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Chamberlin Sr., Amos was born in Barton, VT, in 1772. He had four
brothers, namely: William, Erastus, Ira and Abner, and one sister,
Hattie. - Amos, Sr., had nine children, six boys-Cyrus, Amos, Major,
Alfred, John and Hazen-and three girls-Almyra, Mable and Hattie. He
left Barton with six boys and Almyra in 1814; Amos, Jr., came on foot
and drove a cow, and his mother came on horseback and brought Hazen,
the youngest child, in her arms, through the then wilderness to Genesee
County, NY Amos, Sr., took up a farm on lot No. 141 (east side), two
miles northeast of North Byron, and with the aid of his older sons
converted the same into a good farm. David Shed came from Verona,
NY, and took tip the west side of lot No. 141. He had thirteen children,
four boys-Harry, David, Oliver and Milo-and nine girls-Polly, Phebe,
Anna, Almeda, Betsey, Jane, Sally, Malvina and Asenith. Amos Chamberlin,
Jr., married Phebe Shed November 9, 1820; they had three children-Charles,
Charles H. and Helen. Charles H. was born November 11, 1824, in Byron;
he came from Byron with his father to Oakfield in 1835 and has resided
there ever since. On November 11, 1851, he married Mary A. Bates:
she died June 3, 1881; he married, second, Abbie J. Shed, December
13, 1882. In politics he has been a Republican, and has held the office
of town clerk, and was justice of the peace for several years; was
appointed postmaster under Lincoln's first term and held that office
three terms; and was supervisor of his town. He started a general
store in 1849 and continued it until 1884, when his health failed
and he gave up business. He has built one wood store and two brick
blocks of three stores each, having been burned out three times; he
also built a fine house. He has resided in the town longer than any
person now living there, and in the village since 1849. William, brother
of Amos Chamberlin, Sr., came to Ischua, Cattaraugus County, in the
winter of 1815-16, with a sleigh covered with canvas and drawn by
a yoke of oxen; the snow was so deep they had to hitch one ox before
the other. He has a large number of descendants now living in Cattaraugus
County. In 1837 Amos Chamberlin, Jr., wishing to send $1,000 in silver
coin to Michigan, and there being no railroads or express companies,
he put one thousand half dollars in each of two sacks, which he fastened
to the pommel of his saddle, and mounting his horse, rode to Buffalo,
where he took a boat to Detroit, and then rode a hundred miles farther
west. Stopping at a tavern, in the morning when he wished to settle
his bill, they refused to accept the Genesee County money; he found
relief by going to a broker and getting "wildcat" money.
Proceeding, he arrived safely in Branch County. Those are what some
people call the good old times.
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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