NORTHERN NEW YORK
Genealogical and family history of northern New York: a record of the achievements of her people
in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation.
New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1910.
HULETT
Transcribed by Coralynn Brown
This name is not found in large numbers in this country, and has other forms than the one here used. It was very early planted in Massachusetts colony, and has contributed its proportional share to the development and progress of the United States, being prominently identified with the settlement of northern New York. The spelling most generally used in the early generations is Howlett. The most noted of the name found in England was Richard Howlett, teacher of Oliver Cromwell. Family tradition states that those mentioned below are descended from a French family whose spelling of the name was used at the head of this article.
The family removed from Brittany, France, to the vicinity of London, and the name is still found there in this form. Among the family features preserved to the present time are black hair, blue eyes and fair skin. Those in this country are said to be composed of a mixture of the volatile French and Puritan characters and all are interested in music, poetry and painting.
It seems quite probable that those of this family found in Belchertown, Mass., were descended from Sergeant Thomas Howlett, who was born in 1599 and came to Massachusetts with Governor Winthrop in 1633, settling at Ipswich. Many of his descendants now spell the name Hulett, and it is found in various forms in the early colonial records. The family tradition says the original immigrant from England settled at Belchertown. It is certain that there were two adults of that name, Thomas and Nehemiah, in that town at the time of the revolution, as the revolutionary rolls show they were soldiers of the colonial army. Some of the family are said to have lived for some time in Scituate, Rhode Island, whence three brothers removed to Vermont. No mention of the name appears in vital records of Scituate, Rhode Island.
(I) Certain it is that Joseph Hulett, born in 1777, was found among the freemen in Chester, Vermont, Sept. 7, 1778. He resided on the paternal homestead in that town, which indicates that his father was a pioneer settler there. In the records of Chester his name is spelled Hewlett. Joseph Hulett was a soldier in the revolution and fought at Bunker Hill, according to family tradition, but his name does not appear in the revolutionary rolls of Massachusetts or Vermont.
He had four sons and a daughter:
Joseph, Gordon, Lyman, Ann and Amos H. (mentioned below).
(II) Amos H., son of Joseph Hulett, was born in 1792-93, at Chester, Vermont, and died Jan. 8, 1886, at the age of ninety-three, at Heuvelton, St. Lawrence county, New York. He was a carpenter and settled about 1820 at Ogdensburg, where he employed a number of men and engaged in the construction of buildings and bridges. He subsequently settled at Heuvelton, where he bought sixty acres of land and built the second house in the village. He secured more land and besides farming continued building operations.
He was an influential man in the community and an earnest Methodist, being an officer of the local church and fond of expounding religion.
In politics he was a Republican after the organization of that party.
He married (first) Susan Fletcher, a native of Vermont, who died soon after their settlement in Ogdensburg. He married (second) Omenda Robinson, who was probably born in Vermont, daughter of Daniel Robinson, a pioneer of that place. She died at the age of sixty-four years.
There were two daughters of the first marriage:
Mary Ann, married Valentine Benson and resided in Heuvelton, later in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Susan, who married Moses Stevens and went to Michigan.
Children of second marriage:
1. Helen, married Aaron Richardson, and died at Briar Hill, St. Lawrence county, N.Y.
2. Don Alonzo, married Ellen Tappen, and died in Newburg, N.Y.
3. Laurette S., unmarried, residing in Heuvelton.
4. Ossian (died in Ohio).
5. William Pitt; lost his life at Chancellorsville in the civil war.
6. Edwin H., mentioned below.
7. Annette, wife of Robert Robb, died in Vancouver, Washington.
8. Eugenie, died unmarried, aged twenty-four years.
(III) Edwin Henry, fourth son of Amos H. and Omenda (Robinson) Hulett, was born June 11, 1841, in Heuvelton, and was educated in the common schools of his native place. He was a builder and farmer, residing on the homestead, to which he added land. He built bridges and buildings, many of the latter at the Thousand Islands, and died July 22, 1888.
He was a Methodist in religious faith, an active Republican, and served as an officer of the village of Heuvelton, and was a promotor of schools, serving many years on the school board.
He married, Sept. 21, 1865, Emma C. Austin, born Jan. 24, 1843, in De Peyster, daughter of Gouverneur Morris and Sarah (Heydorn) Austin. Her father was a son of Daniel Austin, of English and Dutch ancestry, and was the first white child born in Gouverneur, where both his parents belonged to the pioneer group of families. Sarah Heydorn was of Dutch ancestry.
Children:
Eva E., died in infancy.
Morris A., mentioned below.
Edwin Lee, born April 30, 1870; professor of chemistry at St. Lawrence University, residing in Canton.
Fannie L., born 1872, wife of Thomas V. Dollar, of Heuvelton.
Marion E., married Leopold Schneider, of Utica, N.Y.
Ralph H., a jeweler, residing in Ogdensburg.
Sarah Emma, lives at Brushton, N.Y., unmarried.
(IV) Morris Austin, eldest son of Edwin H. and Emma C. (Austin) Hulett, was born Dec. 16, 1867, in Heuvelton, St. Lawrence county, N.Y., and received his early education in the public schools of Heuvelton, graduating from the high school in 1884. He was subsequently a student of the Ogdensburg Academy, where he won a Cornell scholarship, but on account of his father's death was compelled to abandon a college course. At seventeen years of age he became manager of the homestead farm under his father's direction and continued after the latter's death, keeping the family together.
In 1890 he went to New York City and entered the law school of New York University, from which he was graduated in 1894, and was admitted to the bar in September of that year. He immediately engaged in practice, being employed for some time in the law department of the Title Guarantee & Trust Company.
He continues in general practice and resides in Brooklyn. He is a member of the Brooklyn Bar Association, of the Masonic fraternity, and Royal Arcanum, and was for some years a captain in the Twenty-third Regiment National Guard, State of New York.
He is at present (1910) junior warden of Altair Lodge, No. 601, F. and A.M., of Brooklyn, and is a member of the Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church of that city.
In politics he is a steadfast Republican.
He married, April 10, 1894, Mary E. Ayres, born in Fort Plain, N.Y., daughter of Alexander Hamilton and Emily G. (Mabie) Ayres, of Madison county, N.Y.
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