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C. B.Ti^AVlS 



CHARLES B. TRAVIS. 



Amasa Travis, the father of the subject of this sketch, was 

 born in Dutchess Co., N. Y., Sept. 29, 1770. Hemanled Dec. 

 14, 1800. Phoebe Travis, his wife, was also born in Dutchess 

 County, Dec. 25, 1783. Of this union were born twelve chil- 

 dren, three males and nine females, nine of whom lived to ma- 

 turity. In May, 1801, they moved to Bergen, N. J., staying 

 there four years ; thence to Sheshequin, Pa., where they remained 

 one year. At this place Charles B. Travis, their third child, was 

 born, March 22, 1805. From Sheshequin they moved to Howard, 

 in this county, in 1806. .Coming through Chimney Narrows, at 

 Corning, they were in great peril, their horses losing their footing 

 in the rapid water, which was several feet in depth on the narrow 

 roadway. Mrs. Travis says : " I held my babes, Charles, a year 

 old, and Absalom, three years, and my husband reined the horses 

 safely to land." They were the second family settling in 

 Howard, where they occupied a place which had been' in the 

 possession of a Mr. Hovey. He had chopped about three acres, 

 and had put up a log house, which had only one gable end 

 boarded up ; a floor had been laid, except around the fireplace ; 

 no ceiling, no doors. Mr. Travis had to return for another load 

 of goods, so they put up a quilt for a door, and rolled a barrel 

 on the bottom of it to keep it secure. Here she remained alone 

 with her babies until the return of her husband, with no neigh- 

 bors within miles of her. In the night scarce a sound was heard 

 save the shrill, piercing cry of the hungry panthers. 



They stayed in this place about one year, and then removed 

 to Howard Flats, where they lived from 1806 to 1818, twelve 

 years. Mrs. Travis was a woman of wonderful genius and 

 physical energy, and literally almost provided for and sustained 

 a large family by her own labor, while her husband was felling 



the forest-trees and clearing a place for a home. She cut and 

 made the coat worn by Seth Rice, the first supervisor of the 

 town of Howard. Knowing her superior abilities as a spinner 

 and weaver. Judge Hornell said to her that if she would spin 

 and weave a piece of cloth to compete for a premium at Bath, 

 and it took the premium, he would make her a present. She 

 made the cloth ; it took the premium at the fair, and the judge 

 made her a present of a two-year-old heifer. 



Mrs. Travis still resides on Travis Creek, in Canisteo, with 

 her daughter, in good health, at the advanced age of ninety-five 

 years. 



Chas. B. Travis was married Jan. 28, 1834, to Sylvia Crosby, 

 daughter of Richard Crosby and Hannah Baker, sister of Hon. 

 Jeremiah Baker. This marriage was blessed with eight children, 

 — Solomon, Amasa, John C, Wesley, Cynthia M., Eleanor M., 

 Samuel, and Nelson C. 



Mrs. Hannah Travis was bom April 6, 1811. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Travis settled on Travis Creek, in Canisteo, in an unbroken 

 wilderness, and the flourishing settlement on the creek bearing 

 their name is the result of their hard labor — unintermitting 

 labor — and praiseworthy economy. 



Mr. Travis and his sons now own about nine hundred acres 

 in the vicinity of the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Travis, in 

 the possession of health, enjoy the fruit of their industry on 

 their well-tilled farm in the pleasant valley. Both have been 

 consistent and active members of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church for over fifty years, and their house has ever been the 

 home of the itinerant. 



Mr. Travis in early life was a Jackson Democrat, but latterly 

 has been identified with the Republican party. 



