Canandaigua New York

History of Ontario County, New York, part 1

History of Ontario County, New York

“History of Ontario County, New York: With Illustrations and Family Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Families” is a comprehensive historical compilation, organized by Lewis Cass Aldrich and meticulously edited by George Stillwell Conover. Published in 1893 by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y., this monumental work illuminates the rich tapestry of Ontario County’s past. Recognizing the voluminous nature of the original single volume, it has been thoughtfully divided into two parts for convenience and accessibility. Part 1 encompasses the historical and biographical narrative of Ontario County, laying the foundation for the genealogical treasures contained in Part 2.

Biography of Cornelius Jay Andruss

(IX) Cornelius Jay, eldest child of George and Sarah (Ter Bush) Andruss, was born in Canadice, Ontario county, New York, October 7, 1845. His preparatory education was acquired at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, and he then attended Cornell University, subsequently studying dentistry at the Philadelphia Dental College, from which he was graduated in 1877. Commencing in 1861 he taught for the larger portion of seven years in the district schools of Ontario and Livingston counties, New York, and for two years was deputy county surveyor of Lee county, Illinois. He commenced the practice of dentistry in association with Dr. A. … Read more

Biography of Frank Harwood Hamlin

(VIII) Frank Harwood, second son and third child of Henry William and Sibyll Blackmail (Sears) Hamlin, was born in East Bloomfield, Ontario county, March 29, 1846. He prepared for college at Fast Bloomfield Academy, entered Yale University where he was graduated A. B., 1869. He decided upon the profession of law and entered Albany Law School, where he was graduated LL. B. in class of 1870, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He engaged in the practice of law for a short time in Albany, New York, then he moved to Canandaigua, New York, where he formed … Read more

Genealogy of Joseph Baker of Marshfield Massachusetts

Z173. NICHOLAS BAKER: probable father of Z174 SAMUEL BAKER: made Freeman in 1657; m. Eleanor Winslow. Z175 KENELIN BAKER: b. 1657; m. Sarah Bradford. Z176. KENELIN BAKER: b. 1695; m. Patience Dolen. Z177 WILLIAM BAKER: b. Oct. 16, 1734; m. Hannah Lincoln. Z178 WILLIAM BAKER: b. Sept. 10, 1759; m. Abigail Low. Z179 JOSEPH BAKER: b. Marshfield, Mass., Sept. 24, 1794; m. Olive Cushing. Z180 JOSEPH BAKER: b. Marshfield, Mass., Feb. 27, 1827; m. Martha Jane Perrin. Sarah James: b. Thompson, Conn. a181 JAMES BAKER: b. Nov. 28, 1824; m. Lydia Ann Mentzer, b. Jan. 8, 1826; had John, James, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Francis M. Kennedy

(II) Francis M., son of James and Margaret (Houston) Kennedy, was born in Kells, Scotland, May 30, 1830. His whole life after coming to this country was spent on his farm in Italy, New York, with the exception of the last six years, when he lived retired from active work, in Canandaigua, New York. He was a member of the Protestant church, and adherent of the Republican party. He married (first) in Italy, Yates county, New York, 1853, Phoebe J., daughter of James and Rachel Fisher. Children: James M., born September 23, 1854, deceased; John A., born May 19, 1857, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Frank A. De Graff

Frank A. De Graff, manager and one of the proprietors of the leading stationery and book stores in Canandaigua, New York, is, as his family name indicates, of Dutch descent, and has inherited the thrifty and businesslike traits of his ancestors. Groat A. De Graff, father of the man whose name heads this sketch, for some years followed the occupation of farming in Gorham, New York, and removed to Canandaigua about the year 1870. He established himself in the book and stationery business, in which he was eminently successful, and with which he was connected for many years. Frank A., … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert C. Aldridge

(III) Albert C., son of Gilbert T. Aldridge, was born in Victor. March 13, 1849. He attended the public schools of his native town and Brockport, the Collegiate Institute at Brockport, the Rochester Business University, taking special courses in law and laboratory work. For ten years he was engaged in teaching school, two years in the public schools, one year in Canandaigua Academy, and six years in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York. In 1884 he was elected school commissioner of the second district of Ontario county, and was reelected from term to term until he had served … Read more

Biography of Robert Houston

Robert Houston, son of Robert and — (Melvin) Houston, was born in 1821, in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in 1856, in Farmington, New York. His father and mother lived and died in Scotland. His brother James was a merchant in England, and afterward in California. Robert Houston was educated in the common schools of his native land and learned the trade of shoemaker, which he followed until 1845, when he came to this country. He stayed for a short time in New York City, and then made his home in Canandaigua, New York. where he was employed first by See … Read more

Biography of Rev. James T. Dougherty

When De Nonville and his French army, in 1687, destroyed the Indian village of Gannagaro and Gaudougarae, the inhabitants were driven eastward and formed a village near the foot of Canandaigua Lake, which village and lake have since then borne that name. Among the Indian inhabitants in those days were many Catholics, some of them Senecas and most of them Hurons and Algonquin captives, the result of fifty years of missionary labor of the zealous Jesuits. Even in our day the beads and crucifixes given the Indians by the missionaries are still picked up on the sites of the old … Read more

Biography of Dr. Albert L. Beahan

Dr. Albert L. Beahan, an eminent physician of Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, has attained his present distinguished position by many years of patient and unremitting toil, united with inflexible and unfaltering courage in the face of apparently insurmountable difficulties. His noble efforts to relieve human suffering have earned for him the high esteem of his fellow citizens, and the universal good opinion of his professional brethren, this forming the best standard of judgment in such cases. His father was James Beahan, of Watkins, who died in 1907, and who had been engaged in the occupation of farming during all … Read more

Biography of Robert F. Thomspon

(V) Robert F. Thompson, son of Lieutenant Lester P. Thompson and Sarah Jane (Foster) Thompson, was born in Canandaigua, New York, July 31, 1870. He received his preliminary school training in Phelps, followed by a course of study in Canandaigua Academy, from which he was graduated. He studied for his chosen profession in the law department of Michigan University, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws, and then took a post-graduate course, receiving the Master’s degree in 1893. He was admitted to the bar, December, 1894, in Ontario county, New York, and at once entered upon practice … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph Bryon Hayes

(V) Joseph Byron, son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Gilbert) Hayes, was born in Plattsburgh, June 8, 1809, and died in Canandaigua, New York, October 6, 1841. He was known by his second name. Byron. Succeeding his brother George Edward as a pupil of Dr. Pliny Hayes, he became an apothecary in Canandaigua. He was a man of lofty principle, excellent in every relation and duty of life, and his early death was sincerely mourned by the entire community. He married in Canandaigua, December 20, 1832, Sarah Antis, born in that town, February 21, 18, C, daughter of William and Mary … Read more

Aikey, Virgil – Obituary

Sumpter, Oregon Virgil Aikey, 66, of Sumpter, died Oct. 16, 2004, at the Boise Veterans Hospital. There will be a wake in honor of his life at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Elkhorn Restaurant in Sumpter. Virgil was born on Aug. 7, 1938, at Canandaigua, N.Y. He moved to Southern California in 1960. He served in the U.S. Army in the 101st Airborne. He was the youngest journeyman in the heating and sheet metal business in the 1960s in Southern California. After that he became a swimming pool contractor for Bee Sunny Pools in Chatsworth, Calif. In 1988, he moved … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Fred W. Hollis

(III) Fred W., son of Alfred M. and Louisa (Smith) Hollis, was born in Canandaigua. Ontario county, New York. December 27, 1871. His education was acquired in the public schools of his native town and in the Canandaigua Academy. Until he was twenty-four years of age he assisted his father in the brick tile and coal business, then purchased a farm near the village in what is now (1910) the town of Hopewell. and is at the present time still occupied with its cultivation. His political affiliations are with the Republican party, and he has served as assessor for the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward Harrison Frary

(V) Edward Harrison, only son and second child of William Stoddard and Lydia Ann (Warren) Frary, was born at Lyndon, Cattaraugus county, New York, April 25, 1840. He received his education in the common schools and the Rushford Academy, from which he graduated. His occupations have been varied and successful ones. He has been farmer, carpenter, hardware clerk and census enumerator. Having always taken a decided interest in the public affairs of the town, and been a staunch supporter of Republican principles, he has been elected to fill a number of public offices. He was elected justice of the peace … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Rev. Livingston L. Taylor

Rev. Livingston L. Taylor, who enjoys a well earned reputation as a forcible and eloquent preacher, and whose life is a consistent and unvarying example of the doctrines he preaches, is the son of William J. 1. Taylor, D. D., and Maria L. (Cowenhoven) Taylor. Rev. Livingston L. Taylor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1860. His education has been a varied and thorough one at the following named institutions : Newark Academy, Newark, New Jersey; Rutgers College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1881, and which conferred the degree of Master … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William Harris Welch

William Harris Welch was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1862. He moved from there to Lock Haven with his parents the following year, and was educated in private and public schools, finishing with a special one year’s course in the State Normal at that place in 187980. During the next five years he studied and practiced civil engineering with his father, Edwin H. Welch, on the Pennsylvania railroad. In February, 1885, he entered the maintenance of way department of the Northern Central railway at Elmira as rodman. In June of the same year he came to Canandaigua as assistant … Read more

Biography of Thomas B. Wilson

Thomas B. Wilson, prominent in financial circles of the state of New York, in educational and agricultural matters, as well as in the farming industry, is a man of many-sided abilities. His mind is ever occupied with weighty problems for the advancement and improvement of the section of the country in which he lives, and in this manner he furthers the welfare of the entire nation. Bold and enterprising, he has an undertaking far on the way toward completion, while slower intellects are deliberating over the means to be employed to this end. John C. Wilson, his father, was born … Read more

Biography of Grant Maitland Kennedy

(III) Grant Maitland, youngest child of Francis M. and Phoebe J. (Fisher) Kennedy, was born in Italy, Yates county, New York, January 3, 1866. His early education was received in the district school of Italy Hollow, New York, and at the age of sixteen years he entered the Naples Academy, at Naples, New York, spending three years in that institution, and finishing with one year at the State Normal School at Genesee, New York. His early years were spent upon the homestead farm, and in the fall of 1885, he made his first appearance as a teacher of district schools, … Read more