People

On February 29, 1824, Harriet Maria Kingsbury died at the age of two years and six months. Little did her parents know then that on November 30 of that same year, they would welcome another child into the world, Augustus W. Kingsbury. It would be a year of sorrow followed by bittersweet joy. William Kingsbury, Jr. and his brother Eleazer emigrated from Connecticut to Homer in 1820. William was a veteran of the War of 1812 who saw considerable fighting, and both men followed in their father’s footsteps and set up a tanning business when they arrived in Homer. Their father, William Kingsbury, Sr., wasRead More →

Ebenezer Goodhue Ranney was born in Summerhill on June 7, 1830. He was one of three sons born to Samuel Ranney and Lydia Goodhue, and he was the youngest. The oldest child of the family was a daughter who died in childhood, so Ebenezer never knew his sister. His oldest brother Henry was about eighteen when Ebenezer was born and likely had one foot out the door, ready to begin his own life in the wide world. Henry was one of the first teachers at the Cortland Academy, and he acquired several farms through his hard work and thrift. Eventually his land speculation led himRead More →

This is the story of another individual who was not born in Cortland County but who made a tremendous impact here. Roger Curtis Harris was born on August 31, 1898, to Reverend Theodore Harris and Margaret Elizabeth Schmuck. His life began in Richmond Hill, Long Island, New York, but what we know about Curtis begins when his parents moved to Homer when he was fifteen. Curtis Harris was one of five children in the family, four boys and a girl. Four of the five Harris siblings would serve in the United States military; Curtis and his brothers Morgan and Harold all served in WWI, andRead More →

Franklin Fayette Pratt was born on July 17, 1835, one of nine children of David Pratt and Electa Alexander. David came to Homer from Pomfret, Connecticut and worked several farms over the course of his life, and he was a mason by profession. David and Electa’s children fanned out across the nation, but Franklin stayed behind in Homer where he worked, married, and raised his family. Franklin received an education at the Cortland Academy, and when he was eighteen, he started teaching school during the winter months and farming during the summer. Life in the United States changed dramatically when on April 12, 1861, FortRead More →

Around 1822, Peter and Mary Perry Bliss moved their large family to Truxton. Peter and Mary had seventeen children, eight of whom were girls and nine of whom were boys. Two of their daughters did not survive infancy, and another daughter was stillborn. When they relocated from Massachusetts, their son Horace was about eighteen years old. Horace was the tenth child in the family and a skilled mechanic, a term used to distinguish between a skilled craftsman and a common laborer. Horace’s area of expertise was carpentry, and he would leave his mark on some important county structures. Horace had business relationships with at leastRead More →

On July 22, 1779, the Battle of Minisink occurred in northern Delaware. This skirmish was between British Loyalists and their Native American allies, who were led by Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. A formidable enemy, Brant received an education at Moor’s Charity School for Indians, which later became Dartmouth College. He learned to read and write in English, and he spoke several languages, making him a valuable ally to the British. Brant’s contingent of British Loyalists and Indigenous volunteers had recently raided nearby settlements, destroying homes, killing settlers, and stealing supplies and livestock. Three local militia units were called to intercept the escape of Brant andRead More →

So many of the most influential citizens of Cortland County relocated here after starting lives elsewhere, and Giles Chittenden, Jr. is one of them. Chittenden was born in New Milford, Connecticut to Giles Chittenden, Sr. and Lavinia Todd Baldwin. Before young Giles was even born on November 21, 1800, his father died, leaving his mother in a quandary. It was quite rare for a woman to keep her children with her if her husband died because she might not be able to care for them financially. If a woman did not immediately remarry, she might have to move in with one of her siblings, andRead More →

The Bennett and Pratt families have deep roots in Homer, and in several columns last year, we learned about how the two families became intertwined through marriage. This is a continuation of that narrative, and if you missed the original articles, you will find the stories of Dr. Lester Pratt, Augustus H. Bennett, Emma G. Pratt, Lester P. Bennett, and Alice Ruth Watson on the Cortland County Historical Society’s blog at www.cortlandhistory.org. On September 5, 1906, Lester Pratt Bennett and Alice Ruth Watson welcomed their son, Porter Kingsbury Bennett into the world, and four years later, another son, Malcolm Watson Bennett, completed their family. LittleRead More →

Lewis Riggs was born and raised in Norfolk, Connecticut. The information about his early life is sparse, but we know that he was the youngest son of a family with seven children. Sources differ on the heritage of his parents, but it seems his father was of English descent and his mother was of Scottish ancestry. His father was a sea captain who left the call of the sea to settle into farming. Lewis was a bright boy with an aptitude for mechanics, and he received a common school education as well as Latin and Greek classes. There was no money for college, so inRead More →