Biography
of BENJAMIN BRIGGS INGERSOLL, RICHLAND, NY
Many thanks to Esther Rancier
for sharing her information on the Ingersoll family. Esther is researching
in Richland and Mexico the Soul/Soule, Brace and Daniel
P. Smith families, and would appreciate hearing from anyone researching
these surnames.
Esther Rancier at: [email protected]
There were three major Ingersoll families who came early to New England.
Two resided in Massachusetts; the other at Huntington, L.I., NY.
The Long Island family settled later at Stamford, CT before they moved
into Westchester Co., NY. This portion of the family history was
recorded by various genealogists, particularly Lillian Drake Avery in her
book, A Genealogy of Ingersoll Family in America.
Her record included the branch of the Ingersoll tree headed by John Ingersoll,
born 11 October 1758 in Bedford, NY. After his service in the Revolutionary
War, John lived in New Milford, CT. Then he settled sucessively in
Saratoga, Hoosick, Susquehanna and Floyd, NY. From Floyd they
removed to Richland, Oswego Co., NY in 1804. There his family lived
on a farm, but some of their time was spent as fishermen. In Richland
that meant they went salmon fishing in the Salmon River. At the time
there were annual runs of Atlantic salmon to be easily caught.
John Ingersoll was a Methodist whose home alternated with Pliny Jones’
tavern as a meeting place for the congregation in the earliest years.
Their home sat on Rt. 13 near Lehigh Road.
John had 6 children with his wife, Martha Jane (Patty) Bull. John
died 30 May 1840. He was buried in the Riverside Cemetery according
to Avery.
In the 1850 Richland census John’s sons Daniel, Johnson, and Benjamin Briggs
still remained in the town with their families. By 1843 son Abram
had removed to Bombay, Franklin Co., NY. Son John B. and his wife
Nancy Goit traveled to Wisconsin to settle. Daughter Abigail married
Erastus Lyman Jones. She and her husband migrated to Grant Co., WI where
he died in 1854. She had 5 Jones children.
Son Daniel Ingersoll married Betsey Filkins. Daniel’s children were
all born in Richland. Daniel died 3 July 1874. Johnson’s family
lived primarily in Scriba, NY. He died 21 November 1864 in Port Ontario,
NY.
Avery covered most of the Richland Ingersoll family, but her material on
Benjamin Briggs Ingersoll was incomplete. Benjamin B. was the first white
male child born in Richland. His birth on 8 November 1805 was noted
in the town’s history. He married in 1825 at Pulaski, NY Hannah Wolcott,
according to Avery. Hannah was dead between 1845/50. The couple
had 9 children. Only 8 survived. LeRoy, born in 1832, died
soon after birth. Lucy Eldula, born in 1834, never married.
She died 2 July 1853 in Richland. One family researcher said she died in
Ohio, but she was only 16 in 1850. It is doubtful she went alone
to Ohio.
Benjamin B.’s oldest daughter, Nancy Alzina Ingersoll, born 19 March 1826
in Richland, married William Henry Filkins on 7 January 1846 in Albion,
NY. She became the mother of 7 children, many of whom were
buried later in the Daysville Cemetery in Richland.
The next daughter Henrietta,
born 8 May 1828 at Richland, according to Avery, married in December 1850
to Alexander H. Meacham. She had 8 Meacham children. She died
25 January 1899 in Belmond, Iowa. Her tombstone there gave her date
of birth as 8 May 1830. According to the 1850 Richland census Henrietta
was 22 or born in 1828. Because of her mother’s early death Henrietta
was the oldest female in the household for her father and likely was the
person who talked with the census taker.
The other daughter, Margaret, born 17 May 1838 in Richland, married Nelson
Hooper, an Albion farmer. In the 1860 Albion census she and Wm. Nelson
Hooper were age 20 each with a 2 year old daughter Emily Hooper and 6 month
old Charles A. Hooper. They lived with Benjamin Ingersoll, her father,
age 60. On 17 May 1864 in Albion Benjamin B. died at his daughter’s home.
By the 1880 Richland census Nelson and Margaret were the parents of 3 more
sons: Lyman Hooper, born ca. 1861; William Hooper, born ca. 1864; and Henry
Hooper, born ca. 1876.
Benjamin B.’s oldest son Lyman, born 4 April 1830 in Richland, married
in 1855 Rosette/Rosetta Litts, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Litts.
In the 1860 Richland census Rosette Ingersoll was living with her parents
and 3 daughters named Laysette [sic], age 4; Ann G., age 3; and Mary, age
8 months. This record said Lasette and Ann G. were born in Wisconsin.
In the 1880 Scriba census Lyman and Rosette were enumerated with Lasette,
age 24; Mary, age 20; and Rosa, age 16. All of these daughters were
listed as born in New York State. By 1910 Rosette/Rosetta was deceased.
Lyman at age 81 lived as a boarder in Boyleston, NY. His daughter
Rose B. [sic] married (1) Frederick M. Smith on 24 December 1888.
On 29 September 1893 she married (2) Joseph Kelso. She had no known
issue. Lyman died in Mexico on 19 July 1912.
The next son Isaac Newton Ingersoll, born 10 May 1837 in Richland, served
in the Civil War as a private in Co. E, 189th NY Regiment. He married
on 1 January 1866 in Pulaski Marietta Damon, born in Adams, NY. After
the marriage they moved to Waupaca, WI where they had 3 children: Calista
Estelle, born 4 November 1866; died 22 February 1932 in Goldendale, WA;
William, DeWitt, born 23 November 1868; died 12 May 1897; and Mabel, born
17 March 1874. In 1880 the family lived in District 2, Goldendale,
WA. His wife, called Mary, worked as a milliner. Isaac N. died
8 August 1894 in Salem, Oregon.
John Briggs Ingersoll was born May 1840, according to Avery. Only
1 documented source for this child has been located. That source
was the 1850 Richland census for the household of Benjamin Briggs Ingersoll.
In the enumeration this person called Briggs was 8 years old. Nowhere
does this name appear as John Briggs or John B. with certainty. He
had an uncle known as John Briggs Ingersoll born in 1783 plus a first cousin
John Briggs Ingersoll, Jr., born in 1816. The cousin went to Wisconsin
and most records refer to him. Going back to Briggs, age 8, several assertions
say he had a Civil War plaque on his grave or he was last heard from in
Bay City, MI. Neither claim can be verified. The National Archives
list two John B. Ingersoll’s in New York State units in the Rebellion.
One at age 21 in 1861 was 2 years too young. The other had too little
identifying data to be of much value. The Oswego County lists of
Civil War men do not include this name. And nowhere is there a location
of any gravesite. Another possibility is that Briggs died young before
1860, since there is only the one certain reference to him. His father
died intestate, so there is no will to consult.
The youngest son, William Oscar, called Oscar, was born in 1845 in Richland.
He married twice. In 1870 he wed Florence Fitch. Living in
Albion they had a daughter Jessie R., born 12 January 1874. Circa
1895 he married again to Alice C. Westcott. They lived in Boyleston
by 1910. In the census W. Oscar was age 63, working as a farm hand, married
15 years to Alice C., age 46 who never had a child. Jessie R., age
36, still single lived in the household. Both Oscar and Alice were
enumerated in the 1920 Sandy Creek census with the name spelled as Ingersol
[sic].
With so many Ingersoll families in the Richland area, the annals of the
rich agricultural history of the town were augmented. These Ingersolls
created no industry, but they were like the family of Grant Wood’s
American Gothic painting – plain, ordinary, proud farmers. They truly
made America and Oswego County!
SOURCES:
Avery, Lillian Drake.
Genealogy of Ingersoll Family in America. New York: Hitchcock, 1926.
Churchill, John C. Landmarks
of Oswego County, New York. Syracuse: Mason, 1895.
Daysville Cemetery, Pulaski,
N.Y. Available [online] https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyoswego/cemeteries/daysvillecempt.3.html
[4 June 2003]
International Genealogy Index.
Available [online] http://www.familysearch.org
[5 June 2003]
U.S. Census Albion, Oswego
Co., NY 1860 & 1880.
U.S. Census Boyleston, Oswego
Co., NY 1870 and 1910.
U.S. Census Richland, Oswego
Co., NY 1830, 1850, 1860 & 1880.
U.S. Census Sandy Creek, Oswego
Co., NY 1920.
U.S. Census Scriba, Oswego
Co., NY 1880.
U.S. Census Goldendale, Klickitat
Co., WA 1880.
WorldConnect Project. Available
[online] http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com
[5 June 2003]
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2003 Esther Rancier
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