Vital Records, Oxford, NY, June 1864

 Oxford Times, June 1, 1864

Died:  In Oxford [Chenango Co., NY], on the 29th May, 1864, Minerva [Willoughby] wife of Mr. Ira Willoughby, aged 63 years and 5 months.

Died:  In Guilford [Chenango Co., NY], on the 27th ult. Mr. Joel Yale, aged 73 years.

Died:  In St. James Hospital, New Orleans, on the 6th May from a wound received in the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Mr. Joseph S. Smith of Co. E, 114th N.Y.S.V., of Greene [Chenango Co., NY].

Died:  In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], on the 17th ult. Mr. Rufus Phillips, aged 85 years.

Oxford Times, June 8, 1864

Married:  In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], on the 25th ult., by Rev. Wm. Searles, Mr. H.D. Mallory to Miss Sophia S. Nash, both of Norwich.

Married:  In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], on the 25th ult. by Rev. W. Searles, Mr. Charles H. Church to Miss Hattie Heady both of Norwich.

Married:  At Guilford Centre, on the 24th ult. by Rev. S. M. Kee, Mr. Legrand Cassell of Afton [Chenango Co., NY] to Miss Alice Young of the former place.

Died:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY] on the 1st inst., Willard White, aged 31 years.

Died:  In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY] on the 26th ult. Deliaette [Willcox], wife of Mr. Whitman Willcox, aged 39 years.

Oxford Times, June 15, 1864

Married:  At the residence of H. Lockwood, in Brooklyn, on the 25th ult. by Rev. Theodore L. Coyer, Mr. O.M. Hughson of Norwich [Chenango Co., NY] to Miss Fannie A. Knapp of Franklin [Delaware Co., NY].

Married:  In Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY], on the 6th inst. by Rev. E. Curtis, Mr. George W. Sanders to Miss Ellen B. King, both of Norwich [Chenango Co., NY].

Married:  In East Pharsalia [Chenango Co., NY], on the 20th ult., by Rev. O. Ketchum, Mr. Rodolphus Brown to Miss Adell Huddleston, all of Pharsalia.

Died:  On Oxford, on the 10th inst. of Diptheria, Albert [Weeks], son of Stephen and Julia A. Weeks, aged 18 years.  In the death of this youth society has lost an attractive member, brave, generous and warm hearted.  His friends will ever cherish his memory, while his grief stricken parents and sister, with his aged and blind grandfather and decrepit grandmother have sustained a loss that in this life can never be repaired. May the grace of God sustain them.

Died:  In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], on the 2d inst., Rebecca H. [Rockwell], widow of the late Ashbel R. Rockwell, aged 55 years.

Died:  In Pharsalia [Chenango Co., NY], on the 4th inst., Eliza D. [Gran], wife of Halbert Gran, aged 37 years.

Died:  On board a Hospital boat, between Alexandria and New Orleans, on the 14th ult. Robert C. Hall, of Co. B, 114th Reg., and son of Murray Hall of Preston [Chenango Co., NY], aged 17 years.

Died:  In Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY], on the 6th inst. Mr. John C. Harris, aged 55 years.

Oxford Times, June 22, 1864

Married:  In this village [Oxford, Chenango Co., NY], on the 13th inst. by Rev. L.F. Spafford, Mr. Lewis D. Rogers to Mrs. Matilda M. Dobison, all of Oxford.

Married:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], on the 7th inst. by Rev. H. Garlick, Mr. George F. Wight of McDonough [Chenango Co., NY] to Miss Julia A. Morse of Greene.

Died:  In Pitcher [Chenango Co., NY], on the 6th inst. Violettee B. [Hitchcock], wife of Norman P. Hitchcock, aged 52 years.

Died:  In Hospital, at Washington of wound received in battle, Corporal Joseph Weiler, of Co. K, 40th N.Y.S.V. from Norwich [Chenango Co., nY].

Oxford Times, June 29, 1864

Married:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], on the 16th inst. by Rev. H. Garlick, Mr. Harry D. Wheeler of Cedar Run, Pa., to Miss Ruth E. Horton of Eat Greene.

Married:  In the First Presbyterian Church at Montrose, Pa. on the 15th inst. by Rev. S.G. Specs, D.D. of Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Henry C. Tyler, son of Hon. M.C. Tyler to Miss Frances E. [Willcox], only daughter of E.P. Willcox, Esq., all of the former place.

Died:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], on the 16th inst., Mr. William A. Bolt, aged 35 years.

Died:  In Greene [Chenango Co., NY], on the 3d inst. Mr. Abram L. Beedle, aged 65 years.

Died:  In Coventry [Chenango Co., NY], on the 12th inst. Polly [Spencer], wife of Mr. William Spencer, aged 68 years.

Died:  In Pitcher [Chenango Co., NY], on the 18th inst., Mr. Solomon Ensign, senior, aged 94 years.

Oxford Times, June 22, 1865

Death of Honorable John Tracy

This venerable and honored citizen died at his residence in this village [Oxford, Chenango Co., NY], on the morning of Saturday the 18th instant, after a sickness of a week's duration.  Words of eulogy seem needless in referring to the death of one, the excellence of whose character and the purity of whose life have been for half century like an open book, known and read of all who knew him. To briefly recount a few of the leading events of that life, leaving them to speak for themselves, is our duty to the living, rather than a necessity to the dead, whose life record is now complete and fixed unalterably by the cold hand of death.  

Mr. Tracy was born at Norwich, Connecticut, Oct. 26th, 1783, and at the time of his death had completed his eightieth year. About the year 1805, he removed to this then new settlement, accomplishing his journey on horseback, a mode of travel made necessary at that day by the imperfect condition of the roads, and the limited facilities of public conveyance. After his arrival he found himself the possessor of few worldly goods save only that native common sense, enterprise and sterling integrity which he had brought from his New England home, and which served him far better than any inherited earthly treasure.  He soon became a clerk in the office of Uri Tracy, then the clerk of the old county of Tioga, subsequently studied law, and held a clerkship in the office of Stephen O. Runyan, was admitted to the bar, and soon became the partner of the latter.  His thorough and studious pursuit of his profession, ripe judgment and integrity of character soon recommended him to public favor, and he was, about March 6, 1815, appointed Surrogate of the new county of Chenango, holding the office about four years.  In 1820, '21, '22, and '26, he was a member of Assembly, again receiving the appointment of Surrogate in March 1821, which office he well and faithfully discharged until January 1833, previous to which time he was first judge of the county for ten years. 

As a judicial officer Judge Tracy brought to the discharge of his duties, patient research, sound judgment and a purity of character beyond reproach and without suspicion.  He possessed in a remarkable degree that incorruptible honesty which an ancient writer has fitly called the sister of justice, and which is perhaps no less its sister than its parent.  His rulings upon the law were seldom reversed in the courts of appeal.  In 1832, Judge Tracy was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State, occupying that office for three successive terms, during the Gubernatorial career of William L. Marcy.  The same qualities which had made him a trusted judge united to great urbanity, patience and impartiality, distinguished him as the presiding officer of the Senate, and in the court of Errors of which he was ex-officio member.  

He soon retired to private life, neither unsettled nor corrupted by office, and having lost none of his relish for home enjoyment.  He wore his honors as unobtrusively as the spring her flowers, yielding up his offices as one who truly regarded them as trusts to be faithfully performed, rather than objects of ambition to be sought.  Mr. Tracy was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1846, called to revise our State constitution, was chosen to preside over its deliberations, and lived to see the successful operation in practice, of many of its reforms, of which he was an earnest and well informed advocate.

He then returned to private life, which he was so well fitted to enjoy, and which he adorned by the virtues which belong to the good citizen, the kind neighbor, and the steadfast friend, and the cheerful, intelligent and exemplary father and husband.  His interest in all good works for the permanent improvement and welfare of the village was repeatedly manifested, and the Oxford Academy of whose board of Trustees he was for years the President, and St. Paul's Church of whose vestry he was a member, and a Warden at his death, will bear evidence of his worth, and hand down his name to faithful and affectionate remembrance.  To go thus ripe for death, like the -?- rexper in the yellow autumn, with his life work well done, followed by the kind benedictions of one world to meet the "Well done good and faithful servant," of another; thus to have lived is superlative wisdom, so to have died is supreme happiness.  As we stood at the hush of day near the open door of the old house, but heard not the familiar voice of the departed, while the moonlight of the summer evening bathed the landscape and  streamed through the leaves in flickering, silvery patches at our feet, we thought of the good name that rested like that moonlight in pure and gentle radiance upon us, and how that bright example like the trees and blossoms which he had planted and trained, would linger, a faithful witness to his worth.

His funeral was attended from St. Paul's Church on Monday, by a large concourse of citizens, among whom were many from adjoining towns, to whom he was endeared by early association.