Back to Town of Fairfield PageMy uncle, George Perce, who married Sophronia Haskins, stayed on grandfather's farm until he had brought up his family and then retired from business and went to Little Falls hill. He built two houses, now owned by his son-in-law, Irving Haskins. George Perce's son, James Perce, married Charlotte White, went to California, and died there. I think the Perce farm is now owned by Nathan Arnold.
My uncles, Isaac Olney and Joseph Perce, attended lectures at Fairfield, graduated there, and went to the state of Ohio as doctors. My aunt, Abby Perce, married Rev. George Gould, and went to Michigan. Aunt Clarissa Perce married Dea. Aaron Griswold of the town of Newport. Aunt Ruby Perce married a Mr. Thorpe and went to the state of Ohio.
A family named Salisbury settled early in the eastern part of Fairfield on the state road. I remember there were two brothers. One of them was Stephen and the other one was a young preacher. Their parents came with them but it was long before my recollection. I remember Stephen, who married for his first wife a Miss Neeley, a sister of Reuben Neeley. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter had six children, five daughters and one son, Calvin. The daughters were Alvira, who married Malvin Chase, who bought the Calvin Salisbury farm on Lawton street.
The second daughter, Ann, married a man named Bushnell and her sister also, married a man by the same name and went to Pinchney, Lewis county. For his second wife Stephen Carpenter married a Miss Harris, a sister of Andrew Harris, who was a few years a resident of Newport. The Carpenter children were my schoolmates for one term. The school was taught that term by Dr. J. B. Holcomb. He was at that time a graduate from Fairfield. It was in the year 1842-3.
Richard Salisbury came from Woodstock, Conn. He married a Miss Elizabeth Estabrook. He was one of the first settlers and bought a farm in the northern part of Fairfield on Lawton street, the road to the Old City. It was so called because of there being many Lawtons on the street. There were Joseph, George, Jefferson, Albert, Ferris, and Warren.
The Salisbury family consisted of two sons and five daughters. The sons were Calvin and Nathaniel. The daughters were Sally, Patty, Polly, Anna and Candace. Sally married Veien Crosby. Patty married John Fenner. Polly, Anna and Candace died unmarried.
Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Salisbury had four daughters and one son, Ackland. One of the daughters married a Mr. Moore of Trenton Falls. Candace married Mr. Brockett of Salisbury. Lydia married Isaac Smith. Loretta died unmarried.
Calvin Salisbury married my mother's twin sister, Polly, later on called Mary, as there was a "Polly" in the Salisbury family. Uncle and aunt had four sons and four daughters. The daughters were Philena, Nancy, Sophronia and Mary. The sons were, Earl, Lucius, Hamilton and Richard.
The father grew old and his eldest son, Calvin, stayed with him. As there were still two families of them, they built a large house, put a kitchen on each end and used the sitting room and parlor together. My cousin Earl married Clarissa Griffin of Martinsburg. He studied for the ministry and went to the state of Delaware. Lucian studied for a Thomsonian doctor; married a Miss Morgan and practised medicine along the Mohawk and in the town of Columbia and died there. Richard married and went to Syracuse. He had two sons and one daughter. His second wife was Anna Safford of Newport village. Philena married Giles Johnson and went west. Nancy married Harvey West and went on a farm situated on the road leading from Fairfield to Middleville. Harvey's father also owned a farm adjoining and at one time he ran a saw mill, what was and is now called the Mason West farm. Sophronia married William Edgerton and went to Delaware and died there. Mary died there.
Just here I will relate an incident. I am not a superstitious person nor much of a believer in the supernatural, and can hardly credit it, if I did not have good authority. As Calvin Salisbury's sisters and family were grown up and his wife had passed away, he and his daughter, Sophronia and the hired girl, Hannah Clark, and his son, Richard, were then all of his family. His two maiden sisters, Polly and Candace, were all that were left of his father's family. The two sisters still kept house by themselves. I believe it was in the winter of 1849. One very stormy evening the sisters heard some beautiful singing. They supposed the girls had company and they thought it was Sophronia's and Hannah's voices accompanied by an accordian. The next morning Sophronia went as usual in to see how the old ladies were. Aunt Candace said to her,"You had company last night?" "No", she said. She seemed to be very much surprised. Se told them that it was probably Warren Lawton, who frequently went by humming a tune. She told me she did not think it was Warren, but told them so to set their minds at ease. She told them so, so they did not say much about it. A short time afterwards Aunt Polly was taken sick and died. Then Aunt Candace mentioned it to Sophronia. The next night Aunt Candace was taken sick and died. They were buried in one grave.
Harry Safford settled on Lawton street, was neighbor to Calvin Salisbury. Varnum Philips also settled on Lawton street. Stanton Weeden settled near Old City. Rowland Phillips settled on the same road at Old City. He had three sons and four daughters, Mary and Almira. The sons were Washinton, Anson and Henry. Harry Safford had two sons and one daughter, Clinton, Norman and Marilla.
Mr. and Mrs. Weeden had four daughters and one son, Wanton. Wanton married Matilda Willis. One daughter married Josiah Harris and went on White Creek. Abby married George Willis. Polly died unmarried. George Willis' second wife was Marilla Safford.
Since my recollection there have been on the Platform, a family named Kelsey, one named Willard, two named Safford, Andrew Boss and a family named White.
Stephen Raynore lived on Long Island. His family consisted of three sons and two daughters. The daughters were Ruth and ___. The sons were Lewis, James and David. James was a wholesale merchant in New York. Lewis was this oldest. His father gave him an old fashioned hat full of silver dollars and sent him up to Fairfield. He bought 200 acres of land; cleared a few acres and built a log house and barn. His land was located in the eastern part of Fairfield, on the state road. Each of the sons had fifty acres and was to have the rest when their father saw fit to give it to them. Lewis Raynore married for his first wife Dolly Denis__. They had nine children; four daughters and five sons. The sons were: Harry, Stephen, John, Jerry and one that died young. Jerry died also and Harry left and went South. Stephen married Katy Carpenter. Polly married a Corrinne. Hannah married Eleazar Carr. Lucy married a man named Sisson and Nancy married a man named Carver.
Lewis Raynore's second wife was Christian Sickles. They had nine children: six daughters and three sons were; Lewis Jr., Marcus, Lafayette, and a son who died in infancy. The daughters were Deborah, who married Robert McOmber of Poland; Matilda who married John Randall; Adeline, who died while a babe; Sarah, who married George Foster. Her second husband was Thomas Parker and they had one son Thomas Jr., a doctor at Russell, Illinois. Mary married John Barker. Susan married Reuben Sisson.
David Raynore stayed in the town of Fairfield and his brother, Lewis, went to Newport. David married Malinda Mather. They had eight children; four sons and four daughters. The daughters were Abigail, Ann, Sarah and Mary. The sons were Harvey, Reuben, George and Daniel. Reuben's first wife was Charlotte, daughter of Mason West. Abigail married Jerome Hendrix of Fairfield village. Ann married a man named Wood. Sarah married Mr. Bradford. Mary married Mr. Lamberson and lives in Dolgeville.
I remember a family of Fords who lived near Eaton's Bush. His name was Benjamin and they were neighbors of my grandfather. Mrs. Ford was a very heavy woman and a very regular attendant at the Fairfield Methodist church.
They had several children. I remember William, Albert and Linus, also a girl named ___, who married a man named Weatherwax. Linus was a hatter and lived in Fairfield near Mrs. Green's where I lived for a time. He married Julia Ann Stanton for his first wife and they had one child, a boy named Charles. This boy often stopped at our house and my brother used to plague me about him. We were near of an age and he used to make up verses about us.
Linus' second wife was Alpha White and they had a large family. Samuel died young with scarlet fever. He moved to Canada about 1853 and died there.
William always lived near Fairfield, but I do not remember him so well. Albert married Angeline Benchley. I was living with my uncle, George Pearce, going to school at the time and the teacher, Charlotte West, was invited to the wedding with Uncle George's folks and after they had all got there an old fashioned Fairfield snow storm set in and they all had to say there a week. Old Fairfield folks always remember this about Albert Ford's wedding.
The Ford boys, Ben and Merton are grandchildren of Linus Ford.
Colonel Chatfield came into the county when grandfather died in 1785. He bought a farm near what was called Hardscrabble on the Norway road near Lawton street. He had a son Cornelius, who was a dentist and carried on his business in Fairfield. There was a man named Mr. Hollet, who kept a store in Fairfield. Later on James Mather kept the store and Norman Butler kept a store at the same time. Norman Butler went to Newport and lived there the rest of his days.
James Mather started a store in Newport and put his sons, Charles and Fred, in business. Charles was drowned in the West Canada Creek. He married W. S. Benchley's daughter. Fred married Varnum Harris' daughter.
There were three brothers by the name of Pratt, who came from England. One settled in Connecticut, one in Broome county and one in some other state. Chalker Pratt's father settled in Connecticut. When the Revolutionary War broke out Chalker served all through the war and then married Chloe Toles and went to Johnstown and kept hotel. After his family was nearly grown up, he bought a farm on Hardscrabble, near Chatfield and some of his boys worked for the Colonel. The family consisted of himself, wife, five daughters and five sons. The sons were: Jeremiah, William, David, Joel, and an infant that died. The daughters were: Rachel, Lovina, Sarah, Asenath and Laura. Rachel married Zebulon Toles and went to Deerfield. Sarah married Alfred DeWitt. Louisa, for her first husband, married John Swart, who was killed in the war of 1812. Asenath married John Gorsline and went to the town of Columbia. Lovina married a Mr. Macomber. The sons Jeremiah and William enlisted under Colonel Chatfield in 1812 and went to the war. After he had served a few weeks the Colonel discharged Jeremiah and hired him to attend to his farm. David and Joel graduated at Fairfield; David as a minister, and Joel for a teacher. Joel died unmarried.
More early Fairfield area families, including the Raynores, the Nobles and the Hines, will be recalled when we post the fourth and final installment of Jane Scott Raynore's reminiscences of Old Fairfield around October 15. In our transcription we have been true to the errors in spelling and punctuation, and probable type-setting errors, of this small privately printed book.
Our appreciation to Jane Dieffenbacher, Fairfield Town Historian, for sharing this gem from her personal collection.
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