My Genealogy Hound

FRANK C. WELCH, of McGrawville, has won a prominent place among the agriculturists of his section of Cortland County, since he retired from commercial traveling life to manage the farm left him at his father’s death. We are free to say that Mr. Welch’s success in his present calling has been as unqualified as it has been substantial, and that the best wishes of a host of friends go with him in all his ventures.

Mr. Welch was born in McGrawville, July 25, 1852, and is a son of Benjamin and Amanda (Corwin) Welch, grandson of Samuel and Eliza (Hotchkiss) Welch, and great grandson of John Welch, who in 1799 came to this district from Wyoming, Orange County, N. Y. This pioneer settled in the town of Solon, south of the R. Beebe farm, and lived there a number of years, until his removal to Cleveland, Ohio, where his life finally came to a close. He married a daughter of Capt. John Cook of New Haven, Conn., a soldier of the Revolution, and reared the following family: Peter; Benjamin; John; Hiram; Nelson; Joseph; Samuel; Cornelius; Polly; Sally; Catherine; Clarissa; and an infant that an All-Wise Providence did not permit to grow to maturity. Peter, the eldest son, removed to Buffalo, N. Y., and was drowned in Lake Ontario. Benjamin, the second son of John Welch, served in the War of 1812 under Gen. Winfield Scott, and participated in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane, engagements fought in Canada near Niagara Falls. During the War of the Rebellion he drilled recruits for the U. S. service. He died at the age of eighty-seven in 1876, and was laid to rest in the Erie Street Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.

Samuel Welch settled in the town of Solon, where he busied himself in clearing the plot of new land that he had purchased; the property is now owned by R. Sholes. He later removed to Cortland, where he lived in the main a retired life, but still took an active interest in the life of the community, held some of the minor offices, and served as poormaster of Cortland. He was a Baptist in his religious views. His wife, who was a daughter of Moses Hotchkiss, lived to be eighty-six years old, while he himself was seventy-six years of age when called to leave this world. Their family consisted of these children: Samuel E.; Matilda; John; Sarah; Arlone V.; Benjamin; Samantha; and Greeley. Greeley Welch, the youngest son of Samuel Welch, who was named for the famous editor, Horace Greeley, was a private of Co. K, 157th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., in the War of the Rebellion, and laid down his life for his country on Folly Island, before Charleston, S. C., one among the many who died that the Union might be preserved.

Our subject’s father, Benjamin Welch, was born in the town of Solon, and purchased, in 1854, as his first home a tract of 100 acres in the town of Cortlandville, Lot 78 Military Tract, of Orrin Kingman, adding the 46 acres adjoining in 1 878. Previous to this he had followed lumbering, and carried on the business extensively and with profit for several years; for the prosecution of this calling he owned and operated a water-power saw mill at Polkville, besides a mill at McGrawville, which he ran at the same time. He died in the house where our subject now resides, December 9, 1892, at the age of sixty-five, the immediate cause of his death being paralysis. He was a stanch Republican and very liberal in his religious views. His wife still survives him and resides with her son on the estate. These two children were reared; Frank C.; and Carrie, who became the wife of Charles Wavle of McGrawville.

Mrs. Welch, our subject’s mother, was a Corwin before her marriage. The Corwin family claims to be descended from Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus of Rome, orator and soldier, and friend of Cicero (see Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire); he lived from 64 to 8 B. C. During the Dark Ages the family history is obscure, but it is supposed that the family after the fall of Rome implanted itself in Hungary, where it grew to be very powerful. Hunydi Corvinus, a noble representative of the family, became King of Hungary in 1376, and was succeeded by his son, Matthias Corvinus, who commenced to reign in 1458 at the age of eighteen years. From Hungary members of the family emigrated to Germany and England, of whom the Corwin Genealogy gives a very full account. A member of the English branch, Matthias Corwin, settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1633; other members settled on Long Island about the same time; their descendants settled in Virginia, and in Orange County, N. Y. Our subject’s great-grandfather, Ezra Corwin, removed to Cortland County about 1800. Thomas Corwin of Ohio, once Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, is a member of the same family.

Frank C. Welch received his education in the district schools and at the State Normal School of Cortland. He began his business life as a clerk for the firm of S. E. Welch & Co., prominent merchants of Cortland. After four years had passed by in that occupation, he followed the same mode of life in Syracuse for one year, and then became a commercial traveler. For five years he was a traveling agent of some of the largest dry goods houses, and also represented the New York Mutual Life Insurance Co., his connection with the insurance company extending over a period of about fifteen years. On his father’s death he gave up his traveling life, and settled down on the home estate to engage in agricultural pursuits. He has a choice dairy and a flock of high-grade sheep. He raises a quantity of fancy poultry, and makes a specialty of thorough-bred white Leghorn hens, the variety that is distinguished by the rose comb. The barn on the place, thirty-four feet in width by fifty-two in length, was erected in 1806 by Mede Merrill, and is still in the best repair, having been lately put into the best condition by our subject. When the farm was being built, in 1806, the workmen, who were engaged in shingling the roof, were forced to cease labor at about 11 o’clock A. M., June 16, by reason of darkness caused by the total eclipse of the sun; the darkness continued several hours, and the fowls about the place went to their roosts as though night had come on. Our subject’s father had re-enclosed this barn, and put in a basement during his management of the farm, and Frank C. put on a new roof and made a number of minor touches. The structure has the hip or gambrel roof, and because of this peculiar feature, so uncommon to this part of the country, the building is known all over the county as the Old Dutch Barn. The original frame of cherry timbers, hewed and planed by hand, is apparently as sound and strong as it was when put in place in 1806.

Mr. Welch married Miss Anna T. Singer, daughter of John Singer of Cleveland, Ohio, and four children resulted from this union, namely: Zoe O.; Zell E.; Benjamin S., and Samuel E. Mr. Welch is a Republican in his politics, and a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.