Oliver Sabin, second son of Anson and Almira (Sabin) Titus, was born in Phelps, New York. May 13, 1843. He was educated in the public schools of Phelps and the Clinton Liberal Institute, Clinton, Oneida county, New York. In August. 1862, when nineteen years old, he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the army until the close of the rebellion. Soon after his enlistment he was detailed for clerical work in the office of judge advocate of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, under General Benjamin F. Butler, with headquarters at Fortress Monroe. Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and was finally mustered out at Richmond, Virginia. June 5, 1865, with an honorable record for efficiency and conscientious service. In 1869 he went to Kirksville, Adair county, Missouri. where he engaged in farming, but subsequently returned to Phelps, and in December. 1874, moved to Shortsville, New York, as bookkeeper in a general store; he later accepted the position of bookkeeper for Messrs. Hiram L. and Calvin P. Brown, manufacturers of the Empire Grain Drill, and having been admitted to partnership in 1877 he was thenceforward in charge of the sales and advertising departments. Through his untiring energy and superior ability the business of the concern was rapidly developed, the working force being increased from twenty to two hundred men, and their annual product amounted to more than six thousand drills. When the Empire Drill Company was incorporated in 1884 Mr. Titus became its secretary and treasurer and he continued to serve as such until 1903, when the enterprise was purchased by The American Seeding Machine Company. Although practically retired from business pursuits he is, nevertheless, interested in certain local enterprises of a profitable nature; he is a member of the banking firm of E. D. Mather & Company and treasurer of the Red Jacket Telephone Company. Mr. Titus was formerly active in civic affairs, having been chosen the first president of the village of Shortsville. which was incorporated in 1889, and be retained that office for two years. For the past eighteen years he has served as president of the board of education, and for about the same length of time he has been one of the active members of the executive committee of the Manchester Cemetery Association. He is actively identified with the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Canandaigua Lodge, No. 294, Free and Accepted Masons; Excelsior Chapter, No. 164, Royal Arch Masons; Zenobia Commandery, No. 41, Palmyra, New York, and a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a charter member and past commander of Herendeen Post, No. 107. and is now (1910) serving as its adjutant. He is a member and trustee of the First Universalist church of Clifton Springs, New York. He is president of Herendeen Post Monument Association through whose efforts the fine monument was placed in Brookside cemetery, Shortsville, New York, in memory of the boys of the towns of Manchester, Farmington and Hopewell who gave their lives during the civil war, 1861-65.
Mr. Titus married, February 14, 1866, Frances Marion Upham, of Sherburne, Chenango county, New York, daughter of Elijah and Susan (Jenkins) Upham, and the eighth generation in descent from John Upham (1), the immigrant. Children : 1. Fred Allyn, born in Phelps, New York, January 7, 1867; he was educated in the public school of Shortsville, New York, Clinton Liberal Institute, Fort Plain, New York, and Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, and is now (1910) a manufacturer of the Star Wheel Barrow Seeder at Shortsville, New York. He married Bertha Darling, daughter of Bernard P. and Augusta (Booth) Darling, and have two children, Oliver Sabin Titus 2nd, born May 31, 1899, and Helen Augusta, born June 3, 1903. 2. Bertha, died in infancy. 3. Stella. born in Kirksville, Adair county, Missouri, March 22, 1871 ; married (first) George Francis Simonds, of South Acton, Massachusetts; (second) Harry Kinsman Dodge, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, now (1910) living in Pasadena, California. No children. 4. Mary Wheeler, born in Shortsville, New York, March ii, 1883, married Harry O. French. One son, Dwight Titus French, born October 8, 1907, in Gloversville, New York.