D r. Andrew F. Oliver
Local sources repeatedly state that the two Oliver brothers who came to Penn Yan were the only children of their parents. On the contrary, the Rev. Andrew Oliver and his wife Elizabeth Ormiston had at least eight children, and long and eventful lives which can only be summarized here.
Both Andrew and Elizabeth were born in Scotland and emigrated from there to the United States. It was said that Andrew was descended from the Oliver family who produced an Attorney General and a Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts at the beginning of the Revolution. I have seen no actual evidence of this connection. Apparently the young couple eloped (either before or after their arrival in the New World). Their eldest child was Mary Given Oliver, who was born in Saco, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts) in 1786.
Their second daughter was born at Londonderry, NH, where Andrew had gone to study for the ministry, in 1788. Her name was Jane Freeman Oliver and she died single at her parents' home. Twin sons were born to the couple at Londonderry in 1791: William Morrison Oliver and Andrew Freeman Oliver; then a daughter Elizabeth Ormiston Oliver in 1793. Nancy Agnes Oliver was born in 1794 at Pelham, Mass., and another son in 1802 named Robert Ormiston Oliver.
Of these, only the twins, Andrew F. and William M., came to Penn Yan. They were born at Londonderry, and young Andrew in 1814 married Margaret Sutphin at Springfield in Otsego County, where the family now lived and where in 1828 his father died. Young Andrew studied medicine at Springfield under Dr. Little when he was just a boy. He was licensed by the Otsego County Medical Society in 1813 and in March 1814 he was appointed by the governor as surgeon of the 9th Regiment, with which he briefly served in the war against Great Britain.
About as soon as he returned, in 1815, Andrew and Margaret went to Spencer in (then) Tioga County, and finally in 1818 to Penn Yan. On August 3o of that year he put a notice in the Penn-Yan Herald that he had opened an office for the practice of medicine at Giles Kinney's tavern at the crossroads now called Kinney's Corners, just west of Penn Yan in the town of Jerusalem.
At nearly the same time he bought an acre of land in Penn Yan, and presumably built his house at 204 Main Street soon afterward. He was appointed Surrogate of the County of Yates in 1827 by Governor Dewitt Clinton, and served in that capacity until 1840. In 1829 his wife died, and he remarried in 1832 to a widow, Almira (Marsh) Gilbert.
He received (unexpectedly) the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of the State of New York, in 1845, and was unanimously elected a permanent member of the State Medical Society in 1857, the year of his death. He had helped form the local Medical Society in 1823, was subsequently its president and for some years its delegate to the state body.
Children with his first wife:
i. Peter S. Oliver 1818-1878; he married in 1864 Ann Maria (Clark) Brown, widow of James Brown Jr. of the Society of Universal Friends. The Brown daughters were raised in their house, now 158 Main Street. One of them, Elizabeth Friend Brown, married Edson Potter and built the house next door at 160 Main Street. It was through this latter couple that items belonging to the Universal Friend came eventually to the village of Penn Yan. Their son Rexford Potter was the first husband of Mary Leah Post, who owned 215 Main Street: this couple's daughter Mary Leah Potter was an heiress of her uncle Arnold J. Potter and contested his bequest of the Friend's portrait to the village.
ii. William W. Oliver 1824-1902; he married Harriet Jones and followed his father's profession. They married in 1852 and built 200 Main Street, now known as the Oliver House Museum. They had three children, none of whom had children of their own: Jennie, born in 1853, who briefly married Smith M. Longwell in 1875, was divorced in 1878 and died in 1933; William A. Oliver 1857-1915, who was another physician and practiced out of his home; and Carrie, 1868-1942, who when she died gave the building to the village of Penn Yan to house the local Historical Society.
iii. Margaret Oliver, 1829-1830.
iv. Jane P. Oliver, 1816-1876; she married John L. Lewis Jr. and resided in the home of her father at 204 Main Street.
Child with his second wife:
v. Elizabeth Oliver, born in 1837 and married yet another physician, Dr. Samuel Robbins. They moved to Glendale, Ohio, where her mother Almira Gilbert Oliver died in 1869.
http://pyhistory.org/People/per_wmo.htm
William Morrison Oliver was an identical twin to his brother Dr. Andrew Oliver, so perhaps one picture will do for both. See the portrait of Andrew above. They were born in 1791 in Londonderry, NH, and William came directly to Penn Yan from the family home in Springfield, Otsego County, where their father had gone to accept a job as pastor of the Associate Reform Church there. William's arrival is said to have been in 1818, at the same time as Dr. John Hatmaker of Milo; this is the year the first deed to his property at 158 Main Street was made. Though apparently he only bought the land to become eligible as a freeholder for public office, he probably built the house soon afterwards. It is known to have been there after about 1825.
He began the study of law in Springfield, under the direction of Judge Morse in Cherry Valley and was admitted to the bar about 1812. He arrived in Penn Yan a year after his brother and gained a solid reputation.
He was Yates County's first Judge, appointed in 1823. He served until 1828 and then from 1838 until 1844, presiding over the Court of Common Pleas, at first in Asa Cole's tavern at the Main and Head Street crossroads, and later in both the first Court House (built in 1824 and burned in 1834) and the second one (built in 1835 and still standing today). He also served 4 years in the State Senate, beginning in 1836, and was chosen President of the Senate (Lieutenant Governor) in 1838, and then served two years in Congress, 1841-1843.
In 1833 he helped start the Yates County Bank, (the first time local citizens could bank in their own town; in those days all paper money was printed by local banks), and he was cashier when the bank failed in 1857 at the height of the Panic of that year. No one ever held him responsible for the bank's failure, but he felt it quite keenly and made a new residence outside Penn Yan, on a farm on what is now called Oliver Road in the town of Torrey.
William Oliver married first to Eleanor Young (back in Otsego County, in 1811) and had three children:
i. Andrew Oliver, 1816-1889, a prominent lawyer; he married Catharine Hazard. Andrew Oliver was admitted to the bar in 1838, became Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1843 and served until 1847; he was elected to Congress twice, serving from 1853-1857, and then again served as County Judge and Surrogate from 1872-1877. He wrote out his own papers, and had very nearly illegible handwriting; but he was apparently a very well-respected judge.
ii. James Oliver, 1818-1820.
iii. John Morrison Oliver, 1828-1872; he married Joanna Wagener (who after his death married William S. Briggs as his third wife) and became a Major General during the Civil War. He died in Washington, D.C., where the President had summoned him to serve as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Eleanor Young Oliver died in 1834 and William remarried, to Harriet Maria Seelye. They had four children:
iv. James Morse Oliver, 1839-1863; he became a physician and served as a surgeon in the Civil War, dying suddenly at Fort Richmond on Staten Island.
v. William Seelye Oliver, b. 1842.
vi. Harriet Oliver, b..1845; she married Charles P. Boswell.
vii. Henry Oliver, b..1847.
All members of the family who died in Penn Yan, and a number of those who did not, are buried in Lake View Cemetery in the village.
http://books.google.com/books?id=zJ1MAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA137&dq=%22Vernon+lodge+no.+190%22&cd=4#v=onepage&q=%22Vernon%20lodge%20no.%20190%22&f=false page 137.
PETER SUTPHEN OLIVER, 3Зo.
Peter Sutphen Oliver, the son of Andrew F. Oliver, M. D., and Margaret Ten Eyck (Sutphen) Oliver, his wife was born at Spencer, then the county town of Tioga County, New York, on 29 Jun I817, but his early childhood was spent in the family of his grandfather, Peter Sutphen, a respectable farmer, of Springfield, Otsego, NY. In 1818, Dr. Oliver removed with his family to Penn Yan, in the County of Ontario, afterwards the county seat of Yates County, when it was erected in 1823. At Spencer, the Doctor entered the Masonic Fraternity, and became a zealous Craftsman, which he continued to be, till his death in 1857; having been Master of Vernon Lodge, No. 190, (old registry), at Penn Yan, and of the present Milo Lodge, No. 108, which was the continuation rather than the successor of Vernon.
He was also repeatedly High Priest of Penn Yan Chapter, No. 100, both before and after its cessation of work during the Anti-Masonic excitement. Brought up under such influence, it is not surprising that young Oliver early formed an attachment to Masonry, amounting almost, to reverence; and this feeling animated him during life. He received the customary academic education at Utica High School, and Yates County Academy, and went through the usual preparatory studies to fit him for entering college; when an opportunity presented of a clerkship in the bank, of which his uncle, Hon. William M. Oliver, was then President, a situation, congenial to his tastes and inclinations. The alternative was presented to him of a college education or of entering at once upon the active duties of life, and he chose the latter, reasoning thus: "The business career now proposed, or something of a kindred character is what I design to be my life pursuit; and is one for which a college course would be of little advantage in fitting me," and having thus determined, with his usual decision of character, he at once acted upon it, and accepted the coveted clerkship. In this situation, or rather with the usual promotions to Bookkeeper and Teller, he remained until the Yates County Bank closed its affaire in 1857. In this position he acquired a high character for industry, accuracy and integrity, and such was his reputation as a financier that after he had left it, he continued during his life to be a reliable authority upon all financial matters, in every enterprise requiring sagacity, forethought and skill.
So devoted was he to business affairs that he sought no other relaxation, except such as books and reading, and Masonry afforded him, remaining single till the year 1864, when he married Mrs. Anna M. Brown. And here a new trait of character developed itself; an attachment to that domestic life, which he seemed by his example to have shunned, and he was a devoted husband and father. Having no children of his own, be became a most faithful and affectionate father to three orphan daughters of his wife, and having assumed that relation when they were in their early childhood, the affection was mutual, and neither seemed to feel that he was any other than their natural parent. His domestic happiness, however, was of short continuance, Mrs. Oliver having died suddenly in 1867, and as his attachments were always very strong and marked, her death was a severe blow to him, occurring soon after he had acquired a residence which he designed to be his home for life, and hence had supplied with all that made life desirable. His amiable adopted daughters (the two younger, the eldest having married and gone to her own home), took the place of their mother in his household, and endeavored by their attention and devotion to supply her place, and when the second daughter, Caroline, married, he made it a condition of his consent, that she should continue to reside with him. Soon after the death of Mrs. Oliver, he began to show the symptoms of the disease which terminated his life, and it needs scarcely be said that his daughters most affectionately and devotedly ministered to ill his wants and ailments, and when at different periods his disease confined him to his bed, their gentle hands and watchful tenderness soothed the pains of disease and alleviated his sufferings, nor was there wanting the kind ministration of a loving and devoted sister who did not forget that relation, while fulfilling all the duties of a true and faithful Christian, wife and mother.
In the fall of 1875, Mr. Oliver went to Florida, where he spent the winter, taking his youngest daughter Elizabeth with him, returning at the commencement of the following summer, so much improved in health and vigor, that high hopes were entertained that his disease was conquered, but it was also to find that the place of his beloved sister was vacant, her home desolate, and its household altar overthrown forever. After some months of comparative health and comfort, his old complaint (disease of the liver), resumed its irresistible sway, and terminated his life at Penn Yan, October 18, 1878, in the midst of his family circle of Mr. and Mrs. Hanford (Caroline), and their children, and his daughter, Elizabeth, who had, however, married six months before. A younger sister, to whom he was warmly attached, had married many years before, and had ceased to be a resident of the State, and was therefore absent.
Of course it would be expected that one so warmly attached to Masonry and its actions and observances would be buried with more than usual Masonic honors. Not so; he was strongly opposed to it, and never took part in a Masonic funeral, and requested that the customary Masonic ceremonies should be omitted at his funeral, and so it was. For like reason they were not used at the burial of his father, though the latter had desired it.
Mr. (Peter Sutphen) Oliver was initiated in Milo Lodge No. 108, at Penn Yan, 3 Sep 1846, and raised as a Master Mason 30 Oct 1846. He received the degree of Mark Master in Penn Yan Chapter No. 140, 1 Dec 1846, and was exalted to the Royal Arch Degree 10 Feb 1847. Previous to being made a Mason, he belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was a zealous and active member. He was initiated in Tevronto Lodge No. 69, at Rochester, 3 Mar 1845, and was one of live petitioners for Kenka Lodge No. 139, of Penn Yan, opened 2 May 1845, and became Noble Grand of that Lodge the same year. He became a Patriarch in Mount Hope Encampment No. 11, I.O.O.F., at Rochester, 4 Mar 1846, and was one of the petitioners for Eden Encampment No. 40, at Penn Yan, opened 20 Jul 1846, and of which he became Chief Patriarch in January following. On the opening of Jerusalem Encampment (Commandery) No. 17, of Knights Templar at Penn Yan, 12 Mar 1850, he became a petitioner for the Orders of Masonic Knighthood, and was dubbed and created a Knight Templar by the writer of this sketch, 15 Mar 1850.
In the Masonic Bodies he held none but subordinate offices (excepting perhaps the Commandery), because he steadily declined to hold them, alleging his business engagements as the excuse. Reference has been made to his offices in Odd Fellowship for the very purpose of illustrating this point. There he proved that he was a good and impressive workman, and that he was a prompt, accurate and dignified presiding officer. He would not hold like offices in any of the Masonic Bodies, because, as he stated, he had not time to qualify himself for the discharge of their duties satisfactorily; and with him it was a point of honor and conscience, that if he could not work "as good as the best," he would not work at all. Thus he repeatedly held the office of Treasurer in Lodge and Chapter, but refused all others; and though deeply impressed with the beautiful ritual of the Commandery, he at times held the offices of both Wardens, and of Generalissimo, he always declined that of Commander. Few men, we imagine, have the same conscientious regard for duty in this respect as had Mr. Oliver; he would not enjoy honors he had not fairly won by his own merit and skill. To the A.’. and A.’. Rite his attention was early called, and he eagerly sought all information attainable on that subject, at a period when the sources of such information was rare and scarce. When in 1851 the project of establishing subordinate Bodies of the Rite at some part of Western New York, probably Rochester, was set in motion by the late Ill.’. Jarvis M. Hatch, he eagerly engaged in the movement. But his zeal and earnestness was not destined to be rewarded till some twelve or thirteen years later, when subordinate Bodies U. D. were established in Penn Yan, but which a little experience soon induced the movers to abandon. All the funds required for the experiment were furnished by him, and perhaps a principal cause of the failure was the occurrence of his own severe and dangerous illness.
In 1870 he was a successful applicant for the honorary grade of 33o, but in consequence of the state of his health was unable to attend then or in the following year 1871, at the Annual Session of which the time was extended for one year, and by order of the Supreme Council and by virtue of a Commission of the Sov.’. Gr.’. Commander it was directed to be conferred on him and other candidates, under the auspices of Ill.’. Bro. (Orrin) Welch, and the active members of the Supreme Council for New York, at the time of the meeting of the next Council of Deliberation, to be held at Albany, and then it was conferred on him and others 7 Feb 1872. It is a pardonable digression to say that such a departure from its customary usages by the Supreme Council has been in future forbidden by that illustrious Body.
An incident which subsequently took place is too strongly illustrative of the character of Mr. Oliver to be omitted. The Session of the Supreme Council for 1874 was held at Boston, August 18th. In the meantime Mr. Oliver had been so severely and dangerously ill that his decease was at one time daily expected, and at the time the Council met had not left his room for weeks. To the utter astonishment of his family and friends he announced his attention of accompanying the writer to Boston, alleging as a reason his wish to take a seat in that exalted Body once at least, and thus show his appreciation of the honor which had been conferred upon him. The writer, in consideration of the intimate brotherly relations existing between them, accepted the responsible charge thus devolved upon him and that devoted sister, already spoken of, who was all that was pure and exalted and devoted in womanhood, and possessed of all those qualities of mind and heart which win respect and affection, consented to accompany them, fearing tremblingly, that he would never return to his home. But his indomitable will triumphed, the journey seemed to revive him, and she was content to stay with a relative when half the journey's end was reached. Though unable to leave his room for two days after his arrival at Boston, again his strength of will sustained him and he entered the Council and remained during an afternoon's Session, and visiting Bunker Hill Monument on his way back to his hotel, reached there exultingly to find two great objects accomplished, but only to sink down utterly exhausted. It is unnecessary to pursue the incident further, but the annals of the fraternity, abounding in deeds of bravery and endurance, may be searched in vain to find a more striking instance of zeal and courage, except upon the battlefield.
In analyzing his character, perhaps, this trait of firmness was most prominent. Nor was it mere stubbornness as many hastily judged. He carefully considered a matter before engaging in it, and always sought earnestly and listened attentively to the advice ol those whose counsels he respected, but having determined upon his course, he pursued it unfalteringly to the end.
It will readily be gathered from this, that fidelity was a distinguishable trait, and so it was—he was faithful in all things—to his friends—to his engagements—to his convictions—to every trust. And so strongly marked was this feature, that it required evidence strong as sunlight to shake his fidelity, though it might make him temporarily the prey of the designing, and yet so strong was it that if led for a little while astray, he signified his repentance by renewed acts of confidence.
And of course, with the characteristics we have mentioned and with both physical and moral courage to bear them out, his integrity was unspotted, No one who knew him intimately would challenge it. Having amassed a fortune by his own industry and energy, no trait of dishonesty clung to him in its acquisition. And this integrity was abundantly proved in the faithful and conscientious discharge of important fiduciary trusts involving large sums of money.
His moral character was unblemished, no citizen stood higher in this respect in the community in which he lived, and though not without little fault, they were overlooked in consideration of the higher qualities of the man, and he emphatically deserved as he bore, the character of a good citizen and honest, honorable-man.
Generosity and hospitality were essential features in his character, and those who knew him best could bear witness to his generous liberality, and his courtesy and attention to his guests and visitors in his own home. Such a man can hardly fail of discharging well the duties of domestic life, and being faithful to those sacred trusts which rest upon the husband and father.
We have said enough to show that he was deserving of the distinctive wreaths placed upon the brow of a Sovereign Inspector-General of the Thirty third Degree, and that upon him that distinction was well and properly bestowed. He was of that innumerable company who deserve well of their fellow men without having done any remarkable deed to command the world's applause, yet, still by the tenor of a well-spent life, are well worthy of holding a place in the memory, after they have departed. Was he without fault Î We make no assertion—but we may assert that they were faults of temper and address—faults unnoted by those who knew and loved him—which did not affect the character, and some of them as we know were deeply lamented and repented of by him and always atoned for. Of him it may be said in this respect, as of a fault of one of the mighty men of the earth, by a like sorrowing friend:
"If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answered it."
Brief and imperfect of this sketch, and cheerfully as is the duty performed of speaking of the sterling worth and virtues of the departed, it has been no light task to accomplish it faithfully and justly, and yet truthfully, and to avoid the spirit of indiscriminate praise and eulogy, which an unbroken and brotherly friendship of more than forty years causes involuntarily to swell in the heart, and to mount to the lips for utterance. And no such apology is made, for none is needed, for the heart’s tribute to the gentle sister he loved so well, who was for nearly the period last-named, the beloved and almost idolized wife of the writer. Both are now alike insensible to the world's praise or censure, for it falls unheeded upon "the dull cold ear of death "—and this is the last mournful duty—the last melancholy tribute which can be rendered by the living to the dead, and in speaking of her, the writer feels that he only speaks as he, to whom this testimonial is rendered, would have spoken, if the utterance had been his.
John L. Lewis, 33°.
http://www.osydistrict.org/Histories.html
Dundee Lodge No. 123, Dundee, New York
Previously Reading Lodge No. 366, chartered 7 Jun 1823; renamed Ionic (Reading-Ionic) in 1828; surrendered 1831; revived as Reading-Dundee No. 308, 3 Jun 1847; became Dundee No. 123, 4 Jun 1858; fire 20 Jun 1900; charter reissued 2 May 1900
Masons living in the Town of Reading first held meetings in Eddytown, now Lakemont, after receiving a Charter from Grand Lodge on June 7, 1823, under the name of Reading Lodge No. 366, a ‘Country Lodge.’ Following much confusion in the delivery of mail, Grand Lodge approved in 1828 a change in the Lodge name to Ionic Lodge (sometimes called Reading-Ionic) No. 366. Following the Morgan incident, Ionic Lodge No. 366 membership declined, and the Lodge was forced to surrender its Charter in 1831.
On June 3, 1847, Grand Lodge issued a new Charter for Reading-Dundee Lodge No. 308. Grand Lodge appointed Hosea Palmer as Master, Samuel Kress, Jr. and John T. Andrews. With the consent of Grand Lodge on June 4, 1858, Reading-Dundee Lodge officially became Dundee Lodge No. 123. A fire on January 20, 1900, destroyed all Lodge records prior to December 30, 1881. Also lost in the fire was the original Charter, which Grand Lodge duplicated on May 2, 1900.
Masons from the Dundee area have met in a variety of locations. Prior to 1860, they met in the Hamlin Block at 44 Seneca Street; from 1860 to 1888 Lodge met in the Wall and Wilkins Block; and from 1 888 to 1900, they met in the T. D. Beekman Block, until it was destroyed by fire. Following the fire, the Masons returned to the Wilkins block from 1900 to 1956. From 1956 to 1990, Masons met at the Masonic Hall at 20 Water Street. The Masons then met for several years at a local church and now hold their meetings in the Bath National Bank building.
Dundee Lodge has had five Brothers serve as District Deputies, two as Grand Steward, and one as AGL. Dundee's most noted Mason was Isaac Andrews, a surveyor by trade, who served as George Washington's Private Secretary. Whether Andrews helped Washington survey this area or served with Washington during the Revolutionary War remains a mystery. We do know that Reading Lodge members buried Andrews with Masonic Honors. Andrews and his wife Mabel are buried in the old cemetery site on Seneca Street, which now serves as a Village park and entrance to the historical society.
WARRANT: The warrant is dated June 3, 1847.
The first name was Reading, which it retained until June 4, 1858, when it was changed to Dundee.
MINUTES: Not intact. In 1860 all records were destroyed by fire, and again on January 29, 1900, all records and property were for the second time destroyed by fire.
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