Genealogical & Family History of Northern, NY
Pages 717 - 725

William Richard Cutter, A. M.
Editorial Supervisor

Online Edition by Holice, Deb & Pam

 

Leyden, December 28, 1891.

Dear Friend Horace Bush:

I know that the lodge was held in our house and that Jonathan Collins was Master of the lodge, that they celebrated St. John's Day, June 24, at our house, that they had lamb baked for dinner, and for vegetables had green peas and other vegetables; that the meeting was attended by about twenty Masons from Boonville and Leyden and was much enjoyed. I must have been twelve or fourteen years old, but how they got there is unknown to me. The lodge was held in the north chamber, in the middle was a good sized chamber and the Tiler was placed there with drawn swords. I suppose father must have procured the charter and was made mast of the lodge. Afterwards Nathaniel Merriam was elected master. I don't know of any lodge ever held in constable with

Yours, -------------------

Jonathan C. Collins.

Judge Collins married Sarah Couch, born January 10, 1775. Sons: 1. Levi. 2 Selden. 3. Homer, member state legislature, 1858. 4. Anthony. 5. Wayne. 6. Jonathan Couch (see forward. Daughters: 7. Katrina. 8. Lament. 9. Deme. 11. Sarah. the sons are all active, prosperous business men, married, and heads of families.

(VII) Jonathan cook, son of Jonathan (2) and Sarah (Couch) Collins, was born in West Turin, New York, January 3, 1804, and died December 24, 1894. He settled in Leyden in 1870, and was an influential citizen. He was prominent in public life and prosperous in business. He served the town as supervisor, assessor, and as representative in the state legislature in 1834. In 1852 he was presidential elector. He married, in 1826, Sally C. Talcott, born May 5, 1806, died September, 1896. Children: 1. Andrew J., see forward. 2. John D., twin of Andrew, married Helen Jaret, of Utica, New York. 3. Homer L., born December 23, 1823, died in Montana, in 1905.

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(VIII) Andrew J., son of Jonathan C. and Sally C. (Talcott) Collins, was born in West Turin, New York, January 9, 1828. He married, September 18, 1855, Anna M., daughter of Dr. Frederick and Magdalina (Guben) Rundge. Children; 1. Rosalie Eugenia, born September 8, 1856, married Leonard Loomis. 2. Homer Rudolph, see forward. 3. Anna Augusta, born February 2, 1861; married, E. M. Bagg. 4. Charles henry, born January 26, 1863. 5. Andrew J. (2), born August 7, 1866, died September 6, 1901.

(IX) Homer Rudolph, eldest son of Andrew J. and Anna M. (Rundge) Collins, was born in West Turin, New York, June 19, 1859. He attended the public schools of Talcottville until he was sixteen years of age, then enlisted in the United States Navy and served for five years. He was assigned to the "Minnesota," and served his term of enlistment on that ship. When his term expired he returned to Talcottville for a short time. On attaining his majority he went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, where he spent several years. Afterward he traveled all over the western states, returning to his New York home in 1899. He is a member of the Republican Party, and a liberal, progressive public-spirited man, well informed on all questions and issues of the day, and influential in the community. He married, June 19, 1895, at Talcottville, New York, Martha Daniels, daughter of Chester J. and Lodema (Talcott) Munn. Lodema Talcott was a descendant of Hezekiah, son of John and Sarah (Parsons) Talcott. Hezekiah Talcott came from Durham, Connecticut, in 1798, and was one of the early settlers of the town of Leyden, Lewis County. He married Sarah Johnson, and had 1. 2. Phoebe, 3. Sally, 4. Elisha, 5. Daniel, 6. Joel, 7. Jesse, 8. Johnson Parson, and 9.Lucy. Johnson, son of Hezekiah Talcott, married Altamira (perhaps Almira) Cooley, and had 1. Sally, 2. Sophronia, 3. Ralph, 4. Adeline, 5. Jeannette, 6. Jesse, 7. John, 8. Lodema. Lodema Talcott married, June 21, 1854, Chester J. Munn. Children: 1. Harriet. 2. Helen. 3. Margarita. 4. Adeline. 5. Martha Daniels. 6. Grace Kimball. 7. Chester Cummings. Martha Daniels Munn married homer Rudolph Collins.

DEWEY. Thomas Dewey, immigrant ancestor, came from Sandwich, county Kent, England, and was one of the original grantees of Dorchester, in 1636. He was here as early as 1633, when he was witness to the nuncupative will of John Russell, of Dorchester. He was admitted a freeman, May 14, 1634. August 12, 1635, he sold his Dorchester lands and removed to Windsor, Connecticut, one of the first settlers there. He was granted land in 1640, and his home lot was the first one north of the palisade, and extended from the main street to the Connecticut River. He was juryman several years. He died intestate, and the inventory was filed May 19, 1648. He married, March 22, 1639, at Windsor, Frances, widow of Joseph Clark. She married (third) George Phelps, and died September 27, 1690. Children: 1. Thomas, born February 16, 1640. 2. Josiah, baptized October 10, 1641. 3. Anna, baptized October 15, 1643. 4. Israel, born September 25, 1645. 5. Jedediah, mentioned below.

(II) Ensign Jedediah Dewey, son of Thomas Dewey, was born December 15, 1647, in Windsor, Connecticut, and died in May, 1718, in Westfield, Massachusetts. the lands in Windsor belonging to him were sold in his twenty-first year, and that same year he is mentioned at Westfield, which was then being settled under the direction of a committee appointed by the town of Springfield. August 27, 1668, he was granted fifteen or sixteen acres of land, and in 1670 he received another grant of six acres. In 1872 he and his brothers Thomas and Josiah, with Joseph Whiting, erected a "saw and cornmill" on a brook then called Two-mile Brook. They were granted forty acres of land for the use of the mills, and were to give to the town one-twelfth of the corn which they ground. 

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During King Philip's war the settlers of Westfield remained most of the time inside the "Compact dwelling," which they had been ordered to form for protection against the Indians, and it was not until 1687 that they began to receive grants of land and to build houses outside the two-mile limit thus enclosed. February of the latter year Jedediah Dewey, with other proprietors, received a grant of twenty acres without the meeting house. He served in the various town offices of the period; selectman in 1678-86-95-97-99; mentioned as ensign in 1686; was made a freeman January 1, 1680; joined the church September 28, 1680. By trade he was a wheelwright. He was the only one of the sons of Thomas, the immigrant, to make a will, which was proved May 25, 1718. In it he mentioned sons Jedediah, Thomas, Joseph, Daniel, James: children of his daughter Sarah, Margaret and Hannah, all deceased; and daughters Mary and Abigail. He married, about 1670, Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Pell) Orton. Thomas was probably son of Thomas, of Charlestown, Massachusetts. She was baptized August 22, 1652, at Windsor. She joined the Westfield Church March 24,m 1780; died November 20, 1711, in Westfield. Children, born in Westfield: 1. Sarah, March 28, 1672. 2. Margaret, January 10, 1674. 3. Jedediah, June 14, 1676. 4. Daniel, March 9, 1680. 5. Thomas, June 29, 1682. 6. Joseph, May 10, 1684, mentioned below. 7. Hannah, March 14, 1686. 8. Mary, March 1, 1689-90. 9. James, April 3, 1692. 10. Abigail, November 17, 1694.

(III) Joseph Dewey, son of Jedediah Dewey, was born May 19, 1684, in Westfield, and died there January 3, 1757. He was a farmer, and lived on the south corner of elm and Franklin Streets. July 4, 1715, his father deeded to him thirty acres of land in Squawfield, at Westfield. He was selectman in 1726; joined the church, April 30, 1727. He married, in 1713, Mrs. Sarah Root, widow of Samuel root, and daughters of John and Sarah (Ferry) Warner. She was born, 1688, in Springfield, and died in Westfield, where she was buried February 19, 1769. Children, born in Westfield: 1. Joseph (q.v.), October 7, 1714. 2. Sarah, April 15, 1716. 3. Lydia, May 25, 1718. 4. Mary, March 21, 1720. 5. Roger, March 17, 1722-23. 6. Noah, May 3, 1724.

(IV) Roger, son of Sergeant Joseph Dewey, was born March 17, 1722, at Westfield, and lived east of Hebron, Connecticut. He bought one hundred acres of land at Glastonbury, in 1764, and was living there in 1773. He had interests at Worthington, Massachusetts, in 1789, where his sons, Joseph and Samuel, were early settlers. He was also a grantee in Gilson, New Hampshire. He married at Hebron, June 5, 1744, Patience, born there, August 12, 1720, daughter of William Rollo. Children: 1. Sarah, born July 11, 1745. 2. John, June 26, 1748, mentioned below. 3. John, August 3, 1750. 4. Joseph, May 22, 1753. 5. Lydia, July 3, 1755. 6. Samuel Rollo, December 25, 1757. 7. Patience Experience, September 18, 1760.

(V) John, son of Roger Dewey, was born near Hebron, Connecticut, June 26, 1748, died at Franklin, New York, October 1, 1824. He was a farmer, and removed to Franklin in 1793-94. He married, August 20, 1772, Mindwell Kneeland, born May, 1753, died October 22, 1834. Children; 1. John, born June 7, 1773. 2. Mindwell, January 6, 1775. 3. Roger, October 30, 1777, mentioned below. 4. Lydia, April 26, 1780. 5. Benjamin, May 24, 1783. 6. David, January 27, 1786.

(VI) Roger (2), son of John Dewey, was born October 30, 1777, died at Franklin, January 25, 1859. He was a farmer there. He married, October 24, 1800, Susannah Marsh, who died December 26, 1857. Children, born at Franklin: 1. Sarah, April 24, 1802. 2. David Edwin, July 29, 1807, mentioned below. 3. William, July 27, 1812. 4. Talman, September 3, 1814. 5. Susan, March 4, 1818.

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(VII) David Edwin, son of Roger (2) Dewey, was born July 29, 1807, at Franklin, New York, died there, April 30, 1870. He was a farmer. He married, February 12, 1834, Elishaba Edwards, who died November 13, 1858. Children: 1. Lyman Beecher, born September 27, 1835, died January 19, 1862, at Key West, Florida, while in service in the Ninetieth Regiment, New York Volunteers. 2. William Austin, born February 25, 1838, mentioned below. 3. Jonathan Edwin, September 9, 1842. 4. Roger Edwin, December 15, 1844.

(VIII) William Austin, son of David Edwin Dewey, was born February 25, 1838, died, in 1891 at Potsdam, New York. He received a common school education, and taught school as a young man. Later he conducted a general store at Franklin, New York, and also dealt largely in real estate, buying, improving, and selling farms. He removed to Potsdam in 1889. He was a leading citizen, and held various town offices. He was a Republican in politics, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Franklin. He married, July 25, 1859, Lodemia, daughter of Elisha B., Jr., and Mary (Fitch) Kilbourne. Her father was born in England, son of Elisha B. and Polly (Seymour) Kilbourne, who came to Connecticut and later to New York State. Children: 1. Frederick Lincoln, born May 14, 1860, mentioned below. 2. Mary Elizabeth, February 16, 1862, died July 25, 1874.

(IX) Frederick Lincoln Dewey, A. B., Ph. D., son of William Austin Dewey, was born in Otsego, New York, May 14, 1860. He prepared for college at the Delaware Literary Institute, and graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, in 1882, with the degree of A.B. He went back to the Delaware Literary Institute as teacher of classics, remaining three years, and in 1885 went to Potsdam to take charge of the classical department of the State Normal School. His principal classes were in Latin and Greek, in which studies he won the Hawley prize while in college. He also won the Tompkins Mathematical scholarship, and was appointed Clark prize orator, won the McKinney prize debate, and was honored with the valedictory at commencement. Two years after graduation he received the degree of A. M. and in 1892, when he retired from his professorship in the normal school, he was honored with the degree of Ph. D. by Hamilton College. Professor Dewey sent five valedictorians to Hamilton College from the normal school. In 1886 he was secretary of the New York Teachers' Association. In 1892 he became treasurer and manager of the Raquette River Paper Mills, being one of the originals stockholders. For three years he was with the Colton Pulp Company, and two years with the Canton Lumber Company. For a year he was with the Hannah Falls Power Company. In 1906 he was elected president of the Citizens' National Bank of Potsdam, and still holds that position. He is a director in the Northern Wall Paper Company; president of the Potsdam Building and Loan Association; member of the Phi Beta Kappa and sigma Phi fraternities; trustee of Potsdam State Normal School; president of the Potsdam Public Library; member of Free Masons; president of the Potsdam Club, and member of the Century Club, of Ogdensburg. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion an Episcopalian. He married, 1887, Jessie M., daughter of William Y. and Harriet J. (Dayton) Henry, and granddaughter Hiram Henry (See henry). They have one child, Lewis Dayton, born November 15, 1890; educated in public schools and at Hamilton College. (The connection with the Henry family is given in the last paragraph of this sketch).

(IV) Deacon Joseph (2) Dewey, son of Joseph (1) Dewey, was born October 7, 1814, in Westfield, and died there August 25, 1799. He was a farmer, and lived on West Silver Street, in a large two-story house. A large, red sandstone slab marks his grave in Mechanic Street old burying ground. He married (first), January 26, 1738, Beulah, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Sackett. She was born January 30, 1714, in Westfield, and died there October 27, 1769.

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He married (second), November 25, 1773, Hannah, daughter of Aaron and Rachel (Bagg) Phelps. She was born May 12, 1734, and died November 2, 1815. Children, born in Westfield: 1. Beulah, February 5, 1739, died July 18, 1739, born March 5, 1741, mentioned below. 2. Benjamin, April 5, 1743. 3. Gad, January 14, 1745. 3. Eliab, November 2, 1746. 4. Beulah, October 12, 1748, died January 12, 1752. 5. Sarah, born September 12, 1750. 6. Mary, June 23, 1753.

(V) Joseph (3), son of Joseph (2) Dewey, was born March 5, 1741, in Westfield, and died there December 31, 1815. He was a farmer, and lived in the Kings Park House at Fox District. He was drafted to go into the Continental Army in 1777; fined twenty pounds for refusing. He married, October 6, 1762, Ruth, daughter of Aaron and Rachel (Bagg) Phelps. She was born March 12, 1739, in Westfield, and died January, 1803. She joined the church June 26, 1763. Children, born in Westfield: 1. Ruth, September 18, 1763. 2. Stephen, August 26, 1765. 3. Hannah, January 27, 1768. 4. John, March 14, 1770. 5. Abner, December 1, 1774, mentioned below. 6. Caleb, November 6, 1779.

(VI) Abner, son of Joseph (3) Dewey, was born December 1, 1774, in Westfield, and died there, December 31, 1835. He married December 25, 1802, Nancy, daughter of William and Rachel (Shepard) Hiss cock. She died October 1, 1816. Children: 1. Abner, born 1803, mentioned below. 2. Merwin, 1805. 3. Rhoda Maria, 1807. 4. Pomeroy, buried at Suffield, Connecticut, December 27, 1876. 5. Child, born June, died July 21, 1815.

(VII) Abner (2), son of Abner (1) Dewey, was born in Westfield, in 1803. He was educated in the common schools and followed the trade of stone mason. In middle life he rented a farm, on which he was assisted by his sons, and continued to work at his trade at the same time. He married Cynthia, daughter of Winthrop and Achsah (Loomis) Shepard. She had brothers Winthrop, Noble, George, Charles, Harlow, Eli, De Witt, and sisters Maria and Achsah Shepard. Children of Abner and Cynthia Dewey; 1. De Witt. 2. Edwin Pelton, mentioned below. 3. Mary. 4. Milo. 5. Louisa. 6. Achsah. 7. Charles. 8. Cynthia. The four eldest were born in Massachusetts.

(VIII) Edwin Pelton, son of Abner (2) Dewey, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, and when he was seven years of age removed to northern New York, where his parents settled. He attended the public schools of Turin, New York. He worked on the farm during his boyhood, and when a young man worked out by the month for eight years. Then, in partnership with his brother De Witt, he bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in Leyden, New York. They cleared the land and divided it into two farms. Edwin built a house on his portion. After four years, when he had cleared twenty acres of land and greatly improved the property, he sold out. He bought another farm at Turin, consisting of 235 acres of land at $58 an acre, including ten cows. His wife bought twenty-five acres adjoining. He increased his dairy and added machinery, and equipment valued at $18,000, of which he owed all but the first payment of $3,000, by dint of hard work, thrift and enterprise, he managed to pay the mortgage. He retired from active labor in 1901, but still owns the farm. He resides in a cottage in Turin with his daughter, Mrs. Ralph Payne. In politics he is a Republican. He was for nineteen years commissioner of highways, and overseer of the poor two years. He is a member of the Baptist Church in Turin. He married, March 23, 1852, Esther, daughter of George and Mary (Staplin) Shepard. She has brothers George, Ashley and Charles, and sisters Mary, Theodora, Sophia, Theresa, Achsah, Eunice, and Benecia Shepard. George Shepard, father of Esther, was an orderly for his father, Captain Winthrop Shepard, stationed at Sacketts Harbor, New York, in the War of 1812. 

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He received a grant of land from the government and afterward sold it. Children of Edwin P. and Esther Dewey: 1. George E., born July 10, 1856; married, June 29, 1886, Ida L. Loyd; children: i. Helen M., ii. Mabel, iii. Harold. 2. Etta M., born June 1, 1864; married, March 7, 1894, Ralph Payne, children: i. Harold, and ii. Alive. 3. Effie M., born March 7, 1876, died May 10, 1867. 4. John M., born July 15, 1870; married, February 22, 1893, Louise Merz.

Hiram Henry (see Dewey Ix, ante) was a native of Vermont, and a cabinetmaker by trade. He had three children.

(II) William Y., only son of Hiram Henry, was educated in the public schools, and went when a young man to Madrid, New York, where for four or five years he was engaged as clerk in a general store. For a number of years he was engaged in trade in various places. Returning to Madrid, he was station agent there, then passenger conductor, and also carried on a general store in Madrid. In 1863 he entered the employ of the government at Alexandria, Virginia. In 1886 he settled in Potsdam, and in March that year entered the National Bank as bookkeeper. He was afterward a teller, and was cashier of the First National Bank for thirty years. He was also vice-president of the Potsdam Electric Light Company. He died in 1904. He married, 1854, Harriet J. Dayton, of Madrid, who died in 1870. Children: 1. Frederick D., died December 25, 1872. 2. Jesse M., married Dr. Frederick L. Dewey (q.v.). Mr. Henry married (second), 1871, Jane Huntington, of St. Albans, Vermont, and they have one child, Alfred Huntington, born May 23, 1873.

McCULLOCK. The family McCulloch (spelled also McCullock, McCullough, and in various other ways) is one of the oldest and most distinguished in Scotland. It was established before the Norman Conquest, in Wigtonshire and Kireudbrightshire, Scotland, and numbers in every generation some of the leading men of Scotland.

(I) General William McCullock, of the Kirkcudbright family, was an officer of the British Army, and died in the service in India. He was doubtless related to William McCulloch, of Mertoume, Kircudbright, member of the Scottish parliament.

(II) William, son of General William McCullock, was born in Kircudbright. He was in Canada as early as 1756, and cornet in the fifty-fifth Regiment in the British Army. He came to New York City in 2799, and engaged in the leather business, which he followed the rest of his life. He died at am advanced age, about 1824. He married Nancy Van Wie, of Van Wie's Point, six miles below the city of Albany. (See Shankland) Children: 1. Robert. 2. Kennie. 3. Catherine. 4. William.

(III) William (2), son of William (1) McCullock, was born in New York City in 1800, and died in Lowville, New York, November 12, 1887. 

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He was educated in the public schools, and served an apprenticeship of six years at the tinsmith trade under Philip Embury, a nephew and namesake of the first Methodist Episcopal minister in the United States. In 1826 McCullock came to Watertown, New York, and worked there as a journeyman at his trade. He then established himself in business at Brownville, New York, and continued as a master tinsmith with much success until 1841, when he removed to Lowville. From that time until 1853 he had a hardware store and tinsmith business at Lowville. About 1853 he conducted a private banking business. In 1864 his bank was chartered as the First National Bank of Lowville, of which he was cashier the remainder of his life, a period of twenty-seven years. He made it one of the largest and strongest banking institutions of Northern New York. He was a self-made man, shrewd and upright in business, an able financier and useful citizen. In early life he was a Whig, but he joined the Republican Party early in its existence, and supported it loyally during the war and afterward. He never sought public office for himself. He was one of the founders of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Lowville, one of the first vestrymern of the old Trinity Church of Watertown, and the last survivor of the original membership of that church. He married, in 1822, Mary Van Slyck, born in 1800, died in August, 1853, daughter of William Van Slyck, of Schenectady, New York. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Long Island, as are all the deceased members of the family. Children: 1. Frederick, mentioned below. 2. Mary. 3. William, served in the Fourteenth New York Regiment in the Civil War, and died in New York in 1862. 4. Henry. 5. Emma.

(IV) Frederick, son of William (2) McCullock, was born at Brownville, New York, September 14, 1834. He was educated at the Flushing (Long Island) institute. Then he served an apprenticeship of six years, learning the trade of tinsmith and the hardware business. In 1853, before he was of age, he engaged in New York City in one of the first fruit canning establishments in the country, under the firm name of J. McCullock & Company, and continued for about seven years. after spending a year at Middletown, Orange county, new York, he opened a tinware and hardware store at Martinsburg, Lewis County, New York, and conducted a successful business for several years. In 1887 he came to Lowville to take charge of his father's banking interests; and since 1899 has been president of the First National Bank of Lowville. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican.

(The Shankland Line)

Shanklin, or Shankland, as some of the family spell it, is an old Scotch surname. The family is numerous in Aberdeenshire at the present time. A branch of the family went with the Scotch to the north of Ireland. At the battle of Boyne, in July, 1690, a Shanklin was in command of a regiment of dragoons and was rewarded for his gallant conduct by the grant of an estate called Butler's Hill, near Inniskillen, in the north of Ireland. Four brothers, doubtless closely related to this soldier, founded the family in America.

(I) Robert Shankland, born in Ireland, about 1725, came, in 1747, to New York from Inniskillen, leaving Dublin University, where he had matriculated; settled in Orange County, near the Clintons and others who had been his father's neighbors in Ireland. He married Sarah Beaty, a relative of General James Clinton, of Revolutionary fame. The Beatys and Clintons took part in the defense of forts Constitution and Independence, and Alexander Beaty was one of those killed in battle. Robert and his descendants spell their name Shankland. He settled in New Britain, Orange County, New York; removed in 1750 to cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, where he died in 1796, aged seventy years. 

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Children: 1. Andrew. 2. Alexander. 3. William. 4. Thomas. 5. Margaret. 6. Sarah. Robert fought against the Indians in the colonial wars. During the Revolution he was a Whig, but his wife was a loyalist. Their son Andrew was the only one sharing the loyalist sentiments of his mother, and he enlisted twice in the British Army, located after the war in Virginia, and died there in 1828; from him many prominent southern Shanklins are descended. William, son of Robert, was a soldier in the American Army; his son, William Henry Shenckland, was a judge of the Supreme Court of New York. Thomas, son of Robert, was also in the American Army, as was also his brother Alexander, who settled in Canaan, Wayne County, Ohio, and died there. Their many descendants are numerously represented in the various patriotic societies of the United States.

Andrew, brother of Robert Shankland, came afterward to New York. He retained the spelling Shanklin. Children: 1. Nancy, married Bernardus Bloomingdale. 2. Caty, married John McPherson, resided in Galway, Saratoga County, New York. 3. Jenny, resided in Galway; unmarried; son, died at sea, leaving a son, Robert Henry of New York.

Thomas Shanklin, brother of Robert Shankland, came with his brother Andrew. His gravestone is in the Albany (New York) burying-ground. He and his immediate family held to the spelling Shanklin.

William Shankland, brother of Robert Shankland, came to America in 1775, and landed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but soon joined Robert in Cherry Valley. He also spelled the name Shankland. Children: 1. Robert, settled in Newburgh, Orange County, New York. 2. Nancy, married ------ Van Wie, and settled near Albany, at Van Wie's Point. Their daughter Mary married William McCullock. (See McCullock).

COLLINS. The Collins family of Talcottville, New York, descend from Lewis Collins, who arrived from England at Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was accompanied by four sons--Nathan, John, Albert and Dexter. Through marital lines the present family connects with the old New England Talcott family, also of English origin. Both the Collins and Talcott families furnished soldiers for the Army of the Independence, as well as for the War of 1812.

(II) John Collins, of Boston, Massachusetts, died March 29, 1670. He was a shoemaker, and a member of the Artillery Company, 1644. In 1640 he had a grant of land at Braintree. He married Susanna ------------, and had sons John and Thomas, daughters Susanna, married, 1662, Thomas Walker, and Elizabeth. John Collins had a brother Edward.

(III) John (2) Collins, of Middletown, Connecticut, son of John (2(, of Boston, was born 1640, died 1704. He was a shoemaker, and probably learned the trade with his father. He removed with his wife in Middletown, in 1663, thence to Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1668, where he joined the church that year. He was propounded for freeman in October, 1669. He next removed to Guilford, Connecticut, where he died. Hinman says he was deputy in 1672, but savage cannot find any proof that he was. He married (first) ------------- Trowbridge, died 1668; (second), June 2, 1669, Mrs. Mary Kingsworth; (third), March 6, 1700, Mrs. Mary Taintor. By his first marriage, he had sons 1. John, and 2. Robert. By his second wife he had 3. daughter Mary.

(IV) Robert, son of John (2) Collins and his first wife, was born in 1667, died August 20, 1707. He married (first), December 24, 1689, Lois Burnet, of Southampton, Long Island; (second), June 3, 1707, Eunice Foster.

(V) Jonathan, son of Robert and Lois Collins, married (first), May 4, 1725, Mary Witmore, of Middletown, Connecticut, who died in 1741: (second) Agnes Tyrom, of Wallingford, Connecticut, August 26, 1744. By his first wife he had four children, all of whom died in childhood. By his second wife he had: 1. Jonathan (see forward. 2. Oliver. 3. Rebecca. 4. Martha.

Page 720

(VI) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (2) and Agnes (Tyrom) Collins, was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, May 3, 1755, died April 6, 1845. He served in the war of the Revolution, and in after life drew a government pension on account of his service. He emigrated from Meriden Connecticut, and settled in Lewis County, New York, in the spring of 1797, in West Turin. He arrived in that section in the spring and found Sugar River in such a swollen condition that great difficulty was experienced in crossing. He settled on a valuable tract, and, having ample means, improved and developed it quickly and profitably. He was an able man, thoroughly independent in thought as well as action, and soon took a commanding position in the county. He was early chosen a justice of the peace, and from 1809 to 1815 served as the first judge of the Lewis County court. In 1820 he was chosen presidential elector. Few men have obtained a greater degree of public confidence than Judge Collins. His strict integrity, love of justice and sound judgment, rendered him a most valuable public official. He had a scrupulous regard for the right of others, and his judicial fairness was remarked by his brethren of the bar. His advice and counsel during the early life of the county was of the greatest value, and his influence materially assisted the growth and prosperity of Lewis County. His brother, General Oliver Collins, of Oneida County, New York, was in the United States service on the frontier during the War of 1812. A fact not generally known is that the first Masonic lodge in northern New York held its meeting at the home of Judge Collins, and he was the first worshipful master. This was Farmers' Lodge, No. 110, located at Turin, then in Oneida County. The lodge was chartered June 29, 1804, and continued its meetings at the judge's home until the anti-Masonic crusade caused the charter to be surrendered and the lodge discontinued. A letter written by Jonathan C., son of Judge Collins, in reply to inquiries made to him is here of interest:

 

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