The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 101

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098

USA > New York > Jefferson County > The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894 > Part 101

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EBENEZER ALLISON, a native of New Hampshire, came to Brownville while young and finally located on a farm on road 28, where he died at the advanced age of 83 years. He took part in the battle of Sackets Harbor. He married Phoebe Phelps, of Brownville, and their children were Sally, Polly, Esther, Julia, Henry W., Jane, Han- nah, Louisa, Simeon and Harlon. He resides in this town on the homestead farm, where he has lived 18 years.

CONKEY MOFFATT was a native of North Adams, Mass., whence he removed to Otsego county, New York, and in 1818 to Brown- ville, where he was one of the first settlers. He died in Brownville in 1841, aged about 70 years. He married Olive Hinman, who bore him nine children.

RICHARD BUCKMINSTER Was born in Platts- burgh, N. Y., in 1800. In 1816 he located in Watertown, and in 1819 removed to Brown- ville, where he remained until his death, in

1884, aged 84 years. He married Mary, daughter of Frederick Avery, and they had six children, viz : Charles, Nancy, Myron, Frederick, Bruce and Woodruff. The latter married Adelaide, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Vaughn) Buckminster, of Brown- ville, and they had oue son, now deceased. Frederick Buckminster married Florence, daughter of John and Mary A. (Knox) Cole, of Brownville, and they had one son, Evan. Mr. Frederick Buckminster served in Co. I, 10th New York Heavy Artillery, in the late war, and died July 13, 1870, aged 29 years. His widow survives him.

WILLIAM T. SKINNER was born in West- moreland, N. Y., in 1826, and died in 1878. When four years of age he came with his father, Alanson, to this town and here re- mained until his death. His occupation was that of a foundryman, and he continued in that business in the buildings erected by his father, until his decease. He married Lucy, daughter of Oliver and Mary (Ormshy) Horr, of Watertown, who survives him, and re- sides in California, with her son Frederick. They had born to them two children, Freder- ick W. and Albert A. Albert A. is dead.

WILLIAM P. SMITH, a native of Brown- ville, married, first, Clara Lounshury, of Niagara county, New York, who bore him one son. She died in 1878, aged 42 years. In 1880 he was married to Mrs. Belle Kilhorn, of Clayton. He is now a farmer at Perch River. He commenced life as a poor boy, and for many years lived with John Prior. By industry and frugality he has become quite successful as a farmer. He served in Co. A, 35th N. Y. Vols., and in Co. G, 6th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, and received an hon- orable discharge.

HENRY FREDENBERG, a native of Ulster county, came to Brownville in 1837, where he died in 1872, aged 76 years. He served in Company M, 10th N. Y. Heavy Artillery one year. He married, first, Annie Shower, of Ulster county, and their children were: Albert, Elias, John, Mary J., David, Sylvia, James C., Eliza, George and Lottie. His second marriage was with Annie Beckwith. James C. married Hattie, daughter of Alex- ander Hayes, of Chaumont, and they have two children. He served two enlistments in the late war, in Company M, 2d Regiment N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and in Co. E, 186th Regt. N. Y. Vol. Infantry ; being honorably discharged. He served in the battles of Bull Run and Antietam, and in front of Peters- burg. He resides in Limerick.

JOSEPH UNDERWOOD, son of Joseph Under- wood who served in the Revolutionary war, was born in Vermont, whence he emigrated to Rutland in 1800, and was one of the first settlers of that town, where he lived 35 years, when he removed to Brownville, dying in 1843, aged 72 years. He married Rebecca Hayes, who hore him seven chil- dren, viz : William, Elizabeth, Sarah, Clar- issa, Joseph, Huldah and Warren. Joseph, a native of Rutland, came to Brownville in

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1835. He married Louisa, daughter of Jere- miah and Sally (Bush) Scott, and his children are Charles, Morrell and William H. The latter married Genevieve, daughter of I. Al- anson and Susan Roseboom. William H. Underwood is proprietor of the popular Underwood Hotel, in the village of Dexter, of which village he is president. He enlisted in Co. I, 10th N. Y. Heavy Artillery, in 1862, and served until the close of the war, receiv- ing an honorable discharge May 28, 1865. He was in the battles of the Wilderness and Petersburg ; was at the front in the defense of the National capital, and was present at Lee's surrender.

JOSIAH SATCHWELL was the son of Thomas Satchwell, who came from England with Burgoyne's army in 1776. At the close of the Revolutionary war Thomas Satchwell settled in Duchess county, New York, where Josiah was born, April 27, 1789. When he was 12 years old his father moved to the town of Appenheim, Montgomery county. Here he was married to Catherine Bellinger, and continued to reside until 1837, when he moved to Pillar Point, which continued to be his home till April 25, 1868, when he died at the home of his son Alonzo, at the ripe age of 79 years. He served as a soldier a short time during the War of 1812, being stationed at Sackets Harbor, which fact afterwards influenced him to settle at Pillar Point.

He was converted at an early age, and soon after united with the Methodist church, of which he became a prominent member, serving the church of his choice for many years as class leader and steward. He was the father of 11 children, all of whom sur- vive him except one.

The younger branch of the family is ably represented in the present editor of the Watertown Advocate, Geo. E. Satchwell, who is the son of Alonzo and Margaret Satch- well, and was born at Pillar Point, August 28, 1851. He received his education in the common schools and at the High School of Watertown, from which he graduated in 1876. He entered Syracuse University the same year, but was soon compelled to leave hy reason of ill health. Entering the ranks of teachers, he continued for eight years in that position, serving as principal of schools at Felts Mills, Three Mile Bay, Theresa, Philadelphia and Madison, N. Y. In Feb- ruary, 1883, he established the Temperance Advocate, afterwards changed to the Water- town Advocate, which has continued till the present under his management. The Advo- cate has proven a strong supporter of the principles of temperance and prohibition and a fearless advocate of reform in government. Converted at the age of 19 years, he united with the Arsenal Street Methodist church, in which he was at once appointed class leader, and soon after received a license to preach, and has also served as steward for many years. He was married to Miss Libbie Marsh, of Watertown, June 25, 1889,

DARWIN B. GOTHAM, now a resident of Watertown, but doing business in Brown- ville, was born December 19, 1844, the son of Jenery P. Gotham, who was the son of that John Gotham, for many years an exten- sive land owner near the eastern limits of what was then the village of Watertown. He was educated in the common schools of that era, and in 1861, at the age of 17, enlisted in Co. B, 94th N. Y. Vol. Infantry. He served with that regiment until 1864. After leaving the army he began to learn the machinist trade with the Lords, on Beebee's Island. After an extensive experience as a worker in iron, he purchased the Alanson Skinner fur- nace property in Brownville, and has carried on a general foundry and machine shop until the present time (1894). In 1868 he married Elizabeth Milett, and they have raised two children, Merritt, who is married, and has charge of his father's business, and Ivan, a schoolboy. Mr. Gotham has made a success of the foundry business He is an estima- ble citizen, a man of the people, for he has all his life been a toiler. He has his reward in enlarged possessions and a future unclouded by any fear of want.

RICHARD VAN ALLEN Was born in 1773, and his wife, Nancy Timmerman, in 1779. Their son, Mindred, was born in St. Johnsville, N. Y., in 1781, and came to Watertown about 1830, finally locating in Brownville, where he died in 1849, aged 68 years. He married Maria, daughter of John and Margaret Van- derwalker, of St. Johnsville, N. Y., and their children were: Emily, Jerome, Myron, Addison S., Augustus R., Daniel D., John, Charles L. and Ellen C. John and Augustus Van Allen served in Company K, 35th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry, and Jerome in Company B, 20th N. Y. Cavalry. John enlisted in Company B, 20th N. Y. Cavalry ; Daniel D. served two years in the 35th Regiment, and one year with the 2d Connecticut Artillery. Charles served in Company B, 20th N. Y. Cavalry, and Myron in Company M, of the same regiment.

CAPT. FRANCIS WINN was born in South Reading, Mass., in 1782, and died in Holden, Mass., in 1840. He married Eliza Jackson, of Boston, and they raised eight children. One of these, Francis W., born in Woburn, Mass., came to Brownville in 1840. He married Harriet, daughter of Sylvanus and Lucy (Baker) White, of Charlton, Mass., and their children are : Harriet E., William H., Frederick, Ann E. and Mary S. William H. served in Company I, 10th N. Y. Heavy

Artillery, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He is now drawing a pension. He was in the engagement at Petersburg, April 2, 1865. He served in the Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1864.

JAMES T. OUTTERSON, son of Andrew, was a native of Connecticut, and is now a resi- dent of Watertown. He served as captain of Company G, in the 84th New York Volun- teer Infantry. He married Frances E., daughter of C. R. Jones, of Pulaski, and his

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children are : Chauncey R. (now deceased), James A., Charles E., Mabelle and Carrie. James A. married Eva S., daughter of Horace S. and Mary (Coburn) Peck, of Ticonderoga, N. Y., and is now superintend- ent and manager of the Raquette Paper Company. James T. is president of the Outterson Paper Company, of Brownville. Mr. James T. Outterson has an adopted daughter, Miss Blanche, who has been an in- mate of his family for the past 17 years.

CHARLES C. STEELE, long a resident of Brownville, was the son of Eliakim Steele, of Windsor, Vt., who came into Brownville in 1834. Charles C. was then nine years of age, and he has resided in Brownville ever since. In 1853 his father died, and Charles C. carried on the farm until he was 35 years old, when he came into the village of Brown- ville and became a merchant, the firm being Gibbs & Steele. In 1869 he purchased an interest in the Empire Mills, opposite Brown- ville, where he remained two years, and sold his milling business to Henry Spicer, return- ing to the store, where he remained a year, and traded his mercantile business for the grist-mill upon the north side of the river. Here he remained some eight years, and that terminated his active business life.

In 1859 he married Miss Elizabeth Guard, the daughter of Samuel Guard, one of the oldest residents of Brownville. Two sons were the result of this union. He married, for his second wife, Miss Frances E. Kilborn. His third wife, with whom he is now living, was Mary E., widow of Walter Fox, of Pamelia. Mr. Steele retired from business in 1883, and has devoted his time to the management of his private affairs.

LEWIS MAYNARD was the son of John Maynard, who came into Brownville in 1833. Lewis was then 16 years of age. He re- mained at home, having had the advantages of the common schools of Madison county until his 18th year, when he accepted a position with the late Major Kirby, taking charge of the out-door work until 1849. He then took the homestead farm of the family, and managed it three years. In September, 1853, he bought into the stone hotel at Brownville, kept it two years, and after own- ing the property six years, he sold it. In 1846 he married Miss Mary Ann Mitchell, daughter of Alexander Mitchell. For several years he managed the carhon mill on the south side of the river. having previously kept a livery in connection with his hotel. For the past 10 years he has not been actively engaged in business, confining himself to the management of his landed property.

FREMONT W. SPICER, who resides in Dex- ter and is superintendent of the Frontenac pulp and paper mill, the view of which is seen opposite p. 471, is the son of Henry Spicer, long and favorably known as a mer- chant at Perch River, in company with Hugh Smith, under the firm name of Smith & Spicer. Mr. Fremont W. Spicer, a paper manufacturer, is the direct descendant of a

family who are the oldest paper manufactur- ers in the civilized world. The firm of Henry Spicer & Son, of London, date their first efforts at paper-making back for several cen- turies, and the business has been continued in the family down to the present time.

The Perch River family of Spicers are fortunate in being able to trace their lineage back to the 12th century, and this in an un- broken and undoubted chain of descent. The family names have been continued with a pertinacity that is remarkable. The first one who appears in our American annals was Henry, a cavalier, who settled in Virginia in 1635; then came Peter, his son; then Ed- ward, son of Peter ; then John, son of Ed- ward, and then Edward, again, who had a younger brother who was a captain under Washington ; then Silas, who came into York State in 1792, and then his son, also Silas, who came from Connecticut to Jeffer- son county, where he became the ancestor of this numerous and well known family. The Spicers are of English descent, coming from Weare, in Devonshire. In 1273 William Spicer was mayor of Exeter, and his grand- son was also mayor of that ancient city dur- ing the 3rd Edward's reign. This family is also peculiar in this: it has sent soldiers to every war waged by the United States, crowning that record by one of Fremont Spicer's uncles dying at the head of his com- pany at Antietam. They have furnished not only soldiers, but sailors as well, having had a commodore in our old navy and a captain in our present navy.

They do not, however, make any claim for consideration on account of their an- cestry, but depend upon correct lives for their record.

But perhaps the crowning glory of this important family is in the fact that they were always the friend of the black man, and, in- deed, of all who are oppressed. For a more particular account of protecting escaping slaves, we refer the reader to Mr. Henry Spicer's biographical sketch upon the next page, as well as to the efforts in that direction made by his business partner, Mr. Hugh Smith, a descendant of Pennsylvania Quakers, a society that always befriended the poor es- caping slave, and helped him on his way to freedom.

CHAUNCEY H. FAY, born on Point Penin- sula; in 1861 he located in Dexter, where he died March 29, 1876, aged 74 years. He married Julia Ann Tracy, of Lyme, and their children were Emily, Sherebiah, Almina, Lavina, Helen and Sullivan D. The latter was born in Lyme, and in 1860 located in Dexter, where he now resides. He married Mary, daughter of Danforth P. and Amanda (Hubbard) Clark in 1860, hy whom he had one son, Fred, who died in 1870, aged four years. He served in Company B, 186th New York Volunteers, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He was present at the evacuation of Petersburg, Va., April 2, 1865.

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HENRY SPICER

WAS the son of Silas F. Spicer, who was born in Stonington, Conn., in 1792. Silas F. came with his parents to Oneida county, and finally located in Sackets Harbor previous to 1812. There he learned to be a tanner and shoemaker, two branches of the leather trade that usually went together in the early days of settling the county. He mar- ried Charlotte Wescott, of Houndsfield, in 1815, and they had 14 children born to them: Charlotte, Silas, Mercy, Henry, Fanny, Maria, Caroline and Clarissa (twins), Edward 1st, Mary, Jane, Edward 2d, Sarah and George.

Mr. Spicer came to Perch River in 1816, but returned to the village of Brownville, where he remained some four years, and then

HENRY SPICER.

took up his residence permanently in Perch River, in the year 1821. During his resi- dence in Brownville he formed the acquaint- ance of Melzar Fowler, who subsequently married Mr. Spicer's sister, the ceremony being performed at his home. Melzar Fowler will be remembered as the father of Mrs. C. H. McCormick (mentioned on p. 169 of this History), who was also the niece of Hon. E. G. Merick. While a resident . of Brownville, Mr. Spicer was soundly con- verted, and thenceforth walked in accordance with the requirements of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was an honored member during the remainder of his life.

Mr. Spicer was an active and persistent Abolitionist for many years. Indeed, Perch

River has been for the past 50 years noted for its firm stand upon temperance and re- sistence to slavery. These principles found a prompt and determined advocate in Mr. Spicer, for the very atmosphere he breathed in his youth was permeated with the truc spirit of civil and religious freedom. Those who had then lately passed through the Revolutionary War, felt a personal interest in the perpetuation of liberty upon this con- tinent. They instilled into their children just ideas of the great triumph for liberal thought for which the Revolution stood, and Mr. Spicer brought into his adopted county the feelings and aspirations which were a part of his youth. He was for several years the predecessor of Hugh Smith, the man from Pennsylvania who had Quaker ideas ; and these two, with the one named below, formed a coterie which was hard to with- stand when they pulled together at the polls upon political questions.

HENRY SPICER, the most prominently known of any of Silas Spicer's children, he having held several honorable and important offices, was born in Brownville in 1820. He had the advantages of a good English educa- tion, and, as a young man, gave promise of the ability he has since manifested for so many years. He married Delia E., daughter of Beriah and Diana (Prior) Allen. They reared four children, Fremont W., residing in Dexter, manager of the Frontenac Paper Company ; Carrie E., who married Frank J. Watson, of Rome, N. Y .; Henrietta, who married Fred E. Wood, a merchant of Dexter, and George E., the president of the village of Carthage, whose portrait is shown in the composite plate of the official board of that village. Mr. Spicer's wife died in 1879, aged 52 years.

He was elected a member of the Legisla- ture in 1876, and was the Presidential Elector from this Congressional district when Grant was elected for his second term. Mr. Spicer was supervisor of Brownville from 1859 to 1863, and again in 1869. In connec- tion with Hugh Smith he was for many years a merchant at Perch River, and the name of the firm of Smith & Spicer was known throughout the northern part of the county, being ever a synonym for honesty and fair dealing. Their trade was not as ex- tensive as some other merchants, but they had the satisfaction of dealing with people all of whom they knew personally. Mr. Spicer has always maintained a high position as a citizen, and his influence has ever been upon the side of moral and social progress. His family have all added to his well-earned reputation by becoming useful members of society. He bears his 74 years like a man of 60-erect, and with his mind bright and clear.

As mentioned on the preceding page, Perch River was a regular depot upon the underground railroad which conveyed es- caping slaves to Canada. Hugh Smith, the partner of Mr. Spicer, was a Pennsylvania Quaker, a society celebrated for more than

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200 years as the stern opponents of slavery and every form of oppression. His extended acquaintance in Bucks county, Pa., among that sect, made him the natural agent for furthering their philanthropic work, and he readily responded. J. A. H.

HUGH SMITH.

THIS distinguished and really able man, so well known for his decided stand for the abolition of slavery, for temperance and for morality, was born in Bucks county, Pa., January 27, 1811 He came of good old Quaker stock, and manifested, in a long and useful life, the philanthropic and peculiar characteristics of that remarkable sect. His

HUGH SMITH.

father's family came into Brownville in 1820, it being then the home of General Jacob Brown. In September, of the ensuing year, his father died, leaving a family of seven children, ranging in age from four to 16 years, in the hands of his mother, to be reared amid strangers, with the added dis- couragements of sickness and debt, and upon a farm but partially improved. Hugh was the fourth of the family. He put in all his time upon the farm, attending school a part of each winter until he was 25, except- ing such winters as he was teaching.

He moved to Perch River in the spring of 1836, and, in company with others, purchas- ed landed and store property, and began the life of a country merchant, which included handling almost every description of farm produce.

In September, 1836, the same year he began merchandizing, he married Miss Char- lotte Spicer, the daughter of Silas F. and Charlotte Spicer, of Perch River. By this devoted wife he had five children. Levi Smith, formerly postmaster at Watertown, was his brother ; he had also for a brother-in- law, Hon. James A. Bell, once State Senator from the Jefferson and Lewis district. Hon. Henry Spicer was his brother-in-law, and long-time business partner, the firm being Smith & Spicer, and they were successful. Mr. Smith was appointed postmaster at Perch River, in 1836, which office he held for 21 years, until his election to the Assem- bly in 1873. Up to that time, and long before, he had never sought office, nor would he accept it without much persuasion, but he had always been a politician; that is, a man who took an active and healthy inter- est in all the political questions of the day. His Quaker origin made him naturally an Abolitionist, for they hated slavery; and his astute mind made him a temperance man, the friend of law and order and good morals. For these things he stood "like a stone wall" and the influence of his high example is yet apparent in Brownville, which is now, and has been for many years, a town where liquor selling is not licensed. His early stand as an Abolitionist probably carried more weight with it than could have been imparted by any other man in Jefferson county, for all who knew Mr. Smith knew him as a man of fixed principles, one not to be turned aside by any selfish or trivial cause or argument. At one time he accepted the Abolition nomination for Congress, bearing all the weight of that campaign without even a dream of being chosen.

Since 1864, up to his death, he was an earnest and consistent Republican, and wielded a large and an entirely pure influ- ence upon politics in Jefferson county.

After a long and painful sickness, Mr. Smith died at Perch River, June 15, 1887, at the ripe age of 76. His beloved companion is yet spared to the society she has so long adorned. It is probable that Mr. Smith owed much to the pious teachings of his devoted mother. From beginnings that were somewhat forbidding, so far as prop- erty was concerned, he grew up to be a man of peculiarly symmetrical character. With- out any peculiarly predominating trait, ex- cepting, perhaps, an enthusiastic support of any cause he advocated, he possessed an un- usually happy combination of characteristics that inspired the confidence and esteem of his. fellow-men. He was a man of fine mind, judgment being happily blended with a love of literature and all good things. He was not one who saw much austerity in religion, re- garding it rather as a joyful possession. He was a very forgiving man, for he could not find in his heart to treasure up a wrong. Although not classed as a great man by the community at large, it is not too much to say that his influence was great in the

THE FRONTENAC PULP AND PAPER MILL, DEXTER, N Y. (See Page 194.)

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county where he resided, and his death was felt as a public calamity. J. A. II.

COL. NEWTON B. LORD

WAS the son of Colonel William Lord, whose biographical sketch and likeness will be found on page 467. His mother's maiden name was Miss Charlotte Thomas, and New- ton B. was horn January 1, 1832.

By nature he was of an adventurous, very independent and of somewhat erratic dis- position ; traits that were traceable, perhaps, to the fact that he was a rich man's son, and not dependent upon daily lahor for his sup- port, nor subject to discipline iu his youth. He was once a partner with his father in the foundry business, and was always an un- usually prompt and decided business man,

COL. NEWTON B. LORD.

backed by a distinctly original, if not a matured mind. His father had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a trusted friend of Gen. John A. Dix, who had then risen to he captain of a company, and was earning the fame he afterwards achieved-a sincere patriot. 'Twas he who gave the order to "shoot upon the spot any man who attempt- ed to haul down the United States flag."

Newton B. had heard much about the profession of arms from his father, and when the news came that Sumter had been fired upon, he aided in raising a company, and it was mustered in at Elmira, becoming Company K, 35th N. Y. Volunteer Infantry. Captain Lord, when he first came to Elmira, saw that the colonel who was afterwards

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The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county, New York, from 1793-1894, Part 101

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823- Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company Number of Pages: 1098

Author: Haddock, John A., b. 1823-
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Albany, N. Y., Weed-Parsons printing company
Number of Pages: 1098