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With a Historical Sketch of the County
by Hon. Obed Edson.
Published by John M. Gresham & Co.
Edited by Butler F. Dilley.
Nos. 1218 and 1220 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, July, 1891.

[Note: this book is available in electronic form from The Internet Archive]

Selected entries:

Robert Shaw   *   William R. Douglas  *   Robert E. Crosgrove   *   Robert M. Johnston  *   S. Frederick Nixon   *   James Cochrane   *   Hugh Neill   *   Matthew Wallace   *   Albert P. Peirce   *   Robert M. Hall   *   Hugh W. Thompson   *   Reuben G. Wright   *   Thomas Davis Strong   *   James H. Flagler   *   Edward A. Skinner   *   Henry C. Kingsbury   *   Lucius Lombard   *   Emmett T. Kingsley   *   Joel Colvin   *   Noah W. Gokey

p. 527
Robert Shaw, senior member of the boot, shoe and rubber firm of Shaw & Hale, of Westfield, was born in County Down, Ireland, July 17, 1833, and is a son of James and Margaret (Robinson) Shaw. His paternal grandfather, William Shaw, was a native and life-long resident of County Down, where he followed his trade of cooper. He was a Presbyterian in religious belief, and died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His son, James Shaw, the father of Robert Shaw, was one of the large linen manufacturers of Ireland. He owned a farm of one hundred and sixty-seven acres of land in County Down where his linen factory was built. He employed from four hundred to six hundred hands in the manufacture of linen, operated a general store and was a man well-known for his energy and enterprise. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and died November 9, 1849, aged fifty-seven years. His wife was a native of County Down, and a Presbyterian, and died in 1837.

Robert Shaw was reared in his native county, received his education in the National schools of Ireland, and in 1857, at twenty-four years of age, came to new York. On May 27th, of that year he came to Westfield, where he has resided ever since. He was engaged in farming from 1857 to June 1, 1863, when he became a clerk in a grocery house of Westfield, which position he held for four years and two months.

On July 27, 1867, he formed a partnership with William Ellison, and they purchased the establishment in which he had served as a clerk. This firm of Shaw and Ellison continued one year when Mr. Shaw purchased the interest of Ellison and conducted the store until April 1, 1872. He then associated his two nephews, W. R. Douglas and J. R. S. Crosgrove in business with him under the firm name of R. Shaw & Co. On March 29, 1882, he disposed of his interest in this firm to W. R. Douglas, and for the next three years was not engaged in any line of mercantile business. On April 14, 1885, he formed his present partnership with G. W. Hale, under the firm name of Shaw & Hale. They are dealers in boots, shoes and rubbers, and their establishment is at No. 14, Main street. They have well arranged salesrooms, carry a nice stock of goods and do a good business.

June 5, 1872, Mr. Shaw united in marriage with Nancy Ard, daughter of John Ard, Sr. , of Westfield. They have three children, one son and two daughters: Edith May, George Patterson and Clara Jane.

Robert Shaw is a straight republican in politics, has served for eighteen years as a member of the school board and is a successful business man of twenty-eight years experience. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Westfield, Westfield Lodge, No. 591, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Olive Lodge, No. 521, Knights of Honor, Chautauqua Lodge, No. 3, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Westfield Union, No. 63, Equitable Aid Union. He was a member of the village board of trustees for seven years, also town clerk for one year.

pp. 133-4
William R. Douglas, who owns and conducts the largest grocery, crockery and queensware house of Westfield, was born in county Down, Ireland, January 30, 1847, and is a son of Thompson and Anna J. (Shaw) Douglas. His parents were both born in county Down and became members of the Presbyterian church. His father was engaged in the grocery business and in farming, and died in 1889, at eighty years of age. His mother is a daughter of James Shaw, who was a prominent linen manufacturer of Ireland (see sketch of Robert Shaw). She is now in the seventy-fifth year of her age and resides on the home farm in county Down.

William R. Douglas passed his boyhood days on the farm and attended the national schools at Ireland. At sixteen years of age he left his native land and came (December, 1863) to Westfield, where he learned the trade of stone and marble-cutter, which he had to abandon at the end of his apprenticeship, on account of ill health, occasioned by the stone dust. He then learned the trade of moulder, which he followed in the Lock factory until it shut down in 1870. During this same year he secured a clerkship in a grocery store, where he remained until 1874, when he became a partner with Robert Shaw and J. R. S. Cosgrove in the grocery business, under the firm name of R. Shaw & Co. The firm was changed several times during the next eight years, but he remained a member of it during all of that time. In 1882 he purchased the interests of all his partners, and since that year has conducted a very extensive and lucrative business. His establishment is at No. 3 and 4, on Main street, and is divided into two large departments. His trade is now of such proportions as to require the service of five clerks. He deals largely in groceries, provisions, glassware, china, crockery, standard proprietary medicines and notions. Mr. Douglas has been a republican since coming to this country, and is now serving as a member of the school board of Westfield. He is a member and deacon of the Presbyterian church. In addition to his mercantile interests, he owns some valuable real estate, is a stockholder of the "Pulley Works" and has a promising young vineyard. Nov. 19, 1874 [sic 1873], he united in marriage with Mary Winsor, daughter of David Winsor, of Westfield. To their union have been born seven children : John R., Harry W., William M., Elizabeth A., James R., Alice R. , and Grace.

pp. 278-9
Robert E. Crosgrove, one of Ripley town's leading farmers and best citizens was born at Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, November 15, 1851, and is a son of John and Mary (Cochrane) Crosgrove. His grandfather, William Crosgrove, was a native of Ireland, but deciding that America was the land of promise, he said good-by to the green fields of his childhood, and took passage for New York, where he landed November 17, 1801. A few years were spent in various places, and in 1804 he married Rachel Cochrane, who bore him eight children. William Crosgrove lived for two years in western Pennsylvania, but in 1808 he came to Ripley and settled on the farm now owned by W. A. and R. E. Crosgrove. The maternal grandfather was Robert Cochrane, who was born in County down, Ireland, Oct. 22, 1786, and came to America in 1812. One year later he settled in the northwest part of Westfield, on lot No. 4, where he lived until his death, May 6, 1870. Politically he was a republican, and a member of the Presbyterian church. His wife was Jane Law, whom he married in Ireland, and they had eleven children, the eldest, Mary, being the mother of our subject. John Crosgrove (father) was born at Cold Spring station, Pa., June 20, 1806. When two years of age his father brought him to the town of Ripley where he spent his life, and died at the age of seventy-eight years.

p. 567
Robert M. Johnston, a well known farmer and grape culturist, of the town of Westfield, is a son of Samuel and Margaret (McKee) Johnston, and was born in County Down, Ireland, August 4, 1841. Both his father and mother are natives of the same place, the former coming to America in 1848, leaving his family behind; he located in this town, where he has ever since lived, and until a few years ago was engaged in farming and butchering; but having reached the age of eighty years he abandoned active business and is now taking life quietly. He married Margaret McKee, who is now seventy-five years of age, and belongs to the Presbyterian church. She came to America a few years after her husband, and with her came our subject, then a boy in his teens.

Robert M. Johnston was reared until eighteen years of age at his father's home in the town of Westfield, and was educated at the common schools. He learned butchering with his father, and followed the business for some time. In 1859 he went to California where he found employment at his trade, and worked for one man for over five years. He then returned to Westfield and embarked in the same business for himself, but for the past eight years has been engaged in farming and grape growing, and now owns one hundred and seventeen acres of land, twenty-five acres of it being a vineyard.

In 1870 he married Margaret McGee, a daughter of James McGee, of Westfield, and he has a family of four children, one son and three daughters: Lena, Samuel, Catherine and Isabel.

Robert M. Johnston is a republican, but is liberal in his ideas, and does not permit partisanship to dictate to his conscience. He belongs to the Equitable Aid Union, and is an honest, industrious and successful man.

pp. 519-20
Hon. S. Frederick Nixon, of Westfield, who served for three consecutive terms as a member of the New York Assembly, is one of the active and prosperous marble dealers of the State. He is the younger of two sons born to Samuel and Mary E. (Johnston) Nixon, and was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, December 3, 1860. Samuel Nixon was the youngest son of a wealthy Nixon family of county down, Ireland, where under the law of primogeniture as it exists in the empire of Great Britain, his eldest brother inherited the landed estate and all the property of his father. He was born in 1826 and at the age of nineteen years came to Jamestown where he resided until his death in 1876. He was engaged in the marble business and left at his death quite an estate which he had accumulated during the thirty years of his business life. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith, and a successful business man who had made himself prominent in the commercial circles of his part of the Empire State. Shortly before his death he was engaged in perfecting arrangements to go to Scotland in 1877 with his son, the subject of this sketch, and embarked in the wholesale marble business. He married Mary E. Johnston, a native of County Down. They were the parents of two sons.

S. Frederick Nixon grew to manhood at Westfield where he attended the public schools and Westfield academy from which he was graduated in 1877. He then entered Hamilton college and was graduated from that well-known institution of learning in 1881. Upon the completion of his college course he read law for one year but his business interests demanded so much of his time that he was compelled to relinquish his legal studies. He is a republican in politics and in 1885 was elected trustee of his village. In 1886 he was elected as supervisor and the following year represented the Assembly district of Chautauqua county, in the New York Legislature, in which he served on several important committees. He was returned in 1888 and again in 1889 but owing to various causes of disturbance in his party was defeated in his candidacy for a fourth term. He and Matthew P. Bemus are the only residents of Chautauqua county who have ever been honored with three consecutive terms as members of the New York Assembly. In the legislative sessions of 1889 and 1890, Mr. Nixon was chairman of the committee on internal affairs which included all matters pertaining to the villages and town of the State. In 1889 he also served on the committee of general laws for two years besides being a member of the committee on ways and means in 1889. He has always been active and successful in his county as a leader and speaker in the Republican party. In 1887 and 1888 he was chairman of the republican county committee and in the latter year Chautauqua county rolled up a heavier republican majority than she ever gave before that year.

He united in marriage with Myrtle Redfield, a resident of Chicago and a native of Michigan. They have two children : S. Frederick, Jr. , and Redfield.

In addition to his property in Chautauqua county Mr. Nixon owns two good farms of one-hundred and seventy-five and two hundred acres respectively, some three miles form Des Moines, in Warren county, Iowa. He and his brother Emmet are actively engaged in dealing in marble at Westfield, where they do an annual business of twenty thousand dollars. He is one of the directors of the Crowell & Pulley Manufacturing company which was organized in 1889 and employs a force of forty hands. He owns two farms in his town, one of which is one of the earliest settled farms in the county. Mr. Nixon is a member of the F. and A. M., and of the Royal Arcanum.

pp. 322-3
James Cochrane, who for eighty years was a resident and farmer of the town of Ripley, living in the village, was a son of Alexander and Nancy (Martin) Cochrane, and was born in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, N. Y., April 4, 1811, and died May 14, 1891. His paternal grandfather, Hugh Cochrane, was a native of Ireland, where he lived and died, the scene being Woodgrange, County Down. He belonged to the peasant class in which he was a representative man. He married Nancy Beatty and reared a family of eleven children; but three are mentioned: Alexander, Robert and Hugh. The maternal grandfather was John Martin, also a native of Ireland, where he passed his life and died. The three brothers mentioned above all came to America and settled in Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York. Robert was twice married, had thirteen children, and died in October, 1854. Hugh married Sarah Nesbit before he left Ireland, and reared eight children; he died early in 1854.

Alexander Cochrane was a protestant, or what is known as a Scotch-Irishman. He was the first settler in Ripley town, having bought his farm in October of 1804. Some authorities state that he entered the town in 1802, which may be correct. His is the first name that appears on the Holland Land Company's books as a purchaser in this town. He took a tract of three hundred acres and built a house, in which his entire family of thirteen children were born. Politically he was a whig, and an elder in the Presbyterian church. Alexander Cochrane was born at Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland, where he married Nancy Martin shortly before leaving for America. Their children were: John, Nancy, the wife of W. A. Robinson; Hugh, Alexander, Robert, William, Samuel, Margaret, who married Jediah Loomis; James, Martin, Andrew, David and Eleanor. The number of his grandchildren reached sixty-four. All of the above-mentioned are dead except Eleanor, who married a Mr. Dickson. Alexander Cochrane died in 1856 at Ripley, New York, aged ninety years.

James Cochrane was reared on his father's large farm. He married Nancy Johnston, a daughter of John Johnston, who was a native of Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland, brought his family to Westfield, this county, and died in 1852. James Cochrane and his wife reared nine children: Joseph A. resides in Rochester, New York; Elizabeth A. lives in Eureka, Kansas; Francis Johnston resides on a portion of the old farm; Catherine is living in Eureka, Kansas; Mary E. , is living in the old home, so long made bright by her kind parents; Sarah A. married Alexander Cochrane, who lives on a farm in East Ripley; Julia Etta died in 1878, aged twenty-three years; James Alexander owns the east part of the farm that belonged to his grandfather and lives upon it; and Charles F. , who resides on a portion of the farm formerly owned by his father.

Farming was the steady employment of James Cochrane all his life, until he bought the property where he died in Ripley village, and moved there in 1887. Mrs. Cochrane died May 9, 1891, only five days before her husband.

pp. 640-1
Hugh Neill, a son of the Emerald Isle, who, by his wit and geniality has made many friends, and by his industry and economy has accumulated a fortune, is farming and growing grapes in Westfield village, this county. He is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Streau) Neill, and was born in County down, Ireland, May 20, 1825. His parents never came to America. Grandfather Hugh Neill was a native of Scotland, making our subject of Scotch extraction. Samuel Neill was born in the same county in 1781. He followed farming and dealing in stock, and made quite a success. He married Sarah Streau, a Scotch girl, and had several children. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, full of energy and ambition and died in 1848. His wife, also a member of the Presbyterian church, had died nine years previous, a good and noble lady.

Hugh Neill was reared on the farm and taught to work. He staid at home and helped his father until twenty years of age, when that love of adventure so prevalent in the breasts of his countrymen, and which was caused by the knowledge received from the geography studied in the national and private schools, caused him to think of trying his fortune in the new world. With his father's blessing, a purse in his pocket and a stout heart, he sailed from home in the spring of 1845, and on July 4th of the same year located in the town where he is now living. The first ten years were passed in the lumber business, getting out ties, etc., and then he settled down to farming, and has since given his attention to that. Of his farm, containing one hundred and fifty acres, more than one hundred and twenty-five of them lay inside the limits of Westfield village. He has a fine vineyard of grapes upon the place, which is handsomely located and highly improved.

He was married and had eight children, of whom seven are living: Fred S. died March 24, 1889, aged twenty-six years; Addie A. lives near St. Paul, Minnesota, the wife of James A. Cosgrave; Emma E. married John R. Fay and resides in this village; John H. graduated from a Medical and Dental school; Charles A. is engaged in the harness-making business at Watertown, Dakota; Frank C. is in business, also in Dakota; Alice S. married Frank B. Lamb and lives in Westfield; and Grace C. is unmarried and resides with her parents. Mr. Neill is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian church, as is his entire family. He is a good friend, a pleasant old gentleman and a kind neighbor.

p. 624
Matthew Wallace is an agriculturist of Ripley town where he has lived for thirty-two years. He was born in County Down, Ireland, in June 1838, and he is a son of Samuel and Nancy McKee (McMeekan) Wallace. His grandfather, John Wallace, was a native of Ireland, followed farming and died a member of the Episcopal church. He married Nancy Melvin and had seven children. The maternal grandfather, Benjamin McMeekan, too, resided in Ireland. His wife was Nancy Blair and they had a family of eight children. Samuel Wallace was born in County Down, was a farmer and was twice married. First to Nancy McMeekan, who bore him nine children, three of whom, Matthew and two sisters, came to America. After his first wife died he united in marriage with Margaret Sigh, who bore him four children, three of whom crossed the great water, and one, David, is yet living at Sewickley, Allegheny county, Pa. The two sisters mentioned above who came to America are married.

Matthew Wallace spent his youth in his native land and came here when twenty-one years of age. Locating in Westfield he worked as an ordinary farm laborer for seventeen years and then bought the farm of one hundred and twenty-seven and one-half acres, where he now lives. On it are nine acres of grapevines. He was drafted to serve in the Union army but bought a substitute.

Matthew Wallace married Sarah Strain, a daughter of James Strain. They have one child: James S., who married Emily J. Cochrane, a daughter of Alexander Cochrane and they have three children: Matthew, Alexander and Hurlburt.

Politically he is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian church and belongs to the Knights of Honor.

Albert P. Peirce, a leading jeweler and a resident of Westfield for the past fifteen years, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 21, 1842, and is a son of Albert A. and Mary Knox (Stevens) Peirce. Albert A. Peirce was born in Boston and died at Westfield, this county, in 1879. He was engaged for over twenty years in the jewelry business and then (1862) removed from Boston to Titusville, Pennsylvania, where he was an oil operator and dealt in oil, besides conducting a jewelry establishment until 1876, when he came to Westfield, which was his place of residence until his death, which occurred three years later. He married Mary Knox Stevens, whose people were residents of the State of Maine, of which she was a native.

Albert P. Peirce was reared in Boston and fitted for Yale college, which he did not enter, on account of embarking in the steamboat business between Boston and Newport, Rhode Island. He was associated with the firm of Andrew J. Warren & Company, and remained with them five years. He then went to Titusville, where he was in the pipe-line business for three years, at the end of which time he took charge of the Church Run pipe-line, which he managed until he came to Westfield, where he established his present jewelry establishment.

In 1873 Mr. Peirce married Julia Guild, daughter of Joseph O. Guild. [sic James] To their union have been born four children, two sons and two daughters: James Alfonso, born January 3, 1874, and now engaged in the jewelry business; Clara Guild, Mary Knox, and Albert P., Jr.

A. P. Peirce has served as trustee, school director and member of the board of water commissioners of Westfield. By strict attention to business he has built up a lucrative trade as a jeweler. His establishment contains a first-class stock of jewelry, watches, clocks and everything else in his special line of business. The jewelry trade is a very important branch of commercial activity, and one deserving of mention in a review of the leading industries of any place. Mr. Peirce is a representative jeweler of his village, where he has met with good success.

Robert M. Hall, a farmer of the town of Westfield and one of the Union soldiers who was a prisoner at Andersonville, is a son of Asa and Pauline (Mack) Hall, and was born in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, February 5, 1833. His paternal grandfather, Asa Hall, Sr., was born June 20, 1767, in Rhode Island, where he was an importer and jobber for some years in the city of Providence. He came to the town of Westfield in 1811, served in the War of 1812 and died March 14, 1832. His children were: Sophy, wife of Jonathan Cass; George, who served in the War of 1812; Harriet; Asa; David; and Silas F., who died in Illinois. Asa Hall, the second son and father of Robert M. Hall, was born at Thompson, Connecticut, December 26, 1796, removed with his parents to Stratford, New Hampshire and in 1811 came with them to Westfield. At sixteen years of age he enlisted in the American army, was at the burning of Buffalo and on his way home had fever and ague from the effects of which he never recovered. He purchased land from the Holland Land company and when not engaged at his trade of carpenter and builder was employed in farming until his death, June 8, 1868. He was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church and on December 20, 1820, he married Pauline Mack, a native of Genesee county, a very intelligent woman, who died May 4, 1861, at sixty years of age. Young, in his history of Chautauqua county, says: Mr. and Mrs. Hall are spoken of as having been persons of exemplary piety, and shedding a hallowed influence alike upon the members of the family and of the society in which they moved." They had five children: Charlotte, wife of W. P. Culbertson, of Illinois; Robert M.; Sophy C., who married A. C. Crane, of San Francisco, California; Emma M., wife of Judge S. G. Nye, of Oakland, California; and Frank A., for ten years publisher of the Westfield Republican and now in the manufacturing business, the factory being located in northeast Pennsylvania--residence, Westfield. Mrs. Hall was a daughter of Capt. John Mack, who kept the old Mack tavern and the ferry on Cattaraugus creek, when the British had possession of Lake Erie, and by the assistance of the Indians prevented the English from molesting him.

Robert M. Hall grew to manhood on the Westfield farm and received a common school and academic education. He has given his time and attention to farming and now has a vineyard of twenty-five acres on his farm, which is situated one and one-half miles west of the village of Westfield. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Co. I, 9th New York cavalry, was promoted to quarter-master sergeant and after three and one-half years of active service was honorably discharged at Elmira, New York, February 6, 1865. In a cavalry charge at Brandy Station, Virginia, he was wounded and captured by the confederates and spent four hundred and nine days in seven different prisons, one of which was Andersonville, in which he was confined for the most of his time before being exchanged. Mr. Hall is a republican in politics. He is a member of the Westfield Presbyterian church and William Sackett Post, No. 324, Grand Army of the Republic. He has always been active and useful in his sphere of life and enjoyed the reputation of being a public-spirited citizen.

January 30, 1867, he married Flora A., eldest daughter of Milo A. Driggs. To their union have been born five children: Louise, who died at eleven years of age; Florence, who possesses good artistic ability, has done some fine painting and graduated in 1891, from Ingham university, at Leroy, New York; Pauline; Mary; and Asa.

pp. 166-7
Hugh W. Thompson, editor and proprietor of the Westfield Republican, the seventh established and now oldest newspaper of Westfield, is son of Hugh W., Sr., and Eliza (McDowell) Thompson and was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, October 2, 1858. His parents are natives of County Down, Ireland, and came in 1851 to Westfield, where his father has followed carpentering.

Hugh W. Thompson was reared at Westfield, where he attended the academy of that place until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Mayville and learned the trade of printer in the office of the Sentinel. In July, 1885, he returned to Westfield and worked on the Republican until May 13, 1889, when he purchased the paper of A. E. Rose, then its proprietor, and has published it ever since. The Republican was started April 25, 1855, by a company composed of G. W. Patterson, W. H. Seward, Alvin Plumb and Austin Smith. Its first editor was M. C. Rice, and its circulation under his charge was about one thousand copies.

Hugh W. Thompson has always been independent in politics, and is a member and for the last three years has been an elder of the Westfield Presbyterian church. His paper is a folio, 30 by 44 inches in size, has a circulation of one thousand copies and is a reliable weekly; crisp, attractive and interesting.

The Westfield Republican, as its name implies, has always been and is republican in politics. It has always been aggressively republican, and has never been neglectful of the interests of Westfield or Chautauqua county. It has been so edited and conducted by Mr. Thompson as to command attention and respect from his political opponents, as well as to win support and advocates within his own party. He has succeeded in giving his county a clean and newsy sheet while establishing a fearless and successful organ in the interests of the party of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield.

pp. 537-8
Reuben G. Wright, of Westfield, is one of the representative self-made men of Chautauqua county, a man of good judgement, of remarkable energy and strong will, but generous and kind withal, and ever ready to assist in whatever would benefit his town or county. He is a son of Reuben and Betsey M. (Seymour) Wright, and was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, July 1, 1824. One of those who left the peace and quiet of his Connecticut home to risk his life in the Revolutionary struggle for American independence was Reuben Wright, Sr., the paternal grandfather of Reuben G. Wright. When peace and independence came to the Thirteen Colonies, Reuben Wright returned to his family and the tillage of his farm. One of his sons was Reuben Wright (father) who removed to Redfield, Oswego county, this State, and thence to Ohio. After a short residence there, he returned to New York in 1817, and settled at Westfield, where he was engaged in the weaving and cloth dressing business and where he built a carding machine which he operated for fourteen years. About 1829 he bought a farm about one mile east of the village and gave some attention to farming until his death, which occurred in October, 1847, when he was in the sixty-third year of his age, and at the time of his death left an estate worth in the neighborhood of twenty-thousand dollars. He married Betsey M. Seymour, of Scotch descent, who was a first cousin of Gov. Horatio Seymour and died in 1874, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. They were the parents of seven children, of whom six lived to maturity: Allen, Mrs. Betsey Knight, Mrs. Charlotte Bradley, Reuben G., Franklin M. and Mrs. Martin Warren.

Reuben G. Wright grew to manhood at Westfield where he attended the public schools and Westfield academy. At eighteen years of age he entered the mercantile establishment of Hungerford & Knight where he remained for five years as a clerk. In 1849 he left the store and went to California whose then newly discovered gold-fields were the wonder of the world and attracted throngs of treasure seekers from every part of the United States as well as from various countries of Europe. On arriving on the Pacific slope, Mr. Wright followed gold prospecting and mining for two years and then was engaged for four years in supplying the city of Sacramento with water. He was very successful both in the gold fields and at Sacramento city which he left in 1855 to return to New York, where he became a permanent resident of Westfield although conducting and personally supervising important business enterprises in adjoining and distant states. He purchased four thousand acres of timber land in Clarion county, Pa., and large tracts of timberland in Wisconsin, the former of which required his supervision for eleven years, while the latter demanded his attention for fourteen years. He also engaged extensively in grape culture in the town of West field where he now has one hundred acres of vineyards. At the present time he owns over fifteen thousand acres of heavy pine timber-land along the borders of Lake Pontchartrain, east of Baton Rouge, in Washington parish, Louisiana.

In 1870 he was married to Cora E. Pierce, and has three sons: Paul D., Ralph G., and Pier R. He has one of the finest residences in Chautauqua county and in their beautiful and pleasant home he and his excellent wife delight to welcome and entertain their friends whose number include many who are prominent in social and political life in the Empire State.

Thomas Davis Strong, M. D., a prominent and well-known physician of Westfield, was born in the town of Pawlet, Rutland county, Vermont, November 22, 1822, and is a son of Return and Laura (Davis) Strong. Many New England families have taken a justifiable pride in the preservation of their genealogies, and among that number is the Strong family, which was founded at Northampton, Masachusetts, by Elder John Strong, from whom Dr. Thomas D. Strong is lineally descended. Elder John Strong was a member of the Plymouth colony, and afterwards removed to Northampton, where he reared a respectable family. Within two centuries and a half thirty thousand of his descendants have lived in various parts of New England and the Union, and their names are recorded in a large, two-volume history of the "Strong family, founded by Elder John Strong," which was published some ten years ago. It is said to be one of the most accurate and carefully kept family records that is to be found in the United States. Return Strong (father) came in 1851 to Westfield, where he was engaged in the mercantile business for several years, and died.

Thomas Davis Strong prepared for college at Burr seminary in Manchester, Vermont, then under the charge of the celebrated Rev. Joseph Wickham, D.D., who is now in the ninety-sixth year of his age. He then entered the University of Vermont, from which he was graduated in 1848. Leaving college he read medicine with his cousin, Dr. P. H. Strong, of Buffalo, this State, and attended his first course of lectures at Castleton medical college, of Vermont, while his second and third courses he took at the medical department of the University of Buffalo, which was then under charge of Prof. Hamilton Flint, afterwards of Bellevue, and from which he was graduated in 1851 with the degree of M.D. In the same year he came to Westfield, where he has enjoyed a remunerative practice ever since. Dr. Strong served as surgeon of the Sixty-eighth regiment of New York State troops, and made a trip in 1871 to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope, in whose development he takes a deep interest.

On May 25, 1852, Dr. Strong married Lucy M. Ainsworth, of Williamstown, Vermont.

Dr. T. D. Strong has been for twenty-five years a member of the boards of trustees of Westfield academy and Westfield Union schools. He was one of the commissioners for locating the western New York asylum for the insane at Buffalo. He is a member and has served as president of the Chautauqua and the Lake Erie medical societies. He is an honorary member of the California State medical society, was vice-president of the New York medical association in 1889, and has been for the last twenty-five years curator of the medical department of the University of Buffalo.

See obituary and photo here.

p. 281
James H. Flagler is a son of John H. and Adeline B. (Rhodes) Flagler, and was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, March 8, 1835. His grandfather, James Flagler, was a descendant of one of two brothers, who came to America from Germany, and was born in Dutchess county, this State, from whence he removed to Washington county, where he followed the occupation of a farmer until his death in 1825, at the age of forty-five years. He married Vincey Hall, and by her had five children, four sons and one daughter, who reached maturity. The maternal grandfather of J. H. Flagler was named William Rhodes, born in Connecticut and removed to Washington county, this State, where he followed farming and also served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Washington county in 1869, at the age of eighty-two years. John H. Flagler (father) was born in Washington county, this State, September 15, 1806. He came to this county and located at Summer Dale, a place west of Mayville, where he engaged in farming. In politics he was an oldline whig and took an active interest in them. In religion he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and also a local preacher therein. He married Adeline B. Rhodes, January 25, 1831, and had five children, three sons and two daughters. One of the children died quite young; another one, Fletcher J., lives in Kansas. John H. Flagler died in September, 1887.

James H. Flagler was educated in the common schools of Chautauqua town, and Westfield academy, and began to earn a livelihood as a school teacher. He taught fourteen years altogether, including two terms of four months each in the corporation of Mayville. When he had completed his experience in teaching the young idea how to shoot, he moved to Chautauqua and from there to the farm of his father at Summer Dale, which originally contained three hundred acres, and of which he now owns two hundred and forty acres. In 1872 he operated a dairy farm at this location. He then moved to Mayville, where he has since resided, mainly engaged in the coal business. In politics he has been a republican since the birth of the party, voting for Fremont and Dayton in 1856, and has been a member of the board of assessors of Mayville for six years. August 8, 1890, President Harrison appointed him postmaster of Mayville. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of Mayville Lodge, No. 284, I.O.O.F., of Mayville, of which he is N. G., and has been financial secretary of Mayville Lodge, No. 25, A.O.U.W. for eight years.

James H. Flagler was married November 1, 1859, to Nancy A. Keyes, of Mayville, by whom he has two sons: Elmer E., who is married to Frances Van Volkenburg, and is in the dry goods business in Westfield; and Grant S., married to Alta M. Owen, is receiving and paying teller in the Westfield National Bank, in which town he also resides.

pp. 173-4
Edward A. Skinner, a well-known business man and president of the National Bank of Westfield, was born in the town of Aurora, Erie county, New York, May 10, 1841, and is a son of Rev. Levi A. and Laura (Patterson) Skinner. His paternal grandfather, Levi Skinner, was a farmer, and a native of Massachusetts, from which he came to Oneida county, this State, where he died in 1850. He was of English origin and had been a member of the Presbyterian church for many years before his death. His son, Rev. Levi A. Skinner (father), was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, in which he became a minister in early life. After preaching for several years in Erie county, this State, his voice failed him, and he was thus compelled to retire from the pulpit. He then (July 1, 1854) came to Westfield and succeeded J. N. Hungerford as cashier of the Bank of Westfield, which position he held until 1864, when he became a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Westfield. In October the bank commenced business and he was elected cashier, which position he held until 1875, when he was elected president and served in that capacity until his death, April 12, 1876, at sixty-five years of age. He was a man of moderate means, stood well in financial circles, and married Laura Patterson, a daughter of John Patterson, who was of Scotch-Irish descent.

Edward A. Skinner was reared in Erie county until he was twelve years of age, when he came with his parents to Westfield where he completed his education in the Westfield academy, from which he was graduated. At sixteen years of age he went into the Westfield Bank as book-keeper, remained two years and then was engaged in mercantile business until 1861, when he enlisted in Co. G, 9th N. Y. cavalry, and served as second lieutenant several months. In 1862 he was promoted to first lieutenant and shortly afterwards was commissioned regimental quartermaster, which position he held until March, 1864, acting as brigade quartermaster much of the time. He was then discharged on account of physical disability, returned to Westfield where he became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Westfield, which position he held until 1870, when he helped organize the First National Bank of Ottawa, Kansas, with which he is still identified. He returned from Ottawa in 1874, was elected in 1875 vice-president of the First National bank of Westfield, which position he held until 1886, when at the death of his father he succeeded him as president, and has acted in that capacity ever since. This bank was organized in 1848 as the Bank of Westfield, has a capital of fifty thousand dollars and its deposits average over two hundred thousand dollars. A well established and well conducted bank is a marked feature of progress in any community and the National Bank of Westfield has been so conducted that it has always commanded public confidence.

In 1864 Mr. Skinner married Frances M. Barger, who died in June, 1872. On August 19, 1874, he married Augusta Wheeler, of Portville, New York, who is a daughter of Hon. William F. Wheeler, president of the First National Bank of Olean, this State. By his second marriage he has three children: Flora, Egbert and Frances.

Edward A. Skinner is a republican in politics and was supervisor of Westfield several years. He has served since 1880 as treasurer of the Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, and disburses nearly three million dollars per year of the funds of that organization which numbers over one hundred thousand members in the United States and Canada.

For photos and more information, see here.

Henry C. Kingsbury, a successful lawyer of Westfield who has been in active practice in the courts of the county for nearly thirty-three years, was born at Homer, Cortland county, New York, November 6, 1830, and is a son of William and Hilpah (Winchell) Kingsbury. His grandfathers, William Kingsbury and Rensalear Winchell, were natives of Connecticut. His father, William Kingsbury, was born in "the land of steady habits" during the latter part of the eighteenth century, served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and removed from his native State to Cortland county, New York, in the year 1817.

Henry C. Kingsbury grew to manhood at Homer where he attended the public schools for several years. He then entered Hamilton college from which he was graduated in 1849. Immediately after graduation he commenced the study of law with William Northup of Homer, read two years and was admitted to practice in the Supreme court of New York in 1851, at twenty-one years of age. Two years later he removed to Sherman where he practiced his profession successfully until 1859, when he came to Westfield and soon built up a good practice in the courts of Chautauqua county, which he has gradually increased from year to year. He is a democrat in politics. Though for that reason debarred from political office, his fellow citizens have honored him--with many non-partisan positions, and for twenty years he has been president of the Board of Education. He owns nearly four hundred acres of good farming and grazing land, a part of which is well adapted to grapes and small fruits.

On September 3, 1855, he united in marriage with Mary A. La Due, daughter of Joshua La Due, a native of Auburn, New York, who held several important offices in the town of Sherman, Westfield and Portland, and died in 1865, aged seventy-one years. To Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury have been born five children, three sons and two daughters: Carlton, who read law, was admitted to the bar and is practicing with his father; Edward P., a lawyer of Ogdensburg, New York; Clara K., wife of James L. Weeks, an attorney-at-law of Jamestown; Julia H., and Henry C., Jr.

pp. 265-6
Lucius Lombard. Among those who have experienced the excitement of speculating in oil, enjoyed the steady income of a judiciously managed general mercantile business, and then, preferring the quiet and peaceful life of an independent farmer, returned to the scenes of his early manhood, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. Lucius Lombard was born in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, July 21, 1831. His parents, Daniel and Nancy (Ransom) Lombard, were what is known as New England Yankees. Thomas Lombard was his paternal grandfather and lived at Brimfield, Hampden county, Massachusetts. Leaving the place of his nativity about the beginning of the present century he moved to Madison county, this State, where he died in 1815. The subsistence of himself and family was gained by farming. Thomas Lombard served his country in the struggle for Independence, and rejoiced with his countrymen in their success. He married first Eunice Bacon, who died, leaving five children, and after her death he married Anna Shaw, of Brimfield, Massachusetts, by whom he had four children, Daniel Lombard (father) being the eldest. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Ransom, was a native of Otsego county, where he spent his life farming. He married Sarah Temple and reared eight children. Daniel Lombard was born in Massachusetts in 1794. When his father removed to Madison county he accompanied him. In 1828 he and his brother Lucius continued the westward journey until they reached the town of Ripley, where they settled on lots Nos. 34 and 35. Some years later the latter moved into Westfield, where he died, in 1874. Daniel Lombard continued his residence on his original location until death, in 1884. He owned at the time about three hundred and seventy-five acres of land. He married Nancy Ransom, and had four children: Lucius, Mary, who married Rev. G. W. Moore, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, at Minneapolis, Minn.; Dwight married Catherine Osterman, and is farming in this town, and Sarah, widow of Henry W. Dickson, now lives in Tioga county, Pa.

Lucius Lombard was reared at Ripley, and received such an education at the common schools as fitted him for a good business man. He stuck to the farm until thirty years of age, and then went down into the oil country and passed through the vicissitudes of an oil man's life for one year. The succeeding four years were spent in the general store business at Ripley, which furnished less excitement but was more stable. Then two years more were passed in the oil country, followed by a return to Ripley and a repetition of mercantile life, but the year succeeding the Nation's Centennial celebration he came to the farm on which he still resides, and owns one hundred and twenty-two acres, twenty of it being a well-kept vineyard.

On December 27, 1865, he united in marriage with Helen Hall, a daughter of David Hall. They have three children: Catherine, wife of Winfield A. Holcomb, the school commissioner of Chautauqua county; Grace; and Alice. Mrs. Lombard was called away in 1890. Her kindly disposition and domestic virtues made her loss felt and deeply mourned by many friends.

Lucius Lombard stands high in his community, and, while not an ambitious politician, is, nevertheless, a good democrat upon whom many of his party rely.

pp. 617-8
Emmett T. Kingsley, a resident of Ripley, New York, is a son of Albert and Anna (Meade) Kingsley and was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1842. His ancestors were of New England birth and trace back their earliest authentic history to the landing of the Mayflower. Grandfather James Kingsley first emigrated from New England to Washington county, New York, and later to the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county. He was a whig politically, pursued farming and was married to a Miss Jenkins, who bore him a large family. Grandfather Meade was one of the earliest settlers of Washington county, Pennsylvania. Albert Kingsley, father of Emmett T., was born in Washington county, New York, in 1804 and learned the trade of mill-wright. Upon coming to Chautauqua county, he built a mill at Fredonia, one of the first in the county. He removed to the State of Indiana, where he owned four hundred acres of land in the immediate vicinity of La Porte, and on which a portion of the city of La Porte now stands, but was compelled to leave on account of climatic conditions. He died in Ripley, May 2, 1875. His union with Miss Anna Meade resulted in the birth of three children, two sons and one daughter: Louisa, living with subject; Marvin W. (married to Miss Nellie French of Cleveland, Ohio), assistant engineer of the Cleveland water-works, formerly a civil engineer on the Canada Southern railroad; and Emmett T.

Emmett T. Kingsley was educated in the common schools and academy, learned the business of telegraphy and since 1869 has been more or less engaged in that calling. He is at present relief agent of the eastern division of the L.S. & M.S. R. R., and besides this, deals in coal, tile and brick, with headquarters at Ripley. Mr. Kingsley also owns a grape farm of about twenty-five acres, eight acres of which are now producing vines. He is democratic in politics and has been a member of the school board a number of terms. For over twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic Lodge at Westfield.

Emmett T. Kingsley was united in marriage on June 3, 1873, to Harriet Cosgrove, a daughter of John Cosgrove of the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, and is the father of three children: Marvin W., Alfred C. and Florence.

pp. 429-30
Joel Colvin. The late Joel Colvin was a highly respected citizen and a prosperous farmer of Ripley. He was born in Danby, Vermont, January 29, 1814, and was a son of Benajah and Ruth (Irish) Colvin. The great-grandfather of Joel Colvin was Luther Colvin, who was born in Rhode Island about the middle of the eighteenth century. He moved to Danby, Vermont, in 1765, and was the fourth settler in that section. There were no broken roads then, but the way was marked by niches being cut in the trees and it was by this means he accomplished the journey. Upon his arrival there he constructed a cabin of logs in a hasty manner, and the winter coming on much suffering and hardship was endured. Pioneer life in the wilds of Vermont during winter was about the most severe that man could experience and survive, but his vigorous body and hardy constitution stood him in good stead until more comfortable quarters could be provided. The most trouble was the wolves that killed and carried off the sheep. To prevent this constant vigilance was necessary, and a strong pen was provided to protect them at night.

Mr. Colvin stood high in the estimation of his friends and acquaintances, and was possessed of the strictest integrity. He married, and reared seven children, three sons and four daughters. Stephen Colvin was the grandfather of our subject. He was born in Danby, and married Mary Merrithew, when he settled on his father's homestead and reared a family of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. He died in 1804. Benajah Colvin was born in Danby in 1787, and as he developed, showed a fine and sturdy physique and a strong and stable character. He was a successful man, and by careful management and good judgment amassed a competence. He was killed in 1867, when eighty years of age, while felling a tree in the woods. He married Ruth Irish, and had four children, three sons and one daughter. His first wife died, and he then married Hannah Palmer, who bore him one daughter.

Joel Colvin was educated in the public schools, and reared at Danby, Vermont. That he understood theoretical, as well as practical farming, is shown by the competence he had accumulated when the grim reaper took him away on March 15, 1882. In 1869 he bought the fine property in Ripley where his widow now resides.

On September 25, 1835, he married Almira Staples, a daughter of Ellery Staples, and they had five children: Charles, married Mary Green, and lives in Vermont; Ahira, first married Hannah Kirk, and for his second wife took Mary Wisner. He is in the grape-growing business; Albert N., married to Luella Cheney, is now a farmer in Ripley; James, married Sarah Hardinger, now dead, lives in Ripley with his mother; and Lizzie, wife of Charles Brown, a butcher at Ripley.

Politically Mr. Colvin was a republican, but his gentle disposition and retiring nature much preferred the quiet of his home and the company of his family, to the bustle and deceit of politics and the hilarious companions which often accompany it, so that he never entered political life. He passed away mourned and regretted by his family and a large circle of friends.

pp. 513-514
Noah W. Gokey, one of the most prominent of Jamestown's opulent manufacturers, is a son of Joseph and Rosetta (Berosia) Gokey, and was born March 30, 1833, in St. Lawrence county, New York. Grandfather Berosia was a resident of St. Lawrence county, New York. Joseph Gokey married Rosetta Berosia, and had nine children.

Noah W. Gokey was educated in the public schools of Oswego, New York, and learned the trade of a shoemaker, which he followed at that place for one year, and then went to Rathboneville, Steuben county, and worked for fourteen years. From there he went to Addison, and remained twelve years longer, and then, in 1877, came to Jamestown. The last five years spent in Addison was in the manufacture of boots and shoes, and when he came to this city, he brought his skilled employees, numbering one hundred and twenty, along. He rented a building and started his works here. In 1881 he built the fine large six-story building, thirty-six by one hundred and twenty feet, now his business home, at the corner of Third and Cherry Streets. They manufacture all kinds of footwear from the finest ladies' slipper to the coarsest man's boot, and employ about two hundred hands, and keep seven traveling men in this territory, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan. Mr. Gokey is also the owner of the beautiful post-office block, and other valuable real estate in this city. He built the fine brick residence where he now resides, located on the corner of Lake View and Eighth Streets, and it is said to be the most expensive and desirably located home in Chautauqua county. Politically Mr. Gokey is a republican, and one of the staunchest supporters of protection. While an active supporter of principles, he is not a politician, and has never aspired to office. While at Rathboneville he was postmaster for four years, but resigned at the end of that period. He attends the Methodist church, and is one of the most liberal contributors to its maintenance.

Noah W. Gokey married Anna Monroe, who was a daughter of Nehemiah Monroe, and they have three children: William M., married to Hattie A. Marvin, of Jamestown, New York. She is a daughter of Judge Marvin; Clara and George F. Mr. Gokey is a self-made man, who has risen to his present prominence and affluence through superior ability, and in thoroughly understanding his trade. He is a pleasant, affable gentleman, easily approached, and for one with the business responsibilities resting upon his shoulders, which he has, looks remarkably young.

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