Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, October 16, 1879
Marriages
MEEKER - AVERY: In Oneonta [Otsego Co. NY] Oct. 7th by Rev. E.C. Hodge, Rev. Hiram G. Meeker to Mrs. Mary A. Avery both of Norwich [Chenango Co. NY].
ANGELL - BEMISS: At the residence of Horson L. Barnes, Esq. in East Pharsalia [Chenango Co. NY], Oct. 9th, by Rev. H.W.H. Watkins, Mr. Randell Angell of Lincklaen [Chenango Co. NY] to Miss Mary Bemiss of Truxton [Cortland Co. NY].
GREENE - REESE: At the Baptist Church in Sherburne [Chenango Co. NY] Oct. 8th, by Rev. J.J. Riddell of Wakefield, Mass. assisted by Rev. G.R. Burnside, Rev. John Green of Waterford, N.Y. [Saratoga Co.] to Miss Annie D. Reese of Sherburne.
SHIFFER - GATES: At Chenango Forks [Broome Co. NY] Oct. 8th, by Rev. Mr. Griffith, Mr. Smith L. Shiffer of Chicago, Ill. to Miss Idella Gates of the former place.
DREW - WHEELER: In Cincinnatus [Cortland Co. NY] Sept. 17th, by Re.v A.C. Smith, Mr. Frank L. Drew to Miss Mary Wheeler all fo Cincinnatus.
Deaths
HARRIS: In Unadilla [Otsego Co. NY] Oct. 13th, Miss Agnes Harris aged 24 years, daughter of Albert Harris of this town [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY].
SQUIRES: In this village [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY] Oct. 11th, Nellie Pearl [Squires] daughter of Alfred and O.J. Squires, aged 10 months and 24 days.
LOOMIS: In this village [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY] Sept. 27th Miss Clarissa Loomis, daughter of the late James P. Loomis, aged 34 years.
WELLS: In Pitcher [Chenango Co. NY] of dropsy, Oct. 6th, Mrs. Mary A. [Wells] wife of Lynde G. Wells and daughter of the late Hezekiah brown, Esq. of Norwich [Chenango Co. NY] aged 73 years. Mrs. W. was a sister of Mrs. Thomas H. Prentice of this village [Norwich].
SCOFIELD: In Afton [Chenango Co. NY] Sept. 6th, Mrs. N.H. Scofield aged 53 years.
CARPENTER: In Guilford [Chenango Co. NY] Sept. 25th, Lucy [Carpenter] wife of the late Esek K. Carpenter, aged 84 years.
DUNHAM: In Earlville [Madison Co. NY] Oct. 8th, Mr. Hazel Dunham, aged 26 years.
ALLEN: In Pottsville, Bradford, co. Pa., Oct. 2d, Mr. J. Billings Allen aged 61 years and 2 months, formerly of McDonough [Chenango Co. NY].
DAVIS: Guilford, Chenango Co. NY: S.P. Davis for several years a resident of our place and at the time of his death residing at South New Berlin [Chenango Co. NY], died quite suddenly at his mother-in-law's here, on the night of the 10th inst. Mr. Davis had been in poor health for a number of years, but Thursday came to our place to obtain work at his trade - that of a blacksmith. Friday he was about the village, but feeling no better, called on Dr. Spencer. he retired early Saturday night and when the family retired was apparently sleeping soundly. Saturday morning his daughter, who was visiting at her grandmother's, went to call him and found him dead. He had evidently been dead some hours. He was fifty-three years old and leaves a wife and three daughters.
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BARBER: In this town [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY] Oct. 10th, Mr. Benjamin Barber, aged 78 years.
On Friday morning last, after a brief illness, Benjamin Barber expired at his residence, four miles south of this village in the seventy-ninth year of his age. One of the pioneers of the Chenango Valley, his death calls for more than a passing notice.
Deceased was born at Richmondville, Rhode Island, June 1st, 1801. In May 1806, he moved with his parents to this county, settling upon the farm which he afterwards owned and upon which he died. The only house on the farm at that time was a log one, which stood near the site of the present homestead. It was occupied at the time by Ezra Huntley and the newly arrived family for two weeks lived in a frame barn just across the road, cooking their victuals by the side of a pine stump. The barn was afterwards used as a church. At that time there were only about ten acres of cleared land in that neighborhood. George Knapp lived on the farm afterwards owned by John Shattuck; Ebenezer Willcox on the first farm north; and Rathbone Gates where the Half-Way House is. Bears and wolves were plenty, and the settlers were compelled to shut their sheep up every night, to keep them from these pests. About the time of the arrival of the Barber family, a grist and sawmill were put up. Before that the people had to go to Chenango Forks [Broome co. NY] to get their grain ground.
He remained upon the farm with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to work for Isaac Pendleton, who lived north of there, for nine dollars a month. The next year he received ten dollars a month, and the third year he worked eight months for twelve dollars and a half per month, which is those times was considered high wages. At the age of twenty-six he married his wife, who was then eighteen, with whom he lived happily throughout his life and who survives him. Eight months after their marriage, they commenced keeping house, Mr. Barber working for William Mygatt of Oxford [Chenango Co. NY] for two years, for eleven dollars a month and boarding himself. Then he hired the Darwin Davis farm for three years, after which (1830) he moved upon the home farm, upon which he has since resided. he kept a dairy and made cheese and in the fall of the first year, failing to sell his dairy for five cents per pound, he drew it to Honesdale, Pa., where he disposed of the lot at six cents - a very satisfactory venture for him. Afterwards he turned his attention to butter, which then sold at ten cents per pound; but in 1837, when the canal was opened through the valley, butter went up to fourteen cents and potatoes rose from twenty to fifty cents a bushel. By strict economy and abstemious habits, he accumulated property and added to his farm until he was the owner of some four hundred acres of as fine farming land as lies in the Chenango Valley.
Twenty-one children have been born to this worthy couple, seventeen of whom are still living - twelve girls and five boys - and nearly all of them are married and have families growing up. All have profited by the teaching of their venerable parents and become useful members of society.
For many years, deceased has been a consistent member of the Baptist church in Oxford. His funeral was largely attended on Sunday afternoon, Rev. Dr. Haynes, of this village, officiating, in the absence of the pastor of the Oxford church.
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Last week we briefly mentioned the alarming illness of Hon. Horatio Ballard, at his residence in Cortland [Cortland Co. NY] and the hopes entertained of his recovery. A recurrence of the bleeding from the stomach on Wednesday forenoon of last week, dispelled these hopes and a few minutes after noon on that day he peacefully breathed his last.
Mr. Ballard was born in Homer [Cortland Co. NY], August 21st, 1808, received his education at the Pompey and Cortland Academies; read law with the late Judge Stephens of Cortland and Judge Jewitt of Skaneateles; was admitted to practice in 1831 and was for a number of years a partner with Judge Stephens; was in 1841 appointed District Attorney for Cortland County and held the office several terms; in 1844 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention that nominated James K. Polk, and in 1856 to the National Convention that nominated James Buchanan; was nominated by the Democrats in 1859 for Supreme Court Judge in the Sixth Judicial District, but defeated, the District being strongly Whig. In 1861, he was nominated by the Union Democratic Convention for Secretary of State and elected by a large majority; was elected by the Republicans to the Assembly in 1866; and in 1867, he represented his County in the Constitutional Convention.
In former years he was President of the Board of Trustees of Cortlandville Academy and at the time of his death, a member of the Local Board of the State Normal School in Cortland. During his long and useful life he has enjoyed the respect of his fellow citizens and of a large circle of acquaintances by whom he will be missed. Not only in the social circle will his loss be felt but in the Presbyterian Church of which he was for nearly half a century an active member, at the Courts, where he had won an enviable reputation as a lawyer and in the educational institutions in which he took a deep interest, he will long be remembered.
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