The great-grandfather of the subject of this article was a resident of Warwick, and later of Cranston, Rhode Island. His wife was a Miss Pierce, and to them were born seven children: Peleg, known as the "big man of Warwick;" Martin; Job; Urial; Nathan, grandfather of Burdette J.; Rebecca; and Phoebe.
Nathan Salisbury, Sr., was born December 1, 1751, and at the age of twenty married Abigail Stone, who was two years his junior. She was the only daughter of Deacon James Stone of Cranston, a descendant of Hugh Stone, the stolen boy, and ancestor of the Stone family in America. The mother of Abigail (Stone) Salisbury was of the celebrated Brown family, of which John Brown, the founder of Rhode Island College, now Brown University, at Providence, R. I., was a member. Nathan Salisbury, Sr., was lieutenant of the company of men under the command of Captain Burgess, that fired into the British Frigate Gaspie a short time prior to the opening of the Revolutionary War. This, it will be remembered, was one of the series of events that led up to the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Salisbury resided at Cranston until 1795, when he removed to Providence; he lived in the latter city until 1803, when he betook himself to Hartford, Washington County, N. Y., and purchased a farm. After a three years' residence he removed to Cazenovia, Madison County, N.Y., and in the year following came to Homer, Cortland County, in the fall, buying a farm on Cold Brook, and moving on to it. He resided on the latter place until his death, November 4, 1817. Mr. Salisbury and his honored wife were the parents of twelve children: Waity; Sally; John; Joseph; Martin, who died on a return voyage from China; Anna; Mary; Lucinda; Ambrose; Cynthia; Nathan, Jr., father of our subject; and Phoebe. At the time Mr. Salisbury settled on Cold Brook, the stillness of night was not infrequently broken by the cries of wolves and other wild animals, and it became a quite common occurrence for deer to come out into the clearing almost to the very doors of the cabin. Game of all sorts was abundant, and the cool, sparkling waters of the streams fairly teemed with trout and others of the finny tribe.
Nathan Salisbury, Jr., was born at Cranston, October 10, 1793. He came into the new country with the family, and in 1813 was baptized and received into the Baptist Church of Homer by the Rev. Alfred Bennett. Subsequently he changed his membership to the Baptist Church of Scott, where a large and flourishing society existed for many years. Always interested in the welfare of the young, Mr. Salisbury, though scarcely more than a youth himself, devoted much time to organizing and conducting Sabbath Schools. Alive to temporal matters, he, in 1815, bought a farm on Lot 95 of Scott township; this estate has ever since been known by the euphonious name of Evergreen Terrace, and is the home-gathering place of the Salisbury family. When Mr. Salisbury first purchased the tract, it was covered with a dense, unbroken forest, but as soon as the second summer he had cleared enough so as to be able to raise two acres of corn, and in 1818 he was able to harvest thirty acres of fine wheat. Thus gradually, the forest retreated, and fertile, arable land came forth, but it was not without the hardest kind of labor and serious drawbacks that it was accomplished. Lucretia Babcock became the wife of Nathan Salisbury, June 21, 1818. She was a daughter of James and Mary (Gibbs) Babcock, who came into Scott township from Blandford, Mass., about the year 1815. Mrs. Salisbury was born September 30, 1792, and spent all her married life at Evergreen Terrace, dropping into that last final sleep which knows no waking, in 1889. Her husband was not long separated from her by death, but followed her the next year, and rejoined her on the other shore. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury all grew up on the homestead; they were named: Amanda A.; Charles B.; Dr. James H., a prominent and well-to-do physician of New York City; Milton L., deceased; Burdette J., subject of our history; Charlotte O.; William W.; and Nathan, Jr., a farmer of the town of Scott, whose life history may be found on another page of this work.
Our subject's father was above all a man, who could be trusted, and he enjoyed the love and esteem of all who had the good fortune to know him. Possessed of good judgment and endowed richly with perseverance, he carried through to a successful termination his every undertaking. Despite the hard, grinding labor of the pioneer, he found time to look after the gentler and more refined side of life. He loved flowers, and seldom could his beds produce too many. He liked cattle and sheep of fine breeds, and his estate was noted for the extra quality of its fruit. Several excellent varieties of seedling pears were originated on his farm. As an agriculturist, his fields were handled with skill, hence good crops and full granaries resulted. Loving the natural sciences, he collected and arranged in the home a cabinet of rocks, fossils and minerals, than which few private collections could be better; this cabinet is now the prized possession of his son, James H. All in all, Nathan Salisbury was a true gentleman of the old school, ---intelligent, courteous and refined, he was the kind of a man to make a lasting impression of good on all societies, which were so fortunate as to number him among their members.
Burdette J. Salisbury was born and reared at Evergreen Terrace. He came into this life October 30, 1828. He was trained in scholastic lines at the time-honored Homer Academy. Completing his education at the age of twenty-four, he engaged in farming and stock-buying. Especially fortunate was he in the latter business during the war. He also had money invested in the manufacture of shoe pegs, having a factory at Little York, on Little York Lake, where he made pegs by the thousand bushels; a unique but nevertheless an exceedingly useful industry. He retired from this business in 1878, and has latterly devoted himself to the care of his farms. In addition to the home place, he owns a farm in Little York, and one in Cayuga County. He has a herd of fine Holsteins, of which any man might well be proud, and is also a breeder of valuable horses. Always active in public affairs, he is a leading member of the Democratic party in his section, and has most acceptably filled many offices of trust. He is a member of the Little York Grange, and takes great interest in the welfare of the agricultural classes.
His wife, whom he married in 1862, was before her union to him Elmira Ellsworth, daughter of Daniel Ellsworth of Venice, Cayuga County, N. Y. They have two children: Orlando B., a druggist of New York City, and a graduate of the College of Pharmacy of the same city; and Frank N., a farmer and produce dealer, whose wife is Jennie (Squires) Salisbury.
Our subject is a man, wherever he is known, who is respected for his sterling qualities. He has, like all men, had opportunities, but unlike the most of men, he has made the most of them. He takes a broad, expansive view of life, in this respect very similar to his honored father. He has knowledge of many other interests than the one with which he is intimately connected, and in all matters his judgment is known to be sound. He is the heir to a good name, and that same good name he proposes to hand down to posterity with no tarnish or mar to detract from its lustre. On a preceding page we present the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Burdette J. Salisbury.
Source: pages 387-389
FLETCHER M. SALISBURY is the proprietor of the leading meat market of Marathon, Cortland County, and has acquired a trade that will compare favorably with any in the county. He is a son of Leander M. and Phoebe Ann (Meeker) Salisbury, and was born November 21, 1860, in the town of Silver Lake, Susquehanna County, Pa.
Leander M. Salisbury was a native of Delhi, Delaware County, N. Y., and received his education in the district schools of that town. He took up farming as a means of earning a livelihood, and followed it in Delhi until 1853, when he moved to Brackneyville, Susquehanna County, Pa. After remaining there a few years, he moved to Binghamton, N. Y., where he resided at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in Co. A. 137th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and was in the service but a short time, when he died. He was a brave and valiant soldier, ever faithful in the discharge of his duty, and he possessed the good will and respect of the entire company. Our subject's father was united in marriage with Phoebe Ann Meeker, who was born in 1836, a daughter of Joshua Meeker, a native of Susquehanna County. As a result of this union, two children were born, namely: Elsie A., the wife of Adam Hilsinger, the efficient sheriff of Cortland County; and Fletcher M., the subject of these lines.
Fletcher M. Salisbury attended the public schools of Susquehanna and Cortland Counties. After leaving the parental roof, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and purchased a farm in the town of Willet. After a period of five years he gave up farming and went to Binghamton, where he was engaged in teaming for a short time. In 1888, he moved to Marathon and inaugurated a butcher business, which he still conducts. He carries a full line of choice meats, and by his honest and enterprising methods he has established a large and paying business. His trade increased rapidly from the first, and he is now obliged to keep two delivery wagons going all the time. He still owns a fine farm of one hundred and eighty-eight acres in the town of Willet. On May 7, 1882, Mr. Salisbury was united in marriage with Ella E. Lamb, and one child, Flora E., was born to make their home happy. Mr. Salisbury is a Republican, and takes an active interest in political affairs. He is a present serving as a deputy sheriff of the county. Socially, he is a member of Lodge No. 167, I. O. O. F., of Marathon.
Source: pages 192 and 197
NATHAN SALISBURY of Scott township, Cortland County, ranks high among the leading, progressive men of this section, and holds an enviable place among the country's agriculturists as a practical farmer and dairyman. He was born on the old Salisbury homestead in Scott township, July 24, 1837. He bears the same honored name as his father and grandfather before him, and it is safe to say that he emulates their virtues, for they were men who commanded respect because of their superior ability and honorable records.
The Salisbury family is of English extraction, the original head of the American branch coming to this country about the year 1640, in company with two younger brothers. Being opposed to the political and religious tendencies that appeared in the reign of King Charles I, and feeling alarmed for their safety, they were obliged to leave their home by stealth, with no word to their friends and relatives as to their ultimate destination. They came into the colonies from North Wales, where they had sojourned for a time. One of the brothers, John, was killed by the Narragansett Indians near Mt. Hope, and this act, if it was not an immediate cause, at least did much to hasten King Phillip's War.
The great-grandfather of the subject of this article was a resident of Warwick, and later of Cranston, Rhode Island. His wife was a Miss Pierce, and to them were born seven children: Peleg, known as the "big man of Warwick;" Martin; Job; Urial; Nathan, grandfather of our subject; Rebecca; and Phoebe.
Nathan Salisbury, the first of that name, was born December 1, 1751, and at the age of twenty married Abigail Stone, who was two years his junior. She was the only daughter of Deacon James Stone of Cranston, a descendant of Hugh Stone, the stolen boy, and ancestor of the Stone family in America. The mother of Abigail (Stone) Salisbury was of the celebrated Brown family, of which John Brown, the founder of Rhode Island College, now Brown University of Providence, R. I., was a member. Nathan Salisbury was lieutenant of the company of men under the command of Captain Burgess, that fired into the British Frigate Gaspie a short time prior to the opening of the War of Independence. This, it will be remembered, was one of the series of events that led to the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Salisbury resided at Cranston until 1795, when he removed to Providence; he lived in the latter city until 1803, when he betook himself to Hartford, Washington County, N. Y., and purchased a farm. After a three years' residence he removed to Cazenovia, Madison County, N.Y., and in the year following came to Homer, Cortland County, in the fall buying a farm on Cold Brook, and moving to it. He resided in this place until his death, November 4, 1817. Mr. Salisbury and his beloved wife were the parents of twelve children: Waity; Sally; John; Joseph; Martin, who died on a return voyage from China; Anna; Mary; Lucinda; Ambrose; Cynthia; Nathan, the second of that name; and Phoebe. At the time Mr. Salisbury settled on Cold Brook, the stillness of the night was not infrequently broken by the cries of wolves and other wild animals, and it became quite a common occurrence for deer to come out into the clearing almost to the very doors of the cabin. Game of all sorts was abundant, and the cool, sparkling waters of the streams fairly teemed with trout and others of the finny tribe.
Nathan Salisbury, the father of our subject, was born at Cranston, R. I., October 10, 1793. He came into the new country of Central New York with his father's family, and in 1813 was baptized and received into the Baptist Church of Homer by the Rev. Alfred Bennett. Subsequently he changed his membership to the Baptist Church of Scott, where a large and flourishing society existed for many years. Always interested in the welfare of the young, Mr. Salisbury, though scarcely more than a youth himself, devoted much time to organizing and conducting Sabbath Schools. Alive to temporal matters as well, he in 1815 bought a farm on Lot 95 of the town of Scott; this estate has ever since been known by the euphonious name of Evergreen Terrace, and is the home-gathering place of the Salisbury family. When Mr. Salisbury first purchased the tract, it was covered with dense, unbroken forest, but as early as the second summer, he had cleared enough so as to be able to raise two acres of corn, and in 1818 he was able to harvest thirty acres of fine wheat. Thus, gradually, the forest retreated, and fertile, arable land came forth, but it was not without the hardest kind of labor and serious drawbacks, that it was accomplished. Lucretia Babcock became the wife of Nathan Salisbury, June 21, 1818. She was a daughter of James and Mary (Gibbs) Babcock, who came into Scott township from Blandford, Mass., about the year 1815. Mrs. Salisbury was born September 30, 1792, and spent all her married life at Evergreen Terrace, dropping into that last final sleep which knows no waking, March 4, 1880. Her husband followed her in July, 1889, and rejoined her on the farther shore. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury all grew up on the homestead; they were named: Amanda A.; Charles B.; Dr. James H., a prominent and well-to-do physician of New York City; Milton L., deceased; Burdette J., a leading agriculturist of the town of Homer, residing in the village of Little York, whose personal notice appears elsewhere; Charlotte A., who died January 20, 1898; William W.; and Nathan, the third of that name, of whom we will speak a little farther on.
Our subject's father was above all a man who could be trusted, and he enjoyed the love and esteem of all who had the good fortune to know him. Possessed of good judgment and endowed richly with perseverance, he carried through to a successful termination his every undertaking. Despite the hard, grinding labor of the pioneer, he found time to look after the gentler and more refined side of life. He loved flowers, and seldom could his beds produce too many. He liked sheep and cattle of fine breeds, and his estate was noted for the extra quality of its fruit. Several excellent varieties of seedling pears were originated on his farm. As an agriculturist his fields were handled with skill, hence good crops and full granaries resulted. Loving the natural sciences, he collected and arranged in the home a cabinet of rocks, fossils and minerals, than which few private collections could be better; this cabinet is now the prized possession of our subject. All in all, Nathan Salisbury, second of that name, was a gentleman of the old school---intelligent, courteous and refined, he was the kind of man to make a lasting impression of good on all societies, which were so fortunate as to number him among their members.
Nathan Salisbury, the third of that name and the subject of this article, obtained a good academic education in Cortland Academy of Homer and in Cortlandville Academy of Cortland, and finished his education in 1860. He has determined to see a little of the Old World before settling down, and so in 1861 he made a visit to the British Isles, and traveled about from point to point through England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He returned home in the same year, and accepted the position of superintendent of the Hibbard Oil Co., which was then operating in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania. For two years and a half he superintended the drilling of the wells, and saw to it that the wells were properly capped and piped when oil was struck. He then went west to Virginia City, Montana, and from there to Helena, where he engaged in mining and in speculating in live stock for a year and a half. He then made San Francisco his objective point, and reached Portland, Oregon, by way of the Columbia River. After spending a year in the States of Washington and Oregon, he passed on to San Francisco and San Jose; from the latter place he proceeded overland to Salt Lake City, Utah, from there went to Cleveland, Ohio, and finally arrived home in Cortland County in the spring of 1869. Ever since he has resided on a portion of the homestead, 180 acres of which he owns and cultivates. He also owns a farm of 69 acres in the town of Homer, and 170 acres fronting on Lake Ontario. He has been engaged as a dairyman, and is quite successful as a farmer and a business man. He is a stanch Republican, and takes an intelligent interest in county, state and national politics. As a true-blue Republican he thoroughly believes that the prosperity of the country depends on a sufficiently high tariff, constructed with a view to protecting American products and American labor from ruinous competition with the cheap products and labor of foreign countries. He very frequently attends county and district conventions of his party as a delegate, but it is a disinterested action, for he never seeks public office for himself.
On January 28, 1890, Mr. Salisbury was united in marriage with Miss Eva E. Wood, daughter of William Wood of Auburn, N. Y. This happy union has been blessed with the birth of three children, namely: Nathan, Jr., fourth of that name; Trafford W.; and June L. In religious belief he holds to the teachings of the Baptist Church. Mrs. Salisbury is a member of Exchange Street M. E. Church of Auburn, N. Y.
Source: pages 471-474
SIDNEY S. STEARNS, street commissioner of Cortland village, is a native of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and was born March 18, 1845. His parents were both natives of Vermont. Clark Stearns, his father, was always a tiller of the soil. Part of his family was born in Vermont and part at Louisville, St. Lawrence County, N. Y. It was at the last place he died. He was the father of a family of twelve children, namely: Maria; Alfred; Levi; Laura; Stephen; Elijah; Clarinda; Ellen; Lucinda; Sidney S.; Clark; and Mary.
Sidney S. Stearns, the subject of this personal sketch, received a common school education. In 1859 he went to Woburn, Mass., where he worked one year, when he went to Eau Claire, Wis., where he remained one year. Inspired by a spirit of patriotism, brought on by the stirring events of 1861, he determined to enlist and render service to his country. He accordingly joined the ranks of the 91st Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and remained in the army fifteen months. After leaving the service of the United States he went to Louisville, N. Y., where he engaged in farming for three years. Agricultural pursuits, however, were not congenial to his tastes, and so he sought a position on the railroad. This he secured, and was in the service of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. for seven years, making his home in Scranton, Pa., during this period. He then engaged in the grocery business the following six years. After which he moved to Cortland, N. Y., and engaged in the meat business for five years; subsequently he followed the line of life insurance until 1895, when he was elected street commissioner of Cortland village. His services met the appreciation of all good citizens irrespective of party, and he was re-elected in 1897 for another term of two years. The duties of the position to which he has been chosen have been faithfully and honestly discharged. His successive elections show his popularity. It has been his constant aim and earnest endeavor to satisfy the wishes of the people. He is honest and upright in all his dealings. Mr. Stearns was married August 7, 1865, to Laura E. Day. She was also born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., a daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Proctor) Day. Her parents were natives of the old Bay State. They had a family of seven children.
Source: pages 324-325
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