TOWN OF ADDISON. 



153 



practice in Otego, N. Y., where he remained about twenty 

 years, during which time he purchased a farm, which he 

 carried on ; and also, during his residence in Otego, in the 

 year 1823, he married Phebe Blakslee, his cousin, a native 

 also of Brattleboro', born Dec. 5, 1794. 



In the year 1840 Dr. Blakslee came to Addison, en- 

 gaged in the mercantile business, and also in lumbering. 

 He built the first steam saw-mill erected in the Canisteo 

 Valley, and during the following twenty-five years was en- 

 ^ao-ed more or less in the manufacture of lumber, and raft- 

 ing down the Canisteo, Chemung, and Susquehanna Rivers, 

 to southern ports. Dr. Blakslee has given little attention 

 to the practice of his profession, only as necessity required, 

 during his residence in Addison. A Democrat from his 



youth, he has been honored by the citizens of Addison in 

 ofiicial capacity for two terms as justice of the peace, 

 and some thirty-one years as assessor. He is one of 

 the old landmarks, and can look back to the pioneer his- 

 tory of this part of New York, and see the now thriving 

 villages and cities in place of a few houses or perhaps a 

 wilderness tract, and reflect with interest upon the progress 

 of schools, churches, and kindred interests as they have 

 kept pace with advancing civilization and the growth of 

 the country. 



Dr. Blakslee is, in all probability, the oldest member 

 of the Masonic fraternity in the county, and possibly in 

 the State, having been a Master Mason since he was twenty- 

 one, and a Boyal Arch Mason for sixty-three years. 



DR. REUBEN P. BROWN 

 was born in Bradford Co., Pa., April 1, 1818. His father, 

 Adin Brown, was a native of Colerain, Mass. ; was married 

 to Lydia Parmenter, a lady of Scotch descent. He was a 

 farmer by occupation, and in early life removed to Spring- 

 field, Bradford Co., Pa., then an almost unbroken wilder- 

 ness, penetrating the forest from Tioga Point, being guided 

 only by marked trees. He was killed accidentally by being 

 thrown from his carriage down an embankment, as he was 

 returning from church, in the year 1862. His age was 

 seventy-eight. His wife died suddenly of heart-disease, 

 aged sixty-nine. Their children, as follows, all reached 

 maturity before there was a death in the family : Mrs. Eben 

 20 



F. Parkhurst, Pennsylvania ; Darius (deceased) ; David, of 

 Cayuga Bridge ; Mrs. I. W. Fassett (deceased), of Wells- 

 ville, N. Y. ; Dr. R. P. Brown, of Addison, N. Y. ; Mrs. 

 Orr Wilson (deceased), Pennsylvania; Mrs. Marion Wil- 

 cox (deceased), Pennsylvania; Dr. Elihu Brown, of Min- 

 nesota; Frank, of Wells, Pa.; Rev. Henry C. Brown 

 (deceased), Pennsylvania. At the age of fourteen Dr. 

 Brown began the study of medicine with Dr. Theodore 

 Wilder, of Pennsylvania, with whom he remained two years, 

 followed with one year's study with Dr. Dexter Parkhurst. 

 After a practice of one year in Austinville, Pa., he attended 

 one course of lectures at Geneva Medical College, and re- 

 turned to Austinville and resumed practice, which he con- 



