GENEALOGY
of the
WINEGAR FAMILY
“LAKE GROVE,” ON
CAYUGA LAKE,
Near Union Springs, N.Y. the residence of Caleb Winegar,
Inventor of the
Pen Telegraph, Automaton Gate, Water Elevator for Wells, &c., &c.
Middlebury, Indiana
June 25, 1855
To Mr. Caleb Winegar:
My Respected Cousin:
I
have devoted my leisure hours, of late, to collecting and arranging our Genealogical
History. I have found it to be more of
an undertaking that I was aware of, and whether it will be sufficiently interesting
to be considered of any value I do not know.
But according to promise I have undertaken it - and the result of my
labor will soon be seen, and of course go to our relatives for what it is
worth. I could hardly conceive, before
I undertook it, what a great disadvantage I have had to labor under for the
want of authentic records; as well as many other things of less
importance. I have but little hope, my
dear cousin, that my narrative will meet your expectations, but I have done the
best I could.
Possibly
I may so far succeed as to bring out such a chain of facts, that with the aid
of them you may, with your attainments and classical advantages, be able to
bring out something that will interest our very numerous kindred. This I shall expect you to do. I think my lack of the advantages of an
education, will be a sufficient apology for all the mistakes and errors I may
commit. With these few remarks I leave
the matter, and commence.
Your
cousin, IRA
PREFACE
Having had it in contemplation for some time, to write out a short Genealogical History of our family, and being urged to do so by several of my esteemed relatives, I have concluded to undertake it.
In
compiling the following, I have been materially aided by the Documentary History of the State of New
York, published by order of the Legislature in 1850 - Mr. Spafford’s Gazetteer, published in 1813, and
re-published in 1825 - and the History of
Sharon, Connecticut, published by Charles Sedgwick, Esq., in 1839. But by far the greatest portion of the
matter collected, I am indebted to the Traditionary History I have received
from the lips of my honored father, Philip Winegar4, Ulric3, Garret2, Ulric1.
I
proceed to the undertaking with diffidence, with such aids as I have. I can promise nothing flowery, but will confine
myself to a very plain statement of facts as I have them - and believe them to
be true. If I succeed in perpetuating
the history of our humble family to your satisfaction, and more particularly to
the present young and rising generation, I shall feel myself amply rewarded for
all my labors.
I
had intended, before commencing the following brief History, to make some
comments on our name - its origin, meaning, pronunciation, etc. But my research on this point have amounted
to but little. I have consulted several
learned Germans, and have obtained but little satisfaction. I am quite satisfied that we have no connection
of the name in America, except those who have sprung from Ulric Winegar, our
remotest known ancestor.
I
have never been able to hear of any that both spelled and pronounced the name
as we have usually done. In the history
of the Palatines the name occurs but seldom; and then, like most other names
connected with that colony, spelled any and every way; as for instance, Leche
or Leshe for Lasher - Deitrig for Dedrick - Henrig for Henry - Olrig for Ulric,
being the most horrible spelling imaginable.
Our name was pronounced by the old Germans, Wennecker; and there are
now, I am credibly informed, a number of families of German descent in
Pennsylvania, who spell and pronounce their names in that way. I am strongly of the opinion that this was
the original name, and in this I am sustained by intelligent Germans. But be that as it may, the name has been
handed down to us in its present form, and has passed through so many
generations that, right or wrong, we have it as it is. I see that in Doc. Hist.
of New York, vol. 3, page 724, the name is spelled Winiger.
There is, however, another matter
connected with it, that comes down nearer to the present day. It is a
well-known fact that many of our kindred, at the present day, pronounce the
name Wine-gar, making but two syllables, and accenting heavily on the i. And
this they allege, with considerable force, as the true pronunciation of the
word, according to the rules of orthography. That in order to pronounce it as
we generally do, it would be necessary to add another letter, as Winnegar.
They, therefore, hold to pronouncing it in two syllables. For myself, I would like
to see uniformity in the matter.
GENEALOGY
of the
WINEGAR FAMILY.
Olrig,
or Ulric (which has been generally translated Oliver) Winegar, who was the
pioneer and patriarch of the Winegar family in America, was born in
Switzerland, in the year 1648, where he resided until he arrived at the age of
manhood. From there he went to
Wurtemburg, in Germany, where he married a woman by the name of Arnold, or Arnoldt,
(pronounced “Ornoldth” in German) by whom he had several children -- one son
and several daughters.
In
the year 1710 he joined the company, or rather the colony, of the Palatines,
who emigrated to America under the protection and fostering care of Anne, Queen
of England. (For a history of the Palatines,
see Doc. Hist. of New York, vol. 3.)
Soon
after landing in America, he settled on a piece of land on the bank of the
Hudson river, about two miles south of the present station or depot at
Germantown, N. Y. on the Hudson River Railroad, and there lived several years
as a tenant under Robert Livingston, the lord of the manor of Livingston, in
the present county of Columbia, state of New York. [I have been on the spot,
and the ruins of the cellar, etc., were pointed out to me by an old Dutch gentleman
named Shultz. This spot or piece of
land has been ever since, and is to this day, (1855) known and called among the
descendants of the old settlers “Wenecker’s long,” or Winegar’s land.] Here he lived until the year 1724, with the
exception of two or three years that he lived in the German camp, or what is
now called Germantown.
When the six thousand acres of land which was purchased of lord Livingston for the Palatines, by Governor Hunter, as agent for the crown -- as appears by said Doc. Hist., vol. 3, page 724 -- was divided, he drew his share; but must have sold out the same year, viz: 1724. For, as it appears in Mr. Spafford’s Gazetteer of the State of New York, he moved to Oblong, now Amenia, Dutchess Co., N.Y. in that year.
Mr.
Spafford, in his history of Amenia, says that in 1711, Mr. Richard Sackett settled
in this town, and was the only white inhabitant until the year 1724, when Mr.
Ulric (or Oliver) Winegar moved there from the German camp.” The spot where he settled in Amenia, as well
as the place of Mr. Sackett, I have had pointed out to me by my father, your
father’s uncle.
INSERT PICTURE OF STONE HOUSE IN AMENIA NY (On slides in
office at Willow Run)
I
regret to say that the subsequent history of the patriarch is indeed very
limited. He has always been represented as a very laborious man, possessed of
an iron constitution, and of great muscular power. A number of the last years of his life were spent with his son
Garret. He died in Sharon, Conn., in the year 1750, aged one hundred and two years,
and was buried in the old Rowe burying-ground in the “Oblong.” This burying-ground was sometimes called the
Winegar ground, as they were the first families buried there, and the land had
been at different times owned by Rowe and Winegar. Many years ago the ground was pointed out to me.
The
exact number of the children of the patriarch Ulric Winegar I never knew. It is well understood, however, that he had
but one son, Garret, and several daughters.
One of the daughters married a man by the name of Dedrick, and another
married Bastian or Sebastian Lasher, (sometimes called Lesher.” She was the maternal ancestor of the very
numerous family of that name who now live in Columbia county, N.Y., the Mohawk
Valley, Stone Arabia, in Montgomery county, N.Y., etc. I have been very intimately
acquainted with one of her grand-children, the late venerable George Lasher, of
Clermont; and have seen Mr. John Lasher, who died some years ago at Stone Arabia.
This
brings me to Garret Winegar, the only son of the patriarch. He was born in Germany in the year 1702, and
was about eight years old when he emigrated to America with his father; and
lived with him at the German camp and Livingston manor. At the age of about
twenty-two, he married Catherine Snyder. She was a daughter of one of the Palatine
families. It was by this union that we
became connected with the numerous family of that name. Many of their descendants still live at
Germantown. A very few years after his marriage, he moved from German camp to
“Oblong,” now Amenia, Dutchess county, N.Y., where he made a permanent
settlement. By his energy and industry
he soon accumulated a handsome property.
In
pursuing the further history, I shall now turn to Mr. Sedgwick’s History of
Sharon, Conn. He says -- “The fertile valley of the ‘Oblong’ had early
attracted the attention of the emigrants from Germany, who had settled at what
was called the German camp, on the Hudson river. The Winegar family settled near what is now called Hitchcock’s
Corners. The name of Hitchcock’s
Corners is comparatively modern; it was unknown, perhaps, by that name until a
little short of sixty years ago. At
that time Solomon Hitchcock commenced trading there, Ulric Winegar was the
patriarch of the Winegar family. It appears
that the General Assembly of Connecticut had, in the year 1754, granted a patent of land to one Daniel Jackson, and
that in the year 1739 (the same year that Sharon was organized) he sold out his
patent to Garret Winegar, who immediately built a grist mill at Hitchcock’s
Corners, within the bounds of Sharon, near the site of the present woolen
factory.” Now that I may be better understood, I will here remark that what is here called
Hitchcock’s Corners lies part in Connecticut and part in New York, the line
running nearly through the center. Mr. Sedgwick continues -- “It was this mill
(the first ever built in the town) that ground the grain that fed the first
settlers of Sharon.” In following up
the history, he further says -- “Captain Winegar was a respectable and most
worthy man, and enjoyed to a great degree the confidence of the citizens of
Sharon, having often been appointed to various offices. He died in 1755. In his last will and testament he made ample provisions for his
wife and fourteen children,” (and here gives their names).
I
might have continued my extracts from said book, showing some of the various
stations he held and committees he acted upon, but what I have already said
will suffice to show that our honored ancestor was an intelligent and enterprising
man. I might add, I have always been
told that he was possessed of great mechanical ingenuity which talent fell most
profusely on some of his sons. He was
possessed of a very strong natural mind, cultivated with a decent common
education, mostly in German. I have always been told he had a strong, robust,
iron constitution, though he died comparatively young. He died quite suddenly with the Bilious
Cholic in his own house at Hitchcock’s Corners, (the same house in which I was
born) July 22, 1755, aged about fifty-three years. He was buried in the same grave-yard with his father. I was at
his grave many years ago; it was marked by a low gray stone, and the
inscription was quite plain. He left as
has been before stated a widow and fourteen children, nine sons and five
daughters. His widow survived him many
years. She was afterwards married to Captain Delamater, a man much older than
herself. He was great-grandfather to me on my mother’s side. He was quite wealthy, but it seems there was
an ante-nuptial contract that cut the widow off from dower. When this became known, our grandfather
Ulric and old uncle Conrad interfered and caused a separation, and embittered
the remainder of their days. She died
at Amenia the day Fort Washington was taken by the British, aged about
seventy-three years, and was buried by the side of her first husband.
Their
oldest son was Hendrick, and the others follow in the following order -- John,
Ulric, Conrad, Hannes or Johannes, Garret, Samuel, Jacob, Gideon. As to their daughters, I do not know the order
of their ages, but they were all younger than the oldest son, and all older
than the three youngest brothers. Their
names were, Susannah, Hannah, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Mary, (or Molly, as she
was usually called.) Of these, aunt Molly was the only one I ever saw. Susannah
married Nicholas Rowe, and always lived in the Oblong, and within two miles
from where she was born. I do not
remember seeing her, although I was living in the neighborhood and was some
three or four years old when she died. Hannah married Willelmus (William) Rowe;
of her I know but little but I believe she died somewhere in Albany county. Catherine
married Zachariah Flagler, and immediately moved to a place called the Clove,
in the town of Fishkill, Dutchess county, where she died, but at what time I do
not know. I have always understood that Mr. Flagler was quite a prominent man
in his day, a very extensive farmer and possessed of a great amount of wealth.
Elizabeth married William Mitchell; they lived many years in the “Oblong,” and
moved from there to the “Nine Partners,” Dutchess county where they both died.
[It has been said by some, and so says Elder Reuben Winegar in his letter to
you, (Caleb Winegar) that aunt Elizabeth was married to William Flag.er. This may be so; but I am strongly of the
opinion it was not so, for several reasons.
One is, that I never heard such a thing mentioned by my father, or any
of the old relatives. If it was so, she
must have been left a widow very soon, for it is certain that she married William
Mitchell, by whom she had a large family; and there was not one of the old
aunts that I have heard spoken of more frequently than aunt Betty Mitchell, as
she was familiarly called. I am very
intimately acquainted with several of her grand-children, now in this
county. I talked with one of them a few
weeks ago upon this point, and he agreed with me in every particular.] They had
seven children that grew up, and they and their children are scattered all over
the country. All with whom I am acquainted are respectable and intelligent
people. Mary married Doctor Thomas Young, quite a celebrated man in his
profession. They moved to Boston before
the revolutionary war, and he died there during that memorable struggle. Soon after his death she disposed of her property,
and most unfortunately took the most of her pay in continental currency, which
was supposed to be good at that time, but soon depreciated on her hands and
left her almost pennyless. As I said
before, she was the only one of the sisters that I remember seeing. She was a most excellent, strong-minded
woman. She returned to the Oblong, where she spent the remainder of her days,
in the neighborhood where she was born.
She died in her own house, and was buried in the same yard with her father
and kindred. -- How many children she had I do not know, but I think not many.
I never knew but one, Susannah, who married Doctor Nace, (or Neice, as it was
commonly pronounced.) After she became a widow she followed school-teaching; I
attended her school when quite young. I could scarcely have loved a mother
better than her. -- She died at about
fifty years of age.
Having
passed through the history of our honored ancestor, Garret Winegar, and his
five daughters, I will now turn my attention to his nine sons. I am constrained to repeat what I have
before hinted -- that I most sincerely regret my knowledge is so limited; and I
seem to feel this the more as I approach our present time and generation. What I have to state is mostly from memory,
being the statements I have had, from time to time, from my father and my
honored aunt Sophronia Karner. But I
have reason to believe the most of it to be correct: I shall endeavor, where
there seems to be doubt, to note it as I pass along. Many of the little incidents noted in the following pages, may
not be very interesting to our numerous friends, but perhaps they may better be
preserved than entirely lost to posterity.
Hendrick,
the oldest son of Garret, was, perhaps, by far, the most talented and enterprising
of the whole family. He settled in the Oblong, on the same spot where his
father and grandfather had lived, and a very few years after his father purchased
the Jackson patent, he bought what landed property his father owned in the
Oblong. He soon accumulated a very large property; and it has often been said
that at one time he possessed more wealth than the whole family of the name put
together. He was also considered one of
the most ingenious men that lived in his day.
His ingenuity run mostly in iron and brass. One little thing I would mention -- I had it from undoubted authority.
But a few years ago a rifle of his make was owned on Sharon mountain, by a man
of the name of Skiff; and old as it was, homely and unfashionable as it was, he
repeatedly refused Forty Dollars for it. Hendrick made every part of it, even
to the lock. There is another lasting
monument to his memory still standing -- that is his mansion house. It is
commonly called, in the neighborhood, the old stone house. It is very large, two stories high besides a
basement on a level with the ground. --
It was a splendid edifice in its day; built of smooth faced stone, brick
around the windows and doors, with the initials of his name in large letters,
and the year in which it was built, (1761) in front. It passed out of his family nearly seventy years ago. I saw it last winter, the same old mansion,
except that it has within a few years underwent a general repair, with some of
the modern improvements. And I am sorry
to say, the name and date are no more to be seen, being entirely covered by a
plaster of cement. What is not very
common in the family at the present time, Hendrick was quite a military man,
and served a while as an officer in the Old French War. How it happened I do
not know, but I have been told that he died with very little property. He left
his fourth wife a widow, and left children by his first three. He died in Kent,
Conn., before my recollection. His
remains were brought to the old burying-ground, where he sleeps with his fathers,
less than one hundred rods from his old mansion. I never saw but two of his children, Garret and Zachariah. They were both forge me; they owned a forge
in Kent, where they were doing a heavy business between forty and fifty years
ago. I am told they both died wealthy.
Of his daughters I know but little.
He had quite a number, and I have frequently been told they married very
respectably.
John
will be next in order, and but for the great accident that befel him in
freezing both his feet in a most shocking manner, which made him a cripple for
life, I should, for the want of information pass him over by saying very
little. At any early day, when he was
in the prime of life, he settled in the town of Lee, Berkshire county, Mass.,
where some of his descendants live until this day. What particular business he followed there, whether his
mechanical business or farming, I do not know.
He, like his brother Hendrick, could do or make anything he turned his
mind to; but his principal trade was a millwright, at which very few, if any,
excelled him in his day. The country
was new where he lived, and game plenty, and like many others he was a great
hunter. The following narrative of the
calamity that befel him, I will here give as I have always heard it from my
father and my worthy aunt Sophronia Karner.
He started one morning on a hunting excursion in company with an
Indian. After traveling on some
distance, they separated, and were to meet again at a certain place agreed
upon. After they had separated a short
time, he shot and brought down a buck; and while in the act of cutting the
throat of the animal, he sprang up and made off. John followed on his track, which was plainly marked by his
blood, expecting every moment to find him.
He continued to follow until late in the afternoon, when he was
compelled to abandon the chase; and when he turned his thoughts towards home,
he found he was completely lost. Then
turning his attention to a resting-place for the night, he fixed a bed of evergreens,
etc.; and after long and fruitless efforts to make a fire, he laid himself down
to sleep. In his exertions to start a
fire, he cut out all his pockets and destroyed nearly every vestige of linen
about him, and consumed nearly all his powder.
I have never understood that he was at all frozen the first night. The next morning he started again for home,
the cold increasing. He traveled all
day in the storm, and at or near night found himself at the very spot where he
started from in the morning. Exhausted
with fatigue and hunger, he again laid himself on his cold bed for another
night. This was the fatal night to
him. He arose in the morning, and with
what little strength he had pursued his dismal journey. The Indian before mentioned reached the spot
agreed upon, and after waiting as long as he could, returned to his home. The alarm of his absence and supposed death
spread through the settlements, and large parties started in pursuit in
different directions, and fortunately, near nightfall, he was found by a party of
men on horseback, some ten miles from home, so exhausted with cold, hunger and
exertion that he could not travel to exceed four or five rods without
resting. It being late, the party were
compelled to encamp for the night. The next
morning he was put upon a horse and conveyed home. He was so badly frozen that both feet were
taken off about midway between his ankles and toes. After intense suffering for
many months, he recovered. Of his after
life I know but little, except that he lived many years, and although a cripple,
followed his millwright business. He
died in Lee, but at what time I do not know.
I have always been told, however, that he was the second one (except
Gideon, the infant) that died out of the family. O his wife I know nothing, and
of his children but little. I have seen
two of them -- Mr. Samuel Winegar, who then lived somewhere near Oneida Lake,
and Mrs. Barret, who lived and died in Ridgway, Orleans county, N.Y. [I have
seen a son (Luther Barret) of Mrs. Barret; I saw him in DeRuyter, Madison
county. He married a daughter of Benjamin Mitchell. -- C. Winegar.]
Ulric,
my grandfather, is the next in order; but as there will be many things to mention
in connection with him, I have concluded to leave his history until the last.
Conrad,
the fourth brother, is the only one, except my grandfather, that I ever saw. He
was a noble, prepossessing man, in his appearance. In feature she looked much
like my grandfather, but was some three or four inches taller. He always lived
in Oblong, in the same neighborhood where he was born. He was for many years a respectable
magistrate in Amenia and was known every since my recollection by the
appellation of old Esquire Winegar. He died about the year 1810 or 1812, at
about eighty years of age and was buried in the same old grave-yard with his
ancestors. Of his wife I know nothing, except that her name was Rowe. He had
but few children -- I believe but one
son; his name, I think, was Garret. He died many years before his father, and
before my recollection. The only one of
his children that I remember seeing, was Mrs. Boyd, wife of Captain Samuel
Boyd, of Amenia. I have however seen and been acquainted with several of his
grand-children, of whom Solomon Winegar, a respectable and wealthy farmer who
still lives in Sheffield, Mass., is one.
Johannes,
(which translated into pure English means John) the fifth brother, I know but
little of. I have always been informed that he settled at an early day, or at
least many years ago, in Albany county.
He outlived all his brothers and sister, and died in Westerlo, Albany
county, at eighty-four years of age. It
appears by a letter from his grand-son, Reuben Winegar, to you, (Caleb Winegar)
now before me, that his wife’s maiden name was Hatch. They had nine children,
four sons and five daughters. I saw
only one of his sons nearly forty years ago, in the city of Albany. I was inquiring for my cousin Ashbel, uncle
Hendrick’s son, and was directed to him through mistake. His name was Meltiah.
Of
Garret, the sixth son, like some of the rest, I know but little. While comparatively
young he settled at Fort Ann. At what age or when he died, I do not know. He
died before my grandfather, and, as I have always supposed, at Fort Ann; but in
this I may be mistaken. I have heard something about his family: some of his
descendants now live in Wisconsin -- wealthy, popular people. His son Samuel
has visited at my father’s house in Herkimer county, when I was a youth, but I
happened to be from home and did not see him.
Samuel,
the seventh son, after coming to manhood, settled in Sharon, on part of the old
Jackson patent, where he was born; and for several years lived near and owned,
with his younger brother Jacob, the old mill property of his father. The old
house that he built for himself, and lived in a great many years, stood some
fifteen or twenty rods north-west of the old dam, and was standing the last
time I was there. When they disposed of the old mill property, it passed into
the hands of Captain James Reed. He
moved to the Royal Grant, now Fairfield, Herkimer county, N.Y., where he died,
but at what time I do not know. He did
not live to be very old: he was some few months younger than my father, and
died some years before him. My father
made him a visit in 1801, and the next thing we heard, a few years after, he
was dead. He left children, but of them I know nothing.
Jacob,
the eighth son, I know as little of, and perhaps less, then either of the others.
He, as I have before stated, at one time owned a share in the old mill
property; but he disposed of his interest in that when he was quite a yougerly
man, and moved to Duanesburgh, Schenectady county, where he lived the balance
of his life. At what time he died I do not know: he was living in 1810, but
died a few years after. He always
followed his old occupation, that of a miller.
Of his particular qualifications I know but little. I believe he never
acquired much property; and conclude, from all I have heard and know, that he
lived and died a respectable poor man.
Gideon
was an infant, and very young, at the time of his father’s death. He died at
about three years of age.
I
have thus passed through the foregoing, which, according to my arrangement,
brings me to our own branch of the family, and of course nearer home. I regret,
if possible, more than ever, that in this particular part of my narrative -- in
which we, as a branch of this numerous family, are so much interested -- I am so destitute of authentic dates, having
never seen the family record, which I have been told my grandfather kept with
great care; but I shall do the very best I can, with the limited knowledge I
have. [I hope that if any person who reads this, knows where the record is, he
will send it, or a copy, to me, that I may give it a place in this record. C.
Winegar.’
Ulric,
as I have before remarked, was the third son of Garret; -- he was born at
Amenia, formerly called “Oblong,” Dutchess county, N.Y. in the year 1729; and
was married quite young to Miss Ann or Mary Nase (or Neice, as it was commonly
called,) a daughter of Philip Nase, who moved to the “Oblong valley,) from
German camp about the time the Winegar family settled there. He settled some six miles farther south than
did the Winegars, near the present line of Dover. His old homestead still remains in the family, and many of his
descendants still live in the same neighborhood. He had but one son, Philip, and several daughters. Philip had
four sons, Philip, William, Cornelius and John, who lived near each other and
joined farms -- they were quite wealthy, respectable men. The last I heard of them, they were all dead
except John; I have seen all of them. Philip Nase, the patriarch, like many of
that class of people, was a frugal, laborious man, and accumulated a very
handsome property. At one time, about
the year 1750, he was robbed of three hundred pounds sterling ($1500,) in
silver and gold, by two ruffians, who entered his house in the night-time and
threatened them with death if they resisted.
He did not live to be very old. The day he died, he saddled his own
horse, intending to leave home on business, and while preparing to leave was
taken ill and was a corpse in a few hours.
Grandfather
Ulric had seven children -- five sons and two daughters. The sons were
Hendrick, Philip, Ashbel, Zachariah, and Samuel -- the daughters were Elizabeth
and Sophronia. He settled in the Oblong, where he XXXXXXX He buried his first wife about the year
1761, and about the year 1765 he married a second wife by the name of Howel or
Hoel -- a New Haven lady. I never knew
much about her, and never saw her, although she died long since my recollection.
From
all that I have been able to learn, my grandfather Ulric was never very successful
in making property; although in his younger days he seems to have been an
active, business sort of a man, as may be inferred from the various real estate
he owned at different times. At one
time he owned, and, it is said, might have kept, the beautiful farm since owned
by Elijah Reed, Jr. He also built and owned a small but quite respectable
grist-mill in Sharon, about a mile up the stream from where his father’s mill
stood. I have been on the spot, and saw
the ruins of the old dam. I was told, by a very old lady who lived in the neighborhood
at the time, that it was built in strife caused by a difficulty with some of
his brothers about the old mill property.
Be that as it may, he was, ever since by recollection, and probably long
before, quite poor; -- and I have every reason to believe that had it not been
for the kindness of his affectionate son, my wortrhy uncle Ashbel, your grandfather,
he must have come to want, and perhaps suffered, in his old age. He served a campaign in the British army
during the old French war. He survived
his son Ashbel a few years, and died with his grandchild, your father’s brother
Ulric, at Nassau, Rensselaer county, N.Y., about the year 1812, aged eighty-two
or eighty-three years. Of his personal
appearance I was too young to judge, but according to my recollection he was a
fair-featured, fair-complexioned man, in height hardly the middle stature,
tolerably thick-set, and a little stooped shoulders.
(As
my kind and universally beloved cousin Ira closes, his account of my
great-grandfather Ulric, I will here add a little to his history. About twelve
years ago, I visited my uncles and cousins who then lived in Butler, Wayne
county, N.Y.) While I was staying with
my father’s brother, uncle Ulric, we commenced talking about our ancestors; and
they related to me that some ears ago, when he lived in Nassau, they were
digging a cellar at Nassau village and found a plate of iron, of half-moon
shape and about six inches long, with these letters engraved upon it --
“Sergeant Ulric Winegar, 1760.” It
being the same name of my uncle, they took it to him and he preserved it. It was, of course, the property of my
great-grandfather Ulric, and is proof positive that he was in the French war,
and was an officer. My uncle Ulric died some seven or eight years ago, and into
whose hands the records of the family have fallen, I do not know; but I shall
write to some of them, and will give the answer a place in this book. Feb. 21,
1858. C. Winegar.)
Hendrick,
the eldest son of grandfather Ulric, married in Amenia, but his wife’s maiden
name I have forgotten, only that her Christian name was Alice -- everybody
called here aunt Alice. She died of
dropsy about 1810 or 1812. I never knew that they had more than four children
-- two sons and two daughters. The
daughters Anna and Elizabeth or Betsey. Samuel S. married for his first wife,
Margaret Boyd, his second cousin, and for his second wife, Susan Chamberlain.
He had several children by each, of which only two are living -- Milton by his
first wife, and Betsey by his last. -- they both live in Kent, Conn. Samuel died
in Sharon about 1841 or 1842, leaving a handsome property to his widow and
children,. His widow has since died.
Samuel was a most excellent man, and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
Ashbel married a woman by the name of Cady, in Duanesburgh, Schenectady
county. I have seen her a few times,
and think her an excellent woman. I believe they are both dead. He was a house carpenter by trade. -- I know but little of his children, but believe
one of his sons is a millwright. Anna married Conrad Boyd, her second cousin,
and grandson of old uncle Conrad Winegar. They both died long since. -- They
never had any children, and lived and died poor. Betsey married Joseph Crane, a
blacksmith, quite a man for gathering property. I was but little acquainted with them; they are both dead. At what time uncle Hendrick died, I do not
know; he outlived all the family except aunt Karner, and died at Amenia at
something over seventy years of age, in the same neighborhood where he was born
and always lived. He, jointly with his
son Samuel Snyder Winegar, heired a handsome property, the real estate of old
uncle Samuel Snyder.
Philip,
(my father, and uncle of your father, Philip Winegar,) second son of Ulric, was
born at the Oblong, January 14, 1752 -- He was married at the age of twenty-one
years, to Miss Mary Griswold, eldest daughter of Mr. Azariah Griswold, of
Sharon, by whom he had seven children -- four sons and three daughters -- three
of whom, one son and two daughters, died in infancy. The other four lived to have
families. Zachariah, Azariah, and Oliver, the three sons, are dead; and Mary,
the only surviving sister, the widow of the Rev. Datus Ensign, lives at
Mechanicsville, Saratoga Co., N.Y. I am well acquainted with a number of her
children. Mary, my father’s first wife, died at Sharon about the year 1789. In
the year 1792, my father married for his second wife, Rebecca, daughter of
Martin Delamater, of Amenia, by whom he had seven children, all of whom married
and have families. The five sons are
Ira, (myself,) James, Jacob, Leonard and Gilbert; the two daughters were Ann
and Margaret. The five sons are
believed to be all alive, but the sisters are both dead. In the year 1800, my father moved from
Sharon to Danube, Herkimer county, N.Y., where, in April, 1815, he was
accidentally killed by the kick of a horse.
His widow, Rebecca, died in Danube, in February, 1832. My father took an active part in the revolutionary
war, and served through three campaigns.
He was a patriot, and, if he was my father, I must be permitted to say,
an excellent man, and the kindest of parents.
Ashbel,
your (father’s father) grandfather, was twice married, and left children by
both wives. He lived many years at
Nassau, Rensselaer county, N.Y., on a farm that he owned, where he died
universally lamented by a great circle of relatives and friends, in the year
1809. I will leave it for some of the
descendants of this my most honored uncle, to write out a full history. (I will
perform that duty, if spared long enough, at the end of this narrative. C.
Winegar.)
Zachariah
lived, from early childhood with old uncle Samuel Snyder, who adopted him as
his son and heir, he being childless.
In this, the honorable old gentleman was doomed to be disappointed -- he
died suddenly at the early age of fifteen years.
Samuel
was never married. He served his
country though nearly the whole of the revolutionary war, and assisted to fight
a number of her battles, which broke down his constitution, and almost destroyed
his hearing. His deafness was caused by
the firing of heavy cannon. Is it not a
burning shame to say that such a man should die a town pauper, and very much neglected,
in his old age? But enough of this, my heart sickens at the thought. He had rather a weak mind. It is certain he was in the battle of Stone
Arabia, in Montgomery county, NY It seems that Major Brown was on his way to
meet Van Rensselaer, and fell into an ambuscade, when he was attacked by about
1500 men, composed of Indians and Tories, led on by Sir John Johnson, and that
cruel savage, Col. Brant. The brave Major Brown fell, as well as did all his
forces except two, and one of the two that escaped was our ancestor Samuel
Winegar. These facts are well established by tradition and authentic history. A
monument was erected to Major Brown near the battle-ground.
Elizabeth,
our aunt Betty as she used familiarly to be called, married Jacob Myers, of
Amenia. She died in child-bed with her
second child. Their children, James and Sarah, were kindly taken by uncle
Samuel Karner and wife, (aunt Sophronia Karner,) and adopted by them as their
own. James died when but nine years old, and Sarah, or Sally as she was commonly
called, lived with them until her marriage with Elijah Reed, Jr. She had a large family, and was left a widow
a number of years ago. Last winter she
was living with her children, near Towanda, Bradford county, Penn. -- Perhaps it might be considered out of
place here, but be that as it may, I do consider her one of the very best of
women; and of all the relatives I have in the world, there are none for whom I
cherish a more warm-hearted affection.
Sophronia,
the last one of the whole number -- my most honored aunt Sophronia Karner, as I
have always called her -- was taken when quite young and brought up by old
uncle and aunt Snyder. She was married
when quite young to Samuel Karner, a house carpenter by trade, a man of limited
education and quite an ordinary mechanic, but one of the cleverest,
best-hearted men in the world. I
suppose that it is generally known among the relatives that they never had any
children. He never possessed much property,
but was always in good credit, and no one lived better than he did. He died in his own house in Amenia, the same
that was owned by old aunt Molly Young in her lifetime, situated about thirty
rods from the old mansion of old uncle Hendrick Winegar. He died about the year 1820, of pulmonary
consumption. After his death, aunt
Sophronia sold out her property, and spent the remainder of her days with her
neice and adopted daughter, Mrs. Sarah Reed, where she died about 1834 or 1835.
(I think uncle Samuel Karner must have been quite a
man, as my brother Samuel K. Winegar was named after him, and I believe my
father has a letter of his. -- I will call and see him, and will give it a
place in this book. C. Winegar.)
Perhaps
there are very few of our relatives that have come to years of understanding,
but what have heard something of our old and most worthy kinsman, Samuel Snyder
-- old uncle Snyder, as he was familiarly called. So much has been said of him, and so many amusing anecdotes told
of him, that I feel unwilling to close my narrative, without giving him at
least a passing notice. He was a son of
one of the Palatine families, and it has often been said among the relatives
that he was born on the passage from Europe to America, but I have ascertained,
to my full satisfaction, that this is a mistake. It was an older brother.
He was born at the German camp, in the year 1711 or 1712. Many of the descendants
of Conrad, his brother, now live in Germantown, very respectable people. He was
own brother to our old great-grandmother, (wife of Garret). He married, at about thirty years of age,
Miss (Sarah I think) Nase, daughter of Philip Nase, and sister to our grandmother,
(wife of Ulric). As I have before said,
they were childless. He purchased a
very fine farm in the Oblong, near Hitchcock’s Corners, where he lived and
died. He was great-uncle to my father,
and his wife was my father’s own aunt.
He was a simple-hearted man and one of the most honest men in the world.
-- He possessed a very handsome property; and it has been frequently remarked
in the family, that he strove much harder to make others happy than to make himself
so. No relative that I have in the
world, or ever had, have I a more vivid recollection of, than I have of old
uncle Snyder. And surely I can never forge how many times, when I was a small,
mischievous chap, have I, with others like myself, used to crawl slyly into the
yard to take by stealth the old man’s pears; and when he discovered us, how we
had to scamper or test the virtue of the old man’s cane; and after enjoying a
hearty laugh to see us pull for life, would after all call us back and give us
as many pears as we wanted. He died in
his own house near the close of the year 1807, in the ninety-seventh year of
his age. I attended his funeral, being
then fourteen years of age. As I
mentioned before, he left a very handsome property to uncle Hendrick, my father’s
brother, and his son Samuel Snyder Winegar.
This
will close my narrative. I have made so
many excuses and apologies already, that I am ashamed to say or repeat
them. I will barely say, that you will
have something to do to put what I have written, or the substance of it, in
form, and will probably omit some, and add some. I shall leave it with you.
Before
I make a final close, I must beg leave to indulge in a few general remarks,
which, as I have said, you may copy or not.
I happened, a number of years ago, to fall in company with one of our
name, quite an intelligent young man. I
soon found him to great-grandson of old uncle Hendrick. I remarked to him at that time, that our
family had got to be very numerous indeed, and spread over the four quarters of
the globe, and that I had the pleasure of an acquaintance with a great number
of them. That, as a family, I did not
think them very remarkable for anything in particular -- that I had not heard
of a doctor among them -- that I had never heard of a lawyer among them (for it
has been but a few years since I heard that you and your brother Benjamin
Franklin Winegar, who has since died, were lawyers,) and I have never heard of
but one preacher -- that in the department of civil office, I never knew one to
hold an office higher than Justice of the Peace, Supervisor, Coroner, or
Associate Justice -- that in military matters, I never knew of one higher than
captain -- that there were but few farmers among them -- and that a least four
out of five were mechanics, mostly workers in iron, or millwrights.
Most
Respectfully Yours,
IRA WINEGAR
To
bring this history further down, and deal fairly by all, would extend the work
too much. It was thought that each
branch could better continue their own history. The foregoing is all that will go down to our children, and to me
its value is priceless. I trust that
posterity will do justice to our kind cousin Ira, who has been to great trouble
and expense to gather these facts.
CALEB WINEGAR
Ira Winegar Caleb Winegar
The Winegar Family united with the Patterson Family when Stephen Eraldo Patterson (1834-1906) married Lydia Paulina Winegar (1838-1914) the daughter of Samuel Karner Winegar (1815-1875) and Cornelia Yawger Winegar (1818-1902). It was Lydia’s uncle, Caleb Winegar (1818-1870), who induced his cousin, Ira Winegar (1793-1879), to record for posterity the history of the Winegar Family.
Interest
in the Winegar Family History goes back more than one hundred twenty
years. It was in 1859, after a protracted
correspondence with his cousin, Ira Winegar (11793-1879)5, Philip
(1752-1815)4, Ulric (1729-1812)3, Garret (1702-1755)2,
Ulric (1648-1754)1 that Caleb Winegar (181-1870)6, Philip
(1785-1862)5, Ashbel (1754-1809)4, Ulric (1729-1812)3,
Garret (1702-1755)2, Ulric (1648-1754)1 had authorized
the publication by J. B. Clarke, Printer in Union Springs, NY, of Ira Winegar’s
Genealogy of the Winegar Family.
By
way of explanation, Caleb Winegar was the son of Philip Winegar (1785-1862) who
had walked across the State of New York in 1815 to purchase a large portion of
what is presently known as the Village of Union Springs, NY and to develop a
woolen industry that was to thrive there for nearly forty years. Caleb Winegar was a attorney, having read
law with William H. Seward, the Secretary of State under President Abraham
Lincoln.
While
Philip Winegar was attending to his woolen business, his cousin, Ira Winegar
was moving farther westward to pioneer in the wilds of Indiana, in a town known
as Middlebury.
In
the drawer of a stand in the parlor at Fairfields Farm, the family home of
Stephen and Lydia Winegar Patterson, was kept a cherished copy of Ira Winegar’s
history, bearing the dedication penned by Ira.
On the cover of this booklet is a woodcut of Caleb’s Union Springs home
overlooking Cayuga Lake on the southern outskirts of Union Springs, NY. The opening page bears Caleb’s presentation
message to the Patterson Family, of whom Lydia Winegar Patterson was a member
of Winegar lineage. Since this
well-preserve copy tells the story so graphically, it is reproduced here for
all to enjoy.
Lydia Patterson Hecht
Granddaughter of Lydia Paulina Winegar Patterson
Interest in the Winegar Family History goes back
more than one hundred twenty years. It was in 1859, after a protracted
correspondence with his cousin, Ira Winegar, that Caleb Winegar authorized the
publication by J. B. Clarke, Printer in Union Springs, NY, of Ira Winegar’s Genealogy
of the Winegar Family. In his Winegar Genealogy, Ira Winegar mentioned the
expectation that Caleb Winegar would bring the history of his branch of the
family up to date at that time. No
record of Caleb’s having completed this project has been found. Accordingly, it
remains for us to record whatever information we can with regard to the life
and progeny of Philip Winegar who married Lydia Mosher.
Philip Winegar’s lineage, according to the Ira
Winegar history, is as follows:
Ulric (1648-1754)
|
Garret (1702-1755)
|
Ulric (1729-1812)
|
___________________________________
| |
Ashbel (1754-1809) Philip (1752-1815)
| |
Philip (1785-1862) Ira (1793-1879)
|
Caleb (1818-1870)
Philip Winegar (1785-1862),
who had walked across the State of New York in 1815*, purchased with his
father-in-law, Esek Mosher, a large portion of what is presently known as the
Village of Union Springs, NY and to develop a woolen industry that was to
thrive there for nearly forty years.
*
Note:Philip traveled westward early in the nineteenth century; and undocumented
information is that he spent some time in Fulton NY, subsequently coming to
Union Springs, Cayuga County, NY with his family in 1816.
Philip
Winegar was born August 31, 1785 in Amenia NY and married Lydia Mosher in
Chatham, Columbia Co., NY. She was born
October 23, 1785, the daughter of Esek and Sarah Mosher. Philip and Lydia lived in Gallway NY where
three of their children were born:
Esek Mosher born in 1809
Sarah
M. born April 16, 1813,
Samuel
Karner born July 29, 1815.
Philip
Winegar
Five others followed later
after the family settled in Union Springs NY in 1816:
Caleb
born February 20, 1818
Zachariah
Story born February 25,1820
Benjamin Franklin and George Washington - Twins born September 8, 1825
Margaret birth date unknown
We are indebted to his daughter,
Sarah Winegar Sleeper for her December 7, 1886 letter written from her home in
Kalamazoo MI to James B.Hoff, Editor of The
Union Springs Advertiser. From this
we quote: In 1887 Sarah
Winegar Sleeper wrote of her father’s activities as follows:
“Union
Springs in my early recollection was quite a different town from the present.
My father bot the mill property[1]
he owned so many years of James Barker, a brother of Mrs. Elihu Eldredge, in
1816, and came in August of that year to your place. That was, of course, before my recollection, for I was but a few
months past three years old.
“I
remember the pond when it was about half its present size. My father raised the dam several times in my
recollection; and it extends much farther south. The old mill as I remember it was a one and a half story frame
building, situated a little to the north of the center of the pond as it is at
present, with a basement, where the fulling and dyeing was done; the big wheel
that carried the machinery was there too.
The first floor above was the finishing room; the upper room was where
the carding was done. It was reached by
a flight of stairs outside, on the south of the building. The saw mill was still farther north; and
the flume which carried the water to the wheel was between the
buildings.
“I
can remember when there were but two streets (roads they were then called)
leading east outof town, one at the head of the north spring the other leading
to the Friends Meeting House. Orrin
Winegar built the firsthouse on that street.
“The
Methodists held meetings occasionally in the district school house. It was north, in the southeast corner of
John Yawger’s yard. It was so far that
I went to school there but little, but to a private school taught first by Miss
Sophia Gidding, a niece of Mrs. Laban Hoskins, afterwards by Miss Cynthia Southwich,
a sisterof Mrs. Hoskins. But my
brother, Esek, got all the schooling that he ever had in that old stone school
house. The district, in time, was
divided and my sister and younger brothers went to school in the school house
built in the south part of the town.
“My
father bought quite a large tract of land with his mill property, but
considered it of but little value.[2] Money was scarce and wheat but two and sixpence
a bushel. I heard my father say that a
farmer went to Hoskins’ store to buy a piece of rope for a halter. He would trust him for it, but would not
take wheat for pay; but my father took wheat or anything he could use for his
work. One farmer wanted to bring honey
and asked father how much he should bring.
Father said he wasn’t particular, ‘bring what you are a mind to’, and he
brought sixty pounds. Mother said she
wasn’t troubled to dispose of it. They
had a large family and boarded all their workmen. Father kept two sets of hands.
In the carding season the machines were kept running night and day, the
same with the saw mill when there was water enough.
“The
wheat my father took for his work was stored in a long building standing on the
bank about where the grist mill now is and was called the dry house; and in the
winter he took it to Albany in sleighs, sold it and bought his dye stuffs or
whatever he couldn’t get nearer. When
in the course of time the materials he needed to use in his business could be
had at Utica he thought he was highly favored, and that would be thought slow
business in these fast times. At that
time there was no canal or railroad in the great State of New York, or in fact,
anywhere. It is hard for us to realize
the difference between then and now.
“My
father built the first canal boat that was built at the Springs. It was built south of the basin (there was
no basin there then,) in the year 1826, I think. It was quite an event in the quiet town when she was
launched. Silas Ludlow was the
builder. Her name has gone from me, but
the next one he built was the P. Winegar. At that time they used sails to take them to
the bridge, if the wind was right.
Otherwise, they had to pole down.
The only way to get down the river to Montezuma was to pole, until the
canal was made from that place to the bridge.
“In
the spring of 1828 Dr.John Mosher and my father opened a store[3]
there. He closed his store and put his
goods in the new one. He stayed but one year, after which brother Esek managed
the store. The two upper stories were
used for storing grain, which our people either bought of, or stored and
shipped for the farmers.
“After
farmers began to trade their wool for cloth, father began making cloth in a
small way. The first spinning-jenny he
bought had eight spindles and was worked by hand. Cousin Sepronia Winegar[4]
was one of the first to spin on it, and could spin more yarn in a day than any
one who ever run it.
“Father
gradually increased his facilities for manufacturing, enlarging the buildings,
but in November, 1835, the factory took fire and was burned to the ground with
most of its contents. The stone factory
was built the next summer, and is now doing duty as a grist mill.
I have
heard my mother say when they first lived there, the people were all on visiting
terms, not calling, but neighbors took their work, spent the afternoon and
stayed to tea. But as the village
increased, all this was changed.
“My
father lived in a small story and a half frame house (present postoffice building
- Ed.) on the site of the Sanitarium[5],
which was moved off in the spring of 1829 to make place for the new brick dwelling
which was built that summer, and we moved in in October. The next spring the old house was repaired
and brother Esek moved into it, remaining there until he moved to Auburn.”
[6]
The
writings of David Thomas in his book entitled Travels Through the Western Country in the Summer of 1816 [7] give a picture of the
activities of the Winegar mill:
“On
the smaller spring are erected, a fulling mill, which in the present season of
1816-17, dressed 15,000 yards of cloth, carding machines which wrought into
rolls, last summer, 18,000 pounds of wool, and a saw-mill (assisted in its
motion by a brook turned into the basin of the spring) which sawed 60,000 feet
of boards and scantling.”
We
are indebted to the reminiscences of Mrs. David Everett, edited in 1948 by
Margaret P.Getman, for further information of the family:
“Park
Street, first called Fancy Street, then Burritt, and changed to Park after the
village acquired the park at the head of the street from the Estate of Philip
Winegar, a fine Hicksite Quaker gentleman.
He owned all the land on the south side of the street, including the Quaker
Cemetery and Park which he gave to the Hicksite Quaker Society (later acquired
by the village of Union Springs) . On
the north side he owned an orchard with a high fence around it which extended
from the corner up to Mrs. Rorapaugh’s lot, and north covering the land now
known as Seminary Street. He built the
brick building on the south corner for his residence which was later enlarged
and known as the Howland School for Girls, a very select school. He built the store on the corner of Main and
Factory, known many years as the Mersereau Bros. store,”
The remainder of Philip Winegar’s life was spent in Union Springs where he died on August 21, 1862. His obiturary gives further information of his life:
“DIED - At his residence in
Union Springs, NY August 21st, Philip Winegar, in his 75th year, of typhoid
fever. He was born in the town of
Amenia, Dutchess Co., N.Y., and removed when quite small to Nassau, Rensselaer
Co. He resided in Chatham, Columbia
Co., a short time at Galway, Saratoga Co., and settled at Union Springs in the
year 1816. He was the leading business
man in the place for over 30 years.
He erected the first woolen factory, and ran the first power loom in the county, and built the first canal boats. He cleared up the land now occupied by the business part of the village, and this village is more indebted to him for its prosperity, than any other man. His goodness of heart and exemplary moral life, endeared him to all. His funeral will be attended at the Friends’ Meeting House, next Sabbath August 24th, at 2 P.M.”
Apparently
Lydia Mosher Winegar went to live
with her daughter, Sarah, in Michigan after the death of her husband, for it is
known that she died in Galesburg, MI on February 9, 1876.
LPH
FINISH PAGE 15-16
* * *
Following
the example set by Ira Winegar in his Winegar
Genealogy, let us meet each of Philip and Lydia Winegar’s children:
Esek Mosher Winegar6 (1804-18__),
Philip
Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4
(1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2
(1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1.(1648-1754) was born in Galway,
Saratoga Co., NY and married Salina. He
played an active role in the life of Union Springs, being named the first
president of Union Springs in 1849 and later a trustee. He was a trustee of the Union Springs Young
Ladies’ Seminary which his daughter attended, according to the 1852 First
Annual Catalogue. He was a deacon in
his church. His son, Charles, was the
first child baptized in the new Presbyterian Church. He was engaged with his father in the woolen business and for a
time conducted a retail business in his father’s store at the corner of Cayuga
& Factory Streets. He lived in the
story and one half house that had been his father’s residence prior to his
building the brick residence at the south-east corner of Cayuga and Park
Streets and moved off the south on Cayuga Street. In 1851, according to a newspaper advertisement, he was in woolen
manufactury with his brothers, Samuel Karner, Zachariah and George
Washington.... In 1851 Winegar Brothers
were also operating a woolen business
in Canoga, northwest of Auburn NY.. In
1851[8]
Esek was noted to be operating a lumber yard with J. S. Everett in Union
Springs. In 1854 he signed a note,
along with his brothers Zachariah and George Washington, with Henry
Morgan. He was noted as living in Mount
Morris. In 1857 he moved to Syracuse NY
where he was engaged with his son in “a large and extensive grain and commission
trade.”[9].
Sarah Winegar Sleeper
Sarah Winegar Sleeper6 (1813-1889),
Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4 (1754-1809),
Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2 (1702-1755),
Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) was born April 16, 1813, in
Galway, NY and was only three years old when she came with her parents to Union
Springs. At age 23 in 1836 she married John Sleeper. In 1842 they moved to Michigan to a farm in Comstock. In 1849 their home was in Kalamazoo; by 1861
they had returned to the farm. In 1865
she was a widow at the age of 52. She
apparently had three sons, Henry S., Esek W. and Lewis, and a daughter, Eliza. In 1884 her youngest sond died and she went
to live with her daughter, Mrs. C. L. Rounds.
In 1886, at the request of J. B. Hoff, the editor of the Union Springs
newspaper, she wrote of her memories of early Union Springs. This letter has become a vital record of the
early days of Union Springs. 1887 saw the sale of the family farm and in 1889
she died at the home of her daughter at the age of seventy-six.
Samuel Karner Winegar6 (1825-1895), Philip Winegar5(1785-1862),
Ashbel Winegar4 (1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812),
Garrett Winegar2 (1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1
(1648-1754), was born on July 29, 1815, in Gallway, NY. On March 14, 1837 he married Cornelia
Yawger, daughter of Peter Yawger and Cornelia Mersereau. (see pictures at end
of document)
Samuel Karner Winegar
Their
first child was Lydia Winegar7
who married Stephen Patterson
Lydia
Paulina Winegar and Stephen Eraldo Patterson
and created the thread that binds the Pattersons of
Townline Road, Aurelius, NY to the Winegar and Yawger families of Union
Springs. Other children born to Samuel
Karner and Cornelia Yawger Winegar were Mary
Eliza Winegar7(1839-1921),
Cornelia Yawger Winegar7 (1842-1913),
William Wirt Winegar7 (1846-1908), Henry Clay Winegar7 (1846-1908), Peter Yawger Winegar7 1848-1926), and Frank Karner Winegar7 (1860-1882). Further details of these children will be
found elsewhere in this manuscript.
William Wirt Winegar
Peter Yawger Winegar
Mary Eliza Winegar and
Cornelia Winegar Conklin
(Sisters’ photographs’
identity indefinite)
Samuel
Karner Winegar is placed in 1853 on a map of Aurelius NY on the south side of
Canoga Road west of the school house at a date when they were operating a
woolen manufactury in Clarkesville, southwest of Auburn NY. Samuel Karner Winegar, father of Lydia
Winegar Patterson, is the patriarch of the Patterson Family of Townline Road in
Aurelius NY and, therefore, details of that lineage will appear in a
later section.
Peter
Yawger placed most of his children on farms in the Union Springs area and Lydia
Winegar and her husband received the farm on
the road from Union Springs to Auburn, at the former junction of Connors
Road, across the road from the Oak Woods (where the annual Oakwood Picnic was held.
Cayuga County records of the Year 1844, Page 103, indicate that Philip Yawger
took a mortgage in Lot 80 (80 Acres) from Samuel K. Winegar. In 1859 they moved to Mount Morris,
Livingston Co., NY. where he resided at the time of his death The Mount Morris
obituation read:
“Mr.
Winegar was a man of wonderful endurance, a great reader, of untiring industry,
and in all his business relations uniformly upright. As a neighbor kind and highly esteemed; as a father and husband,
affectionate and devoted. During the
past few years he has suffered greatly, from a disease that finally crushed out
his buoyant life. No one but those who
were devoted to him through his illness can know the great trials he daily experienced.
He has passed away leaving an unblemished record. His funeral was largely attended today, Wednesday, at his late
residence, about four miles south of our village. His remains will be taken to
Auburn for burial in Fort Hill Cemetery.”
The next year the family moved from Mount Morris to the vicinity of Bath NY where Cornelia Yawger Winegar lived until 1876. Bath NY records indicate that she died at the home of her son, H. Clay Winegar, near Lake Salubria, Steuben Co., NY. She was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery, Lot 74 in the Fort Allegan Section Auburn NY For Details of this branch of the family, please refer to Page 15 of this genealogy section.
Caleb Winegar
Caleb Winegar6 Philip
Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4 (1754-1809), Ulric
Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2 (1702-1755), Olrig
(Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) was born in Union Springs NY on February
20, 1818, studied law under William H. Seward who later became United States
Secretary of State.[10] Caleb Winegar became the first attorney in
the Village of Union Springs. His office
was in various location in town, on South Cayuga Street, south of his father’s
residence at the corner of Park and Cayuga Streets, later in a wooden building
later occupied by the red brick building built as the village hall, and still
later in a small house northeast of his residence at the southern outskirts of
Union Springs. His residence was listed
as a farm and the house that he built is pictured on the cover of Ira Winegar’s
Winegar Genealogy mentioned
earlier. He owned a substantial amount
of real estate in Union Springs. On
June 3, 1847 he married Martha Elizabeth Johnson, whose mother, Amy Mosher was
the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Mosher.
He was vitally interested in his family’s genalogical record and was the
incentive and facilitator of the publishing of Ira Winegar’s reminiscences.
Rose Yawger in her book, The Indian and
the Pioneer, refers to him: “Caleb Winegar was a resident of Union Springs
for many years, and died at ‘Lake Grove’ which was the name of his farm south
of the village. Caleb was a natural mechanic and invented a pen telegraph,
automaton gate, water elevator for wells, etc.
He also was greatly interested in electricity and performed many
original experiments. Caleb left three children, William Johnson Winegar7 who married [Mary Hart b. 14
July 1854] Philip Winegar7,
unmarried [later married Cora E. Mineah] and Ida Winegar Harrison7 who married [Judge Benjamin Harrison] and has recently died.” Caleb Winegar and his wife are buried in the Quaker Cemetery in
Union Springs NY.
William Johnson
Winegar
Philip Winegar Ida Winegar Harrison
Zachariah Story Winegar6
(1825-1895), Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4
(1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2
(1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) was born February 25, 1820 in Union Springs
NY and married Hannah Hathorn of Union Springs. They had seven children: Frances M (1849-1872); Helen C. 1851-1853); Benjamin Franklin (1853-1915) who
married Clara B. Elliott and was in business with his father-in-law in a hide
and tallow business in Auburn, later he became Clerk of Auburn Prison, lived at
27 Garden Street in Auburn, and had two children Benjamin Franklin Jr. and Ethel H. (married Richard Kidney &
Campbell E. Hodges).
Zachariah
Story Winegar was a member of Winegar Brothers that did business in Union
Springs and in Clarkesville. The
business in Union Springs was discontinued and the woolen business in Clarksville,
the first of its kind in Auburn, was sold to the Hayden Firm which employed him
as superintendant (1860-1870). An advertisement
for William Hayden & Co. stated that the factory was one half mile west of
the State Prison on Wall Street. The Zachariah
Story Winegar Family is buried in the Fort Allegan Section, Lot 79, of Fort
Hill Cemetery, Auburn NY.
George Washington Winegar
George Washington Winegar6
(1825-1895), Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4
(1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2
(1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) was known as “Uncle
Wash.” and I think that we have a photograph of him in our files. We shall review this when next in New York
State. He, with his brothers Esek
and Zacharia made up the firm of Winegar Brothers who worked with their father,
Philip Winegar, in the Woolen business.
In
1854 a note drawn between Winegar Brothers and Henry Morgan of Aurora gives
evidence of the fact that George Washington Winegar, one of the members of the
firm of Winegar Brothers, resided in Oriskany, NY. In 1859 he signed the adoption by-laws of the local Warren Lodge
#147 F. & A. Masons. The 1858
directory of Union Springs lists him as a teller in the First National Bank of
Union Springs. Storke’s History of Cayuga County, published in 1868, reports him
as Cashier of the same bank. In he died
in Bath, NY. Question: had he possibly been in the service during the Civil War and
might have died in the soldier’s home there?
Benjamin Franklin Winegar6 1825-1895),
Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4 (1754-1809),
Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2 (1702-1755),
Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) was the twin brother of George
Washington While studying law, he contracted erysipelas, an acute, inflammatory
skin disease caused by a streptococcus, and died at age seventeen and was
buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Union Springs NY. In a small book of the poems[11]
by Clara Walley Yawger was found a poem memorializing his life. It read in part:
He died -- he died --
In his manhood’s pride,
With the brightest prospects o’er him;
While the scroll of
fame,
To receive
his name,
Was just unrolled before
him.
He
died -- he died --
In
his manhood’s pride,
Beloved
by all around him;
By
a sudden stroke,
Each
tie was broke,
That
to life so brightly bound him.
Margaret
Winegar6 (ca.1825-1880), Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862), Ashbel Winegar4
(1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812), Garrett Winegar2
(1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1 (1648-1754) married Isaac
Eldredge of Union Springs where he had been in business with E. K.
Eldredge. In 1863 they moved to Chicago
where he was a cattle trader in the stock yards. They had two daughters, Sarah
Elizabeth Eldredge, born 1852 who married Dennis E. Sibley of Chicago, and Ada Margaret Eldredge, born 1857 and
married John Harvey Willard of Chicago in 1891.
Mrs. David Everett, a former resident of Union
Springs, is quoted as saying: “Philip Winegar had five nephews [12]
and one niece, all of whom built houses on Park Street, namely those now owned
by Mr. Rorapaugh [No. 17 built by Oren Winegar], Fred Vreeland [No. 8], Fred
Guile [No. 20]and the two houses east of the Hazard home. One of these was
known for many years as the Deborah Myers house and millinery shop [No. 12
Park]. It now houses two families, the
other next door is occupied by Wm. Smith [No. 14 Park built by Platt Winegar].
Two of these nephews built on the land extending back to Center St., the
Fessenden home [No. 15 Center]and the Esek Hoff house [No. 17Center] , now
occupied by his daughter Mrs. Florence Page and Mrs. Furman and her
family. The iiece built the house now
occupied by Hary Stewart. Up to this
time Park Street was occupied mostly by Winegars, a clannish lot! Philip Winegar, so closely identified with
Park Street through the activities of his nephews, also had six sons, but only
one built a home in Union Springs.” He
was Caleb Winegar whose home at the southern outskirts of Union Springs on the
lake shore is illustrated on the cover of the 1859 Ira Winegar Genealogy.
” The “five nephews” include Oren G.
Winegar, Platt Gale Winegar who married Philip Winegar’s niece (daughter of
Elizabeth Winegar, Philip’s sister).
The Samuel Karner Family
Lydia Paulina Winegar7 Samuel
Karner Winegar6 (1825-1895), Philip Winegar5 (1785-1862),
Ashbel Winegar4 (1754-1809), Ulric Winegar3 (1729-1812),
Garrett Winegar2 (1702-1755), Olrig (Ulric) Winegar1
(1648-1754), was the oldest of the children of Samuel Karner and Cornelia
Yawger Winegar. She was born January 6,
1838, and , according to Emma Patterson (her daughter), spent much of her
girlhood days with her grandparents, Philip and Lydia Mosher Winegar in Unioin
Springs. On March 16, 1864, in Mount
Morris NY she married Stephen Eraldo Patterson, son of Gallio and Abigail
Walmsley Patterson. There is a
carefully preserved note in its
envelope addressed to “Mrs. Patterson & Family - Present“ to authenticate that record. It reads:
“Mr. & Mrs. S. K. Winegar at home
Wednesday March 16th 2
o’clock P.M.
Mount Morris March 7th
1864.”
Lydia and Stephen went to housekeeping in a house on
Chamberlain Road, on part of the Patterson Farm that extended from Townline
Road back to Chamberlain.[13] It was there that their son, William Wirt,
was born in 1865. He was named for his
uncle, William Wirt Winegar who was Lydia’s brother and had been awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery under fire during the Civil War. In 18 they purchased the farm on Route 326
in Aurelius NY from Throope; but they stayed only until when Stephen’s mother,
the widowed Abigail Walmsley Patterson, urged him to return to the home farm
where she lived and where they remained for the rest of their lives.
PICTURES AT END OF DOCUMENT
Cornelia Yawger Winegar
Lydia
Paulina Winegar Patterson Lydia Paulina Winegar Patterson
Mary Eliza Winegar
Ida Winegar Harrison Benjamin Franklin Winegar
(Which
Bejamin Franklin Winegar is unknown)
William Wirt Winegar William Wirt Winegar
