In 1785, he was one of the signers of the compact for the formation of the Universalis! society in Oxford. A little before 1790, he removed to central New York, being among the pioneers of Chenango county. He was the first settler of the town to which he subsequently gave the name of Oxford, his old Massachusetts home. He cut the first tree to clear the ground where the village was built. He had purchased the land before he went there, and then started for New York, to lay his plans for the new settlement before the proprietors. He conducted the building of the village, and became the leading man of the region. He was a man of strong common sense and vigor of action and other personal qualities necessary for the arduous labors and hardships of pioneer life; but necessarily of limited education. He built his own log house, in 1790, on the site of Fort hill, so called from an old Indian fort, which overlooked the river. To this dwelling, he removed his family from Massachusetts the following year. The town was incorporated Jan. 19, 1793. A grand-daughter, living at Syracuse, N. Y., wrote: "They chose with taste, as the Chenango river passes through the town. Grandfather's log hut was directly on its banks. There they fought the Indians, went forty miles to mill in a canoe and to Onondaga county for salt, and had a pioneer life, but men were men in those days, true to their time and men.' The first frame building erected in the town was the academy, an institution organized by Mr. Hovey in 1794, being the third in the state. Mr. Hovey's name headed the list of trustees, and he was their president as long as he remained there, about ten years. The academy held a festival Aug. 2, 1854, at which an address was delivered by W. H. Hyde, esq., from which the following paragraphs are quoted:— "The shades of evening are gathering; what a sea of georgeousness on the autumn forest! We hear the light dip of paddles in the river and a canoe darts toward the landing on the shore. What strange beings are these? They seem regardless of the ruin that is gradually gathering over the race. Can it be that they do not think of the oncoming destruction that awaits them, while they see the little academy on the Common, the occasional dwelling, and hear the woodman's axe, whose strokes for them 'Like muffled drums are beating funeral marches to the grave?' That tall man with whom they are talking, bartering with at the loghouse, is Benjamin Hovey, the senior trustee of the academy. Few men have passed a more eventful life. Having seen the fruition of his labors, and the harvest of his early toil and suffering, in the flourishing village around him, rapidly increasing in population and wealth, he looked for new projects w1th an ambition fed by its own innate energy and a spirit of enterprise faltering at no point beyond which were seen new fields open for its gratification."* * History of Oxford, Mass., page 547. Mr. Hovey was general of the militia, and judge of Chenango county. He took the contract for constructing the state road from Unadilla river, at what is now Rockdale to Cayuga lake, near Ithaca. He was a member of the legislature of New York at the same time that Aaron Burr was a representative, and the two men became great personal friends. He joined Burr and General Wilkinson, in 1804, in a plan for canalling the Ohio river near Louisville, and went to Ohio in prosecution of the design. The restless ambition of Burr, however, led him to seek new objects on the lower Mississippi and amid the untold wealth and romance of Mexico, and the Ohio scheme, in which Mr. Hovey had embarked with ardor and had spent much of his property, was allowed to lapse. As Mr. Hyde stated, in his address, above mentioned, Mr. Hovey "retired at length in disgust . . . to find a grave on the shores of Lake Erie remote from the village he had founded and the friends of his manhood. A life of more romantic reality seldom occurs in the history of man."* Mr. Hovey married Lydia, daughter of John and Susanna Haven of Sutton Oct. 24, 1775. She was born in Sutton June 8, 1755. No one knows the spot where Mr. Hovey was buried. She survived him, and died in March, 1827. G. N. Hartman, esq., Pomona, N. Y., has an oil painting of both Mr. Hovey and his daughter Alphena. 407-I. Their children were born as follows:— 408-II. 409-III. 410-VI. 411-V. 412-VI. 413-VII. RUTH, born Dec. 8, 1775. in Oxford; married Hon. Uri Tracy of Oxford, N. Y., Aug. 28, 1793. He was principal of the academy in Oxford for many years. He died -; and she died, his widow, at Oxford, after a few hours' sickness, Jan. 30, 1847, at the age of seventy-one. ALPHENA, born Jan. 22, 1778; married James Glover in 1795. Children: 1. Katherine'; married DeWitt C. Gage, a jurist of Michigan. Their son Henry T. Gage was governor of California in 1899. 2. Justus S.', born in 1802; married Achsa Cornwall. Dea. Thomas Hovey6, born in Ipswich, Mass., Oct. 1, 1736. After his father's death, when he was eleven years old, he was apprenticed to a man in Andover, where he attended school. He began to teach school in 1758, in Dracut, and two years later re * History of Oxford, Mass., page 547. moved there with his wife and negro slave. He had force and good judgment, and was the leading man in Dracut in his time. He was often called upon to draw legal papers, and perform other duties requiring clerical knowledge. He took part in the French and Indian war as a lieutenant and his commission is in the possession of a descendant. He was commissioned captain to raise a company to march into Canada, was town treasurer and selectman during the Revolution, serving thirty years in all, and an active patriot. He was deacon of the church which worshipped in the old yellow meeting house in Dracut for fifty years. Many stories have been handed down showing his efficient work and amiable Christian spirit. For twelve pounds and two shillings, he bought of Joseph Colburn of Dracut, husbandman, the frame of a house and twenty-seven rods of land in Dracut May 16, 1759.* He bought of Jonathan Jones of Dracut, husbandman, for twenty-six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, five acres of land in Dracut Nov. 9, 1764;f and of Elijah Hildreth of Dracut, gentleman, for fifty-six pounds, thirty-three acres in Blackbird swamp in Dracut June 20, 17664 For seven pounds and four shillings, he conveyed to Jonathan Richardson of Dracut, gentleman, thirty acres of land on the north side of Merrimack river Aug. 21, 1765;§ and to Samuel Piper of Dracut, housewright, for four pounds and ten shillings, six acres of land in Dracut June 26, 1793.|| Mr. Hovey married Mary, daughter of Lt. Henry and Mary (Platts) Abbott of Andover March 22, 1759. She was born in Andover Aug. 13, 1737; and died in Dracut Nov. 26, 1813, at the age of seventy-six. He died in Dracut July 29, 1826, aged eighty-nine. His grandsons, William, James, Horatio, Joshua, George and Cyrus, have placed a window in the church to his memory. Their children were born in Dracut, as follows:— 414-I. 415-11. THOMAS, born Jan. 15, 1762; died in Dracut Sept. 7, 1812, aged fifty. HENRY ABBOTT, born Jan. 25, 1764. See family numbered "415." 416-III. JOHN, born March 24, 1765; died in Dracut March 4, 1782, 417-IV. 418-v. 419-VI. aged sixteen. JAMES PLATTS, born July 21, 1767. See family numbered "417.” ELIZABETH, born Sept. 6, 1771; died in Dracut, unmarried, * Middlesex Registry of Deeds, book 69, page 456. 420-VII. SAMUEL, born Oct. 6, 1773. See family numbered "420." 421— vm. enjam1n*, born May 9, 1775. See family numbered "421." JOSHUA, born Sept. 3, 1778; died in Dracut July 26, 1804. JOSEPH, born May 25, 1784. See family numbered "423.' 422-IX. 423-X. 183 JOHN HOVEY, baptized in Ipswich, Mass., Oct. 14, 1739. He 424-I. HANNAH, baptized in Ipswich Dec. 5, 1762, having been born 189 Elder Samuel Hovey5, born in Bradford, Mass., Feb. 24, 1742-3. He lived in Windham, Conn., until 1765, when he removed to Canterbury, Conn., where he lived until 1773. He was living in Weare, N. H., Jan. 31, 1777, when he conveyed lot 21, containing one hundred acres of land. Later he settled in Lyme, N. H., upon Grant's island of sixty acres, in the Connecticut river. There were about thirty acres of fertile arable land, free from stones. He erected a comfortable dwelling house. barn and out-buildings, upon a slight bluff; and a canoe was kept fastened to the house or barn, as at times of high water the rest of the island was submerged. He was a soldier of the Revolution while living here; and continued his home on this island until about 1791, when the family removed to Norwich, Vt., and from thence, in 1794, to East Brookfield, Vt., where he remained during the remainder of his life. Mr. Hovey and his wife were admitted to the church in Lyme, which was Presbyterian in its government, June 2, 1782; and he was chosen a ruling elder Nov. I1, 1784. He was not only a successful farmer, but preached the gospel, never taking anything for his ministerial labors in the way of compensation. After his settlement in East Brookfield, he was connected with the Baptists. Breadth seemed to mark their church relations. The record of dismissal of Mrs. Hovey from the church at Lyme is as follows:— *Hillsboro Registry of Deeds, book 59, page 53. Lime, Dec 28, 1794, then Abigail Hovey, the wife of Samuel Hovey, by the consent of the Brethren was dismissed from this chh. to join any chh. of Christ which she might choose for her better edification. Attest: Wm. Conant, Pas. The record of Mr. Hovey's dismissal is as follows:— Lime, April 13, 1795, then Samuel Hovey, a member of this chh. was recommended to the chh. of Christ in Brookficld. Mr. Hovey married Abigail, daughter of Benjamin and Rachel (Hall) Cleveland of Canterbury, Conn., Sept. 29, 1763. She was born in Canterbury Aug. 13, 1746; and was remarkable for her truthfulness, patience and piety; a woman of amiable disposition, and a thrifty housewife. She had an intense love of music, and a voice remarkable for its sweetness, as well as for its sweetness, as well as for its power and compass. She watched over and nursed her aged parents in their old age most tenderly and untiringly. Mr. Hovey was naturally petulant, but became mild as he advanced in years; and in his old age his head was hoary. As a pastor, he had many admiring friends. Mrs. Hovey died at East Brookfield June 2, 1832, at the age of eighty-four. Her gravestone, standing over her remains in the burying ground on East hill, is inscribed as follows:— Mrs. Abigail Hovey, wife of Elder Samuel Hovey, died June 2, 1832, aged 85 years and 10 mo. Mr. Hovey died there May 12, 1833, at the age of ninety. He lies buried by the side of his wife, and his gravestone is inscribed as follows:— Elder Samuel Hovey, Preacher of the Gospel, died May 12, 1833, aged 90 years and 2 mo. In their old age and infirmities, they were tenderly cared for by their dutiful son Samuel Hovey. 425-1. Their children were born as follows:— 426-II. 427-III. DANIEL, born July 24, 1764, in Windham, Conn. See family numbered "425." ABNER, born Nov. 5, 1766, in Canterbury, Conn. Sec family numbered "426." MARY, born May 26, 1768, in Canterbury; married Joseph, son of John and Ruth (Rogers) Lord of Lyme, N. H., Jan. 1, 1788; he was born in Vermont May 4, 1764; and removed to Ohio in 1806, dying near Jamestown, in that state, Aug. —, 1847. He was a farmer. She died in Germantown, O., April 10, 1859, at the age of ninety. Their children were as follows: 1. Lucinda', born in 1789, in Windsor, Vt.; married William Fraser, a native of Scotland, ,n Green county, O.; and she died in Germantown in 1849. He also died |
