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 31
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There is one more house in this district toward the north, that of Theo- dore McWharf. Him and his I discussed at length in the No. 3. The house was built on lands purchased from Ellis Ellinwood by James Campbell, who died in 1869. His widow, Eleanor, lived in it till she sold to Mr. McWharf. She resided in the Valley till October, 1889, when she died at the age of seventy-five. She had long been an object of tender care and sympathy to the Methodist Episcopal Society of Rose, of which she was a member.
On the leaving of David Ellinwood for the west, he sold to Thomas Cullen, a native of Waterford county, Ireland. His wife was Mary Dunn. Mr. O. died in 1884, but the widow and children are still on the farm. At the time of David E.'s selling, he occupied the house at the top of the hill as we go west from Ensign Wade's. It is proper, in passing, to remark on the excellent care manifested in maintaining the Ellinwood cemetery, as nothing speaks better or louder the character of a people than their care for the resting places of their dead. From the ancestor worshipping Chinese to the dead neglecting Turk, the distance is a long one. While
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we may not approve the Chinese extreme, we ought to carefully shun the Turkish level. The Cullens, after buying the farm, which included both the old Ellinwood and Fuller places, instituted some changes. The barns on the north farm were moved up to a point nearly opposite the house, and the Ellinwood house was relegated to the use of tenants, a condition that can only have one end, viz., decay and ruin. Nature seemed to object to the new departure, for one day lightning struck the newly-placed structures and destroyed them. Since then a very large and convenient barn has been erected west of the house and on the same side of the road. Recently the family has made quite extensive repairs on the house. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen have had four children-Thomas, Wil- liam, John and Mary, all of whom are at home. Before the David Ellin- wood occupation of the house, was Dudley Wade, who came here from his old home in No. 7. Before Mr. Wade, was Brownell Wilbur, who came, early in the fifties, to Rose from Hamilton. Mrs. Wilbur, before marriage, was Elizabeth Roswell, a native of Washington county. Their children were Marvin A. and Helen A., both prominent in the intellectual and social life of the town. From this farm the family went to the place now owned by William McMurdy, south of the Valley. Thence they moved to Victor, Ontario Co., where the parents died. They were life-long, devoted mem- bers of the Baptist Church. In Victor, Marvin married Ida M. Dewey, and has a son and daughter. He was one of the best school teachers ever in Rose. He was once a candidate for the position of commissioner of schools, and had he been on the other side in politics, would have been elected. However, his defeat never seemed to hinder his growth in the least. Helen married also, and went west. She is Mrs. T. T. Maffit of Walnut Ridge, Ark. Erastus Fuller, the first owner of this place, was a native of Connecticut, and probably a descendant of the Mayflower Fullers. During his childhood, he suffered extreme vicissitudes, knowing very little of the pleasures of home; but, as frequently happens, he came out all the stronger for this severe discipline. His wife was Anna Brown, and her children were Ralph, Mary and Almanda. The last we met in District No. 7 as the wife of Delos Seelye. Mary will be seen as the wife of Hiram Mirick. Ralph married, first, Mary Allen, of Butler, and, second, Barbara Hendricks of Rose. His children are Marina, the wife of S. Harrison Ellinwood; William Erastus and Jerome, all of whom live in Fenton, Oakland Co., Mich. Erastus Fuller was one of the first officers in the town and always received the very highest respect and consideration of his fellow townsmen. An anecdote is told which illustrates well the universality of some stories. As a boy, I had heard the following from my father, given as an answer to a question of "'Squire" Fuller, who was desirous of knowing the difference between an owl and a sparrow- hawk : "It is fuller in the head, fuller in the body, and fuller all over."
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have no doubt that many a Rose dweller considered it original, but it ally dates from the days of Thomas Fuller, prebend of Salisbury, in the Lys of Charles the First of England. He was noted for his fondness of inning, and the above was given by a gentleman named Sparrowhawk reply to the prebend's query, as already told. As the clergyman was ry corpulent, the significance of the rejoinder is evident. After a while e management of affairs was given up to Ralph, and in the early fifties, 3 or '54, he sold to B. Wilbur, and the family started west. Ralph, wever, was fated not to see the promised land, for he died at Niagara alls, on his way, after a very brief illness. The parents went on, and ied in Fenton.
Where now is the substantial home of the family of Charles Sherman, onathan Ellinwood located very early in the century-1818. If there as any one back of him on these acres, it was only some contractor, hose obligation Ellinwood took and carried out. He was a native of ermont, so said, though it is possible that he was born in Massachusetts, nd, like so many others, tried life for a time in the Green Mountain tate, and thence emigrated to these western wilds. His wife was Naomi Weeks, and together they saw much of pioneer hardships. They were le parents of Chester, already encountered; Thomas, who was drowned t Newark in the early days of the Erie canal; Lucius, William and etsey. The last was the wife of William Porter, probably from Oneida ounty. They lived for a time on the stone house farm, now Joel Lee's. Both are dead. A son, Henry, lives in Lansing, Mich. Lucius, who ved for many years on the farm now held by Harlan Wilson, married, rst, Lucy A. Allen, of Butler, who died in 1838. Their children were 'homas Henry, for many years a citizen of Clyde, and S. Harrison, of 'enton, Mich. He was mentioned among the Fullers as the husband of farina. He has one son, Charles, who lives in Rose, Mich. Lucius married, second, Mahala Davis (a relative of the Butler family), who ied in 1864. They had three children, two of whom-William S. and cy Ann-died in childhood, and Adelbert D., who married Frank, a aughter of Jacob Seager, of Clyde, the whilom band leader of the old linth Heavy Artillery. "Dell," as he was called, died in Lyons in 1889. lucius died in Clyde in 1884, at the age of eighty-one years. The first omers, Jonathan and his wife, passed away in 1842 and 1840 respect- vely. It is remembered that the funeral of the former was held in the door ard, which sloped down to the road from the old house, now standing ack of the Sherman house. Jonathan was a half brother of the father of Illis, the nearest neighbor to the northeast. As is frequently the case, Villiam, the youngest son, took the management of the old farm before he death of his parents. He married Clarissa L. Thompson, of Butler. One child of this union, Mary Matilda, lies in the Ellinwood burial ground,
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and the father himself was laid there before his child, in 1844, at the early age of thirty-one years. The widow married William Sherman, a son of Elias D., and frequently met in our town wanderings. She went west long since. William lies in the Ellinwood cemetery, having died in 1862, at the age of thirty-nine years. To them succeeded Samuel Hoffman, who sold to George G. Wickson, of Lyons, and he, in 1852, sold to Charles B. Sherman.
Of Charles Sherman, extended mention was made in the No. 7 series, and now it is only necessary to make a few additions. Frank's wife was Eveline Moore, of West Butler, and he lives in Rochester. Willard died in March, 1889 ; his only daughter, Ada P., married Louis F. Lux, of Clyde, and lives in Rochester; George, who died in May, 1889, left a family, to be met in the Valley ; Charles, who married Mary Gotier of New York; Lucy, as Mrs. Putnam Sampson, still lives on the Clyde road; Ezra, in Company C, 111th N. Y., was an energetic boy, lost in the wild whirl of war ; his folks still preserve letters, written as a soldier. Nothing so well portrays the true farmer's lad as the postscript to a letter sent from Virginia in the winter of 1863. Here it is: "How does my mare look this winter? Good-by." Out of the preparations for killing men, all about him, his mind goes to the peaceful home in the north, and he thinks of the colt which had excited his boyish pride and pleasure. I was a prisoner of war at the same time with Ezra, though not in the same place. He was on Belle Isle, and I have since learned that his father, Charles Sherman, and my grandfather, Col. George Seelye, frequently debated the organization of a crusade, to march through the south to liberate the captives. Perhaps it is quite as well for all that the plans of these well meaning, elderly gentlemen were not undertaken. The parents of Charles Sherman's second wife were from Oneida county, though the family was originally from Connecticut. Their children are: Chester T., Ezra A., and Hattie E. The name Ezra continues that of the boy who perished in the strife. It is claimed, and with propriety, that these young people (Hattie is 22 years old in 1893) are the youngest Revolutionary grand- children in the country. Chester T. was married in 1892 to Harriet C. Kimberly, of Auburn. It was in 1854, or '55, that Mr. Sherman moved the old Ellinwood house back and constructed the present convenient and commodious edifice. The old house still stands near the corn house, a relic of the long ago. In addition to the Ellinwood farm, Mr. Sherman bought largely from the east and north part of Hiram Mirick's place, thus giving him one of the largest farms in the town. The northwest part of this he sold to his son, George, but of that more hereafter. Born in 1804, in Phelps, Ontario Co., and coming into the town at the early date of 1811 or '12, Mr. Sherman could tell pretty nearly all there was to be told of pioneer life. When young, though not a large man, he was very
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athletic, and he and Isaac Crydenwise contracted to cut 100 cords of wood for Peter Gordon, of Galen. This they did, averaging six cords per day. Crydenwise was a smaller man than Sherman. When the town lines were run out, Mr. S. assisted in the survey, and it is said that he was one of the first to work on the Erie canal, when this great venture of DeWitt Clinton was started. After paying for several farms by his own work, he at last flagged, and finally passed away in 1883.
The Rose Shermans are all descendants from that Captain John Sherman, of Revolutionary service, who was one of the early comers to the town. His grandson, Chester, now in government employ in Washington, has taken pains to look up his pedigree, and he finds that the pioneer was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., March 27th, 1764, whence he moved to Conway, in the same state. He had a brother, Caleb, born May 14th, 1762, and a sister, Chloe, born August 4th, 1765. He afterward moved to Phelps, N. Y. The first Sherman in America, of this line, was Captain John, who came from Essex, England, to Connecticut, though he seems to have settled in Watertown, Mass. He was a cousin of Samuel, and the Rev. John Sherman, with whom he came to this country. From this cousin branch, descended Senator John Sherman and his brother, General William' T. This first Captain John Sherman married Martha Palmer, and died in 1690, January 25th; his son, Joseph, was born in Watertown, Mass., March 14th, 1650, and married Elizabeth Winthrop, November 18th, 1673. He had three sons-John, born January 11th, 1674; Joseph, born Feb- ruary 8th, 1679 ; William, born June 28th, 1692, who was the father of Roger Sherman, one of Connecticut's signers of the Declaration of In- dependence. John was in the line leading to Rose, and he appears to have been in Marlborough, Mass .; for there were born his sons-Joseph, 1703; Ephraim, 1710; John, 1713 ; Samuel, 1718. Joseph married Sarah Perrum, of Sutton, December 25th, 1728; his son, John, born in Shrews- bury, Mass., April 8th, 1737, married Chloe Thayer, of Bellingham, Mass., 1761, who died in 1766, May 26th, at the age of twenty-five years. This brings us again to our Rose pioneer. He married Chloe, daughter of Elias Dickinson, of Conway, who also migrated to Phelps, and died in 1806. The family flight to Phelps appears to have been made in 1790. The further removal to Rose was not until 1811 or '12. A deed is still in existence, stating that John Sherman, in 1810, bought of John and Anne Nicholas part of tract surveyed for Sir John Lowther Johnstone and Lady Charlotte, his wife, by Seth Whitmore, 301 acres, except fifty acres, northwest corner, sold to William Orton, Jr. This location must have been along the west side of the old Block House road, now the main street of the Valley. He early built a log tavern, standing near the present residence of F. H. Closs. The children of Capt. John Sherman were: Claramond, born in Conway, Mass., October 7th, 1791, and who married
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Charles Woodard, once residing in Rose ; Elias D., born 1794 in Phelps ; Wealthy, 1796 ; Paulexana, 1800; Sarah, 1802; Charles Billings, 1804, and John, always known in Rose as "Jack." Of the Woodards extended mention will be made later. Elias D., with his father, was conspicuous for physical strength, and many an acre of woodland was cleared by their vigorous strokes. He lived in different places in Rose. We have en- countered him on the William Finch place, where he cleared a considerable portion of the farm. He was twice married ; his first wife was Wealthy Griswold, of Rose ; his second, Roxy Neal, who died October 28th, 1871, in Galesburg, Ill. He had a numerous family; by his first wife, there were: William, frequently met in these sketches, born in Rose, as were all of Elias' children ; certain data were given concerning him in No. 7; to him and his wife came six sons : William Henry, killed at the Wilder- ness, a member of the 111th; Charles Eugene, died in infancy; Charles Elvin, now in Carsonville, Mich .; William E., also in Carsonville; Lewis E., Barry, Illinois; George Wallace, died in childhood; Mrs. William Sherman died May 9th, 1887, in Bridgehamton, Mich., and was buried in Forester ; Joseph Sherman was born Sept. 27th, 1823, and died in Bel- mont, Mich., January 15th, 1889 ; he lost one of his legs in a saw-mill, and it is said was the inventor of rubber cords for wooden legs ; Orra was born November 4th, 1825, and lives now in Watkins, N. Y., though he long lived in this town. He was a harness maker, and had a shop on Main street, next door to the house now occupied by Daniel Johnson, though the house is not standing now ; he built the houses occupied by Lucien Osgood and by widow Snow ; he has been three times married and has three children ; Eliza Sherman, born in 1827, died in 1884 ; Orrin, born in 1829, studied medicine and died in Rose ; Levi, born in 1834, is a photog- rapher in Rochester ; he served in the cavalry during the War ; Franklin N., born in 1836, now in Three Rivers, Mich., also in the Rebellion, from the west ; Elias D., born 1839, lives in Watkins ; Wealthy died in child- hood ; Elias D. Sherman, by his second wife, had a son, John, now living in Comstock, Mich. Elias D. died September 28th, 1870. Of the second generation of Shermans, Wealthy married a Mr. Joy, and both lived and died on the lake shore, near Medina, N. Y .; Paulexana married Luther Chapman, in Phelps, though they lived in Buffalo and Adrian, Mich. She died in 1844, and is buried in Buffalo ; Sarah became Mrs. Truesdale, and moved to Barry, south of Rochester, where she died. The youngest son, John, or " Jack" in Rose parlance, was a well-known dweller here. His wife was Olive Crydenwise, a sister of that Isaac C. who married Sophia Thomas. The children were: Cordelia, Caleb, Emily, Charles H., Harrison, Harriet. Charles was a Company A, Ninth Heavy Artillery, man. When the War was over he went west, married Nancy Keyes, in Michigan, in 1866, and went to Missouri in 1867. He has a large farm,
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where he is rearing a family of nine children. John Sherman, on leaving Rose, went to Battle Creek, Mich., where he died, March 23rd, 1891. His Rose home at one time was at or near Minerville, northwest of the Valley. This man, old as he was, was a soldier in the Rebellion. He enlisted in Company H, 111th N. Y., February 6th, 1864, and was discharged Sep- tember 10th, 1864. His widow, at last accounts, was still living in Joppa, Mich. In addition to Charles, already mentioned, of John's children, Cordelia married Wesley Castor, and died in Oakland county, Mich .; Caleb, married, died at Fortress Monroe, in war times ; Harrison married Mary Copeland ; Harriet is the wife of Ephraim Allen, of Joppa, Mich., while Emily, unmarried, is living with her mother. Going back to Charles B. Sherman, the student of names will be glad to know that Billings, his middle name, is thought to have come from Clara Billings, a friend or distant relative of the family. The first name, Clara, was given to the oldest daughter, and Billings, later, to a son. The first son, Elias D., clearly bore in full the name of his mother's father, Elias Dickinson, the Phelps pioneer.
Back of the Sherman house, the land rises until it reaches the very highest point in the town, said to be 140 feet above the level of the lake. From the pinnacle one may look easily into all the surrounding towns. We stand above the Mirick hill, on the west, and can see the range of hills west of Wayne Centre. Only the foliage of the trees prevents a clear view of the lake twelve miles away. Eastward the Loveless hills and those east of South Butler appear. To the south the ends of many ranges arise, those leading through Galen and beyond. Nearer, the outlook includes all that makes Rose attractive to the native or acclimated foreign born. The road, winding along as the Melvins, Harmons and Stewarts left it; the farm honses, successors to the humble log houses which supplanted the wilder- ness ; the fields ripening for the harvest ; the farmers at their useful toil ; while "Round about them orchards sweep,"-the prospect is a glorious one ; but it may be doubted whether a dozen Rose people ever climbed the hill to see what it unfolds. The immediate north view is cut off by the trees still standing, but in my anxiety that the old trees may still remain, I will cheerfully forego any pleasure of the eye, in prospect, that Rose may still include a little of the "forest primeval."
Many people who have traveled this, one of the most crooked roads in the town, will recall a house, I think it was always old, which stood on the east side, just as the road swings around to the south, after passing Sherman's. I understand that it was built by one George Fairbanks, who had married Eliza, a daughter of John Wade. Inclined to the use of the " ardent," he had, nevertheless, quite a local reputation as a horse doctor, butcher and sheep shearer. When "half seas over" he was extremely polite. He and his sought the oblivion that the west afforded to so many
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denizens of this town. After him came a host of tenants, all of whom seemed to abound in shoeless, noisy children. In time the house dis- appeared. It is now the barn on the Louis Town place, in the Valley. The well was filled up, and only an extra growth of weeds marks its site.
From this point southward, we are on land that once stood in the name of Thaddeus Collins, 1st, and after him, his sons. Before him, was the famous Nicholas and Rose purchase, and our first halt is at the home of the Harts. To this place Marvin D. Hart, first met in District No. 9, came some years ago, and here he died, June 21, 1888. Mr. Hart was descended from William Hart, who came from England to Rhode Island in the eighteenth century. His son, Samuel, born June 2, 1791, when twelve years old, with an older brother, Rodman, migrated to Seneca county. He served in the War of 1812, and was later a surveyor. He was married December 18, 1817, to Hester Hobrow, born in Liverpool, Eng., June 4, 1791, locating on a farm in Junius. Marvin D., the fifth of six children, and the second son, was born April 5, 1850. In addition to a common school training he was one year at Oberlin. Coming to Rose in 1857, he was married September 23, 1857, to Mary J. Miner. Save four years, from 1871, spent at the old home in Junius, his residence was Wayne county till his death. For generations the Harts were Baptists. Mrs. Hart and her daughter, Alice M., with her aged father, Mr. Miner, main- tain a very pleasant and attractive home. Long resident with Mrs. Hart, her aged father, Isaac Miner, is the oldest man in Rose. Born April 12, 1792, in Stonington, Conn., he is very near a century old. His memory recalls vividly the War of 1812. He came with his parents to Winfield, Herkimer county, when young, and there was married to Survilla Gould. Later, he came to Butler, thence he went to Scipio, Cayuga county, and next to Castile, Wyoming county. Finally they returned to Butler. His wife lived till past the seventy-first marriage anniversary. He walks the streets erect, without the aid of a cane. His mind is clear and his memory retentive. (Mr. Miner died just short of his 100th birthday, December 31, 1891, and was buried in Wolcott.)
Years since, a small house on this site was the home of the noted shoemaker, " Johnny " Ogram. This man had a reputation peculiarly his own. No matter how many pairs were promised ahead, one could always have his boots " next Saturday night." If the recording angel took down all the swearing that was done on account of this foible of "Johnny," he must have been' kept pretty busy on Saturdays, 'long toward 9 P. M. It is said that Michael Vandercook kept account of the number of his disappointments, and when he did get his boots, he sued the cordwainer and made him pay for all the trouble he had given him. Ogram was said to be a little more careful thereafter. His shop was built of logs and was hard by. Dr. John J. Dickson and Eron Thomas bought quite extensively
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from this point southward, and the old house was rented to many occupants. In it died Richard Deady, a brother of John, 2d, of District No. 5, and grandfather of Ambrose, now in Huron. Dickson sold to Peter Harmon, who erected the house long conspicuous as we approach the village. He sold to Henry C. Rice, a native of Seneca county, the greater part of whose life had been passed in Butler, where he had owned a large farm. He was twice married. The three children by this first marriage- Sarah, Mary and Henry-never lived in Rose, but were married and resi- dents elsewhere, before the moving to this town. His second wife was Catharine B. Ladue, of Butler. Their adopted daughter, Helen, became the second wife of Harvey J. Ferris. Mr. Rice added a little to the land for garden and flower purposes, and always made his home exceedingly attractive. Though ever an attendant, it was not until comparatively late in life that he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in whose communion he died in 1876. He was buried in Butler Centre. After him came Marvin D. Hart.
More than twenty years since, James Harvey Ferris, who had been a hard working Butler farmer, determined to make Rose the home of his declining years, and so bought here land that ranges back through the hands of Darwin Dickinson, Thomas and Closs, C. B. Collins, Thaddeus Collins, first, etc. There were at first some thirty-eight acres, which, saving the lots of George Sherman and R. D. Dickinson, are now in the Ferris possession. Deacon Ferris built a large house, adapted to two families, and here, in the south part of the structure, with his wife, he lived till his death, in 1885. He was a native of Ira, in Cayuga county ; his wife was Esther Terpening, born in Saratoga county. They had six children, who married as follows : Jane, to Christopher Caywood ; Mary, Frank Cobb, of Ouray, Col. ; Harriet, married Darwin Dickinson ; Henry, deceased, who married Lena Albright. She afterward became the second wife of Benjamin Bishop, of Butler. The second son, Cornelius, married Milly Platt, in Michigan, and is a very prosperous resident of Denver, Col. The youngest son, Harvey, married, first, Alice, the oldest daughter of James Armstrong, of Rose, and second, Helen Rice. Their home is in the north part of this large house, and they have a numerous family, bearing the names of Mabel A., Edith M., Nellie R., Edna J. and Harvey L. Mrs. Henry C. Rice makes her home here, while Harvey works the paternal acres. When the road, which turns to the north at Harlan Wilson's, is properly extended, it will enter the village somewhere between the Hart and Ferris houses. The extension cannot come any too soon.
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