Hamlin, Elijah

The following data is extracted from Genealogy and Biography of Ontario County, New York.

(VI) Elijah, eldest son and second child of Captain Seth and Mary (Pitcher) Hamlin, was born in Alford, Massachusetts, February 8, 1767, died April 12, 1858, and was buried at Clarkson, New York. He witnessed as a boy many of the stirring scenes of the revolution and related to his grandchildren many interesting incidents of those clays of hardship and danger. He removed to Barre, Massachusetts, and from there to East Bloomfield, New York, about 1791. He purchased and operated a farm there which is now (1910) owned by his grandsons, John S. and Frank H. Hamlin. He was a man of kindly heart and upright character; a granddaughter relates that the first time she ever saw him he dismounted from his horse, waded through deep snow (1910) to get her some green boughs she wanted from a distant pine tree. He built an addition for Dr. and Mrs. Hurlburt to live in. (The doctor was an old pensioner and his wife taught school.) He was a successful farmer but involved in financial difficulties through contracts for building the locks on the Erie canal at Lockport, New York. He was unaccustomed to such work and lost money, but was able to settle honorably. The first home on his East Bloomfield farm was built of logs, this was later replaced by a wooden farmhouse in which he resided until the death of his wife in 1839. After this he spent much of his time in Rochester, Michigan, where his sons Elijah, John, Calvin and daughter Olive Burbank resided. He made Rochester his home but annually visited his children in New York state. While spending New Year's day with his son Elijah, he fell upon the icy doorstep and fractured his thigh, dying from the injury and shock the following April. He was honored and beloved by all who knew him. He had a scrupulous regard for his word and was known to have kept it to his known injury. He married, August 17, 1789, Lydia, born in Voluntown, Connecticut, February 28, 1767, a descendant of Thomas Polk, born in England, in 1608; came to America in 1628 or 1629, married (first) Ann Tallowell, (second) Sarah Jenney. She was as scrupulous and exact in all things as was her husband. They had eleven children. 1. Gustavus Adolphus, born August 18, 1790. In 1820 in company with his brother John, and brother-in-law, William Burbank, he took passage on a flat boat at Olean, New York, thence down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi and Missouri, which they ascended to St. Charles, Missouri. Not being satisfied there, he removed to Galena, Illinois, where he was interested in a smelting plant and owned a large farm; he died, unmarried, October 26, 1848. 2. Mary, born May 7, 1792, died December 28, 1860; married John Dickson, born in Keene, New Hampshire, June 1, 1783, died February 22, 1852; he was a graduate of Middleburg College, Vermont, lawyer and farmer, member of the New York legislature, 1828-31; representative in congress 1831-1835; he was a Whig: six children. 3. Olive, born May 16, 1793, died September 26, 1892: married William Burbank, born July 14, 1792, died January 28, 1798. After many journeys they settled at Rochester, Michigan, where he was a farmer, manufacturer and dealer in furniture. He was a member of the first legislature of Michigan, 1836-37, justice of the peace, thirty-five years; deacon of the church. twenty-five years: two daughters. 4. Philo, born December 9, 1794, died January 20. 1883. Farmer of the East Bloomfield Hamlin homestead, married, January 12, 1823. Betsey, born October 9, 1801, died October 12, 1890, daughter of Cyprian and Huldah (Norton) Collins. Three children. 5. Esther, born May 17, 1796, died April 2, 1876; married, May 20, 1832, Ursen Harvey; she was his second wife. 6. John Fairchild, born March 17, 1799, died March 9, 1863. He removed to Michigan, where he became prominent and wealthy: he built the Michigan canal and owned and operated several toll plankroads which greatly aided in state development; he married, 1830. Laura Andrus, who died in July 9, 1883; six children. 7. Elijah, born June 7. 1801, removed to Avon, Michigan, from New York, with an ox team in 1831. He died there August 20, 1870; married Marana Frost, died August 11, 1889. 8. Caroline, born May 20, 1803, died April 15, 1830; married, April 10, 1827, Ursen, son of James and Sarah (Rice) Harvey, born February 8, 1800, died May 6, 1852. He married (second) Esther Hamlin, sister of his first wife; he was a saddler and harness-maker and removed to Ontario, Canada, where he was engaged in various kinds of business. 9. Lydia, born February 20, 1805, died at Canandaigua, New York, June 7, 1884; married John Henry Gould, died October 19, 1869; was a merchant; five children. 10. Henry William, of whom further. i f. Calvin Hooper, born July 30, 1809, died March 6, 1864, school-teacher, farmer and merchant; removed to Michigan, where he died at Hadley; married Martha Parks Bennett, born November 30, 1825, died March 6, 1854; five children.

Source: Genealogy and Biography of Ontario County, New York

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