My Genealogy Hound

DANIEL HAZELTINE POST is the son of William and Susanna (Hazeltine) Post, and was born in the city of Jamestown on the 17th day of July, 1850. He received his early education in the schools of Jamestown and was prepared for college in the Jamestown academy, and the Jamestown Union school and collegiate institute, now the Jamestown High school. He was a member of the first class which graduated from this latter institution, in 1868. He graduated from Williams college, Williamstown, Mass., in the class of 1874, securing the degree of A.B., and five years later the degree of A.M. For some months after graduation he studied law in the office of his grand-uncle, Hon. Abner Hazeltine. From 1874 until 1882, he was engaged in newspaper work, being regularly engaged on the daily Journal and the daily Democrat in Jamestown, besides doing work for many other papers and periodicals, including the New York Tribune and Harpers’ Magazine, to which he contributed an illustrated article. In 1878, he accompanied the late Gov. R. E. Fenton to Paris, where he acted as clerk of the American Delegation to the International Monetary conference, Mr. Fenton being chairman of the delegation. In 1874, Mr. Post became a partner in the furniture manufacturing firm, known as the Jamestown Bedstead company, with which he is still connected. He is secretary of the Chautauqua Lake railway company, a member of the Masonic fraternity and a lieutenant in the 13th separate company; of the National Guard of the State.

On July 16, 1883, Mr. Post was married to Evelyn M., only daughter of Robert and Evelyn (Patchin) Newland, of Jamestown.

Mr. Post’s father, William Post, was born in Phillipstown, Putnam county, N. Y., Sept. 23, 1803. He was the second child of a family of ¦five, three sisters and two brothers. His father was Absalom Post, who was born at Phillipstown, Nov. 29, 1776, and was married to Annie Schofield, who was born at New Rochelle, Westchester county, July 12, 1771. Absalom Post removed from Phillipstown to Catskill, where he lived for some years and in July, 1842, he removed to Afton, Chenango county, where he resided the balance of his life. He was a whig and a republican in politics, a farmer by occupation and a man of intelligence and high character. William Post, the son, though enjoying but scanty opportunities of instruction in his youth, equipped himself with a practical education that well-fitted him for the duties of life. He lived in Phillipstown, Catskill, Afton, New York city, Kent, Ohio, and Newark, N. Y., before coming to Jamestown. He studied medicine, but never practiced as a physician. He was engaged in general mercantile business and in the drug business, the greater portion of his life. While living in New York city, he was one of the founders of the artistic society, which afterwards became the National Academy. During a portion of his residence in Jamestown, he was a member of the oil refining firm of Marvin & Co. Mr. Post possessed cultured tastes and a large fund of general information. He was a republican in politics, a man of kind heart and unblemished character. He was first married to Miss Aletta Westervelt, in New York city, by whom he had one son, Maj. Wm. Westervelt Post, who died in New York, April 5, 1880. William Post was married to Susanna Hazeltine, on Sept. 1, 1845, and one son, Daniel H. Post was the result of this union. Mrs. Post died in 1870, and her husband’s death occurred at Jamestown, Nov. 16, 1878.

The ancestors of Daniel H. Post on the maternal side were all identified with the early development of this region. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Hazeltine, was a man of more than ordinary prominence in the early history of Jamestown, and one of the founders of her present industrial prosperity. He was a native of Wardsboro, Vermont, and in 1812, at the age of seventeen years, on the advice of his uncle, Solomon Jones, he mastered the art of cloth-making with the intention of coming to western New York, which he did in 1816, coming to Jamestown in company with Samuel Barrett, who in later years became president of the Chautauqua County Bank. Mr. Hazeltine’s first factory was erected where the Broadhead mills now stand, and he was the pioneer maker of textile fabrics in this region. His business steadily increased until, when he retired in 1865, it had attained considerable proportions. He was regarded as a man of the strictest integrity and was highly exemplary in all the relations of life. He was one of the nine founders of the Congregational church, and continued a devout and earnest member until his death, universally deplored, which occurred August 3, 1867. In 1818, Daniel Hazeltine was married to Mehetabel, the youngest daughter of William and Mary (Prendergast) Bemus. William Bemus was born at Bemus Heights, Saratoga county, in 1762, and it was upon his father’s farm that the “Battle of Bemus Heights” was fought. Together with his father and brother he was a soldier of the Revolution, and in the above named engagement he fought in the most literal sense for his home and fireside. William Bemus came into Chautauqua county in 1805, and the following spring settled on Chautauqua lake, at what is now known as Bemus Point. His youngest daughter was named after her maternal grandmother, Mehetabel Wing, who married William Prendergast, senior. To Daniel and Mehetabel (Bemus) Hazeltine were born five children, two sons and three daughters. Susanna, the eldest daughter, was born April 8, 1822. She was the mother of Daniel Hazeltine Post, the subject of this sketch. She was a woman of strong and lovable character, kind and benevolent and her death on June 23, 1870, was greatly mourned. Mehetabel (Bemus) Hazeltine survived her husband and daughter, and died Sept. 22, 1889, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-five years. She was a woman of many strongly-marked but worthy traits of character.