Ontario Co. News Articles 

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Manchester News   1900 - 1904

(Includes news for Shortsville& some Palmyra)    

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Ontario Co. Journal, Canandaigua, NY   Friday,    April 12, 1901      pg 2     by: Dianne Thomas

Manchester:

+  George SHAW has been appointed street commissioner; Hinman SMITH, Orin VINE and Martin MC COMB, health officers.  a collector will have to be appointed, as William HAWKES failed to qualify. 

+  Married, by Rev. G. A. BALDWIN, on Saturday evening, Arthur VADDER of Hopewell, and Miss Hattie BROOKS of Stanley.  Mr. and Mrs. VADDER will make their home at the BREWSTER place. 

+  Miss Hattie HAWKES entertained friends at 5 o'clock tea on Saturday afternoon.

+  Roy H. HOUSTON, of this place, and Miss Maude D. MASSEY of Belleville, Canada, were married at Rochester on Monday.

+  Mr. and Mrs. William WARNER attended the funeral of the latter's mother, Mrs. John RAINBOW, at Syracuse, on Monday.  Mrs. RAINBOW was formerly a resident of this place (Manchester, NY).

Ontario Co. Journal, Canandaigua, NY    Friday, Jan 31, 1902  pg 4                    by: Dianne Thomas  

Manchester - Mrs. Mary E. B. SMITH, widow of the late Marlin SMITH, died at her home on Main street, Sunday morning, aged 55 years.  She had been a faithful member of the Baptist church here for about 28 years.  Mrs. SMITH was known all over Ontario county as a great temperance worker.  She had been president of the local WCTU, for six years. She is survived by a brother and two sisters.  Funeral services were held in the Baptist church Tuesday afternoon.  Rev. M. W. COVELL officiated, assisted by Rev. G. A. BALDWIN and Rev. D. R.  WATSON, of Geneva.  Interment was at South Farmington cemetery.

Ontario Co. Journal, Canandaigua, NY     Fri,   Sept 26, 1902            by: Dianne Thomas  

Shortsville - Fred ALDRICH of this place and Miss ___ COX of Canandaigua, were united in marriage on Sept 15 by Rev. E. L. ___DORF.  Mr. and Mrs. ALDRICH are residing at the home of the former's parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. H. ALDRICH.

Miss Jean L .FORSYTH, formerly of this place, and Charles A. DOANE of Auburn, were married yesterday afternoon in Auburn, Rev. E. L. WALDORF performed the ceremony.  Mr. and Mrs. DOANE (cut off)  

Shortsville Enterprise,     Fri,        May 22, 1903                       by: Dianne Thomas

+ Mr. and Mrs. Thomas SCHELLENGER have removed from Canandaigua to this village, taking up their residence in the GOODRICH house, on Grove street.  Glad to welcome them to Shortsville.  

+ The death is announced of the Rev. M. V. WILLSON, occurring at the home of his son, Dr. F. L. WILLSON, at Sodus Point, on Tuesday evening.  The deceased was a former pastor of the Manchester Baptist church. 

+ Married on Wednesday, May 13th, at Pittsford, NY, by Rev. G. B. GOMPH, pastor of the Lutheran church, Mr. Gideon SHRADER of Chapinsville and Miss Elizabeth A. EDGINGTON, of Shortsville.  The newly wedded pair were given a reception at the home of the groom's parents, the same evening.  Mr. & Mrs. SHRADER are at home to their friends at their residence on East Main street. 

+ Mrs. Bridget KINSELLA died at her home in this village on Monday morning, of pneumonia, after an illness of less than a week's duration, aged 68 years.  The report of her sudden and entirely unexpected demise was a shock to her large number of friends throughout the village, many of whom heard the announcement with feelings of deep sorrow.  A resident of Shortsville for a period of 30 years, she had, by her life of earnest toil, coupled with a sympathetic nature and Christian character, won for her the esteem of the entire community.  The mother of eight children, all of whom have grown to manhood and womanhood, her tender heart and loving nature over showered upon her children, a mother's care that will keep such love green and fragrant in memory's casket until life's close. The surviving family are: Mrs. William QUINN, of Auburn; Mrs. Thomas O'CONNER, of East Orange, NJ, Mrs. George HURST, of Rochester; Mrs. Robert HARMON, of Foxburg, Pa., Mrs. John TOBIN, Miss Nellie, and Martin and John KINSELLA, of Shortsville.  The funeral services were held from St. Dominic's church on Wednesday morning, Rev. Father O'HANLON officiating.  The services were attended by a large concourse of sorrowing relatives and friends of the deceased, attesting the esteem in which she was held.  The interment was in the Catholic cemetery.  

+ Patrick MC NALLY died at the home of his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth MC NALLY, on Monday, of consumption, aged 32 years.  The deceased was a resident of New York, and had come to visit his relatives, when he was stricken with his fatal illness.  The funeral was conducted from St. Dominic's church at Shortsville on Wednesday morning, Rev. Father HARRINGTON, of Waterloo, officiating.  The interment was in the Catholic cemetery near Clifton Springs. 

Ontario Repository & Messenger Canandaigua, NY     Thursday,   June 25, 1903            by: Dianne Thomas 

+  Saturday, a calf owned by Mrs. Maria SMITH had a frolic at the aged lady's expense.  It was tied in the pasture with a long chain. Mrs. SMITH attempted to move it when the calf ran, winding the chain tightly around her ankles, and throwing her to the ground.  One ankle was severely wretched. The patient is 76 years old.

+  Sunday night, John MC NALLY was struck by a yard engine while passing through the Lehigh yard on his way home.  His skull was fractured and his arm broken.  His condition is serious and his recovery, doubtful.

+  The Village Board has ordered all plank crosswalks on Main street, between the Lehigh Valley railroad and school building, removed and replaced with cement walks.  

+  Miss Maud MASON is at Rochester to study china painting. 

+  Mr. and Mrs. C. W. PRATT gave a party Saturday evening for Miss Cora TOMPKINS of Buffalo.  

ONTARIO COUNTY CHRONICLE     Wed.  Aug 19, 1903    Pg 2, col 3    by: Ron Hanley

Shortsville Enterprise, Shortsville, NY     Friday,  Apr 29, 1904    Pg 3, col 1-3    by: Dianne Thomas

Some Old Manchester Families

In Captain BROWN'S valuable series of articles, "Manchester in the Early Days", which the ENTERPRISE has been republishing, no mention is made of the fact that the PRATTS were closely related to the MC LOUTHS and PEIRCES.  These families play such a prominent part in the early history of the town, and are so widely "connected" that a few words to their genealogy ......  history.  

It is customary to regard Berkshire county, Massachusetts, as the original home of the early settlers of Manchester and Farmington.  It is true that they did come to Western New York from the Berkshire Hills, yet I doubt if that locality has been their home for any great length of time.  During a week's search the only vestige that I could find of their residence there, or of any kindred still surviving, was one house where Dr. MC LOUTH lived in the village of Cheshire.  Evidently, they simply stopped there a few years on their way westward.  The PRATTS and MC LOUTHS and PIERCES and many other early Manchester and Farmington families were from Eastern Massachusetts, from Bristol County, especially from the neighborhood of Taunton.  In this region traversed by the Taunton Providence trolley line, PEIRCE and PRATT are even today, very common family names, and upon old tombstones, they everywhere occur.  This explains also, why so many of the early Manchesterians were Baptists of the Welsh decent.  For this part of Bristol County, was settled by a Baptist congregation from Wales, about 1663.  The Rehoboth-Swansea church which they then established is still in existence, the oldest Baptist church in Massachusetts.

Ebenenzer PRATT Sr., to whom extended references has been made in Capt BROWN'S history, ancestor of all the Manchester PRATTS, had a sister, Mary, who married Lawrence MC LOUTH, the ancestor of the MC LOUTH family in America. Mary PRATT MC LOUTH never really lived in Western New York, but died there while on a visit, in 1808, and was one of the first persons buried in the Manchester burying-ground. The quaint and crudely cut inscription on her brown-stone tombstone is one of the curiosities of the old graveyard.

Lawrence MC LOUTH and Mary PRATT, his wife, had seven children: 1. John, commonly known as Deacon John MC LOUTH; 2. Lawrence; 3. Peter; 4. Mary, married Nathan PEIRCE; 5. Solomon; 6. Lewis, commonly known as Dr. Lewis MC LOUTH; 7. Betsey.

John's family had been spoken of in the history. Lawrence's children were: 1. Frederic; 2. Polly, married Perez ANTISDALE; 3. Esther, married David HOLLAND; 4. John; 5. Clara, married _______ WELLS. 

Peter, whose wife was Lydia OSGOOD, had seven children: 1. Walter; 2. Alanson; 3. Thomas; 4. Harriet; 5. Cyrus; 6. Lyman; 7. Marshall. The children of Mary and her husband Nathan PEIRCE were given in the history. 
Betsey married _____ HARLAND and their children were: 1. Amanda, married William DEWEY; 2. Eliza; 3. Mary. Lewis was the only one of the family that settled elsewhere than in Manchester-Farmington. His home was Walworth, Wayne Co. He was, if I mistake not, the ancestor of Charles MC LOUTH of Palmyra, of Dr. MC LOUTH, who practiced medicine for many years in Cheshire, Mass., and of Lawrence MC LOUTH, now professor of German in the University of New York.

The original Lawrence MC LOUTH never visited Western New York. I am under the impression that he died before the family went from Taunton to Berkshire County. He is a strange, half-legendary character, and therefore full of interest for his descendants. He came from Ireland about the middle of the 18th century, but always maintained absolute silence in regard to his family and live in the old country. His own wife was never able to clear up this mystery. There is a tradition that his parents, who lived in Dublin, wanted him to enter the priesthood; that he objected, having become tainted with Protestant views; and that one day instead of going (blacked out) .. and then came to Boston. There are several things that make this story plausible. The only belongings that he brought with him were a Greek Testament and a French Catholic prayer-book. These books are now in the possession of Mr. Carlos Peirce OSGOOD, of Manchester. Again, Louth County, whence the name is evidently derived, is not far from Dublin. His daughter, my mother's grandmother, always insisted that he never received, as long as he lived, any manner of word from the other side. Here in the New World he followed the vocation of school master and there is another tradition, to the effect that our president John ADAMS, was at one time a pupil of his. It is said that he was learned, bright and witty; often sarcastic; somewhat eccentric; and a little lazy; withal, a typical Irishman. He is an important personage for Manchester and Farmington, for throughout the nineteenth century, his descendants constituted a large contingent of the populations of these towns.

Nathan PEIRCE, who married Lawrence MC LOUTH and Mary PRATT's daughter Mary, has been mentioned in the Brown history. He came to Western New York with his brother-in-law, John MC LOUTH in 1795, the year after their cousins, Ebenezer and Elkanah PRATT, had migrated, and perhaps is company with their uncle, Ebenezer PRATT Sr. Although Nathan PEIRCE was a comparatively young man when he died in 1814, he was regarded as a leader among the pioneers of the town. Of commanding presence and inspiring personality, he had a finely cut Roman face - everyone loved and honored him. His son Ezra used to tell me how all day long people would keep coming to him for advice about their farming, their business affairs, and family difficulties. He was born in Reboboth in 1770; but when a child his father removed to Berkshire county, to Lanesborough, the town adjoining Cheshire on the southwest. The father's name was also Nathan. He was a gold and silversmith as well as farmer. He entered the Continental Army as a Captain in Seth WARNER's regiment of Green Mountain Boys and died of small pox in camp, before Quebec, in April 1776. Miss Clara PIERCE who resides on the PIERCE farm in Manchester, has in her possession, a portion of Captain PIERCE's muster roll as well as a pair of spoon- moulds, that he used in his trade. Captain PIERCE's father was yet another Nathan. He was born in 1716, and was for many years minister of the Baptist church of Rehoboth, the church that had been organized after the old original Welsh church was removed to Swansea. 

If I remember correctly, Capt. BROWN erred in making the third Nathan PIERCE, the Manchester pioneer, a captain in the Revolutionary army, instead of his father. As indicated above, he was not born until 1770.

Democrat & Chronicle,    Rochester, NY   May 6, 1904  Pg 8      by: Pat Mims

Died at Shortsville
Shortsville, May 5--Mrs. Clarissa E. VERMILYEA, of Seneca Castle, died at the home of her niece, Mrs. Gerelle RIDLEY, of Main street, this afternoon at 2 o'clock, aged 75 years.  She was taken ill on Monday, but her case was not considered serious until a few hours before death.  She is survived by one brother, George GUGIN of Canandaigua; one niece, Mrs. Gerelle RIDLEY of Shortsville.

Democrat & Chronicle. Rochester, NY     Tues     Dec 20, 1904        by: GSubyak@aol.com  

WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT
Shortsville -  Dec. 19 - Announcement has been made of the marriage of Miss Elzora GARDNER, of Farmington, and Joseph REYNOLDS, of Victor, which occurred on Sunday evening, December 11th. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Seymour C. FERRIS, pastor of the Shortsville Presbyterian Church, at the parsonage in this village.

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