Benjamin F. BRISTOL, father of Joel W., was born June 11, 1811.  His
present residence, overlooking the beautiful valley of Gainesville,
stands out with pleasant prominence against the rolling background of
green and fertile farm lands.  From the piazza he can look upon the house
where his grandfather lived and died; while just beyond is the home of
his childhood where lived his father for more than half of a century. 
From pioneer stock of Puritan composition and characteristics he has by
a vigorous, busy, and most honorable life fulfilled the promise of his
inheritance.  Well equipped with undoubted patriotism and sound
educational requirements, he entered the political arena, being an
earnest advocate of the principles of the Republican party.

He early took a warm interest in local government, and his town and
county have honored him and shown their appreciation of his worth by
choosing him to many offices of trust and importance, among them the
following:  Supervisor, Constable, Highway Commissioner, Railroad
Commissioner; and although a Whig in a Democratic town, he was the first
no-license candidate ever elected Justice of the Peace, which office he
held for twenty-four years.  He was also Supervisor of the Poor for the
County of Wyoming twenty-eight years, his sensible views and sound
judgment giving the most satisfactory results to both the people and the
dependents.  While attending a State convention, he introduced the
resolution for the removal of children from county houses throughout the
State, which was met with approval.  He still resides on the old farm in
Gainesville, now at the advanced age of eighty-four years, a
well-preserved and active-brained old gentleman; and around him, or near
by, live his sons and grandchildren, all of whom do him honor.  Mr. and
Mrs. B. F. BRISTOL are both members of the Congregational church, and for
many years have taken a very prominent part in promoting its prosperity
and usefulness.  He married Margaret A. DAVIS, daughter of Joel DAVIS, a
native of Preble, Onondaga County, N.Y.  None in the community are more
respected than "Uncle Ben" - as he is familiarly called - and his
estimable wife.  To Benjamin F. BRISTOL and his wife were born six
children - Joel W., James, a prominent citizen of the town; Corydon D.,
deceased; Theodore, deceased; Martin F., at present residing at
Rochester; and Benjamin F., Jr., who remains with the aged couple on the
old homestead.

Joel W. BRISTOL received his education in the district and select schools
of Gainesville, and at an early age began the mercantile business by
entering the store of A. B. WEBSTER at Warsaw, where he remained two
years.  He then engaged with Mr. BROWNELL at East Gainesville, with whom
he remained two years more, and in 1859 went to Minnesota.  Upon his
return East, he commenced business on his own account, moving in 1866
into the store which he now occupies.  In 1888 he took in partnership
Fred M., his eldest son, a bright and capable young man.  They have a
very large and prosperous business; and the firm of J.W. BRISTOL & Son
stands as one of the most reliable in the county.  Mr. BRISTOL, like his
father, is a Republican in politics.  He was for eighteen years
Postmaster, having been appointed by Montgomery BLAIR, First Assistant
Postmaster General under Lincoln's administration, and continuing in the
office until 1882.  He was Town Clerk for several years, was elected
Supervisor in 1894 for two years, and has for fifteen years been Notary
Public.  He has been a member of the Republican County Committee several
years, and is also one of the Congressional Committee for the
Thirty-first District.  He is Secretary and chairman of the Gainesville
Salt Company; has been Secretary and Trustee of Maple Grove Cemetery
since its incorporation, and has always been a most earnest worker for
everything which had for its object the general advancement of his town,
the interests of education, and the aid of his fellow-men.  Mr. BRISTOL
was for many years a School Trustee, and while in office, was mainly
instrumental in having the school changed to a union school.  He was also
chairman of the Executive Committee which secured Regents' supervision
for the school; the State Board of Regents later conferring upon him the
honor of being Regents' Examiner for the school.

On May 11, 1864, Mr. BRISTOL was united in marriage to Mary E. MERRILL,
daughter of Cyrus MERRILL, a merchant of Perry.  They then moved into the
house which they now occupy, having improved and beautified their home as
time has blessed them with prosperity.  Of this union four children were
born - Fred M., in business with his father; Clara A., a graduate of the
Geneseo Normal School, and now teaching in the high school at Warsaw;
Cyrus W., who is in the boot and shoe business at Gainesville; and Mary
E., the youngest, who is yet in school.  Mr. BRISTOL has a family of
which he is and may well be proud, and is a worthy descendant of an old
and honorable ancestry.

SOURCE:  Biographical Review of the Leading Citizens of Livingston and 

Wyoming Counties New York
Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895
Reprinted by Higginson Book Company
Pages 409-410

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

WILLIAM BRISTOL, a well-known and leading citizen of Warsaw, Wyoming
County, N. Y., is a hale and hearty man of more than threescore and ten,
as vigorous in intellect as if in the prime of life.  His birth occurred
in Gainesville, May 7, 1821.  He comes of Revolutionary stock, his
grandfather, Benjamin BRISTOL, having served in the war for American
independence.  Prior to that time he had married Abigail WARNER, of
Canaan, Columbia County; and of this union the following children were
born:  William, Richard, Charles, Josiah, Henry, George, Hannah, Chloe,
and Rebecca.

William BRISTOL, Sr., son of Benjamin, was born in the town of Canaan,
August 19, 1775, and there lived until twenty years old.  In 1806 he
removed to the part of Genesee County that is now Wyoming County, and
helped to survey the present town of Gainesville.  He located sixteen
hundred acres of land, and cleared and improved a good homestead from the
wild domain on which he felled the first tree.  On February 22, 1807, he
was wedded to Martha STEVENS, who was born in Worcester, Mass., September
1, 1785, but who subsequently removed with her parents to Lima, N. Y. 
Six children came to gladden their home, namely:  Francis S., who died in
1845; Benjamin F., now living at the age of eighty-four; Mary, who
married John M. LAWRENCE, and died in 1876; Lamira, who married George
HARRINGTON, and died in 1848; Laura, who married Corydon DOOLITTLE, and
died in 1851; and William BRISTOL, Jr., the subject of the present
sketch, whose career, has been closely outlined by the pen of a local
journalist in words that follow, copied for the County History: --

"With a  common-school education he began life for himself at the old
family home in Gainesville; and to his business as a farmer he added that
of wool buying, which he followed for over twenty years.  A man of quick
feeling, of fine address, of business ability and integrity and great
energy, Mr. BRISTOL early became a man of mark in his town and county. 
As a business man large interests have been at different times committed
to him.  He has hardly been what would be called a politician, though a
man with his characteristics could not be left out of public affairs
during the stormy period in which he has lived.  He was born and bred a
Democrat; but, becoming dissatisfied with the position his party assumed
in regard to certain moral questions, particularly slavery, he abandoned
hit, and became one of the founders of the Republican party, being a
delegate to the historical "Anti-Nebraska" Convention held at Saratoga in
1854 and one of the five representatives from this part of the State to
the famous "Barnburner" Convention at Syracuse in 1856, which indorsed
Fremont.  He was Supervisor of his town in 1855 and again four years
during the war, was Under Sheriff of the county in 1842, was Presidential
elector and secretary of the electoral colleges in 1864, and member of
Assembly in 1867 and 1868.  He contributed materially to establish and
sustain Gainesville Female Seminary.  As a member of the committee
appointed by Governor Morgan to promote enlistments in the Thirtieth
Senatorial District, Mr. BRISTOL did efficient service.  His patriot
course, he careful zeal, and his expenditure of time and money in those
years made him a central figure in the local history of the county during
the war period.  A considerable portion of his large income was devoted
to this work; and by and through his efforts, sustained by the loyal
sentiment of his townsmen, Gainesville filled every quota promptly, and
came of the war without a debt.  A Director of the Rochester & State Line
Railway Company (now Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh) from its
organization, no one had a larger share in the responsibility of its
location and construction than Mr. BRISTOL.  He was one of the first
directors of the Warsaw Salt Company the pioneer company of the great
salt industry in the town.  He moved to Warsaw in 1867."

Mr. BRISTOL has been twice married, his first wife having been Adelia M.
LOCKWOOD, whose mother, Clara (HOAG) LOCKWOOD, belonged to a family quite
prominent in religious circles, many of its members being ministers of
the Methodist denomination.  The maiden name of his second wife was
Martha J. JEWETT.  She is a native of Ontario County, being a daughter of
Major S. S. and Jemima ROSS JEWETT and a niece of Freeborn G. JEWETT, a
well-known resident of Skaneateles, one of the first judges of the Court
of Appeals under the elective judiciary.  Mr. BRISTOL has reared six
children - Laura B., Belle B., Caroline B., William, Millie J., and Henry
R.  Laura B. married Major John P. ROBINSON, who served through the late
Civil War, and was brevetted Colonel.  He was County Clerk until the time
of his decease, in the spring of 1873.  Mrs. ROBINSON, who still resides
in this town, is a cultured woman, and a writer of much ability, being a
regular contributor to four papers.  The second daughter, Belle B., the
wife of M. A. KURTZ, a prominent business man of Nampa, Idaho, removed
there in 1888.  Caroline B. is the wife of Nathan S. BEARDSLEE, who lives
in Warsaw, is President of the Empire Duiz Salt Company and President of
the village.  William, of Warsaw, has been in the employ of the Erie
Railway Company for some years.   Millie J. is pursuing the study of
vocal music at Rochester.  Henry R., a graduate of Rutgers college, read
law with M. E. & E. M. BARTLETT, of Warsaw, and was admitted to practice
in all courts of record in the State.

SOURCE:  Biographical Review of the Leading Citizens of Livingston and 

Wyoming Counties New York
Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895
Reprinted by Higginson Book Company
Page 139

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

EBENEZER S. CADY, Statement.

Ebenezer S. CADY was born in the town of Chatham, Columbia county, N.Y. 
Came to the village of Springville in 1858; is a carpenter and joiner;
was married at Schuyler, Herkimer county, N.Y. in 1840, to Miss Mary
OYER, who was born in 1817 at Schuyler, Herkimer county, N.Y.  My father,
Arnold CADY was born at Chatham, Columbia county, and served as volunteer
of marines in defence of the New York harbor in the war of 1812.  My
mother's maiden name was Sarah HUNT.  She was born in Washington, VT. 
Grandfather's name was Ebenezer CADY; he was a Captain in the war of the
Revolution.  Grandmother's maiden name was Chloe BEEBE.  She was born in
Connecticut.  The house my grandfather built in Chatham in 1761 and '62
was built of pine timber, was taken down in 1824 and the timber was used
in building the Presbyterian meeting house in the village of Spencertown,
Columbia county, N.Y.  In this house my grandfather's two sons and vie
daughters were born.  The outside doors were made of pine boards, two
thicknesses, cut into horizontally about half-way of their height, and at
night barred on the inside with a stick.  On the farm was an oak grove
where the people assembled on the Sabbath to worship (they were
Presbyterians), until they built a church on his farm, the first church
in Chatham.  This building was moved to Chatham four corners, a distance
of one and one-half miles.  The building was put on runners and under the
runners small sticks were placed for rollers, and many ox teams were
hitched to each of the runners and in that way the building was drawn to
the spot and for many years the followers of the lowly Nazarene met at
this humble church and offered their devotions to the God of Abraham,
till finally later generations have sold the old church for a sheepfold,
and build another church exhibiting more pride than piety.

They had six children:

Lucy A., born in 1840 and died in 1872.
Sarah J., born in 1844; married Newela FRENCH.
Maryette, born in 1847 and died in 1850.
Cassius M., born in 1850 and died in 1871.
Ellen G., born in 1853; married Gardner BERRY.
William S., born in 1856 and lives in Kalkaska, Mich.

SOURCE:  History of the Original Town of Concord being the present towns
of Concord, Collins, N. Collins and Sardinia, Erie County, New York
Author:   Erasmus Briggs
Picton Press, Camden, Maine (originally printed Rochester, NY, 1883)
Pages 333-334

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

ALLEN GOODEMOTE was born in Ashford, Cattaraugus county, Feb. 12, 1831. 
His father's name was David GOODEMOTE, and his mother's maiden name was
Caroline VOSBURGH; his grandfather came from Columbia county, N.Y.; his
father died in Ashford in 1833; his mother married J.G. SEARLE and went
to Illinois in 1844.  In 1850 he went across the plains to California,
and returned in 1862; went back in the Fall of 1863 and came home in the
Fall of 1864; he built the first mill in Nevada for crushing the quartz
of the Comstock lode; he built a steamboat at LaCrosse, Wis., on the
Mississippi, in 1865, and commanded it for a while, and then sold it and
removed to this place.  In the Fall of 1865 he came to Springville and
bought the farm of W.P. MILLS, lying south of the village and moved on to
it in July, 1866; in June, 1879, he went to the mining regions of
Colorado; returned in January 1880.  Was married June 10, 1866, to Miss
Aurelia I. GOLDEN, of Hancock county, Ill.  Their children are Jessie,
Lysander C., Gracie and Cora (twins), and Greely R.

SOURCE:  History of the Original Town of Concord being the present towns
of Concord, Collins, N. Collins and Sardinia, Erie County, New York
Author:   Erasmus Briggs
Picton Press, Camden, Maine (originally printed Rochester, NY, 1883)
Pages 372-373

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

JAMES GOODEMOTE.

The GOODEMOTES came to Ashford, Cattaraugus county, from near Kinderhook,
Columbia county, N.Y., where James' father, Philip GOODEMOTE, was born in
1796.  He came to Ashford about 1816, and bought land of the Holland Land
company near the Cattaraugus creek.  He was then unmarried and was
accompanied by his brother John.  In the Fall of 1820, their father, John
GOODEMOTE, and their brothers, Baltus, Harry and William came, all
settling in Ashford.

Philip, father of James, a soldier of 1812, was married in 1820 to
Harriet VOSBURG.  They had four sons and four daughters:  James, Eliza,
Philip Jr., Ann, John, Sally, David, and Sophia.

James GOODEMOTE was born in Ashford in 1821; was married in 1846 to Maria
WILCOX.  They have two children living:  Linda married Warner BOND, and
James P.  Mr. GOODEMOTE lives on the first farm cleared in the town of
Ashford; it was cleared about 1815 by Nathan SANDERS.  Mrs. GOODEMOTE's
father owned the farm fifty years ago, and it has been in possession of
the family since.

SOURCE:  History of the Original Town of Concord being the present towns
of Concord, Collins, N. Collins and Sardinia, Erie County, New York
Pages 369-370

Author:   Erasmus Briggs
Picton Press, Camden, Maine (originally printed Rochester, NY, 1883)

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

Charles Nash Harder. This enterprising Philmont manufacturer was born on a farm in Ghent in 1854. His great-grandfather, Nicholas Harder, was probably born in Columbia County, where he married Margaret Smith, who bore him three sons and five daughters, though only one is now living – Eliza, the widow of D.P. Beeman, of Cortland. Jacob Nicholas Harder, son of Nicholas, was born in Greenport in 1793, and died in 1856 on the Ghent farm, where he had lived from early youth, and which was known by his name. He married Lena Schufelt, of that town; and they had two sons; Philip Michael Harder, the father of Charles above named; and William Augustus Harder, engaged in a similar manufacturing business in Lansingburg, N.Y. Jacob N. Harder’s widow survived him only a year, dying in 1857, at sixty-five; and their bodies lie in Union Cemetery at Mellenville. 

Philip M. Harder was also born in Ghent in 1818. His wife, whom he married in 1842, was Caroline, daughter of Isaac and Calista (Alger) Nash; and they had four sons. Frank Harder died in childhood, at four years, and Edward in 1870, at the age of twenty-four, leaving Charles N. with only one brother, William Augustus Harder, Jr. Their mother died in 1856; and two years later their father was married again, to Sarah M. Pulver, of Columbia County. The only son of this union, Frank J. Harder, died in February, 1890, at the early age of twenty-five. Fanny E., the only daughter, born July 27, 1860, married Frank B. Harder, a son of George M. Harder, of Philmont, April 24, 1884. When his son Charles was sixteen, old enough to appreciate the situation, the father started the Philmont Knitting Mill, with four sets of machinery; and its success has ever since been on the increase. 

Charles N. Harder was reared on the farm, but received the benefit of a good education in the Claverack and Hudson schools before he began self-support, in 1864, as an employee in his father’s new knitting-mill, determined to learn every branch of the work – an aim he has so faithfully accomplished that this thoroughness is the foundation of his prosperity. In 1879 he became a partner with his father and brother William, the firm taking the title of P.M. Harder & Sons; but in 1882 the withdrawal of William made it advisable to drop the plural from the firm name. In 1888 their brother, Frank J., and their brother-in-law, Frank B. Harder, were added to the firm; but the death of Frank J. in 1890 compelled another change, and the business was merged into a stock company, called the High Rock Knitting Company, with Charles N. Harder as Vice-President and Treasurer. Since then the enterprise has so thriven that two hundred and fifty operatives, with nine sets of machinery, in a large three-story brick building, turn out every year from eighty to ninety thousand dozen cotton and wool garments. A feature unique in their business is that the goods are handled, so far as their wholesaling is concerned, by the stockholders, Charles being General Manager, and Frank visiting the jobbers. Rarely is so large an industry in the hands of one family. 

On April 15, 1880, Charles N. Harder was married to Ida R., daughter of George A. and Sarah (Greene) Sagendorph, of Wickford, R.I. Mrs. Harder’s father was a Providence jeweler, and both parents now live with a daughter in Jersey City; for they have two sons and three daughters, one of whom, Anna B. Sagendorph, has a home with her sister, Mrs. Harder, in Philmont. The home is pleasant and attractive, the convenient and elegant house having been completed in 1894; and there is a very happy group of four children: Edward L, born in 1881, and interested in music; Sarah F., born in 1883; Clara Nash, in 1888; Isabel R., in 1890. The household is connected with the Dutch Reformed church. Mr. Harder, though reared a Democrat, has been driven into Republicanism by the logic of events. He is an exceedingly genial and social gentleman, making many warm friends, particularly among his work-people, who are largely his tenants also, and find him generous, both as employer and landlord.

Source:  "Biographical Review of Columbia County, New York" (1894), pgs. 325 – 326 

Contributed by Roger Smith. 

Source: "Biographical Review of Columbia County, New York" (1894)

         Pgs. 515–516] 

Contributed by Roger Smith. 

NICHOLAS W. HARDER, a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of Kinderhook, 
may be singled out as a man who has won his own way through life, and is 
justly entitled to the reward of his earlier years of toil.  Industrious and 
enterprising by nature, he could never have been content to pass his time in 
idleness; and the result of unceasing labor, good management, and thrift is 
apparent in his well-kept and highly improved farm, pleasantly situated in 
District No. 5, in the town of Kinderhook.  He was born in the town of 
Ghent, Columbia County, February 14, 1821.  In that town his grandfather, 
Nicholas Harder, it is thought, first drew the breath of life; for in that 
town he was bred, and was there married to Christina Smith.  During the 

Revolutionary War he served as an officer, taking active part in several 

engagements, afterward spending his last years in Ghent.

William N. Harder, son of Nicholas, was born in the town of Ghent in the 
year 1797 and there spent the earlier years of his life.  He was bred to 
agricultural pursuits, and on attaining his majority bought a farm in Ghent, 
and began life in earnest.  His first important step in this direction was 
to secure a willing helpmate by marrying Jane E. Horton, daughter of Joseph 
and Margaret (Phillips) Horton, of Claverack.  They began housekeeping on 
the farm, remaining there however, but three years, when he sold it to 
Martin Mower, and removed to Kinderhook.  Here Mr. Harder bought five 
hundred acres of land, intending to have enough to give farm to each of his 
sons when he should need it.  The boys of his family being seven in number, 
as they grew to manhood they became dissatisfied with their prospects; and 
Mr. Harder, finally selling his land to two of them, Nicholas W. and George, 
removed with the other members of his household to Michigan.  Prior to this 
removal he had experienced much trouble with his eyes; and, soon after 
settling in his new home, he became totally blind - a discouraging 
misfortune that hastened his death, which occurred in 1865.  The children 
born to him and his good wife were the following; Nicholas W. ; Margaret A., 
who married Henry Pruyn, and moved to Michigan; Horton, who married Mary 
Sutherland, of Chatham, and now resides in Castleton, Rensselaer County; 
Jennie, who died at the age of seventeen years; Tunis, who married in 
Michigan, and lives in that State; George, who married Mary Tobias, of 
Chatham, and now lives in Claverack; Walton, John and James, who all married 
in Michigan, and still live there.

Nicholas W. Harder received his education in Kinderhook, where he attended 
the district school and academy.  He early became well used to the hard but 
healthful and congenial labor necessary on a farm, and contentedly remained 
on the homestead, where he was of the utmost assistance to his parents until 
the time of his marriage.  He then bought land adjoining his father's old 
home, where he has since resided.  By dint of persevering toil he has 
improved a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, having it all under 
good cultivation, amply provided with substantial buildings of all kinds, 
and well equipped with the needful machinery for carrying on his business 
successfully.

Mr. Harder was united in marriage December 27, 1845, to Mary A., daughter of 
Ryer and Elizabeth Hermans, of Nassau, Rensselaer County.  To them have been 
born four children - Hermans, Willis H., Mary Anna, and Ezra.  Willis and 
Ezra died when young.  Hermans has been twice married.  By his first wife he 
had three children, May N., Willis, and Florence, all of whom now live with 
their grandfather.  Mrs. Harder is now deceased; and Mary Anna, who is 
unmarried, lives at home, and keeps house for her father.

Mr. Harder has spent the many years of his life usefully and well, and is 
held in high esteem as an honest, upright man, in thorough sympathy with 
every movement tending toward the advancement of his community.  
Religiously, he is a valued member of the Reformed church of Kinderhook.  In 
politics he is a steadfast Republican.  The accompanying portraits of Mr. 
and Mrs. Harder will be recognized with pleasure by friends of the family.

Source: "Biographical Review of Columbia County, New York" (1894)

Contributed by Roger Smith. 

HORTON BROTHERS [Truman & John]

Truman and John HORTON, brothers, came on foot from New Lebanon, Columbia
county, N.Y., where they were born, to Concord, in 1817.  They located
land on the northwest corner lot in Concord, which had been articled at
the land office several years before by Jacob HORTON, their father, who
never resided here, but returned to Columbia county.  The brothers,
Truman and John, went back on foot, and on Feb 1, 1818, they set out for
Concord with their families, with two ox teams.  They were twenty-five
days in making the journey, and it snowed every day but one, the snow
having fallen to such a depth that the last stage of the journey was made
with difficulty.  When they reached their destination they found by
measurement that the snow had accumulated on the fallen trees to the
depth of four feet.  The only settler in Concord in the neighborhood of
their new home was Comfort KNAPP, who had been there four or five years.. 
Sylvester and William KNAPP came the same year.  William Owens lived just
across the line in Boston.  The first school was taught on Horton hill in
1823, in a log school house.  The HORTONS built log houses on their land
and lived there four years when they moved across the town line into
Boston.  Truman died in Boston in 1869.  He married Betsy CARR, who now
lives in Boston.

Their children were:
Thurston, Hiram, Eliza A., Sabra, Spencer, Thomas, Mary, Nathan and
Asenath.

John HORTON died in Eden about 1873.  He married Mercy CARR, by whom he
had children as follows:
John Jr., William, Mercy Ann, Jacob, Henry, Ira, Edwin, Annis, Maria,
Lorenzo, Lafayette.

Mercy Ann married Almon PERKINS.
Annis married Sterling TITUS
Maria died unmarried.
By his second wife, Mrs. Rachel LORD, he had three sons:
Orando, Elgera and John, Jr.

William HORTON, son of John HORTON, was born March 18, 1821 in Concord,
and is by occupation a farmer.  He was married March 31, 1842 to Miss
Amanda M. CHASE, who was born in Girard, Erie county, PA.  In 1823, with
his parents, he removed to Boston and remained there twenty years.  He
married and lived in Concord, and after eleven years moved to Boston and
settled on the old homestead where he lived seventeen years.  March 1,
1869, removed to Concord and settled on the farm where he now resides.

Family record:
Frank W. HORTON, born Dec. 16, 1843; married Jan. 1, 1866; died Sept. 17,
1878.  His wife's name was Sarah A. FULLER.

Irving M. HORTON, born July 16, 1850; married Feb. 19, 1873; died Sept.
2, 1877.  His wife's name was Amelia UNDERHILL

Arthur B. HORTON, born Oct. 19, 1859; died Oct. 1, 1878.

Mary A. HORTON, born May 4th, 1850, in Columbia county, N.Y., married to
L.G. SWEET, December 24, 1874.  Her husband died July 15, 1881, aged
thirty-five years.

SOURCE:  History of the Original Town of Concord being the present towns
of Concord, Collins, N. Collins and Sardinia, Erie County, New York
Author:   Erasmus Briggs
Picton Press, Camden, Maine (originally printed Rochester, NY, 1883)
Pages 376-378

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

MAJOR JACOB W. KNAPP, who died a few years since at his home in Warsaw,
N.Y., where he had spent the larger part of his entire life, having been
born in this town August 20, 1813, was a descendant of sterling pioneer
stock, his father, grandfather, and several other members of the KNAPP
family having settled in this section of the county in the early part of
this century.

His grandfather, William KNAPP, was born in Canaan, Columbia County,
N.Y., January 4, 1758, and died in Warsaw in 1817.  He married Olive
ROWLEY, who bore him ten children - Daniel; Olive; William; John R.;
Mima; Sally; Esther; Orson S., Bethiah; and Harley.  Daniel, the eldest
child, was the first one to make his way to this part of the State.  He
had previously spent a short time in Orville, VT., coming from there to
Warsaw in 1806, and bringing with him a part of his numerous family, he
having been thrice married.  He and two of his brothers, William and John
R., were engaged in the War of 1812, the two former as officers.  All of
the children rounded out a full period of years; and Esther who married
Abel TAYLOR of Attica, lived to the venerable age of ninety-four years.

John R. KNAPP, the fourth child named above, was born in Canaan, N.Y.,
July 7, 1787, and removed from the place of his nativity to Rutland, VT.,
where he was united in wedlock to Melinda WILSON.  In 1812 he joined his
father and brothers in Warsaw, brining his family and goods with teams,
often cutting a path through the woods.  For thirty years he lived in
Warsaw, then removed to Marion, Ohio, where the death of his wife
occurred in 1848, when fifty-seven years old.  She bore him six sons and
three daughters, of whom the following are now living:  William L., a
retired wagon manufacturer in Howell, Mich.; and John R., Jr., who was a
Lieutenant in the late Civil war, and has since held a position in the
Second Auditor's Office in Washington, D.C.  On June 24, 1849, Mr. KNAPP
was married to Lydia BRADFIELD; and of their union, one son was born,
James B. KNAPP.  The father died at his home in Marion, March 8, 1864;
and his widow still occupies their Ohio home.

Jacob W., son of John R. KNAPP, was educated in Warsaw, and in early life
learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed for some years, but
afterward established a grocery business in the town of Warsaw, and from
1852 until 1861 was the village Postmaster.  During the recent civil
conflict his valuable services as a brave commanding officer won him his
title of Major.  Through his efforts Company D, of the famous First New
York Dragoons, was recruited, in September, 1862; and he was elected
Captain of the company, serving as such until January, 1865, when for his
brave conduct he was promoted to the rank of Major, being subsequently in
command of the regiment more than half of the time.  In December 1853,
while still a captain, he led the regiment into battle, and won
distinction as a commander; and his intrepid charge at Culpeper, VA., is
noted in the war records.  Three of the sons of Major KNAPP - Augustus,
Lucien, and Thomas, all now deceased - were members of his regiment.

In 1837 Major KNAPP was united in marriage to Miss Elvira PUTNAM, of
Warsaw, a daughter of Edward and Rachel (HUTTON) PUTNAM; and their happy
wedded life extended over a period of fifty-one years.  Three daughters
and four sons were born of their union, of whom the following are not
living:  Augustus, Lucien, Thomas, John R., and Margaret.  The surviving
are:  Miss Caroline KNAPP; and Harriet, the widow of Orson C. KNAPP, who
died April 15, 1877, leaving three children - Clarence Wilson, Frederic
H., and Edward M., the first of whom is engaged in the laundry business,
while the other two sons are students at Hobart college, in Geneva.  The
sisters occupy the family home on Geneseo Street.  Orson D. KNAPP was
also a soldier in the late Rebellion, having enlisted as a private in the
thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and being afterward promoted
through the various grades to the rank of Captain, having command of
Company I.  He was formerly Indian Agent at Fort Klamath, Fla., and after
the close of the war was a soldier in the regular army until the fall of
1870, when he resigned; and in the following December his nuptials with
the daughter of Major KNAPP were celebrated.  In politics the Major was
always a stanch Democrat, and for more than forty years was a Justice of
the peace.  He and his family were communicants of the Episcopal church.

SOURCE:  Biographical Review of the Leading Citizens of Livingston and 

Wyoming Counties New York
Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1895
Reprinted by Higginson Book Company
Page 655-656

Contributed by Sally S. Jankowski 

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