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JAMES DAVIDGE, superintendent
of the Berkshire tannery of the United States Leather Company, was born October 18, 1840, at Liberty, Sullivan
county, New York. He is a son of the late John and Eunice (Burr) Davidge. James was educated in the Normal institute
at Liberty, graduating there in 1858. He entered his father's tannery at Lake Como, Pa., and remained at that place
until 1865 when he entered the firm of Davidge, Horton & Company, and purchased the tannery owned by T. C.
Bidwell & Company at Berkshire, N. Y. In 1893 the company was with others merged in the United States leather
company. Mr. Davidge, a stockholder in this concern, was elected superintendent of the Berkshire tannery. He is
vice-president of the Owego National batik and interested in several manufactories. Mr. Davidge is a large holder
of wild lands in Wyoming county, Pa., in Braxton county, West Virginia, and in the western part of North Carolina.
On January 19, 1864, he was married with Rosalia Miller, daughter of John and Sophronia (Gay) Miller, of Uniondale,
Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Davidge have three children Carrie, Bessie G. and John M. In the spring of 1894, Mr. Davidge removed
with his family to Binghamton N. Y., where they now reside.
DAVID WILLIAMS PATTERSON was born
July 15, 1824, and died November 18, 1892. He was born in Union, Broome county, and died in Newark Valley. He was
a son of Hon. Chester Patterson, a native of Richmond, Mass. His grandfather, Amos Patterson, was one of the original
"Boston purchasers," and went to Broome county in 1786 with Colonel Pixley and Captain John Raymond to
select the ground. The Patterson family followed in February, 1793. Chester Patterson was sheriff of Broome county.
1809-12 and also represented the state legislature in 1819-21 and was a presidential elector in 1824. Chester moved
to Newark Valley in 1839, where he died September 22, 1857. The ancestry of the Patterson family on both sides
is traced back to and before the Mayflower days. Dr. Patterson received a common schOol education and studied dentistry
at Rochester, and commenced its practice at West Winsted, Oonn., in 1846. He married June 8, 1853, Helen Maria,
daughter of Otis and Sarah (Slosson) Lincoln, of Newark Valley. There are four children: Anna, Lincoln Elliott,
Sterling Woodford and Ralph Thacher. Dr. Patterson returned to Newark in 1865, abandoned dentistry and devoted
himself to the study of American genealogy. He compiled thirty complete family genealogies besides innumerable
works of lesser importance. Of these the most important are the Whitney family genealogy upon which he was engaged
seven years, and the history of the Boston purchase, unpublished and now in possession of the Connecticut Historical
society. "During the past forty years there has been no genealogist in America whose work stands so absolutely
unquestioned. He was considered final authority on expert genealogy."
DR. WILLIAM ANNAN SUTTON was the
first resident physician in Newark Valley. He was born in Mansfield, Burlington county, New Jersey, February 10,
1802, and received his medical education in the university of New York and commenced the practice of medicine in
Newark Valley about the year 1824. He was appointed surgeon of the 53d regiment of infantry July 13, 1826, by Governor
DeWitt Clinton. Dr. Sutton was a son of Judge John Sutton, a pioneer of Tompkins county (then Seneca county), who
settled in the town of Ulysses about the year 1803. Judge Sutton represented Seneca county in the assembly of 1818
and was active in procuring the erection of Tompkins county in that year, which county was made up of parts of
Oayuga and Seneca counties, and he represented Tompkins county in the assembly of 1819. The mother of Dr. Sutton
was Sarah Schuyler, daughter of Aaron and Ann (Wright) Schuyler, and a lineal descendant of the Albany family of
that name. Dr. Sutton in politics was a democrat, and in 1836 was elected assemblyman from Tioga county. He married
Lucy Ann Higbe, a descendant of John Howland of Plymouth colony, and died February 12, 1837. She died September
3, 1881. Two children were born to them: George Byron, October 12, 1833; William Annan, Jr., July 8, 1837, a musician
and a young man of much promise. He died February 17, 1856.
GEORGE BYRON SUTTON still owns
and occupies the homestead of his mother's family, which has been held in the family for nearly a century. He is
a painter of landscapes and animals, and. a naturalist, who has made a life study of birds, and has one of the
finest private collections of birds in the country. He is an associate member of the American Ornithologists' union,
and is at present engaged on a unique combination of pictorial and dermoplastic art, "The Woadpecker Congress,"
an artificial and broken tree-trunk, upon which are mounted all the woodpeckers of North America, of both sexes,
numbering about seventy-five, backed by a painting of an American forest 9x11 feet. This work is intended for the
museum of Cornell university.
WILLIAN J. BURR, M. D., son of
Andrew and Mary (Cleveland) Burr, was born March 28, 1818, in Homer, N. Y. He was educated at the academy at Homer
and read medicine with Dr. Webster and Dr. George W. Bradford, of Homer, and Drs. George W. Lewis, Georgia, Hawley
and Hovey, of Ithaca. He attended lectures at Geneva and was graduated from that college in 1845. He opened an
office at Speedsville and practiced there until November, 1850, then moved to Rushford, Allegany county, and practiced
there five and one half years. He also taught anatomy and physiology in Rushford academy and was one of the trustees.
He moved from Rushford to Oramel and practiced there five and onehalf years. In 1861 he enlisted in the 76th N.
Y. S. V. as a private, and later acted as an assistant surgeon. In May, 1862, he was commissioned assistant surgeon
of the 59th New York, and in June, 1863, was commissioned surgeon of the 42d New York, and was mustered out with
the regiment July 13, 1864. In 1864 he was put on the operating staff of the 2d division, 2d corps, and in August,
1864, went to the front as acting staff surgeon, where he remained until the close of the war. He then returned
to Newark Valley and has practiced there since. He is a member of the Tioga county medical society, and was one
of the committee to revise the constitution and by-laws, and has been president of the society. August 13, 1845,
he was united in marriage with Jane C. Lincoln, daughter of Otis Lincoln. She died May 5, 1895. He had four children:
William H., who resides at Newark Valley and is a veterinary surgeon; Sarah (wife of E. A. Becker) resides in Buffalo;
George Lincoln, who graduated at Cornell university and is professor there of ancient and medieval history. In
1896 he was appointed examiner for the Venezuelian commission. He also catalogued the library of history of Hon.
Andrew D. White before it was transferred to Cornell university; Ella, wife of 0. 0. Upton, resides near Denver,
Col. Dr. Burr is a member of Newark Valley lodge, F. & A. M. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
CORNELIUS R. ROGERS, M. D., the
son of Daniel and Huldah (Firman) Rogers, was born June 20, 1837, in Windham, Bradford county, Pa. He was educated
at Owego and Binghamton academies, read medicine with Dr. Arnold, of Owego, attended lectures at Bellevue and Geneva
medical colleges, graduating from the latter in 1867. He had charge of the Tioga county-farm and of the insane,
for five years, and commenced practice there in 1867. In 1868 he went to Whitney's Point and was there eight years,
then came to Newark Valley where he lived until 1879. He then moved to Owego and practiced until 1884; when he
returned to Newark Valley. He was coroner six years, was three years president of the board of school commissioners
of Owego, was one of the committee that erected the Owego high-school building, and was health officer of Newark
Valley ten years, and was for two terms the president of the county medical society. He was also an active Free
Mason. He was married September 19, 1861, with Henrietta H. Tracy. Their children are: Mary A., wife of William
E. Simmons ; James T., (see page 594). Mrs. Henrietta Rogers died January 13, 1894, and on October 7, 1896, Dr.
Rogers married Mrs. Libbie Ticknor, widow of George Ticknor. On March 28, 1897, in the midst of an active practice,
and worn out with hard work for others, Dr. Rogers was himself stricken down by pneumonia, and died at his home
in Newark Valley on April 3, 1897.
CHAUNCEY W. CHIDESTER, M. D.,
son of Samuel and Maria (Card) Chidester, was born April 19, 1847, near Apalachin. He was educated at Owego academy
and Mansfield, Pa., normal school, and taught school successfully for nine winters. He read medicine with Dr. G.
W. Beach, of Apalachin, attended lectures at the Long Island medical college, was graduated in February, 1886,
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, and in April, 1886, opened an office at Weltonville, where
he practiced successfully eleven years. In April, 1897, he located at Newark Valley. He is a member of the county
medical society. By his wife Eugenia, daughter of Thomas Stephens, he has oneson, Floyd. Samuel Ohidester, son
of Joseph, came to Vestal, Broome county, from Otisco, his birthplace, in 1840, and bought a farm near Apalachin,
where he lived most of the time until his death in 1886. His wife died in 1884.
EDWARD E. SNYDER, M. D., was born
August 3, 1848, at Newark Valley, a son of William O. and Eliza (Simmons) Snyder. Mr. Snyder, the father, was born
at Sempronius, N. Y., and was of German ancestry. He came to Tioga county, locating at Newark Valley, about 1831
and invested largely in timber lands and became in course of time a well-known mill-owner and manufacturer of lumber,
but later in life he devoted his time to agriculture. Removing still later to Candor, he died there July 23, 1882.
His wife, a daughter of Ezra Simmons, was a New England lady of Puritan stock. She was born at Providence, R. I.,
and died at Candor, December 28, 1883. Dr. Snyder received his rudimentary education by careful home study and
tutoring, supplemented by various schools in Tioga county. He taught school from 1868 to 1870, at the same time
reading medicine with the late Dr. J. F. Dykeman of Candor. He attended medical college at Cincinnati, Ohio, where
he took the first degree, M. D., in 1871, from the Ohio medical college. Becoming interested in the philosophy
and practice of homeopathy, he attended lectures at the Hahnemann medical college at Philadelphia, and graduated
there in 1872. He practiced in Candor for two years and then went to Vienna, Austria, where he took post-graduate
courses of instruction, attending lectures and clinical and laboratory demonstrations, from the university and
hospitals of Vienna. He returned to America after two years, practiced at New Milford, Pa., a short time, and then
went to Binghamton, N. Y. In February, 1880, he established there the large practice which he now enjoys. Dr. Snyder
is a member of the American institute of homeopathy, the New York state homeopathic medical society, the Broome
county homeopathic medical society, the Interstate medical society, and has been a member of the state board of
medical examiners of the state of New York. He is also consulting physician to Glenmary sanitarium at Owego, N.
Y. Dr. Snyder was married with Emma A., a daughter of Edward Smith, of Ostego, N. Y. They have two children. William
C. and Bessie E.
JULIUS S. KINGSLEY was born in
Dundee, N. Y., December 5, 1867. He was educated at the Dundee preparatory school, Genesee Wesleyan seminary, graduating
in five courses, Illinois Wesleyan university and the university of Chicago, receiving the degrees of M. A., Ph.
B., and LL. B. He won honors in college, and was one of the university of Chicago debaters in the annual con test.
He taught in the Dundee preparatory school, the West Chazy high school, Newark Valley academy (1891-2-3). He was
principal of the high school at Covington, Ky., and last fall returned to Newark Valley and accepted the principalship
of the academy. Prof. Kingsley married June 28, 1893, Helen, daughter of John and Harriet (Spaulding) Butler. They
have two children, Margaret, aged three, and Phoebe Lucile, one year old.
FRANCIS M. BISHOP, M. D., son
of Lewis D. Bishop and Samantha J. Livermore Bishop, was born Dec. 16, 1839, in Castle Creek, Broome county, N.
Y. He is a graduate of the Hahnemann mediical college, of Philadelphia. He also took a course of instruction in
the Chicago homeopathic college. He is a member of the New York state medical society, and the Interstate medical
society. He first began the practice of medicine in Newark Valley in 1873, since which time he has had a large
practice. In 1896, he opened a private sanitarium for the treatment of cancer and goitre. The methods he employs
are local applications for the removal of the growth and the indicated internal remedy to correct the abnormal
condition in the blood. Each case receives his personal attention.
RUSSELL S. FELLOWS, son of William
and Nancy Sperry Fellows, was born August 28, 1837, inMaryland, Otsego county, N. Y. He was educated at common
schools, studied dentistry and located in Maine, Broome county, N. Y. He practiced there three years, and, in 1871,
came to Newark Valley where he has since practiced his profession, having a branch office at Schenevus, N. Y.,
until 1876. He is a member of Newark Valley lodge, F. & A. M., and has been its master three years. In 1861
he was united in marriage with Mary E. Smith, and had two children, Caroline, who died when six months old, and
Dorr S., who is station agent at Dryden. The family are members of the Congregational church.
DEWITT A. MILLEN, ESQ., was born
at Lisle, N. Y., on December 5, 1868. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and began practice at Newark Valley in
the same year. In 1896 he was elected a justice of the peace.
GILBERT E. PURPLE, son of James
D. and Jerusha C. (Wilcox) Purple, was born August 27, 1861, at Srnithville, Ohenango county, N. Y. In 1879 he
came to Newark Valley, and the following year entered the office of the Tioga county Herald to learn the printer's
trade, remaining there about two years. He then worked for a year in Elmira, Whitney's Point and Binghamton, returning
to the Herald office in the spring of 1883. In 1884 he purchased of Charles L. Noble an interest in the Herald
office, and for nine years was a half-owner, though for the greater part of that time he had full management of
the office. In 1893 Mr. Purple bought the interest of his partner and has since been sole editor and proprietor.
He has been secretery of the Northern Tioga Agricultural society for ten years, a member of the fire department
since its organization, and is also a member of the school board. On October 27, 1886, he was united in marriage
with Carrie L. Curtis, daughter of the late Isaac Curtis. Children: Jay Curtis and Carl Edward.
THEODORE F. CHAMBERLAIN was born
May 31, 1845, in the town of Newark Valley. His father, Daniel Chamberlain, was born November 6, 1806, in Vermont,
and came to Tioga county in 1850, afterward going west to Iowa, where, it is said, he plowed the first furrow of
land plowed in that state. His wife, Esther Farrand, was born in Newark Valley, on. January 18, 1803, and died
February 11, 1888. Theodore passed his time until twelve years ago upon the farm cleared by his father. He then
moved to. the village of Newark Valley and engaged in merchandising with F. H. Todd, later becoming the sole proprietor
of the business. On December 9, 1868, Mr. Chamberlain was married with M. Eloise, daughter of Ozia J. and Anna
(Fisher) Slosson, of Newark Valley. Their children are Harry B., born October 12, 1869; George S., born April 17,
1877; Theodore E., born September 4, 1879; William D., born May 24, 1882; Robert F., born May 19, 1884, and Helen
E. Chamberlain, born September 6, 1886. Mr. Chamberlain was assessor from 1885 to 1894, when he was elected supervisor
to which office he was re-elected in 1896. Harry B., his oldest son, is serving his second term as town clerk.
DELMAR C. HAND was born on March
17, 1849, in the township of Windom, Bradford county, Pa. When Delmar C. was less than one year old his father,
John Henry Hand, moved to Newark Valley, this county. His father died in 1876 and his mother in 1874. Mr. Hand
married, on September 14, 1870, Lucy, daughter of Abel and Catherine (Snapp) Harvey. They have one child, Mmthe
B., born January 22, 1874. Mr. Hand is a mason and is prominently identified with the Iron hail and Lincoln hook
and ladder company, of which he is secretary. He is also superintendent of the cemetery association.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON, son of Vinton
Richardson, born in 1771 at Attleborough, Mass., belonged to the prominent New England family of that name, and
is of Puritan stock. He married Milly Capron in 1797, and was a cotton manufacturer in Attleborough. In 1819 he
brought his family of wife and nine children to Tioga county in a one-horse wagon (said to have been the first
one in the county) driven by himself, accompanied by a two-horse one holding his household goods. He bought a large
tract of land at West Newark on which were three log houses, all the place contained, and the first church and
the first schoolhouse were both built on his land. Himself and wife were of the first members of the Presbyterian
church, and its ministers were always entertained by them. Wise and influential in the community their memories
are honored. Two of their nine children are living, Hannah (Mrs. George F. Waldo) in Waverly, and Jane (Mrs. Timothy
Reed) in Owego. Mr. Richardson was a farmer here, and lived to the age of 91 years. Of his children, William, a
"forty-niner," died at his home in. Ottawa, Ill.; Elias, in 1855, removed to Illinois, but returned to
Cortland county in 1885 and died in 1893, aged 90; Horace died in 1894 aged 89 in West Newark, his life long home;
Herbert lived his life at West Newark, dying in 1882, aged 71. By his wife, Esther Waldo, he had two children:
Mary (Mrs. A. H. Watkins), and Frederick W. Richardson, now county clerk of this county. William Richardson's daughters
were Fanny (Mrs. Danforth Newman) deceased; Hannah, Jane, Millie (Mrs. Solomon Lawrence) deceased; Nancy (Mrs.
Theodore Jenks), born in West Newark, deceased.
THE ROYS family in Tioga county,
descended from Edwin Roys, who, with his wife, Hannah Underwood, came from Massachusetts in 1844 and located in
the town of Newark Valley. Their children were: Birdsall Case, who died in infancy; Mrs. Phcebe J. Humphrey, of
Great Barrington, Mass.; Mrs. Catharine H. Hayne, of Goshen, Orange county, N. Y. B. Campbell, who died in Binghamton
in 1886; Alpheus B., of Newark Valley; William Morell, of Port Ailegany, Pa.; Mrs. L. M. Smith, of Newark Valley;
Ellen Loraine, who died in infancy; Bernice E., now Mrs. E. E. Chapman, of Newark Valley; Edwin L., of Goshen,
N. Y..
FRANKLIN DAVIS son of John T.
and Mary Polland Davis, was born September 11, 1829, near Manchester, N. H. In December of the same year his parents
moved to Maine, Broome county, N. Y., where Franklin lived until 1870, when he moved to Newark Valley, where he
has since resided. He and his brother Asa and Minor Pier, built a steam saw mill in the northeastern part of this
town, and, after two years, Pier sold his interest and the two brothers carried on the business five years, when
Asa sold his interest and Franklin conducted the business until 1885, then tore the mill down. September 11, 1855,
he was united in marriage with Esther Eliza, daughter of Philip Councilman, who died March 11, 1891. They were
members of the Baptist church, of which Mr. Davis is trustee. They had a family of four children: William E., ArthurE.,
John T. and Albert A., who died in infancy. April 7, 1897, Mr. Davis was again married, to Mrs. Charlotte Spence.
Mr. Davis is a member of Maine lodge, F. & A. M., 399, New Jerusalem chapter of Owego, No. 47. His son William
was born May 20, 1857, in Maine, N. Y. December 28, 1881, he was married with Julia F. Brown. He has two children,
Franklin and Vivian. He is a member of Newark Valley lodge, F. & A. M., and is by occupation a stationary engineer.
In 1882, in company with his brother Arthur, he bought a steam saw mill in Sullivan county, Pa., and was in the
lumber business there eleven years. In April, 1897, they also bought the farm known as the Camp farm, just out
of Owego, and moved there with their families.
PELEG RANDALL, a native of Connecticut,
came to Berkshire so early that there was but one family residing there. After working one year for a Mr.Brown
he purchased a farm of 400 acres, and ever after was an extensive agriculturist of the town, dying in 1856. By
his marriage, with Eunice Kimball, of Connecticut, he had these children: Chester, Nathan P., and Eunice (Mrs.
Nathaniel Boyer). Chester Randall was born in 1808, and married, first, Eliza Whittaker. His second wife was Hannah
Smith. His children were Anna E. (Mrs. M. A. Lawrence), Oscar S., and Charles H. Randall. Mr. Chester Randall died
November 15, 1869. Oscar S. Randall was born November 9, 1848, and after receiving a common school education became
a farmer. In 1872 he married his first wife, Mary A. Hammond, who died in June, 1879. In 1882 he married Esther
C. Belden, and the same year opened a general store. Mr. Randall has been for seven years a member of the school
board and twice its president. He has been chief of the fire department, and in 1893 was appointed postmaster.
His children are Mabel C., and Clarence B. Randall.
EDGAR E. CHAPMAN was born in Newark
Valley in 1836. He early learned the carpenter's trade and worked with 'his father until he was nearly or quite
twenty-four, when lie went to Belvidere, Ill., and engaged in the hardware business. In 1862 he returned to Newark
Valley and married Marette Rewey of the same place. They moved to Owego where he worked in the bridge shop. Four
years later they returned to Newark Valley where Mr. Chapman worked at his trade for several years. They had two
children, Carrie, wife of John Ayres, of Newark Valley, and Katie, who died in infancy. Mrs. Chapman died June
20, 1882. Mr. Chapman married (second) December 4, 1885, Bernice E. Roys, widow of Charles Harper Moore, a druggist
of Newark Valley who died April 13, 1879. Mr. Chapman united with the Congregational church in 1852, and was the
leader of the choir for fifteen years. He was also a member of Newark Valley masonic lodge. At the time of his
death Mr. Chapman had been a hardware merchant for eight years.
CHARLES BREWSTER HOOKER, was born
March 8, 1831, in what is now the town of Maine, Broome county. Sixty years ago, Mr. Hooker came to Newark Valley
and has resided here ever since. He married December 31, 1866, with Electa, daughter of .Phineas Barnum, of Stockbridge,
Mass. Of seven children born to them but three are living: Frederick B. and Mary E., of Newark Valley and Mrs.
Lucy B. Barret of Candor. Mrs. Hooker died February 8, 1888. Mr. Hooker is a member of the Congregational church
and for twenty years has been president of the Hope cemetery association.
GEORGE A. MATILE was born May
30, 1807, in Switzerland. He came to America in. 1848, and one year after located in Newark Valley. He married
November 24, 1850, Mary Louise, daughter of Marc Louis and Jeannie (Rossier) Fivaz, of Newark Valley. Of the six
children living: Otta, born October 13, 1855, lives in Chicago and Mrs. Lucy Doharty, born January 4, 1883, lives
in Pasadena, Cal. Mr. Matile was a lawyer and was in the patent office, Washington, when his death occurred, February
6, 1881. After his death, Mrs. Matile returned to Newark Valleys where she now lives.
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