KENT FAMILY RECORDS

Picture of Effie Kent  (the original is an old tintype)
Effie Kent was daughter of Thomas & Harriet Caroline Hamilton Kent, born in Hornby NY.
Effie married Judson Jared Webster & lived on Ames Street in Addison, NY.

* Father Kent died in his early thirties of TB*
* Mother Kent died at the early age of thirty with Spinal Meningitis.
* Ethel died at the age of eleven, with TB.
* Iva died at the age of seventeen, after surgery for appendicitis.

     BIRTHS

Kent:  A son born April 12th to Charles & Dorothy Kimbel Kent of Montour Falls, NY.

     DEATHS

Kent, Cora M. 1916-1933, buried Beaver Dams Cemetery.

Kent, Louesa F., wife of Philip Kent and daughter of John and Elisabeth Bedford, age 19 years, died August 13th, 1877 Moreland Cemetery.

Kent, Richard, son of P. S. and Mary Kent died 13 September, 1851. aged 21 years. Buried Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Kent, Ethel. Age eleven, granddaughter of Abigail Gabriel, died March. 1898.

Kent, Darwin Roswell, Porter Street, Watkins Glen.

Kent, Helen (Mrs.) 60, Rock Stream. NY. Died February 22. 1951.
Survivors:  Husband, Julian  G. Kent
Daughter:  Mrs. Deanne Robinson of Cortland, NY.
Sister:  . Mrs. C. Ballard of Endwell, NY

Kent, Janice (Cooper) age 61 resided in Watkins Glen, NY. Died  April  19th
    (Kimberly Kent of Englewood, NJ provided corrections here.)
Interment: Glenwood Cemetery, Watkins Glen.  Survivors.
Husband: Henry Jack Kent  (deceased and buried in Glenwood Cemetery)
Daughter:  Mrs. Dianne Cooper Robinson of Homer, NY (formerly of Cortland, NY)
Son:  Brian Cooper Kent of Wall Township, NJ (formerly of Cortland, NY)
Sister:  Mrs. C. Ballard of Endwell.

Kent, Kenneth S. age 58, of Dundee, Yates Co., NY died July 3 1972 at Bath Veterans Hospital. Born 2 August, 1912 at Rock Stream, NY, he married 2 August, 1947 Edna Garrett of Rochester, NY.  He was an 8th Air Force Veteran of World War II.  He is survived by his wife Edna and his father Ross Kent of Dundee, NY.

Kent, Maude E. age 19 years died Jan 12, 1890, buried in Montour Falls Cemetery.

Kent, Mrs. Mary, aged 77, of Sugar Hill, died 25 February, 1910.  She is survived by  son, J. L. Kent of Sugar Hill.

Kent, Sylvester, aged 78 of Sugar Hill, died March 1907.  Survived by son Jerome.  Buried Sugar Hill Cemetery.

SANFORD HISTORY

Richard Sanford, first of the family of whom there is definite knowledge, resided in the parish of Stanstead Mountfilchet in Essex, England, five miles north-east of Great Hadham, and just over the line separating the counties of Hertford and Essex.  Buried November 16, 1591, he was an aged man.
He married Elizabeth _____, who was buried 15 September, 1600.

By Generations:
(1)  Thomas Sanford.  born Essex, England, 1607  His children:
 Richard Sanford, died in 1636.
 Robert Sanford
 Elizabeth Sanford, married William Woodley
 Henry Sanford.

(2) Thomas Sanford.  His children:
 Ezekiel Sanford, born Dorchester, Mass. 1637.
 Priscilla Sanford
 Zachary Sanford
 Sarah Sanford
 Demaris Sanford

(3) Ezekiel Sanford.  His children:
 Thomas, born Dorchester, Mass., 1675.

(4) Thomas Sanford. His Children:
 David Sanford, born Fairfield, Conn., 1711.

(5) David Sanford.  His children:
 Ezra Sanford, born Warwick, NY in 1747.

(6) Ezra Sanford.  His children:
 Ezra Sanford, born Orange Co., NY, 1793.  (My Grandmother’s
 Father).

(7) Ezra Sanford. His children:
 Abigail Sanford Gabriel, born Warwick, NY, 1836.

(8) Abigail Sanford Gabriel.  Her children:
 Elizabeth Gabriel Kent, born Reading, NY 1890.

(9) Elizabeth Sanford Gabriel.  Her children:
 Abbie M. Kent Mourey, born Reading, NY, 1890.

(10) Abbie M. Kent Mourey.  Her children:
 Elizabeth Mourey Maurer, born Reading, NY, 1913.
 Georgia Mourey Sanders, born Reading, NY, 1915.
 William K. Mourey, born Montour Hospital, Montour Falls, NY, 1924.

(11) William K. Mourey.  His children:
 William K. Mourey II
 Elizabeth Mourey Maurer m. Frank W. Maurer.
 Georgia Mourey Sanders.

FAMILY HISTORY as told by ABBIE M. KENT MOUREY

Contributed by [email protected]

"From Horse and Buggy Days to the Man-on-the-Moon.  Born in 1890, I believe that I have lived through one of the most exciting of times.  I will try to write of some of the events I have heard and remembered that may be of interest to my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  In fact, my oldest grandson, Frank Maurer, Jr., asked me long ago if I would do this for him.

I’ll go back before the days my three brothers and two sisters and I were born.  My grandparents lived on the farm where I have lived nearly all of my life.  John Plummer Gabriel and Abigial Sanford were married in 1861 and lived in a little old house until just after the Civil War.  My mother, Libbie, was born in this house in 1863.  In 1865 and ’66, the present house was built.  The old house, I remember, was used for packing grapes that were grown on the farm.  These were packed in small baskets and shipped by boat on Seneca Lake, and later by train, to Philadelphia.  Grandfather raised grapes and grains, along with a few cows and whatever else he could to make a living.  He also was a very fine carpenter, and he and a brother, Ben Gabriel, with other help, built this large home on the hill.
 They attended Reading Center Methodist Church where Grandfather was an active member in helping raise money to keep the church going.  Grandmother taught a Sunday School class of young girls.  The Hillerman neighbors—girls whom I remember, were in her class.
 Mother grew up and attended the country school where we Kents, and later on my Mourey children were educated.  Shortly after my children left to go to high school in Watkins Glen, the little country school was done away with and centralization of schools took over.  Mother attended high school and went by train from Reading Center each day.  The New York Central had just been completed then.  I was later to go to Dundee High School in the same way.
 I remember Grandmother telling about Mother’s going to the little schoolhouse evenings to Singing School.  One night she thought Mother should be home so she got out of bed and put on a sunbonnet and walked down the road, only to find Mother and her beau (later to be my father) leaning over the bridge, enjoying the moonlight.  Well, Grandmother turned around and went back home without a word.  Mother later (in 1887) married that young man—Roswell Kent, who had lived on the farm which Bill, Jr., bought in 1963, known as “the Pye Place”.  The house he had lived in at that time burned years ago.  I don’t  remember the house.  Father and Mother went to housekeeping on a farm three miles north of Mother’s home, in a lovely old house which is still standing.
Six children were born to them:  Darwin Daniel (May, 1883); Julian Gabriel (November, 1884); Ethel (November, 1886); Ross Hector (October, 1888); Abbie Mary (June 1890); Iva Elizabeth (June 1991).  We lived on this farm where all were born, until Father’s health gave out, then moved to Watkins (now Watkins, Glen) where in April, 1893, Father died.  The following November, Mother died.  The week after she died, Grandfather died, leaving Grandmother with six orphans whom she took in her home and cared for until we were able to care for ourselves.

 Darwin took over the farm work at a very young age and Julian and Ross were soon helping.  Julian lived with Uncle Adrian and Aunt Emily Tuttle until he was old enough to help Grandmother farm.  Julian was supposed to walk about one mile to Grandmother’s home each Sunday to attend church with us all.  He evidently didn’t care too much for church and nearly always was too late to go.
 Grandmother, whom Betty and Georgie remember, was a very jolly person.  How she could carry on after so much sorrow and trouble is hard to believe.  She always said having us children to love and care for was her greatest strength.
 I remember one summer day when the man who worked the farm drove up to the door with the team and a big wagon.  Trunks and bags were loaded in, with Grandmother and all six of us children.  We went to Glenora on Seneca Lake where many people we knew were vacationing.  I am not sure how long this vacation lasted.  I must have been quite a little girl.  My thoughts were:  “What a Grandmother to take on such a responsibility”.
 Ross, Iva and I were quite close.  Ross was the clown in the family.  We weren’t allowed to play in an old barn across the gully from our house.  Though having been forbidden many times to go there, Ross one day went over to play.  While walking on a high beam, he fell off, breaking his arm.  He was afraid to tell what had happened and cried all night before Grandmother was told.  We thought him very brave.  Once he was being punished and cried when Grandmother spanked him.  We teased him and he said that he cried because he “felt sorry for the old lady”.  Of course we knew Grandmother’s hand could really hurt.  He always  said he was going to marry Blanch Norris, a pretty little school girl.  Grandmother asked him what he wanted to marry for and he said, “to have someone to fill the woodbox”.
 Without Grandmother’s knowledge we used to climb out a window onto a little porch roof.  One time we took a little rocker out to sit in.  (I can just see us rocking on that little roof).  We couldn’t get the chair back through the window so Ross just threw it into the yard and broke a rocker.  We had a hard time explaining that to Grandmother.
 My brother Julian pulled a bad trick on me one day.  Before he left the farm to work all day away from home, he was to kill two chickens for dinner that night.  We were having company and I was left alone to do the job.  I’ll never forget the agony I went through before I could even make myself do this task.  Little had I thought when Julian went out the driveway laughing that he had left this job for me!  But I did it—and many times afterwards!  It was not pleasant, but there was not always a man available.  I used to say that I opened the door to let the guests in with one hand and killed a chicken with the other.  Life was never dull!
 The snow banks used to be so high sometimes that we would walk on top of them for several weeks in going back and forth to school, where we would all huddle around a wood stove to dry and get warm.  The teacher taught every grade and would sometimes teach some high school subjects.  The children would take turns carrying water in a pail from the well nearby.  All drank out of the same tin dipper which hung over the water pail.

 A young man’s pride was to have a nice horse and buggy and a girl to take for a ride.  Many times the men would race horses on the dusty roads.  To win was a great accomplishment.  Skirts and petticoats touched the floor.  We wore long black stockings and corsets laced tight to make a small waist.  The men and boys wore high-buttoned shoes and leather boots.  Some contrast to today’s easy dress!
 Our social life was always exciting, with relatives coming up summers from Orange County, NY to visit.  They were and still are, very special people.  Many of them are gone, but there are still many dear cousins with whom we keep in touch.  These relatives were always so kind to Grandmother and her little brood.  It was a thrill to get ready for them, just as it is today.
 Our first telephone came in the country around 1900.  All the neighbors who had them would meet in the different houses each week or so and have what they called “tele-phone parties”.  There were church socials, and ice cream socials in the summer at different homes.  Once a year what was called a “Donation” was held for the minister.  We all took food and gifts for the minister’s family.
 The homes were heated with fireplaces and stoves.  Mostly wood was burned.  There were no storm windows or doors.  We used kerosene lights.  There was no plumbing.  There were chambers under the beds which many times froze overnight.  The walk outside to the two- or three-seaters where you sat and shivered in the cold winter wasn’t anything to look forward to.
 The farming was all done by horse and by hand.  The grain was cut by grain binders and drawn into the barn where it was threshed by a machine.  That required several extra hands and horses to do the job.  The men had to be fed a noon meal by the housewife.  The neighbors changed work which meant that the hard working men had to go on after getting their job done at home, to help several neighbors.  Now the combine does this in one operation.  Also, the grape picker does the job of many people.  Where it took days to pick several acres, now many acres can be harvested with much less help, and much more easily.
 The housewife baked all her bread, churned butter, and made cottage cheese from the skim milk.  When Bill, my husband, was a boy at home, his mother made butter and cottage cheese and sold them in Watkins to regular customers.
 In 1912, Seneca Lake froze over for the second time in the history of the white man.  Bill and I were married on February 21st of that year.  The day before our wedding, Julian and Ross pulled Ross’s wife, Edith, across the lake and back on a sled.  Coming back the ice began to crack and all of them were glad to reach shore!
The winter was a happy time for me.  Ross and Edith were living with Grand-
mother, Julian and me.  We all loved Bill, who was a steady visitor.  We were married in the parlor where my parents, as well as my daughter, Betty, were married.  We went to live on Bill’s morther’s farm west of Reading for a year.  In January, we came to Grandmother’s farm to live.  In later years, we purchased the farm where our three children were born.  Elizabeth Adeline (February 1913), Georgia Marie (November 1915), and William Kent (December 1924).

One season Bill, with the help of the children and me, picked dandelions and made wine.  It was very delicious and quite powerful.  Bill came in one night after threshing beans in the dust all day, with a dust-chill.  He took a good drink of this wine and went to do the evening chores.  We were entertaining for dinner.  The wine warmed Bill up and also made him feel very warm and a little gay.  Well, he served the dinner without too much trouble and said the drink was just what he needed.
Our children went to parties with us many times.  We attended Rock Stream Presbyterian Church, where the children and I were baptized—the church where Bill had been baptized when he was a young man.  Before Billy was born, we took our letters to the Watkins Glen Presbyterian Church.  We had bought our first car in 1917 and there was improved road to Watkins; whereas, the road to Rock Stream was mud and clay and very slippery after rains, and many times, not passable with a car..
 Our children graduated from Watkins Glen High School--Betty and Georgia going on to a good secretarial school in Elmira.  World War II came along and Bill stayed on the farm to help us through the hard times.  He has been here ever since.
Now his two sons are the fourth generation to be born and raised on this farm.
Just before I wrote this, I flew to Los Angeles to visit my daughter, Betty.  While there,
we took a 7-day voyage on the Pacific, to Mexico.  We stopped in Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan.  It was a delightful trip, enjoyed by both of us.  It is a one-class ship (P & O’s Spirit of London) and the people were very friendly.  The food and service were excellent.  I enjoyed some great games of Bridge.
 Your parents—Betty, Georgia, and Bill—can carry on from here if there is more you want to know.  I will say again that I think I have lived through a great time of changes."

Abbie M. Kent Mourey