My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES N. WILCOX, was born in Charlotte, Chautauqua county, New York, October 2, 1851, and is a son of Elisha and Caroline (Barnum) Wilcox. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Wilcox, was born in Chenango county, New York, and at an early age he learned the trade of mill-wright and worked at it until 1830, when he moved to this county, and settled in the town of Charlotte, where he bought a farm, which he cultivated in connection with his trade until 1840, in which year he went to Kentucky to build a mill, where, in a short time, he died. He was married to Amanda Savage and had eight children, five sons and three daughters: Alonzo; Eliab; Joseph; Elisha (father); Louis; Abigail, who married first, Freeman L. Link, then Charles Ripley; Louisa, married Morgan Link; and Amanda, who married Albert Warner. Mrs. Wilcox died in 1849, aged fifty-five years. The maternal grandfather of C. N. Wilcox was Eliakim Barnum, who was born in Chenango county. New York, in 1800 and in 1816 came to this county and settled in the so-called “Pickett District” in Charlotte, being one of the first settlers in that town. The original Barnums of America came from England. Two brothers were stolen, placed on board a man-of-war and sent to Virginia, and from these sprang the family. Phineas T. Barnum, the famous showman, was a relative of Eliakim Barnum, who bought one hundred and fifty acres of land in the Pickett district, cultivated it for thirty years and sold it to his son. His grandson, Charles H. Barnum, now owns the place. Eliakim Barnum was considerable of a speculator in real estate and made large sums of money. He died April 25, 1875, and Mrs. Barnum died in February, 1878, aged seventy-seven years. He was married in 1824 to Sophia Underwood and by her had five children, three sons and two daughters: Eliab; Noah; Charles; Caroline (mother); and Mary, who married Brainard Kappell. Elisha Wilcox (father) was born in Chenango county, this State, September 15, 1827, and came with his parents to this county, in 1830, settling in Charlotte. He worked on his father’s farm until he was fourteen years old, when his father died and the farm was sold April 1, 1851; when he was twenty-four years of age he bought a farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres in the Pickett district in Charlotte, and lived there until 1871, when he moved to Pomfret, where he bought a farm of fifty-nine acres, lived on it eighteen years and then moved to Cassadaga and bought a house and lot, where he now resides. In religion he is a member of the Christian church at Arkwright, of which he was trustee several years. Elisha Wilcox was married December 22, 1850, to Caroline Barnum; by her he had two sons, Elisha and George O., the latter being a merchant in Cherry Creek, this county, who married first, Lizzie Todd and second, Mira Hartley, and has two children. Both parents are still living.

Charles N. Wilcox was educated in the district schools of Charlotte, until he was eighteen years of age, when he entered the State Normal school at Fredonia for a term, after which, he taught school for one term. After his marriage he settled on his father’s farm in Charlotte, where he lived four years and then moved to Cassadaga, and bought a half interest in the hardware store of C. S. Shepard, with whom he remained a year, when he bought him out and has since continued the business, carrying four thousand dollars worth of stock on an average, and having a patronage of twelve thousand dollars a year. He has a general line of hard and tin-ware, stoves and everything one would expect to find in a first-class hardware store. As a secret society man, he is a member and W. M. of Sylvan Lodge, No. 303, F. and A. M. of Sinclairville, and a charter member of Cassadaga Lake Lodge, No. 28, A. O. U. W. of Cassadaga.

Charles N. Wilcox was married to Alice Sears, a daughter of Lyman and Anna (Pierpont) Sears, the father being a farmer in Gerry, this county, whither he came from Franklin county, Massachusetts, in 1868. By this union there has been one son, Ernest H., who is now in school.