It is widely agreed that the
founder of the Rhode Island Larkin family before 1655 was Edward Larkin.
The early history of Edward and his descendants was recorded by John O.
Austin in his definitive work, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island.
Some family researchers believe Samuel Larkin of Westerly, RI was a grandson
of Edward’s.
About 1730 Samuel Larkin wed Sarah Crandall
of South Kingston, RI, daughter of Samuel Crandall and Sarah Kenyon. They
had a son also named Samuel Larkin. He wed on 14 July 1764 Sarah Larkin,
born 1741, a daughter of Nicholas Larkin and Sarah Kenyon.
Young Samuel and Sarah had a son William,
born ca. 1775. William left a will proved on 6 June 1836 after he died
on 18 April 1836 in Woodville, RI. The will mentioned his wife Bathsheba
Webster, whom he wed on 21 January 1798 in Richmond, RI. Bathsheba died
7 November 1849 in Woodville. The will included the names of ten children.
There were two others who apparently had died young.
One of William’s sons Samuel Crandall
Larkin, born 27 January 1803, married in December 1826 at Hopkinton, RI
Judith Hoxie. Many people from RI moved into New York State after 1800.
Samuel moved to Mexico, Oswego Co., NY sometime between 1833/36. The three
oldest children were born in RI, while after 1837 the younger children
were all New Yorkers.
At the age of 36 in 1842 Judith (Hoxie)
Larkin died. She was buried in the Mexico Village Cemetery. She apparently
died from childbirth. Her one year old daughter Mary died in 1843. The
baby also was placed in the same cemetery with her mother.
Samuel C. wed again before 1850 Ruth
Green, born 1804. In the 1850 census Mexico census this family was enumerated.
Larkin, Samuel C -42-farmer-RI
Larkin, Ruth -46-wife-RI
Larkin, Eliza -22-daughter-RI
Larkin, Green -19-son-RI
Larkin, Almira -17-daughter-RI
Larkin, William H -13-NY
Larkin, Gilbert -11-son-NY
Larkin, Horace -10-son-NY
Ruth never had any children with Samuel.
In the 1860 Mexico census this family was counted thusly:
Larkin, S C -57-farmer-RI-$9220
Larkin, Ruth -55-wife-RI
Larkin, Eliza -31-daughter-RI
Larkin, Almira -27-daughter-NY
Larkin, W H -22-son-NY
Larkin, Horace -20-son-NY
Son Green had begun his own household.
He resided in Mexico after marrying Juliette Kibby. She was the daughter
of A. and Louisa Kibby.
Larkin, Green -28-farmer-NY-$150
Larkin, Juliette -24-wife-NY
Larkin, Fred -7-son-NY
Larkin, Adda -3-daughter-NY
Larkin, Sam’l C -1-son-NY
Green’s brother Gilbert, age 21, worked
as a day laborer in New Haven. Gilbert lived with A. A. Severance.
When the Civil War began many men enlisted
from Mexico. The Larkins were not so inspired. Finally Green enlisted as
a private on 1 September 1864, age 32, in Company I, 184th NY Infantry
Regiment. This regiment was then and now called the Oswego County Regiment.
Company I was recruited from the towns of Palermo, New Haven, Mexico, Hannibal,
and Constantia. This unit only served for a few months, yet one officer
and 10 enlisted men were killed and 27 died from disease. They fought in
only two battles: Shenandoah Valley on 7 October 1864 and Cedar Creek,
VA on 19 October 1864. Green was mustered out on 29 June 1865 in City Point,
VA.
Samuel Crandall Larkin died in 1871.
In the same year his daughter Eliza, age 43, died also. His wife Ruth died
in 1885. All of the above were buried in the Mexico Village Cemetery.
The family was scattered out in three
towns of Oswego County during the 1870 census. Green remained in Mexico.
Larkin, Gray [sic] -39-stone mason-RI-$200
Larkin, Juliet [sic] -37-wife-NY
Larkin, Fred -16-son-IL
Larkin, Adda -13-daughter-IL
Larkin, Cora -9-daughter-NY
Larkin, Anna -7-daughter-NY
Larkin, Mertie [sic] -5-daughter-NY
In the 1870 census Gilbert had settled
in Scriba, NY.
Larkin, Gibbard [sic] -31-farmer-NY-$2200
Larkin, Mina -27-wife-NY
Larkin, Alvin -4-son-NY
Larkin, Minnie -4-daughter-NY
Mina died between this census and 1872
when Gilbert married again. In this listing the children appear to be twins,
but they had different ages in later census.
Brother William H. set up his home in
Hastings, NY by 1870.
Larkin, William -32-farmer-NY-$3000
Larkin, Adalaide -25-wife-NY
Larkin, Henry -1-son-NY
William died in 1875. His wife, called
Adeline on her gravestone, lived to 1910. Both were buried in the Mexico
Village Cemetery.
In the 1880 Mexico census Samuel C. Larkin’s
widow Ruth resided with her step-daughter Almira Larkin, age 35. Green
lived close enough to assist her if necessary.
Larkin, Grem [sic] -49-farmer-RI
Larkin, Iwetta [sic] -45-wife-NY
Larkin, Myrtie -15-daughter-NY
Larkin, Roy -2-son-NY
Green’s son Samuel, age 21, worked as
a laborer for Albert Newton in Lysander, NY.
Also living in Mexico 1880 was Horace
Larkin, age 40, who wed Mary E. Mills, born ca. 1848 in Johnstown, NY.
She was the daughter of David P. Mills and Esther Jane Evans. The young
couple lived with an unrelated medical student. They were childless. Mary
died on 15 May 1891.
Gilbert continued residing in Scriba.
The 1880 census showed the following:
Larkin, Gilbert -41-farmer-stone mason-NY
Larkin, Lottie H -34-wife-NY
Larkin, Alvin R -16-son-NY
Larkin, Minnie R -14-daughter-NY
Larkin, Almira B -3-daughter-NY
Larkin, Jennie U -1-daughter-NY
Gilbert removed to New Haven by the 1900
census. He had been married 28 years to the same woman, Charlotte, called
Lottie. Lottie was the daughter of Chas. S. Cheever and Ursula Legg.
Larkin, Gilbert -61-RR station agent-NY
Larkin, Sharlott [sic] -54-wife-NY
Larkin, Charley C -18-son-NY
Larkin, George G -16-son-NY
Larkin, Marion -13-daughter-NY
Cheever, William M -53-brother-in-law-NY
Charley C. worked as a laborer on the
railroad. George G. toiled as a farm laborer.
Green’s daughter Cora, born 20 April
1860, wed in February 1877 in Syracuse, NY Frank Fremont Seamans. She became
the mother of four children.
Green’s son Roy K. settled at New Haven
by 1900.
Larkin, Roy -22-farmer-NY
Larkin, Cora W -19-wife-NY
Larkin, Hazel -1-daughter-NY
Larkin, Green -69-father-RI
Larkin, Juliette -65-mother-NY
Roy and Cora were close to being newlyweds.
Cora stated she had borne one child. Later she had more. There are graves
in the Mexico Village Cemetery for these children: Blanch Larkin (1906-1925)
and Ruth Larkin (1908-1911). Roy K. Larkin was born in 1878, died in 1957.
Cora M. was born 1881, died in 1973. They were both buried in the Mexico
Village Cemetery with their children.
Also residing in New Haven was Green’s
son Samuel . The 1900 census showed the following enumeration.
Larkin, Samuel -41-day lanorer-NY
Larkin, Amy -35-wife-NY
Larkin, Florence -16-daughter-NY
Larkin, Grace B -15-daughter-NY
Larkin, Harrison M -11-son-NY
Larkin, Floyd A -9-son-NY
Larkin, Ethel -7-daughter-NY
Larkin, Fanny -4-daughter-NY
Larkin, Ausita [sic] -2-daughter-NY
Samuel and Amy had been married for 18
years. Amy stated she had borne 8 children, with 7 still surviving.
By the 1900 Mexico census Horace Larkin
had remarried.
Larkin, Horace -59-farmer-NY
Larkin, Naomi -43-wife-OH
Larkin, Mary E -1-daughter-NY
Horace and Naomi had been married for
five years. Naomi stated she had borne one child.
In the 1910 Mexico census Horace, age
70, and Naomi J., age 56, lived with their daughter Mary, age 11. Horace
died in 1918, but Naomi lived to 1933. They were both buried in the Mexico
Village Cemetery.
Green Larkin, age 78, still stayed in
Mexico with Juliette, age 74. They had been married 56 years according
to the 1910 census. Juliette stated she had borne seven children, all surviving.
Green died in 1911. He was interred in the Mexico Village Cemetery.
Samuel’s daughter Ethel, age 17, worked
as a servant in the house of Frank Howard at New Haven in 1910.
By the 1920 Mexico census Green’s widow
lived with her daughter Myrtie R. who married Coleman H. Chadwick from
Canada.
Chadwick, Coley [sic] -59- blank-Canada
Chadwick, Myrtie R -54-wife-NY
Chadwick, Robert L -16-son-NY
Larkin, Juliette -84-mother-in-law-NY
Juliette died in 1922 along with her
daughter Myrtie. They were both buried in the Mexico village Cemetery.
Horace’s widow also lived in 1920 Mexico.
Larkin, Naomi -63-widow-OH
Larkin, Mary E -21-daughter-NY
Naomi died in 1933. She was buried in
the Mexico Village Cemetery.
Samuel C. had removed to Oswego in 1920.
Larkin, Samuel C -60-street car motorman
-IL
Larkin, Amy -55-wife-NY
Larkin, Ruth -15-daughter-NY
Larkin, Alice -13-daughter-NY
Samuel died in 1938 according to his
stone in the Mexico Village Cemetery.
Samuel’s son Floyd A. settled in Scriba.
In the 1920 census for Scriba Floyd’s family was enumerated.
Larkin, Floyd A -28-farm laborer-NY
Larkin, Ethel B -27-wife-NY
Larkin, Florence N -5-daughter-NY
Larkin, Eva E -5-daughter-NY
Larkin, Harold K -3-son-NY
Larkin, Genevieve M -1-daughter-NY
In the 1930 New Haven census Charles
C. Larkin, son of Gilbert, was recorded.
Larkin, Charles C -48-farmer-NY
Larkin, Ethel M -35-wife-VT
Larkin, Dorothy A -18-daughter-NY
Larkin, Kenneth C -16-son-NY
The Larkin family has contributed much
"sweat equity" to the county. Honest, hard-working, a close knit family,
the Larkins and people like them made the area prosper and provide a place
where local pride could only grow.
SOURCES:
American Civil War Soldiers. Available
[online] http://ancestry.com [30 March
2005].
Austin, John Osborne. The Genealogical
Dictionary of Rhode Island. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1978.
Cemetery Cenus of the Town of Mexico, Oswego County, New York.
Mexico: Mexico Historical Society, 2002.
Larkin Family Genealogy Forum. Available
[online] http://genforum.genealogy.rootsweb.com [28 March 2005].
Obituary for Mrs. Charles S. Cheever
dated 2 May 1889 from Mexico Independent newspaper. Availablbe [online]
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyoswego/biographies/leggjerimiah.html
[31 March 2005].
U.S. Census Hastings, Oswego Co., NY
1870.
U.S. Census Lysander, Oswego Co., NY
1880.
U.S. Census Mexico, Oswego Co., NY 1850,
1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 & 1920.
U.S. Census New Haven, Oswego Co., NY
1860, 1880, 1900, 1910 & 1930.
U.S. Census Scriba, Oswego Co., NY 1870,
1880 & 1920.
Ullmann, Helen S. Descendants of
Peter Mills of Windsor, Connecticut formerly Named Pieter Wouterse Vander
Meulen. Camden, ME: Penobscot, 1998.
WorldConnect Project. Available [online]
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com
[29 March 2005].