My Genealogy Hound

F. B. WILSON is probably the most extensive dealer in meats and poultry who transacts business in this section. There is nothing in the line of meats and poultry which cannot be found at his completely equipped market at all seasons. He does an average business of twenty thousand dollars per annum. F. B. Wilson is a son of E. P. and Julia A. (Barber) AVilson, and was born in Pomfret, Chautauqua county, New York, August 11th, 1860. His great-grandfather, Ephraim Wilson, was born in Northbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1760. When sixteen years old he enlisted in the American army and assisted in the capture of General John Burgoyne. He was taken prisoner and carried to England and confined in that most infamous of all England’s cruelties, the Dartmoor prison, until the close of the war, when, with the hundreds of other emaciated and almost dead men, he was exchanged and returned to Boston. He studied medicine and, after his marriage, moved to Princeton, at the base of Wachusett mountain, in Worcester county, Massachusetts, where he practiced medicine, surgery and dentistry. After his second marriage he removed to Barre, in the same county, where he engaged in farming and raising beef cattle, which he drove to the Boston market, located where the famous Brighton market now is. After the death of his second wife he retired from active life, living to a ripe old age. He was of a cheerful disposition and very successful as a physician. For his first wife he married Persis Gassett, a daughter of Henry Gassett, a wealthy wholesale merchant of Boston. By her he had five children, four sons and a daughter: Jonas, Henry, Lewis, Sally and Benjamin (grandfather). His second wife was Clarissa Gale, by whom he had eight children, six sons and two daughters: Leonard, Ephraim, Jr., Salome, Sophia, Luther, Charles, William and Calvin. The grandfather of F. B. Wilson, Benjamin Wilson, was born in Princeton, Worcestcr county, Massachusetts, August 25th, 1794, where he afterward owned a farm which he occupied and cultivated, and also dealt in live stock until 1828, when he sold out and removed to this State, settling in Pomfret, four miles from Fredonia, Chautauqua county, on what is known as the Stockton road. Here he purchased a farm of one hundred and seventy-six acres, partially improved. Being seriously injured once at a raising and again while driving stock to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he traded this farm for one adjoining, containing but one hundred acres, in order to lessen his labors, and on this latter farm he spent the remainder of his life, dying October 30th, 1857, having nearly completed his sixty-third year. He was married May 20th, 1818, to Sally Perry, of Princeton, Massachusetts, and had nine children, three sons and six daughters: Sarah A., born February 17th, 1821, and married Blanchard Derby, April 20th, 1842, who was a farmer in Pomfret, this county; Sally, born April 22d, 1823, and married William Derby, a farmer and teamster in Fredonia; Harriet P., born September 25th, 1825, and married August 31st, 1847, Jerome B. Lang, a blacksmith in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth B., born July 18th, 1828, and married April 15th, 1849, Charles Tarbox, a farmer in Pomfret; Henry G., born April 25th, 1831, a farmer in Pomfret, who married March 18th, 1856, Nancy Cornwell; Ephraim P. (father); Mariette, born January 2d, 1837, and died in the early bloom of youth; Nancy J., born March 9th, 1840, and married Lewis L. Crocker, November 17th, 1857, who was a farmer in Pomfret; Benjamin, Jr., born June 12th, 1842, and died in infancy. Mrs. Wilson was born November 3d, 1796, and died September 28th, 1882. Ephraim P. Wilson, (father) received a common-school education in Pomfret until he was twelve years old, when, on account of his father’s disability, he was obliged to remain at home. But he is a man of wonderful intellect and exceedingly well read. He is often called upon to settle disputes on literary and historical matters. He lived on the farm with his father until the death of the latter in 1857, and with his brother, to whom, with himself, the farm had been given in consideration of their care of their parents during their life. In 1866 he sold his share in the farm to his brother and purchased one of one hundred acres in Portland, four miles from Brocton and half way to Westfield. Here he lived until April, 1873, when he sold the farm and moved to Fredonia. In connection with farming he had been an extensive dealer in live stock, in partnership with Lewis L. Crocker, under the firm name of Crocker & Wilson, which business they conducted seven years, when he bought Mr. Crocker’s interest and admitted his son, F. B., as partner, and shortly afterward sold his own interest to Luman S. Barber. Since then he has devoted his time to dealing in live stock. He also owns a large grapery and a lot of pasture land. He was highway commissioner of Portland, this county, and also of Pomfret, holding that office and also that of assessor four years. He was elected on the republican ticket.

He was married, September 16, 1858, to Julia A. Barber, daughter of Champlin and Malancey (Green) Barber, her father being a farmer in Pomfret for the past forty years. He had by this union four children — three daughters and a son, Fred. B. The daughters were Martha C., who married Gilbert P. Marsh, a real estate agent in Pittsburg, Kansas; Mary J. and Julia L., who are both at home.

Fred. B. Wilson was educated in the public schools of Pomfret and Portland and in the State Normal school at Fredonia, where he remained three years, and at sixteen years of age began to learn the butchering business with Crocker & Wilson, remaining with them five years. Immediately upon attaining his majority he bought a half-interest in the business (Mr. Crocker’s), and, on the retirement of his father, admitted into partnership L. S. Barber, under the firm-name of Barber & Wilson. In April, 1890, Mr. Barber sold his interest to Mr. Wilson, and the latter now owns the entire business. Coming from English and Irish ancestry, he unites the best business qualities of both nationalities.

Fred. B. Wilson was married October 23, 1889, to Augusta C. Schmeiser, a daughter of Jacob Schmeiser, of Fredonia, and has one son, Edward.