308 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Andrew R. Stephens, and remained on the same farm during 

 the remainder of his life. He made many improvements 

 on the farm, erected elaborate farm-buildings, and was, in 

 fact, a representative agriculturist of the town. He was a 

 thrifty, active, and enterprising farmer, a man of good ex- 

 ecutive ability, and of excellent judgment in business mat- 

 ters. Characteristic of Mr. Stephens, as well as of his 

 ancestors, was his fondness for hunting, and very much of 

 his pastime was spent in pursuit of the wild game so nu- 

 merous among the hills and valleys of this part of the 

 county, — in his day being mostly deer and foxes. He, 

 however, killed one bear. 



He was always interested in local matters, and was iden- 

 tified with the Democratic party, as a member of which he 

 held various town offices. 



He and his wife were members of the Universalist 

 Church at Greenwood, and supporters of that and kindred 

 interests. 



Their children are Randall P., who married Flavilla 

 Porter, of Greenwood, Rozeltha (Mrs. David Parshall, de- 

 ceased), Viola y. (Mrs. Marcus Todd), Charlotte (Mrs. 

 George Woodward), Olive, and Mary. 



For many years prior to his death he was quite an exten- 

 sive dealer in cattle and sheep, buying in Steuben and ad- 

 joining counties and marketing in the East and New York; 

 and in this business, as in everything he undertook, he was 

 successful. 



He died, Nov. 4, 1866, at Unionville, Dutchess Co.,— 

 where he had gone to dispose of a large drove of cattle 

 which he had purchased at home, — and his remains were 

 brought back to Greenwood Cemetery, at Greenwood, Steu- 

 ben Co., for interment. 



LEVI DAVIS 



was born in Oxford, Mass., Jan. 8, 1782. Was a lineal 

 descendant of the sixth generation from an ancestor who 

 emigrated from Wales. He married Mary Spurr, a native 

 of Canton, Mass., born Aug. 11, 1782. While a resident 

 of Massachusetts he carried on farming in Charlestown. 

 The children born them were Redmond S., now a res- 

 ident of Greenwood, George, who died at the age of four 

 years, and Mrs. Alexander H. Stephens, for many years a 

 resident of Greenwood, who died in Septembw, 1866. 



In 1815, the family removed to Columbus, Chenango 

 Co., N. Y., and remained one year, thence to Dryden, 

 Tompkins Co., where they resided till 1825, and then came 

 to Greenwood (then Troupsburgh), this county, and settled, 

 building a log house on the present site of the Ward 

 Hotel. The incidents of a pioneer life— settling in the 

 wilderness, the necessary economy to support a family, the 

 struggles with poverty and privation in a new country — 

 were all met by this family. His first purchase was 144 

 acres of land, to which he made additions subsequently of 

 several hundred acres, and during his life had in his pos- 

 session considerable real estate. He was an industrious. 



thorough-going business man, and possessed characteristic 

 integrity in all his business relations. He was interested 

 in the improvements of the town, and in all local matters. 

 He was the first to establish trade at Greenwood, and com- 

 menced in a small way to supply the settlers with the 



^/ t^i-t.^::/ 



necessaries of life, and from the time of his first settlement 

 here until the present time a mercantile business has been 

 carried on by the Davis family, it now being in the name 

 of John Davis & Co. 



The other children are Levi, born in Columbus, Che- 

 nano-o Co., N. Y., and John Davis, born in the town of 

 Dryden, Tompkins Co. He also, from the time of his 

 settlement, for many years kept a public-house in the log 

 house first built when he settled here, and some forty years 

 a<^o built the Ward House as it now is, except the third 

 story. He was also engaged for some thirty years, more 

 or less, in the lumber business. In politics he was a Whig, 

 and was the first supervisor of the town of Greenwood 

 after its erection, and held the office some two years sub- 

 sequently. He was the first postmaster at Greenwood, and 

 officiated in that capacity some twenty-five years following 

 the establishment of the office. 



His wife was known as a woman of great sympathy for 

 the needy ; was truly a helpmeet, fulfilling all the duties 

 pertaining to a wife and mother, and did her part well, 

 training her children in all that makes true manhood and 

 womanhood. She died July 9, 1854, remembered for her 

 many virtues. He survived her nine years, and died July 

 9, 1863. 



