[GenWeb] [Vital records] [Extracts]

Vital Records Extracted from the Yates County Chronicle

Editor: Stafford C. Cleveland

May - August 1872

2 May 1872

George Ewbanks died at Dundee, Apr. 21, 1872, aged about 63 years. His was an eventful life. He was born in Albemarle county, in the State of Virginia; a slave, and continued in slavery until about the year 1859, when, having been hired out by his owner, one Wells, to labor on a railroad he escaped, and leaving his native State came to this place, where he remained until his death. When he left Virginia he had a wife and several children, all of whom are now dead except one daughter. Shortly after the war of the Rebellion broke out, the owner of George’s wife sold her at Richmond and she was sent with other slaves to Georgia. His only surviving child and daughter remained in Albemarle county until about 1866, when George found means to bring her and his two sons to this place….His wife found out where he was and communicated to George where she was, and George sent for her to meet him, which she did at Washington, D.C., in 1868 or 1869, and he brought  her to Dundee with him where she now is. Before he left Virginia his name was Arthur Wells….

Died at Dundee on Sunday, April 24, Mrs. Elizabeth Murdock, widow of Newell F. Murdock, late of Dundee, at the age of seventy-five years. The deceased was born in 1797 at Nelson, Madison county, N.Y. She was Elizabeth Peak, and married at about eighteen. Her husband was a shoemaker….They lived a few years at McLean, Madison county….In 1832 they moved to Dundee, where he bought out the stock of Myron Hamlin…and became a man of wealth….He was still a merchant, selling hardware, at the time of his death in 1862 at the age of seventy-one….Their children were Rawson H., Marvin T., Lucien C., Merritt, Sally Ann, Aaron and Hiram….

Cornelius S. Underwood, Clerk of the State Assembly, died at Albany on Tuesday.

Senator Jacob Hardenburg of the fourteenth district, embracing the counties of Ulster and Greene, died at Congress Hall, Albany, on Monday at the age of forty-nine years….

Four children were poisoned at Weelsville last Sunday, by eating wild parsnips. They were two sons of F.M. Jansen, Cora Wheeler, aged five years, and George, son of Jack Wickham, who formerly resided in this village. Frank Jansen, aged fifteen, died, but the other children were saved.

Died at Rock Stream, April 28, William H. Chambers, aged upwards of seventy years. The deceased was a son of Samuel Chambers and Hannah VanZant his wife. The mother Hannah was a daughter of Bernardus VanZant of Ovid. Old Mr. And Mrs. Chambers were native Pennsylvanians, and came in 1802 to the Lake country to dwell, settling first on Phillips’ Location, moving thence to a place on Owen’s Patent, and later to a farm on McKnight’s Location just east of the Gore, about two miles south west of Eddytown, where “Uncle Sammy Chambers” died in 1832. William H. Chambers was the eldest of a family consisting of himself, Christopher, Eleanor, Thomas, Barna, James, Delilah, Lydia Lucinda, Hannah and Jedediah, all well known to the early residents of Starkey. He married in 1819 Polly, daughter of Andrew Edgerton of Rock Stream, who was born in 1803 and died many years ago childless. He has always lived in Starkey, and latterly with his late wife’s maiden sister, Harriet Edgerton, on the old Edgerton homestead at Rock Stream….

Died of brain fever, in Potter, on Friday April 5^th, William, son of Henry Ketterer and Saloma Koehler his wife, at the age of eighteen years, nine months and twenty-two days….The grand parents of this young man on both the paternal and maternal side came from eastern France in 1830, and settled in Potter….

Mr. Jacob Cooper, an old settler of South Hill, Middlesex, who has been feeble for some time, died Sunday morning April 14^th, at 4 o’clock, age 80 years. He leaves a large and respectable family, who have the sympathy of a large circle of friends.—Naples Record

Chauncey W. Smith, brother to Judge Caleb Smith, whose death at Geneva we chronicled a few weeks since, died at his residence in Hector on Friday, the 19^th inst. Deceased was nearly 80 years of age…--Watkins Express

Died

• In Torrey, March 17, 1872, of enlargement of the heart, Willie H. Nutt, oldest son of Oscar F. Nutt, at the age of fifteen years.
• In Barrington on the 8^th inst., Metastasis or transferring of rheumatism to the heart, Miss Ada Ovenshire, daughter of Mr. John Ovenshire, aged almost 18 years.

9 May 1872

Died at Big Thompson, Colorado, April 27, 1872, Mrs. Mary E., wife of Dr. J.M. Waddell, late of this village, at the age of twenty-seven years. Mrs. Waddell was born at Caledonia, Mo., and married Dr. Waddell in 1863….She leaves two children….

Died in this village on the 26^th ult., of pneumonia, Mr. Robert Ferrier, aged 69 years. He was a native of Orange county, where he remained until 1832, when he came to this town, and with his brother Thomas purchased a farm lately sold to Clark Bell by Mr. Post. In December 1838 he was married here to Miss Emily Tobey, who survives him….—Dundee Record

On Friday morning, the 25^th ult., a farm house owned by Geo. H. Harmon, in the town of Gorham, situated in the middle road leading to Rushville, was discovered to be on fire, and soon thereafter burned to the ground. Miss Susan Tufts, a sister of the late Thomas Tufts, deceased, occupied a room on the second floor, and was consumed in the flames….She was between sixty and seventy years old.—Canandaigua Times

Died at his residence, one mile west of this village, on Tuesday, April 16^th, 1872, William Wilcox, aged 82 years. [He] has been a resident of Prattsburg since 1819, coming from an eastern county of this State….—Prattsburg Advertiser

16 May 1872

Died at his home on Bluff Point, Jerusalem, on Sunday evening, May 12^th, John C. Fitzwater, at the age of sixty-six years….He was the oldest of the children of John Fitzwater and a grandson of George Fitzwater, Sr., one of the pioneers near Himrods. His mother was Peace, daughter of Jonathan Botsford. The children of John Fitzwater and Peace his wife were John C., Abigail, David, Achsa, George, Sarah, and Elijah. John C., the subject of this notice, was born in 1806 and married Jane Irwin of Milo. They have lived many years on Bluff Point and their children are David, Firman, Peace R., Charles H., and John. David, the brother of John C. Fitzwater, died a few weeks ago at his residence near Italy Hill, and his decease was much lamented in the community where he lived. Abigail is the wife of Oliver R. Hall and Sarah is the wife of Nathaniel Keech. Elijah and George are the only survivors among the sons.

Died in Benton, May 7^th, after an illness of nine weeks of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, John N. Underwood, son of Horace Underwood and Rachael R., at the age of twenty years….

Died at the family residence in the city of New York, Henry M. Williams, oldest son of Hon. Richard H. and Phebe R. Williams, late of Potter, on Friday, may 10, 1872. He was born at Potter, Dec. 22, 1838, and was in his thirty-fourth year….

Died in St. Louis, Colorado (Big Thompson), April 27^th, Mrs. Mary E., wife of Dr. J. M.Waddell, aged 27 years and 27 days…. Mrs. Waddell was born at Caledonia, Mo., and was the daughter of S.A. Reyburn, a prominent citizen of Belleview, Mo….—Evans (Colorado) Journal

23 May 1872

John Greeley died at Londonderry on the 16^th inst., aged 88 years, 5 months and 5 days. He was the last survivor of fifteen children born to Zacheus and Esther (Senter) Greeley. His father died in his house some twenty years ago aged 94. His last surviving brother, Zacheus (father of Horace) Greeley, died at Wayne, Erie Co., Penn., Dec. 18, 1868. Aged 86. …--Tribune

Robert Ferrier died in this village on the 26^th of April, of Typhoid Pneumonia. He had reached almost his three score and ten….Mr. Ferrier removed from Orange county to this place in 1832. He and his brother owned the farm recently sold by Mr. Post to Clark Bell; but about 1835 he removed into the house in which he died, and entered upon business in the Iron Foundry adjoining. In 1837, Mr. Ferrier was married to Miss Emily Tobey, who survives him. He leaves a daughter, the wife of Wm. S. Booth, Esq., of this place….—Dundee Telegraph

Died

• In Dundee, on Oct. 31^st last, of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Ferrier, Mrs. Phebe Tobey, in the 80^th year of her age.

30 May 1872

Died at St. Charles, Illinois, May 3d, 1872, at the age of eighty-three years.—William Plummer was a son of George Plummer and Hannah McMurtree his wife. In 1807 when he was eighteen years old his father settled in what is now Starkey, half a mile west of Eddytown, on section 13 of Watson’s purchase. The father and mother were highly respectable persons, and died quite aged after accumulating a large estate. Their children were William, Elizabeth, Jane, Nancy and Mary. Elizabeth married Richard Sovereign and moved to Illinois. Their daughter Mary A. is a resident of Starkey. Jane was the wife of Thomas Clark, Jr., whose mother was a sister of Rachel and Margaret Malin. They moved after many years residence in Starkey to Illinois. Nancy married David Smith and Mary is the wife of Lewis Beam. William, born in 1789, the oldest of the family and the only son, married Delilah, daughter of Thomas Fitzsimmons, and lived in Starkey, near Eddytown, until well advanced in years. …His children were George, Thomas, Susan, Hannah, John, Abraham, Oliver, Mary and Harry T. George married a daughter of David B. Bartholomew. They live at St. Charles, Ill., and have a daughter, Mary A. Thomas was drowned at fifteen in Seneca Lake. Susan married Thomas Ross. They reside at Elgin, Ill., and their children are Mary, Joseph and Myron. Hannah became the wife of Daniel Cook. They reside in California and their children are Delilah and Owen.—John married Caroline, daughter of David B. Bartholomew. They reside in California, and their children are David and Josephine. Abraham and Oliver are residents of California where they have families. Mary married Isaac Babcock and lives in Wisconsin. Harry T. is married and resides in Illinois. William Plummer in the vigor of his manhood was a tall commanding figure….The longevity of himself and his father proves that he belonged to a vigorous lineage. They were both natives of New Jersey.

It is our painful duty to record another melancholy casualty connected with our beautiful lake. William H. Townsend, son of John Townsend of Jerusalem, was drowned near Bluff Point on Sunday afternoon. … He was the only child and chief hope of his parents….A few months ago he married the only daughter and only child of John Merritt, who is thus so sadly and suddenly left a widow.

Died of jaundice at his residence in Torrey, on Wednesday, May 22, 1872, Darius Baker, at the age of fifty-three years. [He] was a prominent and highly respectable citizen. He was a son of Gilbert Baker, one of the pioneers of Milo, near and west of Himrods, and a brother of Jonathan G. and Gilbert D. Baker….

Died at Himrods on Monday, May 27^th, Mrs. Mary Ellis, widow of Amos Ellis, at the age of eighty-two years.

Died in Tyrone on the 11^th inst…Mr. Michael Jordan in the 86^th year of his age. He was a native of Cherry Valley, where he remained till about 26 years old when, with his family he emigrated to the then far off Lake country, where he purchased the farm on which he died….He and his wife were the parents of 12 children, three sons and nine daughters, five of the daughters are dead, and his wife sickened and died twenty years ago….Mr. J.M. Jordan and Mrs. George Stanton are his children….—Dundee Record

6 June 1872

Died in Potter, may 26^th, 1872, of paralysis, Mrs. Lucinda Decker. [She] was the eldest daughter of Wm. L. Hobart, born June 5^th, 1806; and married for her first husband Franklin Thomas. He died, leaving her a widow with two children. She married for her second husband Henry Decker, and by the latter marriage was born one daughter. … COM.

The Dundee Record notices at length the decease of Mrs. Mary Carpenter, widow of Jacob Y. Carpenter, May 25 at the age of seventy-one. The Record says, “she was the mother of four sons and six daughters, who grew up to manhood,” (guess not). She had been forty years a member of the Baptist Church at Dundee, and fifty-three years a resident of the town. One of her sons was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, and two of her daughters are engaged at the Juvenile Asylum, Washington Heights, New York City, one as matron, the other as a teacher.

Mr. And Mrs. Alphonso Dickinson of this village have lost their last child, their beautiful and lovely daughter Alice, aged 18 years. She died on Friday night last….Her remains were followed to Bellona and buried by the side of her brother and sister, in the cemetery near Mr. Dickinson’s former home….—Penn Yan Democrat

Died

• In Torrey, May 17, 1872, Mrs. Mary M. Ross, wife of John W. Ross, aged 52 years.

13 June 1872

Isaac Platt, who was forty-four years an editor, and long distinguished as editor of the Poughkeepsie Eagle, died last week at about seventy years of age.

Mrs. Lucy P. Sayre, widow of the late Coe B. Sayre of Romulus, Seneca county, died in Varick a week ago Thursday, aged 75 years. She formerly resided in Penn Yan, and was one of the five pioneer members of the Presbyterian church here, who helped organize that body.

Died

• In Milo on the evening of June 7^th, J. Spencer, only child of John and Lizzie Spencer Swarthout, aged two months and seven days….
• In the town of Scipio, Seneca county, Ohio, May 31^st, 1872, John W. Eastman, in the 74^th year of his age. For many years a resident of this county.

20 June 1872

Married on the 18^th inst., by Rev. G.M. Peters, Charles S. Eastman and Mary E. Gould, all of this place…..

Married

• At the home of the bride in Eddytown, June 5, 1872, by Rev. Austin Craig, Mr. A. M. Sutton of Reading Center and Miss Clara L. Elliott, daughter of S. D. Elliott.

Died

• In Starkey, on the 6^th inst., of dropsy, Mrs. Elizabeth Losey, in the 66^th year of her age.

27 June 1872

Thomas D. Burrall, aged 66 years, one of the first trustees of the old Geneva Academy, now Hobart College, and a leading and influential member of the Episcopal Church in Western New York, died at his residence in Geneva yesterday morning. His funeral will take place will take place on Wednesday, the 26^th inst., at 3 p.m.

Died in Penn Yan on the 7^th inst., Mary Kidder, aged 90 years, 1 mo. And 7 days. She was the wife of the late Dr. N. L. Kidder, of Benton. She was born at New Milford, Ct., and was brought by her parents, Asahel and Anna Stone, to the first settlement in this county in 1789. They settled on the west shore of Seneca lake, near City Hill….—Penn Yan Democrat

4 July 1872

It is with feelings of more than ordinary sorrow that we announce the death of our friend and fellow-citizen, David H. Buell….[He] was born September 3d, 1793, on the farm where he has passed his life time and where he died on the 28^th of June, 1872, in the 77^th year of his age….

Frances A., wife of James W. Sinsebox, and daughter of Henry and Caroline Carley, died in Pulteney June 18, 1872, aged 31 years. …She leaves, besides other relatives, a sorrowing companion and four little children…. Pulteney, June 25^th, 1872.                     N.N. Beers

Miss Clara Jillett, aunt of J.S. Jillett, died at her residence in this village on Friday morning last, aged 70 years….

11 July 1872

Ira Gould, Esq., a well known merchant of this place some forty-five years ago, recently died suddenly at Montreal, Canada, at an  advanced age. Mr. G. was a man of great eminence of character, and when here, a devoted christian.

Died on the morning of July 4^th, in the sixty-second year of his age, Mr. D.S. Casement. The deceased had been a cutter for a year or more in Hollister’s clothing establishment. He was a manxman, or native of the Isle of Man….Five or six months ago he married, to the great increase as he regarded it, of his comfort.—Dundee Telegraph

Died

• In Milo, June 16, 1872, Miss Ella, daughter of Joel Wortman, aged 17 years….
• Suddenly in Washington, D.C., on the morning of July 5^th, Mrs. M.W. Williams, mother of Mrs. Peter K. Deyo.

18 July 1872

Amos D. Fox died in Italy on Saturday the 13^th inst., at the age of fifty-seven. He was an elder brother of Alden D. Fox, Esq., late County Clerk, and a farmer in the town of his nativity.—He leaves a widow and four children by a former marriage.

Rev. C. N. Chandler, formerly of this city, is again sorely bereaved in the loss of his son Charles, who died in Baltimore on Tuesday, July 9^th. Young Chandler was about twenty-four years of age. Mr. Chandler a few years ago lost a lovely daughter, and last winter was called upon to mourn the death of his wife, a most estimable woman.—Elmira Gazette

Ira Gould, formerly a prominent resident of Penn Yan, Bath and Elmira, died at Montreal June 10. He had resided there for twenty-five years and made a fortune in milling and in the grain business. During the war he offered to loan the U.S. Government one million of dollars in drafts on England. He was a man of rare business capacity and enterprise, liberal in his charities, zealous in carrying forward all moral or religious measures that seemed to be practicable for the benefit of mankind.—Corning Journal

25 July 1872

Mrs. Polly Fargo died at Batavia, on the third day of May last, at the age of one hundred years, lacking two months. She was the widow of a brother of Dr. Calvin Fargo, well known in the early history of Yates county.

A sad railway accident occurred near Pittsford, a few miles east of Rochester on Friday last, by which four persons were killed and several others badly injured.—Among those seriously injured was Dr. F.C. Hawley of Canandaigua, a brother of Dr. W.H. Hawley of this village. The accident occurred by a coal train getting behind its time by one minute, when an express train dashed upon it around a curve, causing a terrific collision.

Mrs. Mary Smith, who died in Ovid a few days since, was supposed to be the oldest native of the town then living, she having been born there on the 9^th day of Sept., 1794. Her father, the late Thomas Covert, was a soldier of the Revolution, and came from New Jersey about 1792, having followed the trail of Sullivan’s army.

8 August 1872

Douglas Ellsworth Smith, the infant son of Franklin E. Smith, Esq., aged one year and twenty days, died at the family residence Tuesday at 4 o’clock a.m….

Died in Middlesex July 16^th 1872, Mary C., wife of John O. Conley and 2d daughter of John F. Hobart of Potter, aged 33 years. The deceased was born in Potter [in] 1839 and resided there until 1865, when she was married and removed to Benton, residing there until the spring of 1867, when she removed to Middlesex, on the farm known as the Richard Williams farm, where she remained until her death….She leaves a husband and four children….

15 August 1872

Mr. Jesse Eaton died in Barrington of paralysis on the 3d inst., and the age of fifty-three years.

James Craft, who for a few months in about the year 1837 published the Geneva Courier, but for upwards of thirty years past carried on a job printing office in New York city, died at Woodbridge, N.J., July 26. His remains were conveyed to Penn Yan for interment….—Geneva Gazette

22 August 1872

Died at his residence in Mason, Ingham county, Michigan, on Wednesday, August 14^th, Mr. Archibald O. Millspaugh, at the age of 56 years and eleven months. Mr. Millspaugh was a former resident of Yates county, having moved from here a number of years ago….

Died at Groton, Tompkins county, on Monday the 19^th inst., Mrs. Phebe Lyon, widow of the late Benjamin Lyon of this village, at the age of seventy-six years and four months. Mrs. Lyon was a native of Saratoga county, and was the daughter of Tristram Deuel, a soldier of the Revolution, who fought at Saratoga and the battle of Brandywine. She married at twenty-four Benjamin Lyon, who died in January, 1871, and was the mother of three children that reached adult age.—They resided in Penn Yan nearly half a century. A daughter Angeline was the first wife of Benjamin L. Hoyt, Esq. Another daughter resides in California, the wife of Richard Pesy. The third is Mr. Alonzo T. Lyon, editor of the Groton Journal. It was at his house the mother died and her remains were brought here for burial….

Died at Tide---, Pa., Aug 12^th, 1872, of Cholera Morbus, Ephraim C. Miller in the 66^th year of his age, a former resident of this village.

29 August 1872

Myron C. Morse, son-in-law of Reuben L. Corey, died in this village on Sunday evening last, at the age of thirty-two.

Lester Bradner of Dansville, a distinguished business man of that locality, died recently at Buffalo at the age of eighty-two years.

We are pained to learn as we do by the Seneca Falls papers, the recent death of Joseph D. Hockness, a young man of much promise and the son of our old friend George Hockness, Esq. He died at Baltimore whither he had gone to enter upon business….

Hon. Oliver Phelps died at Canandaigua, on the 13^th inst., at the age of seventy-six years. Judge Phelps was a grandson of Oliver Phelps, the associate of Nathaniel Gorham in the purchase of six millions of acres of land west of the Seneca Lake, known thereafter as Phelps and Gorham’s purchase. Oliver Leicester Phelps, the son of the senior Phelps, died at an early day, and the grandson had the settlement of a large and complicated estate. One year he represented Ontario county in the Assembly, and during four years he was first Judge of the County. He was a public spirited citizen, and did much to advance all local interests. His death was the last of a family of seven, of whom he was the oldest.

Mr. James P. Faurot, a former resident of Canandaigua, was accidentally shot at Gaines, Mich., on the 15^th. …

A man named Ennis of this place was killed, a few days since, in the Pennsylvania Oil regions, by the bursting of a boiler. Mr. Charles Hewins brought his remains to Penn Yan for interment.—Democrat

Mrs. Ruby Whitman of Middlesex died with dropsy Aug. 16, aged 60 years…--Naples Record

Died

• In this village, August 20^th, 1872, Flora C., infant daughter of Dudley and Jennie Olney of Ypsilanti, Mich., aged 4 months and 3 days.
• At Hudson, Columbia county, July 24^th, Charles H. Casey, son of the late Jesse D., and Betsy Casey of Potter, at the age of 52 years and 10 months.