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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JESSE MUNSON. 



Jesse Munson was born in Manchester, Benninsjton Co., 

 Yt., Aug. 21, 1792. As the name indicates, his remote 

 ancestors were of Scandinavian extraction ; but, comino* 

 down through England, and the early days of the Con- 

 necticut colony, the descent conveys those marked New 

 England traits of character, resolution, force of will, ear- 

 nestness and directness of purpose, coupled with readiness 

 and willingness to labor and learn, and a quick, active sym- 

 pathy with all things tending to advance and improve man- 

 kind. 



Jared Munson, his paternal grandfather, was born in 

 Sufl&eld, Conn., from whence he emigrated to Glranville, 

 Mass. ; thence to Manchester, Yt., where he died. His 

 brothers, Ephraim, Thaddeus, and Jesse, accompanied him. 

 His sister Anna married a Mr. Wells. Betsey and Mercy 

 never married. His wife's maiden name was Honora Hale. 



Rufus Munson, father of Jesse Munson, was born in 

 Manchester, Yt., where he followed agriculture, owning 

 one of the best farms in that section. He married Bethiah 

 Burton. To them were born four children, — Cyrus, Jesse, 

 Benjamin, and Polly; all born in Manchester. He died in 

 1797, leaving the subject of our sketch a child of five 

 years. After his father's death, Mr. Munson resided among 

 relatives at St. Alban's, Yt, until his removal to Greenfield, 

 Saratoga Co., N. Y., in 1802, when he went to reside with 

 his uncle, Curtis Burton. To show the resolute will and 

 faith in his abilities that actuated the young man, and which 

 was shown in all his maturer years, we would particularly 

 note the fact, that, at the age of nineteen, he purchased the 

 entire business interests of his uncle, consisting of a tannery, 

 a boot- and shoe-manufactory, farm, etc. In this connec- 

 tion, we would mention that the only opportunities of edu- 

 cation available to the young man were the primitive ones 

 of that day, when the student graduated oftener with knowl- 

 edge of axe, rifle, and scythe than with that of books. 

 His education and his capital were his resistless energy and 

 manly integrity. 



When scarcely twenty-one he married, in May, 1813, 

 Sophia, daughter of Jonathan Tallmadge. She was born 

 in Canaan, Conn., Oct. 13, 1791. This union was blessed 

 with five children, — Rufus (deceased), Cyrus (deceased), 

 Adeliza (Mrs. Hiram Merriman), Edgar, Augusta (Mrs. 

 Geo. R. Curtis). 



For twenty-seven years he conducted to a financial suc- 

 cess, with and without partners, his extended business, in 

 connection with lumbering interests in Essex County. In 

 1837, in connection with Mr. Hiram Merriman, he pur- 

 chased the grist-mill, saw-mill, land, and lumbering interests 

 of F. and W. Whitney, in Bradford, Steuben Co., N. Y. 

 In 1838 he took up his residence in this wild locality, 

 where Mr. and Mrs, Merriman had settled in March of the 

 previous year. 



No man for the succeeding forty years was more promi- 

 nently identified with the growth and development of the 

 town of Bradford than he. Building at once a larger grist- 

 mill, he also commenced lumbering and farming, and, with 



the whole power of his energy, threw himself into the work 

 of improvement. Under his management, acre after acre 

 was cleared of its primeval forest, and from that day to the 

 present the name of Munson has been attached to the 

 heaviest business house of the town. For many years the 

 firms of '' J. Munson & Co.," " Merriman and Munson," 

 and " Merriman, Munson & Co." transacted the bulk of 

 the business of that section. The same force was given to 

 every scheme of improvement as to business. In education 

 this was especially shown. * The Bradford Academy was 

 established by himself and Mr. Merriman, and a school of 

 high grade furnished the settlement. 



He contributed largely to the erection and support of the 

 Episcopal church in Bradford, while other churches re- 

 ceived his bounteous aid. 



Mr. Munson never aspired to office, but in times when 

 he was necessary to success in important matters, he was 

 placed in such position, and never betrayed a trust. He 

 served his town several terms as supervisor, and during the 

 Rebellion assisted in raising the war quota of Bradford, 

 giving from his own funds from ten to twenty-five dollars 

 to each man. By his activity the quota of Bradford was 

 the first filled in the county. 



Mr. Munson is of a quick, impulsive temperament, posi- 

 tive in his likes and dislikes, strong in his friendships and 

 attachments. Benevolent to a fault, no cry of need went 

 without relief He is the unrelenting foe of intemperance, 

 and an instance in his early life will show the ardor of his 

 convictions. He had said he would have no liquor but hot 

 cofi^ee in his harvest-field. This was then almost unheard 

 of, but the work was commenced. One day, while visiting 

 a field, he found a decanter of liquor. With indignation 

 he seized it, and, without waiting for explanations, dashed 

 it to atoms. In early life Mr. Munson was a Presbyterian, 

 latterly an Episcopalian. 



Politically, Mr. Munson has ever been a Democrat. In 

 all circumstances he has clung to the constitution as the 

 bulwark of our liberty, jealously resisted all intrusion upon 

 its teachings, and has been one of the leading counselors of 

 the party in the county. 



Soon after the death of his wife. May 10, 1871, Mr. 

 Munson gave up business, which had brought him more 

 than a competency, and for several years has resided with 

 his children, in Williamsport, Pa. He has lived to see his 

 wilderness home " blossom like a rose," his memory cher- 

 ished and honored, his children occupying high social and 

 business positions, and can look back on an unusually long 

 career of activity without a wish to blot or erase any acts 

 written in the book of memory. 



His son Rufus, who married Lavinia Early, Feb. 13, 

 1839, died Jan. 6, 1866 ; Cyrus, an Episcopal clergymen, 

 died in Connecticut, Aug. 1, 1848 ; Edgar married, June 

 15, 1852, Lucy Maria Curtis, of Meriden, Conn, and is 

 now one of the leading business men of Williamsport, Pa. 

 Mr. Hiram Merriman, who married Adeliza, Sept. 22, 1836, 

 is another of Williamsport's solid citizens. Both of the 

 latter have been prominently connected with Steuben County 

 in past years both by residence and business. 



Augusta was married, May 22, 1855, to George R. 

 Curtis, of Meriden, Conn. 



