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LEROY
TOWN, GENESEE COUNTY, NEW YORK GENWEB PROJECT
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BIOGRAPHY WILLIAM EATON BABCOCK - OF PEMBROKE, NY |
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| Babcock,
William Eaton. Mention is made of this family in the earliest history
of New England. Tradition and national record have handed down knowledge
of James Babcock, the founder of the family in the United States. He
was born in Essex, England, about 1580, was one of the Pilgrims, and
in 1620 removed with his family to Leyden, Holland, to emigrate with
that body to America. He embarked in the ship Anne early in 1623, arriving
in Plymouth, Mass., in July, where he lived the remainder of his life.
He had four children. John. the second son, removed with a number of
others, in 1648, into that part of Rhode Island now called Westerly,
where the company made a settlement, and where he lived until his death,
July 19, 1719, aged over 100 years. He left ten children, whose descendants
in 1860 numbered over 5,000. (1) John was the first magistrate chosen
in Westerly and held that office for many years. He owned nearly all
of Westerly and a part of South Kingston, and much of this land is now
in possession of his descendants, having been in the family over two
hundred years. Many of the members of the Babcock family took an active
part in the French and Revolutionary wars. Henry, born in 1733, was
a colonel in the British service; he commanded a regiment in the French
war and was wounded at the battle of Ticonderoga; during the Revolutionary
war he was a general in the State troops of Rhode Island and distinguished
himself on many occasions. Oliver, another member of the family, was
a captain in the Revolutionary war; he was at the siege of Fort Washington
on the Hudson, and was so indignant at the surrender of that post by
the colonel in command that he broke his sword across a cannon, declaring
that it should never be yielded to the British. Reuben Babcock, another
member of the family, born at Voluntown, Conn., March 2, 1758 (grandfather
of the subject of this sketch), also served as private and sergeant
in the Revolutionary war; he was the youngest of a family of seven,
whose parents were married in 1733; in. 1789 he married Hannah Hendricks
and settled in Petersburg, Rensselaer County, N. Y. where he resided
until 1796, when he moved to Poestenkill in the same County; there he
bought a farm on which he lived the rest of his life, dying February
24, 1849, aged ninety-one years. Reuben, Jr., was the oldest of a family
of six; he was born in Petersburg, October 24, 1789; early in 1809 he
was a sergeant in the militia, in 1811 he was made a lieutenant, and
in February, 1812, at the age of twenty-two, he was made a captain.
In June following the war of 1812 was declared, and in January, 1813,
he was appointed brevet captain for the purpose of raising a uniformed
rifle company; in this he was successful, and received a commission
as captain thereof in March, 1814; in July following his company stood
a draft, and not being among the number drawn he volunteered to go as
a substitute, acting as first lieutenant and serving until the close
of hostilities. About 1860 he received a warrant for 160 acres of land
and money to pay for clothing used in the service. Thus, at the age
of twenty-four, with one brevet he held four commissions. In 1810 he
married Susanna M. Gould, of English parentage, who was born in Woodstock,
Conn., May 10, 1790. They were the parents of twelve children; two died
in infancy and ten lived past middle age. Their names were Eliza, Cynthia,
Harry, Samantha, William E., Lucy, Mary, Amanda M., Sarah and Charles.
The family moved to Troy, N. Y., early in 1831, and in the fall of 1833
moved to Pembroke, Genesee County, N. Y. He bought a farm and also carried
on the business of builder until he was appointed postmaster at East
Pembroke in 1853, which office he held for over eight years, and though
a strong Democrat he was one of the first to buy a flag and unfurl it
at the breaking out of the Civil war. He was several times elected to
town offices. He died February 15, 1877, aged eighty-seven years and
nearly four months. Susanna M. (Gould) Babcock, his wife, was seventh
in a family of twelve children, eleven of whom were the parents of 101
children, and about 1840-50 ten of those families lived in the town
of Pembroke. She was of a retiring disposition; her great industry and
perseverance were marked in caring for her large family; she early joined
the Baptist church and taught her children to attend church regularly,
and before they left the parental home nearly all of them were members
or became members soon after. Her death occurred on August 30, 1860,
at the age of seventy years, three months and twenty days. William Eaton
Babcock was born in Poestenkill, N. Y., November 27, 1818. At the age
of thirteen he had studied only Webster's Spelling Book and taken a
six weeks' course in Murray's Grammar. At that age he began daily work,
and for two seasons he was a member of a gang of thirty men in Troy.
At the age of fifteen he moved with the family to Pembroke, where, during
the first three months of his residence, he "finished" his
education by taking a course in arithmetic and reading in a backwoods
school house, but with a most excellent teacher, whose wages were $14
per mouth and board himself. From fifteen to twenty-one he worked with
his father at carpentering and farming; at his majority he continued
as a contractor and builder for several years; among the contracts he
executed were the Rural Seminary, hotel, Baptist church, flouring mill
and stores, and many private residences and other buildings. During
this time he was carrying on the business of making flour barrels, giving
employment to from five to ten men for several years. In 1858 he originated
and carried on with success the business of manufacturing shingles and
barrel headings; this continued five years, shipping many cars each
year to eastern markets, and now, forty years after, the business is
still profitable. During this time he was also engaged in bridge building;
among others of lesser note he built four across the Tonawanda for the
towns of Pembroke and Batavia. two being of ninety feet, one of one
hundred feet, single span, and one of one hundred and thirty-five feet,
two spans. In 1879 he became proprietor of the East Pembroke custom
and merchant flouring mill. In 1882 he rebuilt the building, substituting
a frame for the stone wall of which it was originally built. In 1889
he put in an entire new set of roller process flour machinery, of fifty
barrels daily capacity, taking entire charge of remodeling and doing
the work except wherein the head miller assisted. In March, 1892, he
exchanged the mill for a farm, and since then has devoted his attention
to farming; in earlier years he had owned and held interests in several
farms. Mr. Babcock has several times been elected to town offices. With
all whom he has employed and in all the contracts he has executed, no
controversy has arisen; and in the public work, after the price was
agreed upon, no writings were required. He makes no pretensions in literature,
but has written articles upon public and business matters, which have
appeared in Chicago, Buffalo and New York publications and local papers,
many of them being without name or hint as to authorship. He was a Democrat,
but has been a Republican since the organization of that party.
(1) Albert Wells, New York City. Source: Our County and its people, A descriptive work on Genesee County, New York, Edited by: F. W. Beers, J.W. Vose & Co., Publishers, Syracuse, NY 1890 |
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