My Genealogy Hound

D. BARNARD WILLSON is a prominent citizen of the village of Marathon, where he is engaged in carrying on a real estate business, and in building and repairing wagons. He is contract representative of the Commercial Lawyers’ Association of St. Louis, Mo.; the Snow-Church Surety Co., New York; and The United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., Baltimore, Md. He is a son of Pliny A. and Eliza L. (Fisk) Willson, and was born November 16, 1856, in Cortlandville township, this county.

The grandfather of our subject was Horace Willson, who was a native of the State of Massachusetts; he emigrated to the town of Homer, Cortland County, and was one of the early settlers of that town. He lived there the remainder of his days, dying there about 1877. He married Rebecca D. Works, and had a family of four boys and four girls, as follows: Daniel B.; Samantha; Elizabeth; Mary U.; Pliny, the father of our subject; Joseph; Alfred; and Lorinda.

Pliny Willson was born in 1828 in the town of Homer, where he was reared, and where he was united in marriage with Eliza L. Fisk, daughter of David Fisk, a Massachusetts man, who came to this county near the beginning of the present century. Our subject has in his possession an old deed, dated 1819, for a farm purchased by Mr. Fisk in the town of Cortland. Mr. Fisk was a prominent member of the Presbyterian organization at Cortland, and was a veritable pillar of the church. His wife, Betsey Loring, was a sister of Asa Loring, a prominent surveyor in the early days of the county, who ran many of the lines for the settlers of his day. The Lorings were of stock that figured prominently on the American side in the Revolutionary War. Our subject’s mother was born in 1826, and died in 1860. After the father of our subject married Miss Fisk, he settled down in the town of Cortland, and there resided until 1876, when he removed to the town of Willet, Cortland County. Becoming feeble and unable to stand the rigors and extremes of a country life, Mr. Willson in 1885 came to the village of Marathon, and lived there until 1888, which was the date of his decease. His avocations were those of a stone mason, brick layer and plasterer, and for a period of eleven years it is likely that he did more in that line of work in the village of Cortland than any other man of that place. He offered himself for service in the late Civil War, and was accepted as a member of Co. E, 157th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., in 1861, but was discharged a year later because of disabilities, received while laboring to defend his county. His marriage was productive of two children, both of whom survive him — Byron E. and D. Barnard, the subject of this sketch. Byron E. was born June 15, 1854, and now lives in the town of Marathon, where he is following his trade of stone mason and brick layer.

Our subject completed his education, after attending the public schools, in the Cortland State Normal School, where he commenced in the training department, and went through the greater part of the courses of the academical department. Upon leaving school, he opened a store in the hamlet of Willet, which he conducted about two years, and then was engaged in farm work for a time. He came to Marathon in March, 1883, and has made that village his home ever since. His father being a mason, our subject picked up the same trade, and soon acquired a proficiency in that line of work. He was made a foreman in the building of masonry in the construction of milk depots along the line of the D., L. & W. R. R. He also put in some time in the Stockwell Wagon Works. He is now engaged in carrying on a very thriving business in the building and repairing of wagons. He also deals in real estate, and does considerable collecting.

The ceremony that united Mr. Willson and Miss Phebe A. Adams, daughter of John Q. Adams, was performed early in the year 1879. They have five children, namely: Louise, born January 5, 1880; Clark, March 10, 1881; Arlie, October 23, 1884; Walter L., February 12, 1896, and Harlan, June 13, 1897. Our subject adheres closely to the principles of the Republican party, and exerts no small influence in his section, representing his town as a delegate to county conventions, and also as a conferee to senatorial conferences, among which may be noticed the Senatorial Convention of 1879, held in Syracuse, N. Y. In 1880 he was appointed United States Census enumerator for the town of Willet. In 1892 he was elected a justice of the peace of the town of Marathon, to fill an unexpired term, and in 1894 was re-elected for a term of four years. He has been a member of the sewer commission of Marathon for two years, and is the president now. He is a member of the board of education and is serving his third term. He is also a member of the Marathon board of health. The Board of Trustees of the Peck Memorial Library includes him among its members, and as its secretary. In May, 1896, Mr. Willson organized a camp of the Sons of Veterans order in Marathon, which was called E. D. Robie Camp, No. 46, and was its captain. Mr. Willson is a man of great force and earnestness of character, and the citizens of Marathon are indebted to him in many ways, for he is public-spirited and generous, taking great pleasure in employing his time and energies in behalf of the town, where he resides. He may be always found on the side of morality and good government.