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Joseph G rover Sturpevant was born at Caldwell, N. J., Feb. 25, 

 1807. He was a descendant of John Sturdevant, son of a London 

 silversmith, who in colonial times emigrated from England to Con- 

 necticut. The line of desc(nt is 1st, John; 2d, James; 3d, John ; 

 4th, Joseph G. The great-grandfather and grandfather were both 

 farmers. The former died in Connecticut,- the latter, in Pennsylvania. 

 John, father of Joseph G., was born in Norfolk, Conn., April 12, 

 1776. He was the seventh son in his father's family of twelve chil- 

 dren. Physically he was more delicate than his brothers, yet possessed 

 of patient, quiet industry and perseverance. That, joined with his 

 poetical tastes and love for intellectual pursuits, enabled him, despite 

 unfavorable circumstances, to obtain a very good education. 



This he turned to successful account as teacher from time to time 

 during his varied and eventful life. 



His wife, formerly Mrs. Crane, daughter of Joseph Grover, a Pres- 

 byterian clergyman and missionary in Western New York, was born in 

 Parsippany, N. J., Jan. 2, 1777. Their three children were also born 

 in that State, — Harriet (now Mrs. Eleazer Hiler, of Michigan), in 

 1804; Joseph G., in 1807; and Miss Abby Sophia, of Prattsburgh, 

 in 1815. 



John Sturdevant served in the war of 1812-14 as a colonel of the 

 United States troops quartered at New York, in which city he was 

 for several years a merchant, also a marshal, and keeper of a State 

 prison. 



He removed to Virginia; afterwards to Bristol, N. Y. ; and from 

 thence, two years later, to Prattsburgh, where he purchased a saw- 

 mill and seventeen acres of land. To this himself and son made 

 additions from time to time until his death, which occurred Sept. 22, 

 1854. His wife died in Ohio, at the residence of her son, Zenas Crane, 

 March 22, 1862. 



Joseph G. Sturdevant failed to receive the more liberal education of 

 a college course, which, providentially denied to the father, the father 

 most naturally craved to enjoy in his son. 



The lad of seventeen, when his father settled in the wilderness of 

 pines then bordering Prattsburgh Creek, was, like many another son, 

 not the exact type of his father's desires, yet none the less a real and 

 creditable type, and the headstrong, mechanical genius of a boy who 

 slighted college tutors proved himself a ready and apt pupil of life's 

 finest masters, — experience, observation, energy, and conscientious- 

 ness. His nature was at home among the hills and pines and invig- 

 orating hardships of a pioneer life, none of which he feared or shunned. 

 Socially fond of questions and argument, he was well known in all 

 the local debating schools of the period, and, as his sister often told 

 him, would "always be on the opposite side, anyhow." 



Later he became a constant reader not only of the current news of 

 the day, but also of universal history, and much of the best literature, 

 past and present. Few are blessed with a better memory, or more 

 clear, general intelligence, which he could at will bring to bear with 

 much humor and force. 



Possessed of much constructive ability, he enjoyed nothing better 

 than a rush of business, with a generous force of men at his command, 

 and whose confidence and affection he always won. Most stubborn 

 when driven, but gentle when led. He also had a keen relish for, and 

 judgment of most of the tine arts, of which he was an excellent 

 critic. 



He was married in Ohio, Aug. 29, 1833, to Rebecca, daughter of 

 Robert and Esther (Carlin) Mahan, born in Washington, Pa., Nov. 

 15, 1811. For many years they lived on their farm, erecting fine 

 buildings, and gradually fitting it for agricultural purposes, though 

 his main business was manufacturing lumber from the pines. In 

 early times he often obtained but five dollars per thousand for best 

 lumber. This had to be hauled by the wagon load over rough roads, 

 mostly to Canandaigua and Geneva; later it was shipped by way of 

 Keuka Lake and Erie Canal to Waterloo and Seneca Falls. 



Their children were seven in number; Mrs. W. A. Farris, of Cin- 

 cinnati, Ohio ; Robert Austin, of Prattsburgh, in possession of the 

 homestead and mill: John; Harlan P., of Bluff Point, who served 

 for three and a half years as a Union soldier in the late Rebellion, 

 passed unwounded through many severe battles, and was honorably 

 discharged after being a prisoner at Libby and Millan, and having sev- 

 eral months of experience with the terrors of Andersonville; Milton 

 G., who died June 11, 1876; Ella H., wife of Mortimer Blood (de- 

 ceased), of Italy ; Miss Samantha, of Prattsburgh ; and Celia D., a 

 lovely child, who died at eight years of age. 



In politics Joseph G. Sturdevant was a Democrat, and earnest sup- 

 porter of the Union. Though often nominated for a leading office in 

 his town, he never consented to serve more than one term. He was 

 modest and unostentatious in all his ways, and many remain who 

 could testify to his high sense of justice, his persistency in what he 

 considered right, his strict integrity and unselfishness in all business 

 transactions. 



In religion, though nominally a Baptist, his simple, yet broad 

 Christian faith made him remarkably free from all sectarian preju- 

 dices ; he seemed rather possessed with a feeling of brotherhood, 

 good-will, and benevolence towards all branches, and every good en- 

 terprise of the great Christian Church. 



A few months before his death he purchased and fitted up a house 

 and lot in Prattsburgh village for a home of retirement in declining 

 years. This he deeded to his well-beloved wife who survives him, and 

 where, with her daughter and his sister, she continues to reside. There, 

 in the stillness, linked about by long arms of ancient apple-trees, life's 

 evening shadows gathered very soon. 



As an old tree cannot always endure transplanting, so to him the 

 relief and removal from life-long scenes of labor and care filled his 

 heart with homesickness, which he was too brave to admit but which, 

 doubtless, in part induced the prostrating fever that ended his life. 

 Aug. 25, 1872, his waiting spirit calmly returned to God who gave it 

 and the home prepared beyond. 



