Preston J., son of James G. and Clarissa (Backenstose) Dorchester, was born in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, in 1819, died in 1891. His school education was a scanty one, as he was the main support of the family and could spare but little time to devote to educational matters. All his later success and prosperity he owed to his own unaided efforts, and at the time of his death he had amassed a competency. He was the organizer of the hardware firm of Underhill, Dorchester & Brother, which succeeded Prouty & Chew, who were the successors of Phineas Prouty, the oldest business of its kind in the county. Subsequently he conveyed his interests in this undertaking to his son, Edward G. Dorchester. He was a member of the Hook and Ladder Company of Geneva. He married, in 1845, Mary Ann Griffin, born in West Bloomfield. New York, 1820.
