Ontario County NY

Biography of Sir Thomas Fairfax

Sir Thomas (2) Fairfax, son of Sir Ferdinando Fairfax, was the third Lord Fairfax. He married Ann Vere, daughter of Lord Vere, and died in 1671 without male issue. He was succeeded by Henry Fairfax, of Oglethorpe, who married Frances Barwick, of Tolston, Yorkshire. He was the son of Henry Fairfax, the second son of Sir Thomas (1). and he left children : 1. Thomas, fifth Lord Fairfax, whose eldest son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, died in Virginia without issue in 1781 ; whose second son Henry, fifth Lord Fairfax, died without issue in 1734; whose third son Robert, seventh … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph Severance

(IV) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (1) Severance, was born October 7, 1713, and married, October 31, 1732, Mary, daughter of Joseph Clesson, born May 9, 1712, died July 25, 1775. He settled in Deerfield, on Lot No. 36. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war, in Captain Cheever’s company; was taken prisoner, August, 1757, at Fort William Henry, and taken to Canada, where he remained but a short time. He escaped and returned home. The date of his death is unknown. Children : Joseph, born April 13, 1733, died May 29. 1735; Joseph, born June 15, … Read more

Biography of Patrick O’Brien

Patrick O’Brien was born in county Galway, Ireland, March 11, 1832, died August 14, 1908, in the town of Manchester, New York. He came to this country when a young man, landing at Castle Garden, New York, and came after a short time to Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, where he found employment. Being blessed with a happy disposition and abundant good nature, he made many friends. Industrious, frugal and honest, he made his way and prospered. He became the owner of a good farm, which he conducted the remainder of his life. He was an upright, earnest citizen, a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Adelbert Clinton Merritt

(III) Adelbert Clinton, eldest child of William Harrison and Olive M. (Allyn) Merritt, was born at the family homestead in Penfield, April 8, 1847. He was educated in the public schools of his district and the Penfield Academy. For a period of fifteen years he worked with his father as a millwright, then, in 1870, went to Rochester, New York, where he was employed in the meat market business. adding groceries to his stock the following year, and at the expiration of two years sold out. returned to Penfield, where he took up his former occupation and also engaged in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Gillette

John Gillette, a well known lawyer of Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, is one of that class of citizens, who, undemonstrative and unassuming, nevertheless form the character and mold the society of the community in which they live, by their force of character and honorable and unremitting efforts for advancement and improvement in every direction. He is the son of John Gillette and Margret Eaton. John Gillette was at one time a farmer, a native of Kinderhook, New York, who lived for a time in Albany, New York, and removed to Wayne county, New York, about the time of the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dorrance L. Kirtland

Dorrance L., son of Daniel and Huldah (Stevens) Kirtland, was born in Durham, Greene county, New York, December 16, 1818, died in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, August 11, 1885. He received his education in the public schools and at the high school in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He came to Phelps in 1839. and after working on a farm there for a short while, returned east, where he remained until 1842. He then came to the western part of the town of Phelps, where he bought a farm on which he lived for seven years, when he settled on his final … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Anson S. Tuttle

(VII) Anson S., son of Joseph (4) Tuttle, was born in Seneca, August 9, 1822, and died in 1902. He was educated in the district schools, and after his father sold his farm he followed the trade of carpenter and woodworker. He was pattern maker and woodworker for some years in the railroad shops at Canandaigua, New York. He married, October 7, 1856, Amanda M. Smith, who was born on the Smith homestead, now (1910) owned by Richard A. Tuttle, mentioned elsewhere. Her father, Wilmarth Smith, was born on the same farm, April 13, 1792. Wilmarth Smith married, in 1812, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Force

David Force, immigrant ancestor, was born about 1758 in France, and, being left an orphan during the French revolution, or in the troubles preceding, was cared for and brought to America by a Quaker with whom he was living, a youth of nineteen, at Princeton, New Jersey, at the time of the battle of Princeton, in 1777. Restrained from enlisting in the American army in the revolution on account of the non-combatant principles of his guardian, he was at that time impressed into the service to help care for the wounded and dead. Among those who were conveyed from the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William N. Robson

William N., son of John Robson, was born in the town of Seneca. New York, in 1822, on the homestead farm. This later passed into his possession and he was engaged in its cultivation until his death. He married Katherine J. Smith, who is still (1910) living on the old homestead.

Biography of Rev. P. A. Neville

Rev. P. A. Neville, rector of St. Bridgets Church, East Bloomfield, New York, has been an indefatigable worker in the interests of his religion and the church of which he has charge, and his life is so closely connected with that institution that a history of the one must of necessity be a history of the other. When the Rev. Bernard O’Reilly and his brother William, in turn, visited the village of East Bloomfield in 1846, the Catholics in that section numbered only about forty. Three years later, Father Quigley received permission to visit the section and minister to the … Read more

Biography of John Boynton Dixon

John Boynton, only child of John and Hannah Dixon, was born in Rellington, England, February 3, 1812, died in Geneva, New York, March 4, 1890. He was reared and educated in his native town, where he also served an apprenticeship at tile and brick-making with his grandfather, and in 1832 he engaged in that business for himself at Leeds, England, remaining in that city about twenty years. Arriving in New York in 1851, he proceeded to select a suitable place in which to locate, and being favorably impressed with the inducements offered at Geneva he established a tile and brick … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry B. Whitney

Henry B., son of Oscar J. Whitney, was born in Phelps, New York, June it, 1868. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, at the Geneva high school and at Cornell University. In 1900 he engaged in the manufacture of baskets at Phelps and continued for eight years. In partnership with A. S. Vincent in 1904 he built the pickle and sour-kraut factory at Phelps. The firm was dissolved and the business sold in 1907. He was appointed postmaster of Phelps, January 10, 1898, and reappointed at the end of his term, serving in this office … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Pietro Caesar Alberto

Pietro Caesar Alberto, the pioneer ancestor of Arthur Benjamin Burtis, of Oaks Corners, New York, from Venice, Italy, records his arrival in Nieuw Amsterdam in the Council Minutes of the West India Company, December, 1638, by entering a complaint against the skipper of the ship “Love.” It is also recorded that in the year 1635 this same skipper (David Pieterson de Vries, of Hoorn) had threatened to leave Pietro C. Alberto at Cayenne and Virginia. The register of the provincial secretary records a contract between Pietro C. Alberto and Peter Monfoort to build a house and make a plantation, December … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George Young

George, eldest child of Samuel and Jane (Arnott) Young. was born in Yorkshire, England, July 10, 1854. Coming to America when a lad of five years he attended school in Geneva, and having graduated from the high school at the age 0f nineteen he proceeded to familiarize himself with the carpenter’s trade and the contracting business. He was associated with his father until the latter’s decease, and his death occurred ten days later, February 21, 1899. Politically he was a Democrat. His religious affiliations were with Trinity church. Mr. Young married, November 28, 1889, Emma M. Beard. Children: 1. Ruth … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William P. Rupert

(II) William P., son of Philip Rupert, was born December 26, 1829, and died in 1003. He was a farmer, and established a large nursery which he conducted in a very successful manner near Geneva. He married Catherine Bell, who was born February 22, 1830, and is living at the present time (1910) .

Biographical Sketch of John Webster

John, son of Jonathan Webster. was born at Tyringham. Massachusetts. February 2, 1790. When a young man he located at Franklin, Delaware county, New York, and later removed to Parma. Monroe county. New York. He married Mary Webster. He died in 1852 in Spencerport, Monroe county, New York; his wife Mary died at Victor, New York, in 1866. Children: Freeman, John Riley, Sarah F, Otis A., mentioned elsewhere; James Myron and Milo C.

Biography of Gustavus Charles Wilkens

Forty-two years ago Gustavus Charles Wilkens, a native of the fair land of Poland, left the dominion of the Czar to seek his fortune in America, and being favorably impressed with the possibilities open to him in this country he lost no time in renouncing his allegiance to the Russian government. Mr. Wilkens belongs to a race of liberty-loving people who have long cherished an ardent desire to regain their national independence, but the iron hand of imperial Russia still holds them in subjection. His father, Ludwig Wilkens, born in 1801, was in the service of the Russian government, having … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Benjamin Throop

Benjamin Throop, son of Daniel (2) and Susanna (Cary) Throope. was born in Lebanon. Connecticut, October 8. 1754, died at Palmyra (Port Gibson), Wayne county, New York. January 17. 1842. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Deacon Benjamin Cary. He was one of the first settlers of Palmyra, and an account of his life was published in the Shortsville Enterprise in 1903. In 1801, he purchased, for four dollars an acre. five hundred and twelve acres of land from Ichabod Ward and Samuel Dorrance, mortgagees of Phelps and Gorham to whom large tracts of land were deeded in settlement … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph Tuttle

(VI) Joseph (4), son of Benjamin Tuttle, came with his father to Seneca, Ontario county, before 1793. He helped to clear the land and build a home for the family. He was one of the sturdy pioneers who laid the foundations of civilization in this section. He married and had children : Richard T., Elizabeth, Catherine, Reed and Anson S.

Biography of William B. Forster

William B. Forster, who is engaged in general farming in the town of Seneca, Ontario county, New York, occupies a high position in the literary circles of that section of the country and is also prominently identified with its religious life. William D. Forster, father of William B. Forster, was born at Halls Corners, Ontario county, New York, March 29, 1830, and is the oldest living person born at that place. He attended the common schools of his native township and supplemented this education by attendance at the sessions of Alfred Academy. He then engaged in teaching, and taught schools … Read more