what was then Wolcott their home. The town of Rose owes much to their sterling thrift and honesty. It is safe to say that no better blood ever came from the land of steady habits than the family we are now considering. Gideon was long a family name, and our Rose resident was the youngest son of John, the fourth generation, he having a brother Gideon, and we find one, at least, of the name in every generation preced- ing. He was born in 1789, and married in 1813 the widow of Sherman Goodwin. Her maiden name was Deborah Benham. He was by trade a blacksmith, but the most of his life he was a farmer. He died in 1869, his wife surviving until 1876. Their first child, Evelina, was born in Connecticut, and became, in 1836, the wife of Harvey Closs, and thereby the mother of Frank Henderson Closs, one of the most substantial of the citizens of Rose ; George Wellington, was born in Rose and married, in 1845, Lucy Ann Smith, daughter of Judge Smith of the east part of the district, and a sister of Chauncey Smith, late of Wolcott. He is now a farmer in Hartland, Waukesha county, Wis. The youngest child, Eustace, has always lived on the old place. His wife is Sarah Ann, daughter of the late Jonathan Post of Butler, and, by her mother, grand-daughter of
Daniel Roe, 1st, one of the original settlers of the town. They have four children, one of whom, Franklin E., has already been mentioned as the husband of Leona Allen of the western part of the district: Thomas G., who married Georgie Waring ; Daniel W., living in Syracuse ; and Sarah Evelina, at home. The Henderson homestead was built more than sixty years ago. May it see at least another sixty years in the possession of the Hendersons. Mrs. Gideon Henderson had a son, Sherman, by her first husband. This son married Rebecca Brown of Wolcott. He died in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1879.
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1
OLD RESIDENTS.
CHIAS. G. OAKS. THADDEUS COLLINS.
WM. McKOON. JOIIN KELLOGG. GIDEON HENDERSON.
DANIEL LOVEJOY. JAIRUS McKOON.
IRA LAKE.
SILAS JOVEJOY.
HARVEY MASON. AMAZIAII CARRIER.
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Our way through this district takes us to all points of the compass. We must now follow our road a short distance to the east, and there shall take the first turn to the north. A few rods further and at our right is the Salisbury place, with the barns on the west side of the road. This farm was taken from the land office by George Steward, familiarly called "Posey " by his neighbors, on account of his liking for floriculture, a weakness (if such it be) that we might wish many farmers to possess. After Steward came Deacon Miner, and then John Salisbury from Troy, Bradford county, Penn. It ought to be stated that very soon after leaving the Henderson place, we entered the town of Butler.
The next homestead is at the right, and is that of Isaac B. Jones, whom we first met in our account of the Seelye district. He is the son of Irving Jones, who purchased this farm in 1859. Its history is as follows : Wooster Henderson, an elder brother of Gideon, came here in 1809, and made a settlement, taking the land originally. He had little but his axe when he first came; but after making a log house, he went back to Con- necticut, whence he returned in 1811 with his wife, Vicey, who was the daughter of Col. Moses Kellogg, of Hartford. He died in 1868, his wife in 1871. They had a family of eight children, two of whom-Mary and Grove -were born in Connecticut, the remaining six in Butler. Mary married Luke Blodgett and went to Michigan ; Morgan and Francis J. are farmers in Butler ; Vicey married Daniel Roe, of Butler, who died in the past year, i. e., 1887; Sophia became the wife of J. Seymour Roe, brother of the above Daniel, and both were grandsons of the first settler, Daniel; Laura is the wife of the Rev. Daniel Davis, of the Central New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1836, Wooster Henderson sold to the Sodus Canal Co., when followed a line of tenant farmers, till its sale to Jones in 1859. Mr. Jones built the lime kiln on the west side of the road in 1860. With the exception of passing repairs, etc., the place looks much as it did thirty years ago. Mr. Jones' wife is Eliza Lovejoy of the adjacent district.
Going a very little further north, just beyond the turn to the west, we shall find another lime kiln, the first built in these parts, viz., in 1855, by Alonsworth St. John. It now belongs to the Walker farm, and is, as we must readily see, a valuable accessory to the neighborhood. Freshly burned lime works into a farmers needs in many ways. Just across on the corner is a small house, whose successive occupants, lime burners and others would be as difficult of enumeration as would the guests for a term of years in a given room in a hotel. (Imported lime and cement have quite destroyed the utility of the local kiln.)
Journeying down the west road a little way we are again in Rose, and we find at our left the home of Augustus Lovejoy. This place was first taken from the land office by one David Nichols in 1816. He retained the
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same after clearing the land and building a house and barn till the death of his wife, in 1831. He then sold to his brother, John, who retained it for seven or eight years. Chester Lee, met before in this district, held it for two years. David Brink was the next owner, from whom it passed to one Forbes, who kept it till 1868, when he sold to David Green. After eight years, Eustace Henderson became the owner. After eleven years, he sold to Halsey Smith, in whose name the farm of something over fifty acres now stands. Mr. Lovejoy is a son-in-law of Mr. Smith.
We reach the western limit on this road in the farm of Burkhart Hurter. This is a part of the Ferris lot and was cleared up by John Drury. Mr. McFarland, a local preacher of the Methodist denomination, probably built the house. He sold to Jacob Bell in 1862. The present owner bought from the heirs of the above. Mr. H. and his wife, Theresa Tait, are natives of Germany. Their son Charles was met in No. 7; Ella Hur- ter is Mrs. Eugene Akerman of Little Falls; Sophia was killed at the age of seven years, in 1863, by the power rod of a threshing machine; Mary. Mr. Hurter was a soldier in the 90th N. Y.
Again must we return to our corners, and this time journey toward the east. The first place we find is that of Chester Ellinwood. Here was made the very first settlement in the district, if not in the town. Alpheus Harmon came from Ballston Spa, Saratoga Co., as early as 1805. His house was near the large spring, southeast of the present mansion. Of him I am able to state only that he went to Cattaraugus Co., having sold to Abiah F. Baird. Mr. B. was a native of Warwick, Orange Co., N. Y., where he was born September 3d, 1792. He married Lany Farshee, a native of New Jersey, born July 20th, 1800. From Rose they moved to Montezuma, where Mr. Baird died July 18th, 1848. Mrs. B. died Novem- ber 24th, 1868. There were eight children, of whom Mary Jane married John Morrison, and died near Adrian, Mich., in 1868 ; Catharine, the wife of Philip Martin, lives in New Hope, Cayuga Co .; John F. married Mary Hicks and died at Walnut Grove, Minn., 1887 ; Sarah, as the wife of A. J. Sanders, lives in Auburn ; David F., who married Isabel Green, resides in Fentonville, Mich .; Thomas B. married Mary Ellen Bachman and lives in Seneca Falls ; Martin V. married Cynthia French and dwells in Dexter, Mich .; William B. married Caroline Emorick, and both died in Auburn in 1875. Baird transferred to Moses Wisner, who was a native of Orange county, N. Y .- born August 24th, 1767. His wife was Dorotha Howell, who was born May 29th, 1776, in Southampton, Long Island. Her family has been identified with the island for two hundred and fifty years. Mr. and Mrs. Wisner were married in Florida, Orange Co. They resided for a time in Amity, the same county, where all their children, save Elizabeth, were born. Afterward they moved to the Huron part of the town of Wol-
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cott and thence to Rose. We have already seen them on the Lounsbury farm in District No. 7. From Rose they went to Monroe county, where Mr. Wisner died. His wife eventually died in Rochester, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Shepard. Of their eleven children, John W., Mehit- able, Moses and Amanda died in infancy ; Temperance, who became Mrs. Shepard, is now living in Penn Yan ; Sarah is the widow of Austin Roe, of Butler, and lives in Wolcott; Charlotte, the widow of Brewster Roe, lives in Penfield ; Elizabeth, widow of Willis Roe, died in 1883 ; James T. died about 1875 ; Jesse O. is living in Brantford, Canada, while Charles H. died in 1855, in Penfield. A noteworthy fact in connection with this family is that three of the surviving sisters married three brothers, Roe, of Butler. The family was noted, among all acquaintances, for the exceeding good nature of all its members. Then came Nathaniel Center, who dwelt here, or in this vicinity, till his death, in 1845, at the age of fifty-six, leaving a family of three boys and as many daughters. It should be stated that Mr. Center and family left the place for two years, occupying the stone house farm to the northeast, in the town of Butler, where he died. Mr. Center was born in Washington county, N. Y., in 1788, where, in 1828, he married Mary Dewey, who was born in Massachusetts in 1805. They began their married life in Washington county, residing there about nine years, and there their first three children were born. It was in the winter of '36-7 that they came to this town, and fitted into this highly respectable neigh- borhood. Here three more children were born. After Mr. Center's death his widow returned to the Rose farm and continued there till 1866, when she removed to Ottawa, Ill., where three of her children had preceded her, and there she died in 1885. Of the children, the eldest, Mary Helen, mar- ried William Blaine, of Butler, in 1851, living now in Fairbury, Livingston Co., Ill., and having three children. Mr. Blaine was one of the most noted singing masters who ever sang the scale in these towns. The Blaines have already been sketched. The second child, Hallet C., married Harriet Hall, of Huron, and with their two children resides in Pittwood, Iroquois Co., Ill. The third, John H., went to Illinois in 1856, there marrying Sarah Price. He has one son and lives near Ottawa, LaSalle Co. Dorr D. migrated in 1858, but returned to New York to marry an old schoolmate, Harriet, daughter of Solomon Allen. They have four children and are residents of Ottawa. Eliza D. went to Illinois in 1861 and lives in Ottawa. Harriet I. followed her brother and sisters in 1860, and became the wife of C. B. Pendleton, of Grand Ridge, LaSalle Co. Our Centers were relatives of the Butler family of the same name, Leonard, the father of Ganesvoort and Gipson Center being an elder brother of Nathaniel. Charles Allen, son of Solomon Allen, came next in order and lived here some years. As we have already seen, his home is now in Wolcott. Successive owners have been Jotham Post, of Butler, Wm. Southwick, Wm. Niles and the
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