My Genealogy Hound

SYLVANUS A. CHURCHILL. This prominent agriculturist and dairyman of Scott township is a native of the town where he now lives, and where he has spent nearly all his life, his birth having occurred there November 26, 1839. His parents were Chauncey and Catherine (Merry) Churchill.

The Churchill family, although found all over the Union, has its greatest strength in New England, in the States of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, for it was from that section of the country that the family began to branch out. They are of English descent, and their line can be traced to the days of William the Conqueror, whose head officer was a Churchill. The family in America is said to owe its origin to three brothers, the traditional three so often found in genealogical records, who came from England about the middle of the Eighteenth Century, and settled in the Puritan Colonies. One of these brothers, the great-grandfather of our subject, settled in New Hampshire, but afterwards moved to Vermont, where he died. He and his son, John, who was born in New Hampshire, in 1758, were taken prisoners by the British at the battle of Bennington, although neither were soldiers then, and both held as prisoners in New York. The old gentleman was put to work cutting wood for the British soldiers near New York City, but escaped to his family in Vermont, having taken advantage of the guard, who fell asleep at his post of duty, to “slip his cable” and get away. John Churchill was taken to New York City, and until its evacuation by the British in 1783 was kept a prisoner in a damp cellar, and suffered terribly from the confinement. After his release he returned to Vermont, and for some years resided in Hubbardton, Rutland County. In 1800 he sold what property he had accumulated in Vermont, and came to Tully, Onondaga County; in 1812 he transferred his residence to Cortland County, locating on a farm in the north-east part of the town of Scott, the purchase consisting of 160 acres. This continued to be his home till death released him from his labors. He was a farmer all his life. From what is remembered of him, it is believed he was a Democrat in his political affiliations. He married Martha Baldwin, and had a family of twelve children, the record of whose births is as follows: John, born April 13, 1787; Sylvester, October 7, 1789; Anise, October 14, 1790; Electa, December 19, 1792; Alvin, November 7, 1794; Sylvina, August 25, 1796; Joab, November 10, 1798; Sarah, January 14, 1801; Irena, October 8, 1802; Jotham, December 29, 1804; and Chauncey, October 3, 1808.

Chauncey Churchill was born at Tully, and came with the family to the new home in the town of Scott in 1813. He died on the homestead February 18, 1896, having lived there from the time of the family’s settlement on it until his death, except one year spent in Chautauqua County, N. Y. His sole occupation was farming, and at that pursuit he was very successful, owning at one time as much as 600 acres of land. He was energetic and capable, and followed the excellent plan of never getting behind in his work, doing each day whatever came to hand. He was a very strong man, and performed the extraordinary feat of stepping inside of a large sap kettle, and springing with it from the ground — this is harder than it appears. His strength and endurance was probably inherited, for it is on record that a cousin of his once carried out of a mill a wheel shaft, that six ordinary men could not lift. Chauncey Churchill was frugal, industrious, and was highly esteemed by his neighbors. He was all that was expected of a patriotic citizen, an affectionate husband and devoted father. His wife, who died May 23, 1865, at the age of fifty-two, bore him a family of thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to maturity and married; at the time of his own death he had thirty-five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. This is the interesting record: Sylvester C., born December 20, 1834, lives on the homestead; John W., born August 13, 1836, lives in Champaign County, Ill., where he is a wealthy farmer, having accumulated a fortune of upwards of $60,000; Olive C., born February 16, 1838, died at the age of eleven weeks; Sylvanus A., our subject, born November 26, 1839; Oliver, born March 22, 1841, lives in the town of Homer, where he is engaged in the grocery business; Martha A., born November 24, 1842; Olive C. (2), born August 6, 1844, died September 13, 1875; Lafayette M., born March 17, 1846, lives in Champaign County, Ill., where he is accounted a very prosperous farmer; Chloe I., born October 4, 1857, married W. A. Kellogg, a druggist now of New York City, and has a son who is a physician of the metropolis; Catherine H., born April 10, 1849, is the wife of George A. Burroughs, who lives in Spafford, Onondaga County; Caleb W., born November 27, 1850, is a farmer of the town of Scott; Benjamin F., born July 30, 1852, is a merchant of Onondaga Valley; Jason M., born April 2, 1865, is engaged in following the pursuits of agriculture in Champaign County, Ill.

From the district schools of the town of Scott, our subject went to Homer Academy, and secured good academic education, sufficient and practical enough for most of the walks of life. At the age of twenty-two he finished his studies in the academy, and put his acquirements to good use in teaching school, having had a term’s experience at that work before leaving the academy for good. For fifteen years he continued teaching through the winters, and worked at farming in the summertime. Throughout all this period he taught in the neighborhood of Scott, with the exception of one term in Illinois, and one term in Sempronius, Cayuga County. He has lived on his present farm for thirty-five years; it contains 150 acres, 120 of which comprised the farm that formerly belonged to Noah H. Osborn. Besides general farming and the raising of grain, Mr. Churchill is deeply interested in dairying, and owns a choice herd of some fifteen head.

Mr. Churchill was formerly a Republican, and as such served as town assessor for several years. Of late years his sympathies have been transferred to the Prohibition party, with which he is now fully affiliated. He was their candidate in the election of 1897 for the position of town supervisor. He is an active and respected member of the M. E. Church, and has filled the offices of trustee and steward. He is also a prominent Sabbath School worker.

Our subject has been joined in marriage twice. His first wife, Caroline Eadie, daughter of John and Abigail Eadie of Spafford, Onondaga County, N. Y., was born in 1844, and departed from this life September 2, 1888. Their union, that was consummated on November 22, 1866, resulted in the birth of three children. The eldest, Herman, born October 9, 1868, was educated in Homer Academy, from which he graduated in the class of 1886 at eighteen years of age. After graduating, he spent one more year in the academy, preparing for college, and then entered the Syracuse University, from which he was graduated in 1894. He has since been engaged in teaching. He was engaged for one term in the Canandaigua Select School as an instructor in the Sciences. He then went to Menomonie, Wis., where he teaches in the high school. The second child of our subject, Edith, born August 20, 1875, graduated from the academy at Onondaga Valley, and afterwards spent a year in the training school of that institution, preparing to be a teacher. Eadie, born August 20, 1875, besides attending district school, went to Madison School in Syracuse. N. Y., and spent one year at Meriden, N. H., as a pupil in Prof. Cummings’ noted school for boys. He is now a student in Homer Academy. On September 7, 1892, Mr. Churchill was wedded to his second wife, Sarah Erminnie Woodworth, daughter of Cyrenius Woodworth of Spafford, Onondaga County. They have two children, namely: Sylvanus Woodworth, born July 14, 1894; and Leo, born April 29, 1896.