AN ACCOUNT

OF THE

Descendants of Thomas Orton

OF

WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT, 1641

(PRINCIPALLY IN THE MALE LINE)

EDWARD ORTON, LL. D.

Professor of Geology in Ohio State University

AND

State Geologist of Ohio

_______________

COLUMBUS, OHIO

Press Of Nitschke Brothers

1896

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engaged in practice in Cambria, New York, to which place he removed in 1817. He afterwards came on to Ohio and lived in Bucyrus a few years, but he next took a still longer step westward, removing to Iowa, where he died in 1837, in the fifty-third year of his age. He left three sons, who were just entering manhood at the time of his death.

To all these families we shall revert in the following section.

Ichabod's third son, John B. (1790-1843), became a lawyer and settled in Somerset, Perry County, Ohio. He died there in 1843, but is still remembered by some of the older residents of that county. He was a man of good gifts and excellent character. Because of his uprightness and independence, he commanded the respect and confidence of the entire community. He met on equal terms in his profession such as Thomas Ewing and Henry Stanbery. His knowledge of the law and his sound judgment made his advice and counsel sought for, and it was to this branch of his profession that he mainly devoted himself.

He married Matilda Reynolds, of Somerset, about 1830, and by her had two sons, Julius T., who was born in 1831, and Alfred R., born in 1832.

Of the five daughters of Rev. Ichabod Orton, I have no record beyond the facts already given, viz., their names, dates of birth, and surnames of their husbands.

Gideon (1759), fifth son of John of Tyringham, married Phoebe Oatman, and resided in Fairfield, Vermont. He left six children, two sons and four daughters.

Oliver (1764-1846) lived in Fairfield, Vermont, married Dorcas Squire and left five children, three sons and two daughters.

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This completes the account of the sixth generation of Ortons through Thomas of Farmington and his two sons, Deacon Thomas of Tyringham and John of Tyringham.

SECTION IV.

SEVENTH AND LATER GENERATIONS OF ORTONS, IN THE

LINE OF THOMAS OF FARMINGTON.

(a) THROUGH DR. THOMAS OF TYRINGHAM.

In this section I will trace as fully as I am able the history of Thomas of Farmington's descendants through the seventh and succeeding generations to the present time. I shall make use of tables similar to those already introduced, following, or course, the order which I have thus far used.

I begin with the oldest son of Dr. Thomas's oldest son, viz., Judge James Orton, of Winfield, New York. He left one son, James Pierpont, who studied medicine and practiced his profession for many years in Forestville, Chautauqua County, New York, only a few miles from the homes of his uncles, Abiram and Philo. In my boyhood I often heard his name mentioned by his neighbors and friends. Dr. James P. Orton left two sons, Thomas Henry and Lyman S., and three daughters.

Thomas Henry was born in 1832. He married Georgiana Thompson and lived for a number of years in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1876, leaving one daughter, Electa Sanford. Mrs. Thomas H. Orton still resides in Erie.

Lyman S. Orton married ______ Weaver, and now resides in Taos, New Mexico.

The three daughters of Dr. James P. are married and reside in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Esquire Thomas, second son of Dr. Thomas, married Beulah, daughter of Reuben Rockwood, in Tyringham, Massachusetts, in 1797. Immediately after his marriage, I judge from the records, he removed to central New York, stopping for a few years at Augusta, but afterwards removing to Hamilton, Madison County, where all his children were born, and where he himself died in 1821.

Two daughters, Beulah and Belinda, were born in 1798 and 1799, respectively. A third daughter, Deborah C., born in 1802, married Rev. Jason Corwin, to whom she bore a large family. The name of one of her sons I find in the records accessible to me, viz., Charlton Corwin, Esq., of Jefferson City, Missouri.

Philo Atwood, oldest son of Esquire Thomas, was born in 1804. In 1830 he was married to Nancy Collins, of Burlington, New York, by whom he had eight children, six of whom, all sons, reached maturity. He lived in Hamilton up to 1839, when he removed to Eaton, in the same county, where he remained eleven years. In 1850 he removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, and in 1855 to Darlington, Wisconsin, where he died in 1872. I met him once at Eaton, in my youth, and have a rather indistinct recollection of his personal appearance. I recall him as being a man of large frame, serious and solid-looking, which I find to be not out of keeping with the traditions and inheritances of his family. He is represented as a man of rare intelligence and refinement, of irreproachable character, and sterling integrity, and universally respected and beloved.

At this point I will introduce all the data I have pertaining to the sons of Philo Atwood Orton. His oldest son, Gerrit Van Zandt, born at Hamilton in 1834, married Sarah Genevieve Knapp, at Rockford, Illinois in 1854. He now resides at Berry Creek, Butte County, California. He has a

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family of five daughters and two sons. Several of the daughters reside at Monterey, California. The names of the children are given herewith: Frances B. (1854), Alice G. (1857), Elinor J. (1859), Collins K. (1861), Fred (1867), Faith (1871), Ruth (1873).

Collins Knapp Orton is a resident of San Francisco. He was married March 23, 1887, to Mary Elizabeth Larziler, and has three children, William Gerrit, born January 3, 1888; Josephine M., born January 10, 1889, and Thomas Knapp, born November 4, 1892.

The second son, Fred, now resides in London, England. He is represented as a mechanical engineer of great ability and promise. A large measure of talent in the mechanical line runs through all the family of Philo A. 1^st.

Philo A. 2d, born at Hamilton, New York, in 1837, is now a resident of Darlington, Wisconsin. He is a lawyer in active practice and has kept up the traditions of his branch of the family by attaining the title of "judge". He is also at the head of the First National Bank of Darlington. They have two children, Susanne, born in 1871, a graduate of Rockford College, and Robert Eugene, born in 1873, now book-keeper in the First National Bank of Darlington. April 16, 1895, Robert was married to Harriet Swift, of Darlington.

Lyman Osgood Orton, born at Eaton, New York, 1839, was married to Mary Louisa Barling, of Darlington, Wisconsin, in 1860. He now resides at Mishawaka, Indiana, where he is engaged in the business of mechanical engineering. His son, William Osgood, born in 1871, is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, and now resides in Mishawaka. He was married, June 20, 1895, to Claribel Ormsby, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Thomas Eugene, third son of Philo A. Orton 1^st, of Eaton, New York, was born in the last-named place in 1842. He was captain of Company K, Third Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, in the War of the Rebellion, and was killed before Atlanta in 1864, dying in the dew of his youth.

Charles Jackson (2d), born in Eaton, 1845, is now a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Woods, of that city, in 1868. Of the five children that have been born to them, four survive, viz., Carrie, married in 1886 to Albert Burrows Morrow, of Cincinnati; Philo A. (3d), born 1873, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, and now engaged as an instructor in that institution in the department of civil engineering; Alexander, born 1874, and Frances Eugenia, born in 1887.

Frank M., the youngest son of Philo A. (1^st), was born in Eaton, New York, 1847, and now resides in Syracuse, Nebraska. He was married there in 1884 to Augusta M. Greenburg, who has borne him four children, three daughters and one son, viz., Charles Thomas, born 1889. The names of the daughters are Charlotte, 1885; Eunice M., 1887, and Ruth A., 1894.

Jason Rockwood Orton, M.D., was one of the most gifted members of the family. He was the second son of Esquire Thomas of Hamilton and was born in that town in 1806. He studied medicine and practiced for a number of years at Binghamton, New York, among other places. He had, however, a decided taste for literature, and withdrew from his profession early to be able to devote his time to the latter calling. He wrote verse, and published two or three volumes of poems. He was a contributor to current literature. One of his more ambitious tasks is a poetico-historic treatment of certain myths of the North American Indians. It is entitled, "Camp Fires of the Red Men". Dr. Orton was

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interested in the advance of science and in the larger phases of politics and theology, and seems to have been in all respects a wakeful-minded and progressive thinker. I have read some very interesting private letters of his, addressed to his uncle, Judge Philo, of Pomfret, New York, which are now in possession of Orton Gifford, Esq., of Chicago, great-grandson of Judge Philo. They give a good deal of insight into the mind and character of their author.

Dr. Orton married Sophronia Hotchkiss. I do not know her original residence, but the Hotchkiss name is common in Broome County, New York, where, as I have said, Dr. Orton resided for a time. He left one son by his first wife, Charles G., who was born in 1840, and who resides in Brooklyn, New York. Charles married Sarah T. Jenks, and has three children, one daughter and two sons, viz., Beulah A., 1866; Walter R., 1868; Arthur Vanderbilt, 1872. Charles G. Orton was for a number of years in the employ of the United States government in the New York custom house.

Dr. J. R. Orton, in 1844, married a second wife, Sarah S. Russell, a daughter of Giles Russell, of Russellville (now Bell Valley), Erie County, Pennsylvania. She survived her husband, and is now living at Yonkers, New York. Three daughters and two sons were born of this marriage. The daughters are, Caroline, Sarah, and May Elizabeth, born in Binghamton, and Florence Isabel, born in Brooklyn, New York. The two sons were Jason Rockwood, second and Walter Rockwood; both died in infancy. Caroline S. was first married in 1868, to George Edgar Brown, of Hampton,, Maine, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and a soldier in the Union Army in 1862. He afterwards practiced law in Washington, D.C., where he died in 1873. She afterwards, in September, 1876, married Colonel Irving W. Fuller, of Wisconsin. He died in October, 1892, at Ashford Park,

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Ardsley, New York. By her first marriage she had one son, her only child, named Verdi Edgar. He was adopted by Colonel Fuller and took his name. Mrs. Fuller now lives at Yonkers. May Elizabeth married, in 1873, Alexander Fitzgerald, at Montreal, Canada. He died in New York, in 1885. She married her second husband, Rev. Harry Van Auken, at Denver, Colorado, in 1887. Florence Isabel married William H. Whitenect, at Boston, in 1873. He died at Auburn, New York. She married a second husband, George G. Kimball, of Wells, Maine, a graduate of Bowdoin College, now a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C. Their residence is Wheaton, Maryland.

Charles Jackson (1815-1863), third son of Esquire Thomas, was born and reared at Hamilton, New York. He married Esther Shappley and passed most of his active life in Ohio. He was editor and publisher of newspapers and was thus engaged for some time in Sandusky and for a shorter time in Fremont. He died in Sandusky, in 1863, before his time, as we might say, being but forty-eight years old.

His ability as an editorial writer was recognized. Ex-President Hayes once spoke to me of Charles J. Orton, with whom he was well acquainted, as a bright and well-read man. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State that held its session about 1860. He had four children, viz.:

Thomas Shappley, 1836-1863. Killed at Gettysburg.

Jason Rockwood, 1839-1863. Killed at Stony Creek, Tenn.

Eveline, 1844-1868.

Jennie, 1847-1888. Died at Chicago.

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Jennie Orton was first married to Hiram L. Andru, April 10, 1864, and second to Charles I Wetmore, January 11, 1871. She left two sons, Charles O., born October 29, 1866, and Frank O., born November 12, 1867. These sons were adopted by the second husband, and took the name of Wetmore. They are both in the employ of the First National Bank of Chicago. Frank O. Wetmore married, April 22, 1890, Miss Maria L. Barlow. They have one child, Orville C. Wetmore, born October 10, 1894.

Four descendants of Dr. Thomas Orton lost their lives in the service of their country in 1863.

Lyman Osgood Orton, M. D. (1819-1884), the youngest son of Esquire Thomas, was born in Hamilton, studied medicine and settled in Lebanon, New York, and afterwards removed to Lincoln, Illinois. He married Julia Cleveland, daughter of General Cleveland, of Madison, New York. He died in 1884. Three children were born to them at Lebanon, whose names are given below: Samuel C. (1842), Kansas City; Julia R. (1850), Oswego, New York; Franklin C. (1852), Lincoln, Illinois. Samuel married Amelia Wait and has five children, named as follows: Julia C., 1875; Charles, 1877; William, 1881; Edward, 1882; Henry, 1885. Franklin C. married Caroline Rudledge, of Lincoln, and has six children, viz., Virginia, 1884; Lyman O., second, 1886; Franklin C., Jr., 1888; William R., 1889; Gladys, 1891; Louis S., 1893.

Dr. Lyman O. Orton died at his home in Lincoln in 1884.

Judge Abiram (1776-1837) left no children. There remain, therefore, only the descendants of Judge Philo (1778-1860) to be assigned to their places in this record. Judge Philo had three sons: Thomas (1803), who died in early manhood, but who, according to one account, left several children; Abiram (1805-1820); Charles Jackson (1808-1886), who inherited the fine farm which was first occupied by his

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father, and spent his life there. He was an influential and respected citizen, representing Chautauqua County in the State Legislature in 1847. He married Hannah J. Hall, who was of Quaker parentage. After her death, he married Harriet Randall. By his first marriage there were born to him a son, Charles, and a daughter, Helen Mary. Charles enlisted in the War of the Rebellion, and died in the army in 1863. Helen Mary married _____ Gifford, of Fredonia, and bor him one son, viz., Orton Gifford, of Chicago. The Orton name is therefore lost, as a surname, so far as this branch of the family is concerned.

This completes the account which I am able to give of the descendants of Dr. Thomas of Tyringham.

The line of his brother, David, is next in order. I have already confessed my inability to furnish many facts in regard to it, but through later investigations, made by Judge Philo A. Orton, of Darlington, Wisconsin, I can add a few statements here. David left a son, Chauncey, and a daughter, who married _____ Austin. She left a son, Thomas S. Austin, who married and had a son, David Orton Austin, born August 23, 1822. Fred W. Austin, of Gloversville, New York, is a son of the last-named, David O. Austin.

Thomas S. Austin died about 1824-5. Chauncey Orton, son of David, married the widow of his nephew, Thomas S. Austin, and had by her five children, viz., Lorenzo, Clarissa, Caroline, Lydia, Helen. Lorenzo lived and died at Rockwood, New York, and left no sons, as I infer. One of the four daughters married a Lowry. A son, A. J. Lowry, of Gloversville, was born of this union.

I conclude that, though the Orton blood is continued in this family, the Orton name is not re-enforced through David's descendants.

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Roger's second son, Timothy, enlisted for a short term and was engaged in the battle of Fort Erie. A few days after the battle, General Porter, who was in command of the troops near Niagara Falls, send a squad down to Lewiston Heights to recover a cannon that had been left behind in the movements of the army. They reached the Heights, but night overtook them and they went into camp in the woods near by. The British and their Indian allies were known to be in force on the opposite side of the river, and the danger of the situation was fully recognized by the squad. They saw how easy it would be for a troop of Indians to cross in the night and attack them. The term of enlistment of several members of the squad had expired and they were merely waiting for their papers of discharge. This was the case with Timothy Orton.

Their worst fears were realized. In the early morning the dread war whoop rang out in their little camp. Timothy Orton was short and scalped and several of his companions shared the same fate. The Indians recrossed the river as soon as their bloody work was done. Roger Orton was notified of the tragedy as soon as possible. He came on with a wagon for the corpse of his son, which had already been placed in a coffin of rough boards, and carried it to his home for interment.

Timothy left two sons, Philo and Byron, both of whom emigrated to Wisconsin and settled there.

David (1790) removed to Clayton, Illinois, dying there November 24, 1849. He married Ruth Clark and left five sons and four daughters, whose names are given below:

Timothy, December 29, 1815. M. Aurelia Osborn. D. February 15, 1849.

James C., February 8, 1817. M. Paulona Mounts, 1850. D. September 19, 1879.

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Horatio L., November 19, 1820. M. Nancy Pease (or Bailey), 1847. D. October 21, 1860.

Eloda H., August 24, 1822. M. James M. Burtis. D. September 13, 1849.

Melissa R., September 11, 1824. M. James M. Reaugh, Kansas.

Clark, December 23, 1826. M. Mary A. E. Kellar, 1856, Clayton, Illinois.

Almira, June 17, 1829. M. James Mann, Naples, Illinois

Mary J., August 18, 1833. M. Robert Colpitts, November, 1886.

Elias, April 24, 1837. M. Elizabeth Davis, Poncha Springs Colorado.

James Christopher, second son of David, was born at Olean Point, Alleghany County, New York, February 8, 1817. He married Paulona Mounts, emigrated to the West and raised a large family, viz.:

Oscar O., B. Dubuque, Iowa, 1852. D. Virginia City, Montana, October 29, 1879.

Alfred Wallace. B. Council Bluffs, Iowa, July 8, 1855. M. Maria DeBooth, at Salt Lake City, 1883. Resides at Bozeman, Montana.

Lee Van, B. Council Bluffs, Iowa, February 8, 1859. M., in 1885, Cora M. Rawlins; second, Josephine Garner. Resides at Butte, Montana.

Fred Lloyd, B. Council Bluffs, Iowa, January 15, 1862. Resides at Butte, Montana.

William Clark, B. Springfield, Utan, January 7, 1864. Resides at Butte, Montana.

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James Milton, B. Virginia City, Montana, June 16, 1867. Resides at Butte, Montana.

Walter Scott, B. Virginia City, Montana October 28, 1869. Resides at Butte Montana.

Viola, B. Virginia City, Montana, April 10, 1872. D. January 16, 1878.

Clark, fourth son of David, has the following children:

Rosella, December 13, 1856. M. William B. May, Kansas.

Berinthia, July 8, 1847. M. John D. Black. D. September 15, 1882.

Charles F., November 25, 1861. D. in infancy.

Ida, November 25, 1862. D. in infancy.

Eva, June 3, 1865. M. Harvey Williams.

Vandeleur, June 10, 1868.

Clark, February 28, 1870. D. in infancy.

Ellsworth C., April 13, 1874.

Amos, fourth son of Roger and Esther Avery Orton, left four children, viz.:

Roger.

Henry, Shreveport, Texas.

George, Palmyra, Missouri.

Huldah. Died young.

Elias, fifth son of Roger (1740), (1794-1850), married Electa Chappel, removed to Augusta, Iowa, and left a family of three sons and one daughter, as follows:

Esther M., 1820, Geneva, Illinois.

Elias, Jr., 1823, Augusta, Iowa.

Palmer, 1826, Augusta, Iowa.

Thomas A., 1830-1879, Hill County, Texas.

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Miss Esther M. Orton is one of my most highly esteemed correspondents in the line of the Orton genealogy. She has taken a deep and intelligent interest in the subject, and has spared no pains in collecting the facts in regard to Roger Orton's descendants. What I have to present in regard to this branch of the family has been largely contributed by her.

Elias, Jr. (1823), is a successful farmer in Augusta, Iowa. He married Virginia H. Kneeland and has a family of eight children, viz.:

William P., 1854.

Kittie A., 1856.

Charles, 1858.

Oscar, 1860.

Ida, 1865.

Dora, 1867.

Clara B., 1870.

Walter, 1872.

Palmer (1826), the younger brother of Elias, Jr., is, like him, a farmer in Augusta. He has five children, viz.:

Esther, 1855.

Lyman, 1860.

Francis, 1863.

Lettie, 1868.

Albert, 1869.

Thomas A., third son of Elias, was born about 1830. He married Emma _____, and in 1878 removed to Hill County, Texas, where he died two years later, leaving three sons, viz.:

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Thomas, Jr. 1873.

William, 1876.

Walter, 1877.

Roger, Jr., sixth son of Roger of Geneseo, left four children, viz., Pierpont and John, who reside in Utah; Robert, who died early, and Almira, who resides in California.

Thomas (1803-1879), youngest son of Roger and Esther Avery Orton, married Irene Heath, by whom he had four children, viz., Lucy, Agnes, Edward, and Esther.

This finishes the account of the descendants of Deacon Thomas Orton of Tyringham to date, through Dr. Thomas, as far as my information goes. In the lists that have been given there are wide gaps, as all will see, in which room occurs for extended family lines that have now no representation here. A proper examination of Tables I. and VI. Will set the facts thus far presented in their proper relation.

(b) THROUGH JOHN (1717) OF TYRINGHAM.

It will be remembered that the great family of John of Tyringham, brother of Deacon Thomas, has been already followed as far as his grandchildren; or, in other words, through the sixth generation from Thomas of Windsor. I have the names of eleven grandsons and eight grand-daughters on my lists, with the descendants of two sons, if any, to be heard from, viz, Thomas (1746 and William (1756).

John (1742), oldest son of John of Tyringham, left two sons, Samuel, of Bennington, Vermont (1763), and Solomon, of Luzerne, New York (1764-1852). Some facts pertaining to them I have already given. I am now to follow the line of their descendants.

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DESCENDANTS OF SAMUEL OF BENNINGTON

Samuel (1763) resided for a time in Bennington, and afterwards in Fairfield, Vermont, but some impulse seems to have been working in this branch of the family, pushing them steadily to the northward. His grandfather, John of Tyringham, leaving his old home, established himself first in Shaftsbury, in southern Vermont, and died in Fairfield, upon the northern border. The grandson, Samuel, left Vermont and moved into Canada in 1801, settling in Cumberland, on the Ottawa River, where his fourth son, Samuel, Jr., was born, in 1807. His youngest son, John, was born in 1812, in Ottawa City, to which Cumberland is adjacent.

Table VII. Shows the line of descent through John (1742). I will briefly review the facts in their proper order.

Oliver, the oldest son, was born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1794. He was taken when a child, by his father, into Canada, and in his later years resided at East Hawkesbury. Some of his sons live in Bangor, Franklin County, New York (Brushton P.O.). According to one record, Oliver married Rebecca Tuttle: according to another he married Margaret Tutthill, of Brockville. In incline to the belief that the latter is correct. After the death of his first wife, he married Mary Hay, of Aberdeen, Scotland. By his first marriage he had a large family. The names and residences of seven sons are herewith given:

Samuel, East Hawkesbury, Ontario.

Levi, Bangor, New York (Brushton P.O.)

George W., Wisconsin.

Joel, Bangor, New York (Brushton P.O.)

Gardner, Bangor, New York (Brushton P.O.)

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Oliver H., Toronto, Canada.

Ranold (may be the son of second wife).

Oliver H. resides in Toronto, Canada. He has one son, George W., who, after graduating from the University of Toronto, pursued post-graduate studies in the University of Pennsylvania. He was distinguished in his university course by almost equal success in scholarship and athletics. In the latter field he held five championships at one time (College Athletics of the United States), an unparalleled record. He was one of the representatives of the New York Athletic Club in the recent contest with the London Athletic Club. (1895).

The later descendants of the families that I have just named have not been furnished, but there would be, without doubt, a large number of Ortons to be added here if the data were in hand.

Henry, second son of Samuel of Bennington, was born in Bennington, in 1798. He appears to have remained all his life in Cumberland, Ontario, to which place he was taken when three years old, and which was his father's home in his later years. Henry married Mary Olmstead and left six sons whose homes are supposed to be in Cumberland. Their names are as follows: Phineas Greene, Marquis, John, Nathan, Heber, William.

Nathan Green, the third son of Samuel of Bennington, was born in Bennington, in 1800, but remained in Canada, to which he was carried in his infancy, up to 1874, when he removed to Oregon. He married Margaret McCann by whom the sons and daughters named below were born to him:

Eliza, Mrs. Doolittle, Cleveland, Ohio. Died July 1895.

William H., Sandusky, Ohio. Died in 1893

(Insert)

TABLE VII.

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Nathan S., Oregon.

Mrs. Smiley, Kalamazoo, Mich.

John N., Oregon.

Jane, Mrs. Ellis, San Francisco.

Frances A., Mrs. Miller, Spring City, Tennessee.

William H., the oldest son, married Olive M. Papineau, by whom he had the following children:

William Franklin, 1856. Cleveland, Ohio.

Ida, 1857. Cleveland, Ohio.

Arthur G., 1867. Sandusky, Ohio.

Leonora, 1862. Sandusky, Ohio. Mrs. Theodore Taubert.

Olive M., 1871. Sandusky, Ohio.

Nellie, 1875. Sandusky, Ohio.

Samuel, Jr., fourth son of Samuel of Bennington, was born in Cumberland, Ontario, in 1807. He married May Newton and had a large family, including eight sons -- John, Marquis, Alvin, William, Henry, Samuel, Nathan, George Jefferson.

John, the oldest of these sons, married Lavinia Emerson and has five sons, viz., John, Frederick, Charles, Herbert, Irvin.

Marquis, the second son, has no children.

Alvin married first Lizzie Farrington, and second Sarah J. Orton. He has two sons, George and Samuel. William married Ellen Bigelow and has two sons, George Elmer and William Bigelow. Henry has no children. Samuel, sixth son, married Meriba Dunning and has six sons -- Howard, Gardner, Alpheus, Herbert, Adna, and John. Princeton Minnesota, and other points in Mille Lacs County, of that

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State, are the center of their present occupation. The Ortons make a notable part of the entire population of some neighborhoods. Nathan, seventh son, married Meriba Orton and has four sons -- Milton, Levi, Price, Herbert Lorraine. George Jefferson, the youngest son, married Addie McCue and has two sons, Jesse and George Jefferson, Jr.

John, the fifth and youngest son of Samuel of Bennington, was born in Ottawa City, Ontario, married Martha Lough and left three sons, John, Samuel, and Nathan. I think this family remains, for the most part, in Canada.

DESCENDANTS OF SOLOMON OF LUZERNE.

Solomon (1764-1852) lived in Luzerne, Warren County, New York. The name of his wife has not come down to us. He left six sons, the records of two of whom have been furnished by Wallace Orton, of Williamstown, Massachusetts. The names of the children are as follows:

Solomon, Jr., 1796-1891

Mrs. Benjamin Ogden, 1798-1892.

Huldah, 1799-1848. Mrs. Aden Stone.

Rhoda, 1800-1859. Mrs. Alpha Stone, Defiance, Ohio.

Zenas, 1806-1861.

Philander, 1806-1866.

Luther M., 1819-1859.

William, 1822-1851.

Hiram, 1824-1857.

Zenas (1806-1861) had a family of eight children, including three sons, but most were swept away in early life, and there is but a single Orton in this entire family that appears in the ninth generation, viz., William, a grandson of Zenas and son of Harmon.

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Philander, the second son of Solomon, was born in Luzerne, in 1806. He lived, for part of his life, at least, in Blackington, Massachusetts, and died there in 1866, leaving ten children, viz.:

Olive, 1829. M. Joseph C. Place.

Fannie, 1831. M. Willard W. Whitney.

Eunice, 1833.

Edgar, 1833. M. Rachel Dean.

Amoranda, 1837. M. Lyman Ingraham.

William, 1838. M. Catharine Spencer.

Wallace, 1838. M. Maria Norton. M., second, Julia A. Taft.

Edson W., 1841. M. Lucy Wallace.

Reuel N., 1845. M. Jeanette R. Jenkins.

Roxana, 1847-1888. M. William H. Benjamin.

The Orton blood derived from this stock is found in at least thirty children of the sons and daughters named above, seven of whom carry on the Orton name, which is further represented by two in the tenth generation in this line from Thomas of Windsor.

Walter E. Orton, son of Wallace and Julia Taft Orton, is a promising student in Williams College.

Luther M., third son of Solomon, was born at Luzerne, March 31, 1819. He grew up there, and, in November, 1839, married Sarah A. Ward, of Warrensburg. After his marriage he lived for a few years at Fairhaven, Vermont, but in 1844 returned to New York, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at North Broadalbin in 1859, when but forty years old. Six children were born to him, four of whom are still living, viz.:

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Darius S. (M.D.), January 7, 1841. Northampton, New York.

Stephen W. (Hon.), June 2, 1844. Weeping Water, Nebraska.

Matilda J., May 22 1846. Mrs. Shay, Millbrook, Michigan.

Chauncey M., October 11, 1851. Carthage, New York.

The two older sons, Darius and Stephen, each served in the Union Armies in the War of the Rebellion, Darius enlisting in the Tenth New York Cavalry in July, 1862, and Stephen in Battery F., Thirteenth New York Heavy Artillery, in January, 1863. Both were honorably discharged at the end of the war in 1865.

Darius S. began reading medicine as soon as, or before, the war closed. In 1865 he took a course of lectures in the Medical College of Georgetown, D. C. In 1866 he attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical College of Philadelphia, and in 1867 he obtained the degree of M.D. from the Medical College of Albany, New York. He entered on the practice of his profession in the same year at Northampton, New York, where he still resides. In December, 1868, he married Anna Austin, of Union Mills, New York, and five children have been born to them, viz., Percy, George, Anna, Van Zandt, Zenas, all of whom reside in Northampton.

Stephen W., second son of Luther M., was born in Hampton, New York, June 2, 1844. At the age of sixteen he began a course of study in an academy, famous at the time, in Claverack, New York. He continued there for three years, leaving his studies to enlist in the Thirteenth New York Heavy Artillery. He remained in the army till the war ended, in 1865. In 1867 he set out for the West,

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reaching Omaha in July of that year. In the fall of the same year he pre-empted a tract of government land in Elmwood Precinct, Cass County, thirty to forty miles south of Omaha. In 1868 he married Sarah A. Burrows, ov Bellevue, Nebraska. He established his home on the land he had taken up, but divided his time between farming, teaching, and other lines of public service. In 1881 he left his farm and removed to Weeping Water, the capital of Cass County, where he engaged in the drug business, in which he still continues. In 1894 Mr. Orton was elected to the Nebraska Legislature on the Republican ticket from the Eighth Representative District, consisting of Cass and Otoe Counties. He is still in the prime of life and vigor. He has three children, as follows, viz:

Mary L., January 29, 1871.

Alice M., November 23, 1873-February 26, 1886.

Chauncey S., July 9, 1880.

Mary L. graduated at one of the excellent normal schools of Nebraska, and is now employed as a teacher in the public schools of Weeping Water, and Chauncey is pursuing his studies in the same schools.

Matilda J., oldest living daughter of Luther M., was born May 22, 1846, at Hampton, New York. In 1864 she married Michael Shay and now resides at Millbrook, Michigan. She has one child, a daughter.

Chauncey S., youngest son of Luther M., born October 11, 1851, removed to Glen's Fall's, when reaching maturity. He married there, in 1874, Ella Warren, of the same place and has had five children, of whom four are sons. Of the latter, three are living, viz., William, 1875; Herbert, 1877; Roy, 1881.

Chauncey, 1841, is now residing in Carthage, Jefferson County, New York.

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Of the descendants of Solomon, Jr., William and Hiram, other sons of Solomon, I have found no records.

DESCENDANTS OF ICHABOD, (1754)

I come next to the grandsons and great-grandsons of Rev. Ichabod Orton, or, in other words, to the seventh and eighth generations from Thomas of Windsor in this line.

A list of the descendants of Ichabod is shown in Table VIII. His oldest son, Myron (1784-1873), was born and reared in Brookfield, New York, and settled in Cambria, as already reported. He studied medicine, but never entered on the active practice of his profession, devoting himself to farming as his vocation instead. He married Mary Hoit. His family, born and brought up in Cambria, consisted of ten children, two sons and eight daughters, named below:

Maria Lucia, 1816-1838.

Heman Hoit, 1818-1838.

Clarissa, 1891. Mrs. Sumner Burns.

Martha B., 1821. Mrs. Thomas Root.

John B., 1822

Gates, 1824-1826.

Mary, 1826-1883. Mrs. William O. Rogers.

Lois, 1828. Mrs. Albert Latta.

Myron, August 14, 1831

Marilla, August 14, 1831. Mrs. John Carl.

Maria Lucia, 1840-1853.

This family is one of marked intelligence and refinement. Most of them reside in Niagara County, New York, except as hereafter noted. I will give a brief record of each member, except those that died in early life.

(Insert)

Table VIII.

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Clarissa, the oldest daughter that reached maturity, married, in 1839, Sumner Burns and bore him three children, viz.:

Heman Hoit, 1842. M. Laura A. Root; 2d, Helen Aplington.

Romeo G., 1843. M. Sabina L. Mabon.

Mary C., 1849. Mrs. Horace L. Pinney.

Martha B., second daughter, married, in 1847, Thomas Root and five children resulted from this union, as follows:

Elias, 1848. M. Caroline Boughton.

Mary, 1850. Mrs. Gilbert Duncan.

Emma, 1853.

Minnie, 1856. Mrs. Irving Burns.

Frank M., 1860.

One of the sons, Elias I think, is a lawyer in good practice in Tonawanda, New York, and Emma, a sister finds employment in his office. Charles S. Orton, son of Myron 2d is a partner in the firm.

John B., 1822, married, 1850, Sarah C. Mitchell, and removed to Branch County, Michigan, where he has since resided. He and his two older sons are engaged in farming. He has a large family, named below:

Clarissa B., 1851-1853.

Mary A., 1853-1878.

Eva M., 1855. Mrs. John C. Mallory.

Harlow S., 1858. M. Ada L. Kelsey.

Julius W., 1862. M. Elida Cornell.

John B., 1867.

Jesse F., 1870.

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The two older sons are farmers, residing near Hillsdale, Michigan, as already noted. John B. is a young man of fine business qualifications and experience, and has been, for many years, engaged in the book business in New York and elsewhere. He is at present employed in one of the largest book firms of Cleveland. Jesse F. is a graduate of Michigan University. He pursued post-graduate studies in Cornell University, and was then recalled to a fellowship in political science in his Alma Mater in 1895, where he is still engaged. He was married in 1895. He is counted a young man of fine talent and promise.

I am indebted to the two last-named for the details of the family history herewith presented.

Coming to the next in order of the children of Myron, 1784, we find Mary, 1826. She married William O. Rogers in 1853 and bore to him four children, viz.:

Fanny M., 1855-1858.

Myron A., 1857. M. Lizzie Eggleston in 1890.

William H., 1859.

Charles S., 1865. M. Bertha M. Hitzel in 1893.

Mrs. Rogers died in 1883.

Lois, 1828, the next daughter, married, in 1845 or 1846, Albert Latta. They have had nine children as follows:

Willard A., 1848. M. Augusta Miller in 1882.

Myron O., 1850. M. Alice M. Goddard in 1878.

Susan F., 1852. Mrs. William F. Montague.

Delacy A., 1854. M. Aletha M. Bell In 1882.

Walter L., 1856. M. Mina Jones in 1880.

Addison J., 1859. M. Luella B. Washburn in 1892.

Mary P., 1861-1863.

Clara A., 1863.

Blanche, 1874.

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Myron, Jr., 1831, youngest son of Myron, 1784, married, in 1857, Betsey C. Mudge, by whom he had one daughter. In 1871 he married for his second wife, S. Armenia Wilcox, who has born him two sons. The names of the children are as follows:

Mary A., 1860. Mrs. W. S. Fowler.

Charles S., 1862.

Frank C.

Charles S. is, as already noted, a lawyer of the firm of Root & Orton, Tonawanda, New York. In 1885 he married Estelle V. Timothy. Frank C. resides in Pekin, Niagara County, with his father.

Marilla, twin sister of Myron, married, in 1879, John Carl and has no children.

The next family to be entered in our records is that of Harlow N., M.D. (1785-1838). This family constitutes, perhaps, the most brilliant group in our entire record. Dr. Harlow, the son of a Baptist minister, married Grace, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Marsh, another Baptist minister. She is represented as a lovely woman, with great ambition for her sons, encouraging them and aiding them by heroic efforts in their behalf to secure the best available education. Somehow, from this union three sons of exceptional talent were born. Some say the sons inherited their ability from their mother, but there was decided talent in the other line, as well, as is shown in the fact that all the sons of Rev. Ichabod's family entered professional life. The truth is, we know but very little of the laws of heredity. They are, for the most part, past finding out by us. All that we can say is, that there was in this case a happy blending of good qualities, physical and mental, so that talent beyond the measure of either line by itself considered,

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appears as the result. The children of Dr. Harlow and Grace Marsh Orton were four in number, three sons and one daughter:

Myron H., 1810-1863. Madison, Wisconsin.

John J., 181201885. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Harlow S., 1817-1895. Madison, Wisconsin.

Diana, 1814. Mrs. J. J. Mason, Cresson, Iowa.

I will review the three sons in the order named.

Myron H. was born April 4, 1810, in Brookfield, New York. In 1817 his father removed to Cambria, Niagara County, New York, which was being rapidly taken up by a most desirable class of immigrants, including representatives of the best families of New England. His brother, Myron, was also established in the same town. Dr. Harlow remained in New York for only a few years. Somewhere between 1820 and 1830 he came to Bucyrus, Ohio. His son, Myron, who followed him here, was already interested in securing a collegiate education. He taught school and at the same time carried on private study to fit himself for college. He soon found his way to Kenyon College, the noble institution that Bishop Chase, uncle of Chief Justice Chase, had recently founded in the wilderness of Ohio. I have not learned whether Myron graduated here. But about 1830 we find him teaching in an academy at Somerset, Ohio, and at the same time studying law with his uncle, John B. Orton, of the last-named town. He was admitted to the bar of Ohio in 1833, at Somerset, and began practice here; but after two years he removed to Laporte, Indiana. Here he turned, temporarily, to another occupation, and became editor and publisher of the Laporte Herald. It is worthy of record that Wilbur S. Storey, the famous editor of Chicago, was employed as a printer in

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the Herald office at this time. Mr. Orton represented Laporte County in the State Legislature in 1847-8. In 1849 he sought a larger field, and removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in 1853 he removed to Madison, Wisconsin, where he died March 19, 1863. The illness to which he succumbed, while still in the prime of his powers, was congestion of the lungs. I obtained the facts as to his early life, above stated, mainly from a letter which he wrote to a friend, describing the successive stages and struggles through which he had passed. Though dying comparatively young, he made a profound impression upon the community in which he resided. A friend of his, Judge A. B. Braley, characterized him as "a remarkable man, of exalted talent and marked peculiarities; a close student and well versed in the fundamental principles of law". He described him as a magnetic and eloquent speaker, able to take a humorous, pathetic, or sarcastic tone, as the occasion might require. His language was choice, his voice full and sonorous, his manner graceful and impressive. He was as well adapted to popular oratory as to addressing judge and jury. Judge Braley described him as a great favorite in social life, being genial, witty, and ready in repartee. He was a lover of poetry and of Shakespeare, in particular, for whom he entertained an almost idolatrous reverence. He was able to make quotations from this author appropriate to all occasions. His relations to his parents seem to have been unusually affectionate and confidential, as his long and frequent letters testified. Judge Braley further declares that Mr. Orton had an implicit belief in God and immortality. He took an active part in politics, passing from the Whig to the Republican party, and in the opening scenes of the War of the Rebellion, he took the deepest interest, and spoke with great force and effect to large popular audiences.

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The resolutions passed by the Madison bar on the occasion of his untimely death, express the highest appreciation of his character and attainments, and are couched in terms such as could be properly applied only to a leading member.

While residing in Laporte, Indiana, Mr. Orton married Mary A., daughter of General John Brown, an honored pioneer of northern Indiana. By this union three daughters were born to them, viz.:

Cordelia, 1842. Mrs. A. R. Jones, Madison, Wisconsin.

Diana C., 1843. Mrs. Calvin L. Brown, Big Timber, Montana.

Floretta A., 1851. Mrs. W. C. Williams, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Mrs. Brown is the mother of five children, three sons and two daughters, viz., Mona, Shirley, Clarke, Sally, Miles.

Mrs. Williams has two sons and two daughters, viz., Myron Orton, Mabel, Grace, Clarence.

All that I have learned goes to show that Myron H. Orton was a brilliant and highly-gifted man, born to be a leader and certain to have been advanced in public recognition and favor, had his life been spared. As it was, he was cut down just as the greatest opportunities of his generation were opening before him.

For the substance of the facts pertaining to him, I am indebted to papers furnished by his daughter, Mrs. W. C. Williams, of Milwaukee.

The second son of Dr. Harlow N. and Grace Marsh Orton, John J., was born in Brookfield, New York, April 25, 1812. When five years old his parents removed to Cambria. At eleven years of age he was employed as a clerk in a country store in Albion, Orleans County, New York.

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Boy that he was, he showed such aptitude for business that, at the age of eighteen, he was taken into the firm as a partner. He proved himself thrifty and sagacious. His manners were gracious and pleasant; he was liked by every one and he established in the community a reputation for unusual mathematical ability. All these factors presently led to his appointment as a commissioner to wind up the affairs of the Orleans County Bank, an institution that failed at this time. The service was one of prominence and responsibility. From all this it would have seemed that John J. Orton's career was already fixed; that he would be certain to go on in the paths of commercial activity which had opened so easily and with so good promise before him. But during all this time a deeper purpose held possession of him. He was determined to secure a collegiate education, so as to stand on equal terms with any that he should meet on the stage of life. While seemingly engrossed with the several lines of business already described, he was steadily preparing himself, as best he could, to enter Yale College. He was twenty-four years old before he completed this preparation, and at the last he deemed it necessary to spend a few months, at least, in a fitting school. He studied, during part of the year 1836, at Burr Seminary, Middlebury, Vermont, and entered Yale College, I judge, soon thereafter. While in college he was esteemed for his talent and beloved because of his gracious manners, and he was regarded by his classmates with unusual respect because of his maturity and the successful business experience which he had already acquired. He graduated with honor, read law, and was admitted to the bar in New Haven, in May, 1847. But the money which he had previously accumulated had been consumed in his education, and he was not willing to sit down and wait for legal business to come to his hands.

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He therefore re-entered the commercial world, and finding good opportunities, temporarily took up the lumber trade, and while thus engaged, resided in Buffalo, from 1847 to 1849. His ventures were, as usual, successful, and he seemed now ready to take up his chosen profession, the law. His two brothers were at that time residing in Milwaukee, and he visited them there in 1849. He saw the opportunity for investment in that thriving city, and remained there. For the next two or three years he devoted himself principally to business interests. During 1852 and 1853, he made investments in the city and vicinity that eventually resulted in the accumulation of a large fortune. Among the properties in which he became interested was an important water power near the city. But as soon as he had made the purchase, a fierce opposition was begun by other parties, who had interest in or designs upon the same property. A tremendous legal struggle, that embraced nearly a hundred separate suits in court, and that lasted through thirty-one years, followed. The questions connected therewith occupied a large place, for the life of a generation, in Wisconsin courts of all grades. Mr. Orton was his own lawyer, and the legal struggle in defense of his own rights is probably the greatest in which he was ever engaged. Though opposed by the strongest lawyers of the State, he finally won in every court. He is said to have been especially strong in his recognition and statement of first principles. He was possessed of a resolute and indomitable will and knew no such word as fail.

He acquired large wealth, was charitable in the use of it, defended in courts the rights of the poor and lowly, and was honored and beloved in the community where he lived. He married, late in life, Lucinda Keith, by whom he had two daughters, Amy, 1869, Mrs. W. H. Watkins, New Orleans,

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Louisiana; Eva, 1871, Mrs. Walker Buckner, Jr. Mrs Watkins has two sons, Orton and Robert, and a daughter, Grace. Mrs. Lucinda K., widow of John J. Orton, still lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In his early life, Mr. Orton took part in various kinds of public work, united with the Presbyterian Church, was interested in music, etc., but a serious disappointment in his plans for domestic life soon after his graduation seems to have worked a great transformation in his disposition and mental tastes, at least, for a number of years. He rallied from the depression after a time, but his friends say that he was never quite his old self again.

I have gathered the facts given above from a sketch published, with the approval of his family, in the "Magazine of Western History", for December, 1887, Cleveland, Ohio.

Harlow S. Orton, LL.D., third son of Dr. Harlow N. and Grace Marsh Orton, was born in Brookfield, New York, November 23, 1817. He graduated at Madison University, Hamilton, New York, in 1836, when he was nineteen years of age. He was employed for the next year (1836-7) in teaching in Paris, Kentucky, and here he began the study of law. Removing thereafter to Laporte, Indiana, where his brother, Myron H., was established, he completed his legal studies, was admitted to the bar in 1838 and began practice in the Northern Indiana Circuit. While in the practice of his profession at Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1839, he met Elizabeth Chaney, of Maryland, and after a brief acquaintance they were married.

In 1840 he was an enthusiastic supporter of General Harrison, the Whig candidate for the presidency, and made eighty speeches in this interest in the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

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He distinguished himself by his eloquence and was known in the campaign as the "Hoosier Orator".

In 1843 he was appointed Probate Judge of Porter County, Indiana, by the governor of the State. In 1847 he removed to Milwaukee, Wis., and entered on the practice of his profession. In 1852 he accepted the office of private secretary and legal adviser of Governor L. J. Farwell, and removed to Madison, where he continued to reside till his death. In 1854, 1869, and 1871, he represented the Madison district in the State Legislature, of which he was, in each session, a leading and influential member. Up to the dissolution of the Whig party in 1854, he acted with it. After that date, he was counted as an independent Democrat. In 1859 he was elected Judge of the Ninth Judicial District, and was re-elected without opposition. After six years' service in this capacity, he preferred to re-enter the active practice of his profession, which he did in 1865. In 1876 he was appointed one of the revisers of the statutes of the State. In 1877 he was elected mayor of Madison. From 1869 to 1874 he was dean of the Law School of the University and gave instruction in several departments of law during the same time. In 1870 the university conferred on him the degree of LL. D. In 1879 he was elected, on a non-partisan ticket, as a member of the Supreme Court of the State and continued in this office to his death. By seniority he became chief justice in 1894.

Judge Orton took a deep interest in history, literature, and art. He was active in the organization of the State Historical Society, and was its vice president for many years, having declined the presidency.

He died in Madison, July 4, 1895, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

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Of the seventy-eight years of Judge Orton's life, fifty-seven were devoted to his profession, thirty-four years being given to general practice and twenty-three to judicial service.

(Portrait) HON HARLOW S. ORTON.

As an advocate, he ranked with the foremost. His name was associated for many years with those of M. H. Carpenter and E. G. Ryan, the three being counted as easily the most brilliant and successful pleaders of the Wisconsin bar. As a winner of verdicts, Judge Orton had but few equals, and no superior, in the Wisconsin courts of his day. He was called to take part in many of the great cases that have been before the State Courts during the last forty years, and in many of these cases, the laboring oar was entrusted to his hands. His successes lay more in his addresses to court and jury than in the management of the trial and examination of witnesses. "His sparkling wit, his biting sarcasm, his keen sense of the

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ludicrous, his positive conviction, his powers of invective, his personal magnetism, his commanding voice, and his ability to make every fact and circumstance appear favorable to his client, all conspired to secure the attention of his hearers the moment he rose in the courtroom or elsewhere."

As a judge, he was painstaking and thorough in his examination of cases, and prompt and clear in his decisions. He was by nature more of an advocate than a judge, and his great decisions are probably those into which his feelings were thrown as well as his convictions. Many of these decisions are said to be models of lucid and cogent argumentation. He took great pride in their form, as well as their substance. They are embodied in forty-seven volumes of Wisconsin Reports, and will remain as a perpetual monument to his knowledge of the law and his purpose to make it the best possible expression of what is right and just. They will influence the administration of Wisconsin courts for all time to come.

As a man, Judge Orton had much of the magnetic quality. He was genial and cordial in manner to a marked degree, and at the same time was constant and sincere in his friendships. In temper and feeling he was genuinely democratic and generous. Against every form of injustice or oppression his indignation was wont to flame out in unmistakable terms.

Such qualities as these, associated with a fine personal presence, and with a frank and engaging address, brought to him the love and admiration of all who knew him.

Like all men made on so large a scale, the great questions as to the end and meaning of life were often in his mind, and in his conversation he frequently turned to these themes. Especially during the lingering illness which

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preceded his death, he was much occupied with the patriarch's problem, "If a man die, shall he live again?"

In his domestic life he was highly favored. The wife of his youth, whom he had cherished with unlimited devotion for more than fifty years, soothed his last hours with her loving administrations, and upon them he seemed absolutely dependent.

Six children were born to Judge and Mrs. Orton, two of whom, Odin and Oretta, died in infancy.

Orlando B., August 12, 1843. Indianapolis, Indiana

Otho H., March 12, 1846. Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Ora C., November 30, 1846. Mrs. Henry Coe, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Harlow N., July 31, 1858. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Orlando studied law, graduating from the Albany Law School in 1864. Otho H. also studied law, completing his course in the Law School of Wisconsin University in 1871. Harlow N., the youngest son studied medicine, taking his degree in the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, in 1879.

The daughter, Mrs. Coe, takes a lively interest in the records of the Orton family. Her aged mother is spending the last years of her life in Mrs. Coe's home.

The two older sons are lawyers in active practice; the third is a practicing physician.

In my characterization of Judge Orton I have made free use of the memorial addresses of Chief Justice Cassoday and Judge E. W. Keyes, delivered before the Supreme Court, at Madison, September 2, 1895. I have failed to do adequate justice to our great kinsman. Both of these eminent men use stronger terms than I have ventured to employ.

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Diana, the only daughter of Dr. Harlow N. 1^st, was born in 1814. She married Hon. J. J. Mason, and is now living at Cresson, Iowa.

The third son of Rev. Ichabod Orton was John B. (1790-1843). As already stated, he was born in Brookfield, New York, studied law and established himself in practice in Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, where he died in 1843. One, at least, of his more famous nephews studied law in his office. He married Matilda Reynolds (1809-1879), and left two sons, Julius T. (1830-1858), and Alfred Reynolds (1832).

Soon after the death of her husband in 1843, Mrs. Orton removed to Monticello, Indiana. Julius was a young man of excellent gifts and promise. He was a student in Wabash College at the time of his death, which resulted from the falling of a horse which he was riding.

Alfred R. still resides at Monticello. He attended Wabash College and acquired there the profession of civil engineering, which he has followed all his life. He held the office of county surveyor for several years.

He married Addie C. Parker, of Monticello, and has a son and daughter. The son, Rev. Julius T. 2^nd (October 16, 1869), is a graduate of Wabash College and of Chicago Theological Seminary. He is now pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. He married, in 1893, Mary Eliza Hills.

The daughter, Ora C., was born October 16, 1863. She resides in Monticello.

So far as I know, Rev. Julius T 2^nd is the first and only descendant of Rev. Ichabod to enter the ministerial profession, while lawyers and physicians abound in this line.

It would be a pleasure to trace the family lines of the daughters of this same household, but I have no information bearing on their history.

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DESCENDANTS OF GIDEON, 1759.

Gideon, fifth son of John, 1717, was born in 1759. In early life he removed to Fairfield, Vermont. He married Phoebe Oatman, who died June 19, 1806. His father, John Orton, passed the last days of his life in Gideon's home, dying there April 3, 1793. So far as I have learned, this family has remained, for the most part, in Vermont. To Gideon the following children were born:

Mary, January 14, 1791.

Aaron H., March 18, 1793-1872.

Lavinia.

Sarah, 1798.

Truman, August 9, 1800-June 10, 1877.

Charlotte, February 10, 1803.

Mary married John Perry and left four children, viz., Gideon, John, Elizabeth, and Silas. Some of them reside at Newport, Vermont. Aaron H. married, February 28, 1819, Mary (Polly) Hall. Three children were born to him, viz., Merrill S., June 27, 1822 (he married Sophia Bailey); Mary H., August 23, 1825 (Mrs. A. P. Webster); Sarah P., May, 1830 (Mrs. R. P. Blake).

Truman, the second son, married Elvira Gleason, and had five children, viz., Cordelia, Diana, Truman, Dorcas, Byron.

DESCENDANTS OF OLIVER, 1763

Oliver, sixth son of John, 1717, married Dorcas Squire (June 4, 1774-October 7, 1859). The members of this household have also mainly remained in Vermont. Six children were born to Oliver, viz.:

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Olive, May 16, 1797-1866.

Lyman S., April 7, 1799-1870.

Harriet, September 22, 1802-1803.

Elizabeth J., August, 1804.

William S., June 4, 1809-September 22, 1867.

John B., September 28, 1811-September 27, 1885.

William S. married, September 4, 1836, Anzoletta Loveland, who died March 12, 1890. To them three sons were born, Lyman S., Gardner G., and Herman. The last-named died in childhood.

Lyman S. was born June 19, 1837. He was married January 17, 1861, to Ellen M. Stevens, who has borne him six sons and one daughter. The family home is at North Walden, Vermont. The names of the children are given herewith:

Omer E., December 30, 1863.

William L., November 22, 1865-November 29, 1868.

Laura A., June 14, 1867-July 11, 1869.

Charles L., May 22, 1869.

Gardner L., August 16, 1872.

Ernest W., September 4, 1875.

Clayton R., April 1, 1885.

Charles L., the third son, is a graduate of the University of Vermont, of the class of 1890. Since his graduation he has spent most of his time in teaching. He has already achieved a marked success in this profession. He is at present engaged as principal of the Academy at Limington, Maine. To his genealogical interest and painstaking, I am indebted for all the details pertaining to the several branches of the family of John (1717) which I am now giving.

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Gardner G., second son of William S., grandson of Oliver, the sixth son of John (1717), born December 16, 1840, married Maria Hunt, who died August 31, 1863, within a year or two after her marriage. He married a second wife, September 8, 1875, viz., Electa W. Allen, who was born March 6, 1852. By her he had three children, William A., February 28, 1877; Alice L., May 22, 1879; and Mabel L., September 15, 1881.

John B., youngest son of Oliver, was born September 28, 1811, and died September 27, 1885. On February 28, 1842, he married Adaline S. Loveland, who was born January 30, 1818. Their six children are named as follows:

Myron, January 3, 1843-June 8, 1865.

Abbie, September 11, 1844.

Edward F., April 18, 1847.

Julia A., December 25, 1848-November 10, 1874. Mrs. C. H. Cobb.

Phoebe D., July 14, 1851. Mrs. D. B. Smith.

Thaddeus L., October 1, 1844.

Edward F., second son of John B., married, November 21, 1876, Clara E. Stuart, born May 2, 1853. They have three children, viz., George L., April 19, 1878; Cleon B., February 9, 1888; Margaret A., April 28, 1891.

Thaddeus L., youngest son of John B., married, January 24, 1880, Estella M. Grow, who was born December 3, 1859. Five sons have been born to them, four of whom are living. All of these younger children are in the eighth generation from Thomas of Windsor. The list is as follows:

Ralph A., September 12, 1882.

Glenn G., January 5, 1886-June 17, 1887.

Roy G., July 10, 1888.

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Reuel J., February 16, 1891.

Reed L., October 25, 1893.

This completes the account of the descendants of Oliver.

DESCENDANTS OF AMOS, (1768).

Of Amos, 1768, I have already given some account. I will here add what few facts I have been able to gather as to his descendants. He left, as will be remembered, a number of children, and among them two sons, Lorenzo, 1798, and Amos 3^rd, 1809.

Amos, 3^rd, was born in Hadley Falls, Saratoga County, New York, June 7, 1809. He grew up in that region and married at Queensbury, New York, Emily R. Prosser (April 26, 1811-March 14, 1863). He resided for a time at Fort Ann, New York, but when thirty years old, he removed with his family to Oakland County, Michigan, and established himself on a farm about ten miles north of Pontiac, and about thirty miles a little west of north of Detroit. The township in which he settled was named after him, Orton; and the little village which has been gathered about the point where fifty years ago he built a grist mill, a saw mill, and a store, is now known as Ortonville. It is the postoffice of Orton Township, Oakland County. He was the leading man in the community, and it was but just and right that his name should be commemorated in connection with its settlement in the way above indicated. He was universally respected and trusted among his neighbors. His word was as good as his bond.

Nor was his interest altogether confined to the business concerns of the community. He had well-settled convictions on theological and religious questions, as well. He espoused the Universality creed and became a preacher of that faith in the region where he lived, viz., in the counties

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of Genesee, Macomb, Livingston, and Oakland. He devoted ten entire years to the work of the ministry. He died in Ortonville, March 19, 1888, when seventy nine years old.

His two older children were born in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. Four others were born after he moved to Michigan. The list is as follows:

Laura, February 19, 1835. Mrs. Wolfe, Davison Station, Genesee County, Michigan.

Elhanan W., March 30, 1838. Petoskey, Michigan.

Lizzie M., March 25, 1839. Mrs. Powers, Chadron, Nebraska.

Celestia J., October 30, 1840. Mrs. Algoe, Thayer, Michigan.

Celoska B. October 30, 1840. Mrs. Pine, Sumner, Michigan.

J. Murray, March 8, 1851, Winona, Minnesota.

My information in regard to this branch comes mainly from E. W. Orton, of Petoskey. He informs me that all the members of the family have native mechanical talent, that the men are large and strong that light complexion and blue eyes characterize the entire stock.

E. W. Orton married Hannah M. Cummings, by whom he had one son, William C., who was born in 1874. Mrs. Orton died in 1888.

Of Lorenzo, brother of Amos, third, I have but little to say. He lived in Oakland County, Michigan, for many years and left four children, viz., Caroline (Mrs. George C. Bancroft); William H., Washington, D. C.; Sarah E., and Almira. William H. was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, and has, within the last few years, lost his sight.

This completes the account of the Ortons of the fifth and later generations in the line of John of Tyringham (John, 1717).

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CHAPTER IV.

_____

DESCENDANTS OF JOHN ORTON OF WOODBURY, CONN.

_____

SECTION I.

FOURTH GENERATION OF ORTONS IN THE LINE OF

JOHN OF WOODBURY.

In Table III. Chapter II., I have given the names of the descendants of John Orton of Woodbury, through three generations. I will devote this chapter to an account of this branch of the family, which makes, numerically, but a small figure beside the families of his brothers, Thomas and Samuel. Of the migration of John (1692) from Farmington to Woodbury in 1717, and of his settling there, I have given all the facts that are available. Our knowledge of his wife ends with the fact that her Christian name was Mary. The date of the marriage was 1724, or earlier. John joined the church in Woodbury in 1726, and Mary, his wife, in the succeeding year. There were five children born to them, two sons and three daughters.

Sarah, 1725-1749. M. John Mitchell in 1748.

John, October 5, 1729-1808.

Elizabeth, November 16, 1734.

Mary, February 22, 1741(?). M. Nathan Judson.

Samuel, December 8, 1741-1819.

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Of the daughters, I can give no further account. John, the oldest of the two sons of John (1692), was born in 1729, and occupied the tracts of land which his father had held before him. His lands lay on the west side of the town center. In 1763 he married Abigail Leavenworth, who died in 1780. In 1782 he married Patience Warner. By his first wife he had three daughters, and by his second wife two sons. I give the list herewith.

Sarah, April 29, 1765. M. _____ Ball. Removed to Canada.

Mary Ann, July 23, 1768. M. Eli Smith, Orange, Connecticut.

Esther, August 2, 1777. M. Hollister Judson, Woodbury.

John, December 2, 1782-1838. Woodbury.

Truman, June 16, 1784-1881. Woodbury.

Dr. Samuel, the second son of John (1692), was born and reared in Woodbury. At an early age he began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Perry, the leading physician of the town. After completing his studies in the practical way of his time, but evidently recognizing the need and advantage of larger knowledge, he entered Yale College, from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1765. I think that he is the first of the Orton name to receive a degree from Yale. Returning to Woodbury, Dr. Samuel established himself in the practice of his profession, and for a full half century was busily employed in ministering to the comfort and relief of his townsmen and neighbors. Many young men acquired a knowledge of the profession of medicine from study in his office, and in this list five of his own sons are to be counted. He was methodical, exact, and thrifty in his business management, as I judge from the books in which his

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accounts are set down, and of the property, which he acquired. I have had an opportunity of examining his account books, through the kindness of the Woodbury representatives of the family. He bought numerous tracts of land in and around Woodbury, uniting some of them into small farms. Some of these are still known as the Orton lands.

He was one of the five leading contributors to the building of the Episcopal Church edifice in Woodbury, in 1778, and from a letter of his that I have seen, I judge that he was not at all in sympathy with the rigorous Calvinistic theology that was dominant in Connecticut at that time and that carried things with so high a hand. In other words, Dr. Orton was distinctly liberal in his religious belief and in advance of his day and generation.

I have been somewhat surprised to find no allusions to contemporary events occurring in any documents which he has left us. One would think that the turmoil and excitement of the Revolutionary War, in which his early manhood was passed, would show itself in some form in every section of New England life, but I have failed to find the slightest reference in his books and papers. That he was a true patriot and thoroughly trusted by his neighbors, is evident from the fact that in 1787, when the new Constitution of the United States was submitted to the people of the several States for ratification, Dr. Orton was one of the two representatives sent by Woodbury to the State convention for this purpose, and which met at Hartford, January 3, 1788. His colleague from Woodbury was Hon. Daniel Sherman, one of the founders of the great Sherman family, to which the country owes so much for illustrious service in peace and war. This representative office was one of the most important that the town has ever had to give, and it is pleasant to

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find such an expression of esteem for, and confidence in, Dr. Orton. He married Ruth Judson (1749-1828), possibly a descendant of Mrs. Mary O. Judson, who came to Woodbury in 1699, and who left two sons there, Isaac and Daniel. The Judson family has always been one of the leading families of the town

From this marriage six sons and three daughters were born, named as follows:

Samuel, May 3, 1773-July 19, 1775.

John, August 31, 1774-1860. Sherman, Connecticut.

Samuel, August 23, 177601850. Bridgewater, Connecticut.

Elizabeth, April 27, 1780-1850. Bridgewater, Connecticut.

Henry Tudor, August 17, 1782-1864. Washington, New York.

David Judson, March 31, 1784-1864. Washington, New York.

Mary, December 7, 1785. M. Ebenezer Finch.

James, May 10, 1787-1869. Caldwell, New Jersey.

Sarah, May 1, 1791-1876. Woodbury, Connecticut.

The history of these will be given in the succeeding section.

SECTION II.

FIFTH AND SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS IN THE LINE OF

JOHN OF WOODBURY.

(a) DESCENDANTS OF John (1729).

The sons of John (1729) have been named in the preceding section, viz., John (1782) and Truman (1784). Both were born and reared in Woodbury, and remained there all their lives. They were both farmers and both had their

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residences at the town center. John, born December 6, 1782, married Betsey Eliza Carpenter (1791-1870), of Woodbury. Their children were:

Mary A., January 13, 1817.

John, February 18, 1819-October 30, 1822.

Betsey, January 23, 1824.

Sarah J., November 2, 1826-October 17, 1828.

It will be noted that the Orton name is doomed to drop altogether from this line. Mary A. married Frederick Martin in 1837. He died in 1867, but his widow survived him. She and her sister still lead active and useful lives, despite the burdens of age. Their were five children born to Frederick and Mary A. Martin, viz.:

Caroline E., December 28, 1840.

Mary Orton, April 12, 1842.

Harriet E., July 26, 1846-September 3, 1872.

John Orton, March 30, 1849.

Frederick S., September 1, 1851-April 7, 1871.

In the eighth generation along this line there are two heirs of Orton blood, but the surname, as already remarked, has been lost in this line of descent. John O. Martin married, in 1875, Mary C. Upson, of Waterbury. Their children are, Clifford, October 28, 1879, and Emily H., July 7, 1882.

For the records of the line of John Orton (1782) I am indebted to the careful and painstaking service of Miss Mary Orton Martin, of Woodbury.

(b) DESCENDANTS OF TRUMAN, (1784-1881).

Truman Orton lived in Woodbury all of his long life, dying there in the ninety-seventh year of his age. In 1815, he married Martha M. Curtis (commonly known in the family

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as Patty Maria), and to them seven children were born. Five sons and one daughter grew to maturity, whose names are as follows:

James S., November 26, 1816-July 4, 1892.

Harriet, September 8, 1818. Mrs. Samuel Vance.

Frederick C., 1823-March 2, 1880.

Henry B., 1825-1869.

Cornelius T., July 31, 1827.

Walter J., April 20, 1834-October 7, 1864.

James S. grew up in Woodbury, but in 1844 he removed to Geneseo, Livingston County, New York. In 1843 he married Emily Stanley, originally of Goshen, Connecticut, but later of Mt. Morris, New York. From 1849 to 1852 he served as deputy county clerk. He was then elected to the principal office and served three years. In 1856 he established a private bank, but was soon after made cashier of the Genesee Valley National Bank, holding this position until 1887, when he was made president. This bank is largely owned and controlled by the Wadsworth family and Mr. Orton's long connection with it is the best possible evidence of the confidence reposed in him by this rich and powerful interest. In his financial management he showed himself sagacious, prudent, and far-seeing.

He was a steady and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and was for many years an office bearer in it, as elder and trustee. He was also a trustee of the Wadsworth Public Library and was the executor of General Wadsworth's will.

He was an honored citizen of Livingston County for nearly half a century. He died on our national anniversary, July 4, 1892. He left no children.

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His sister, Harriet, married Samuel Vance, of Groveland, in the same county, in 1854. Three daughters were born to them, Eva M. (1855), Mary J. (1857), and Harriet O. (1859). Mary and Harriet died in August, 1863, but a few days apart. Eva M. married Ira H. Hilliard in 1879, who lived but a month after his marriage.

Frederick C., second son of Truman, was never married. He spent his whole life in Woodbury. He died March 2, 1880, aged fifty-seven years.

Henry B., the third son, removed to New York City and became engaged in the hardware business there. In 1851 he married Margaret L. Huntley. In 1864 he died leaving two children, Emma A. (April, 1852), and Harry B. (April 1, 1856). In 1880 Emma married Jeremiah Smith. In 1881 Harry married Fanny M. Spencer. He resides at Livonia Station, Livingston County, New York, and has five children in the eighth generation of Ortons, viz.:

Ella M., January 21, 1882.

Blanche M., February 9, 1884.

Henry J., March 17, 1886.

Pearl E., June 8, 1889.

Frederick C., October 16, 1891.

Cornelius T. has been engaged most of his life in business in New York City, but residing in Brooklyn. He has been with one business firm for many years and is one of its most valued employees. In 1857 he married Mary A. Loweree, by whom he has three sons, viz.:

Charles A., October 14, 1858. M. Mary L. Merrill (1881).

Walter J., June 11, 1868.

Clarence Tudor, September 14, 1873.

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Walter J., youngest son of Truman, grew up in Woodbury and married Jane Judson, of the same town in 1856(?). He enlisted in the War of the Rebellion, was made sergeant of his company, and died October 7, 1864, from the effect of a gunshot wound received at the battle of Winchester, Virginia. He left two children, Florence L., born February 27, 1858, and Truman, born May 18, 1861. Florence married Edward S. Farrar in 1878, and resides in Chicago. Truman resides in Elmwood, Peoria County, Illinois.

(c) DESCENDANTS OF DR. SAMUEL.

The children of Dr. Samuel and Ruth Judson Orton, eight in number, were named in the preceding section. Dr. Samuel's five sons, as there noted, all studied medicine with their father, and all became practicing physicians.

Dr. John established himself in Sherman, Connecticut. He married Abigail DeForest, and left one daughter, Mary E. (Mrs. Stewart).

Dr. Samuel, Jr., removed to Bridgewater, Connecticut, where he was the leading physician for many years. He had two children, a son, Samuel D., who entered on the profession of law, but died at a comparatively early age, leaving no children. The daughter, Susan, married a Methodist clergyman named Collins.

Dr. Henry Tudor Orton removed to Washington, Duchess County, New York, and spent a long and active life in the practice of his profession. He accumulated a large fortune, for his time, and, leaving no children, his estate was divided among his brothers and sisters. It is interesting to note the reintroduction of the Tudor name in two instances in this family.

Dr. David Judson Orton remained in Woodbury, leading a somewhat less active life than his brothers. I presume

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that his name, David Judson, is that of his mother's father, but I have no certain information. He was never married.

Dr. James Orton, established himself in Caldwell, New Jersey, about 1810, where he became a prominent and influential citizen. He came on horseback from Connecticut, bringing his worldly wealth in a pair of saddle-bags. He married, in 1814, Hester Maria, daughter of Nathaniel Douglas, a representative of an old and honored family of New Jersey, and one of the leading business men of the community. Five children were born to Dr. James in Caldwell, three daughters, Sarah, Mary, and Julia, and two sons, James Douglas and Samuel Henry. Two of the daughters Sara and Mary died in early life. Julia lived to a good age in her father's family and survived him for a number of years.

James Douglas Orton was born December 19, 1822. When he was thirteen years old he was sent to Holt and Sargent's school, at Montclair, by far the best school of the neighborhood. It was four miles from his home to the school, and this distance he walked twice a day, summer and winter, for four years. He made good progress in his studies, and would gladly have gone forward to a collegiate course, but he felt that his father's condition did not warrant this, and consequently, at the age of seventeen, he set about finding a place for himself in the business world. After unsuccessful applications in various quarters, he at last secured a position in the State Bank of Newark, through the aid of his uncle, Marcus B. Douglas, who was connected with this institution. The position which James secured was at the foot of the ladder, but a chance to make his way was all that he needed. He was advanced from grade to grade, and at the end of three years was made book-keeper

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of the Newark Banking Company. After serving in this capacity for several years, he was called to New York to serve as receiving teller in the North River Bank. In 1849 he was again promoted by being made paying teller of the Ocean Bank of New York. He remained here but a short time, however, for, in the same year he was recalled to Newark to serve as cashier of the State Bank, the same institution in which he had begun work ten years before. He remained in this responsible position for the next fourteen years and then took a leading part in organizing the Second National Bank of Newark, becoming president of the new institution, a position which he held from that day to the present time.

(Portrait)

JAMES DOUGLAS ORTON, ESQ.

Mr. Orton has been prominently identified with the varied interests of Neward for more than fifty years. He is widely known and widely honored and revered for his long life of successful business and unstained integrity.

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On January 14, 1846, he was married to his cousin, Hester Maria, daughter of Marcus B. Douglas, of Newark. Six children have been born to them, as follows:

Anna, October 11, 1846-February 11, 1851.

Lucius F., September 26, 1848-March 6, 1850.

Mary Adele, June 16, 1851. Mrs. Samuel Lord, New York.

James Douglas, Jr., December 25, 1852. M. Elizabeth K. Boylan.

Marcus B. D., May 16, 1858-1861.

Helen, July 5, 1862. Mrs. Frank Bliss Colton, East Orange, New Jersey.

It will be seen that three are now living.

On the 14^th of January last (1896), the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Orton was celebrated. The occasion was a happy one in every respect, but there were two features in particular which added much to the enjoyment of all, viz., a poem written for the celebration by Rev. William James Tilley, Rector of Christ Church, Newark, reviewing some of the more striking historic events that have taken place in the half century just passed, and a souvenir, in the shape of a beautiful little volume, entitled, "Pen Pictures", prepared and published by Mrs. Helen Orton Colton, of East Orange. The volume is devoted to the family history for the fifty years of Mr. and Mrs. Orton's wedded life, with many interesting facts bearing on the genealogy of both families, the Ortons and the Douglases. The idea of a souvenir in such a form for the occasion was admirable, and the execution of the work left nothing to be desired. The volume shows literary skill on every page. The dedication to Dr. James Orton, inspired by the recollections of her childhood, is especially pleasing and graceful.

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James D., Jr. married Elizabeth K. Boylan, February 7, 1882, and has three sons, viz., Benjamin Douglas, July 17, 1883; Henry B., February 7, 1885, and Raymond, July 5, 1892.

Samuel Henry, second son of Dr. James, was born in September, 1829. He grew up in Caldwell and was, in due time, sent to the same excellent school which his brother had attended before him, but his earliest training in Latin he received from the private tuition of a learned clergyman of the neighborhood, Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Fairfield. All through his life, Samuel possessed an unusual share on linguistic ability. He spoke French and German fluently, and could also use Spanish and Italian to some extent.

Early in life he decided to adopt his father's profession, and his studies were largely devoted to this end. He pursued his professional studies in the medical department of the University of the City of New York, and completed them in Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began practice in Tarrytown, New York.

He married Mary Nash, or Norwalk, Connecticut, on August 4, 1852. Since Dr. Orton's death, Mrs. Orton has returned to her old home. No children were born to them.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1862, Dr. Orton was appointed assistant surgeon in the regular army. He was first assigned to duty under Dr. Janeway in the army hospital of Newark, but was soon promoted by being placed in charge of St. James Hospital, in New Orleans. After remaining here for several years, he was transferred to the McDougal Hospital, Fort Schuyler, New York. In all of this service he displayed great energy and efficiency. In fact, he possessed marked executive ability, which was recognized by his superiors in office, as was shown by the conferring of the rank and title of brevet-major upon him on the

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occasion of his resignation of his office at the close of the war.

He was, however, retained in the service of the government by being made examining surgeon for recruits in the city of New York, an office which he retained until 1891. His health began to fail about this time, and he sought relief from all imperative duties. He died in New York on April 26, 1892.

(Photo)

RESIDENCE OF DR. SAMUEL ORTON, WOODBURY, CONN.

The old Woodbury home of Dr. Samuel Orton is now occupied by Mrs. Mary A. (Orton) Martin and her sister. The room which was the original office, and in which the five sons, and other young men besides, learned their profession, is now one of the living rooms of the family. The farm lands connected with the house are a part of the tract originally occupied by John Orton, 1692, and have thus been under Orton ownership for more than two hundred years.

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Near the house is a private burying ground, in which are the graves of Dr. Samuel and many of his descendants. A comely and appropriate monument was erected by funds supplied for the purpose by the estate of Dr. Henry T. Orton.

Two of the daughters of Dr. Samuel, viz., Elizabeth and Sarah, remained unmarried and made their home in Woodbury through long and useful lives, Elizabeth dying at the age of eighty-six and Sarah at the age of eighty-four.

Miss Sarah Orton was greatly beloved in Woodbury for her kindness to the poor and her readiness to help them, particularly in sickness. She knew as much of medical practice as most physicians, and her presence in the sickroom was helpful and comforting to an unusual degree. The weather was never so bad as to prevent her from going out on errands of mercy. Her death was universally lamented in the town.

Mrs. Colton, in the "Pen Pictures", noticed on a preceding page, speaks thus of her: "My great-aunt, Sarah, I remember perfectly. Black hair, in spite of her seventy odd years, piercing dark eyes, and a soft wrinkled cheek, with a faint, pretty color, like a winter apple."

Mary married, in 1812, Ebenezer Finch, and bore four children, viz., Sarah, Mary O., Henry, Julia A. Sarah married Rev. Jonathan Brace, of Litchfield, and afterwards of Milford, and left two daughters, one of whom is Mrs. Emily Pattou, of Yonkers, and the other, Mrs. Lucy Chittenden, of New York City. Mary O. married Benjamin Dewell. Julia A. married George P. Allen, of Woodbury, and died in Florida, February 3, 1883.

There are thus seen to be four Ortons in the male line in the seventh generation through Truman of Woodbury, not one in the line of John of Woodbury, and but one in the

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line of Dr. Samuel, making five male representatives in the seventh generation through John (1692), as against several scores of such representatives in the line of each of his brothers, Thomas and Samuel. The grounds for this disparity are past finding out. It is generally conceded that, as wealth and culture increase in a community, the size of the families, that is, the number of children in one household, decreases; but such an explanation scarcely seems available in the cases here cited.

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 63-122

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 123-171

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 172-end

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