My Genealogy Hound

ALEXANDER MORIAN, a gentleman of varied experience, who by indefatigable efforts has risen from a modest early condition to a comfortable competence in his declining years, is a son of Jacob and Lydie (Van Scoter) Morian, and was born in Steuben county, New York, on April 10, 1816. The family was of German origin; subject’s paternal grandfather having been born under the banner of King Wilhelm, the river Rhine being daily within his vision. The maternal ancestor, Anthony Van Scoter, was a native of Delaware, but of German descent. Mr. Van Scoter removed from the “Diamond State” to a point near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and thence, in 1808, to Steuben county, New York, where his son-in-law, subject’s father, had preceded him the year previous. He bought a farm and tilled its soil throughout his life, being renowned in his immediate locality for industry and thrift. His business ability ranked much above the average farmer and he died the possessor of a good property. He lived a quiet home-life, the fireside being his greatest source of pleasure, where, from his genial disposition, many friends were attracted. He married a Miss Decker and had twelve children, seven of whom reached maturity. Solomon, Elias, Cornelius, Thomas, Betsy (Mrs. Hallister), Mary (Mrs. Day), Valentine and Lydia (Mrs. Morian). Mr. Van Scoter died in 1824 aged about seventy years, and was followed by his wife, who had reached eighty years, in 1830. Jacob Morian was born in Germany March 22, 1782, and served in the army of his country in the war against Napoleon, suffering defeat. He then fought under the Bonaparte banner in the Italian campaign, finally, with fourteen others, deserting, and at a favorable opportunity fled to America, where he arrived in 180l or 1802. The first year was spent in Philadelphia and then he removed to the Lackawanna valley, Pa., where, in 1803, he was married to Lydia Van Scoter. In 1807, with his wife and his two children, he came to Dansville, New York, and for a number of years conducted the village butcher-shop. It was during his residence here that America had her second struggle with England, and he proved his devotion to the land of his adoption by shouldering a musket and giving two years time in her defense, being engaged in the battles of Lundy’s Lane and Put-in-Bay. A part of the service was rendered as quarter-master. At the close of the war he was the recipient of one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he sold for one hundred and thirty dollars. In 1826 Mr. Morian came to Chautauqua, living successively in Hanover, Sheridan and Dunkirk, and finally, in 1831, he bought a farm in the northwest portion of Pomfret town, which is still owned by his son Alexander. Jacob Morian had nine children — six sons and three daughters; William, died aged five years; Catharine, born in 1807 and never married; Margaret, also unmarried; Anthony, born in 1809, first married Julia Ann Becker and had eleven children, and afterwards wedded Margaret H. Ketchum, and died on January 13, 1888. He was a farmer, living at Cherry Creek; John, for twenty years a sailor, is now a carpenter, living in Fredonia. He too was twice married, first to Nancy McGrath and later to Jane Pier, both Ohio ladies; Alexander; Thomas V. S., a merchant and oil producer, living at Enterprise, Pa., married Clarinda Wood, and had six living children; Lydia became the wife of Asa Whitney, died in 1887 — she lived in Yates Center, Woodson county, Kansas; and Jacob, Jr., died unmarried in March, 1849, aged twenty-two years. Jacob Morian was a member of the Dansville Lodge of Masons. He died December 7, 1862, and with his wife who followed him April 4, 1869, is buried in the cemetery at Fredonia.

Alexander Morian was the son upon whom the father relied. He remained at home until eighteen years of age, attending the few months of winter school, when the farm-work would permit. The next four years were passed in farm labor during the summer and such employment as could be secured in winter. After much deliberation it was decided that more opportunities for advancement would be found away from home, so in 1838, with twenty-five cents in his pocket, he started for Toledo, where a job of firing a locomotive was soon secured. The next spring he received the position of mail-carrier on the Erie and Kalamazoo, now the L. S. and M. S. R. R., and everything looked encouraging for future advancement, but he gave up the prospects of a bright life and returned to the farm. This changed his life’s work and caused him to abandon the idea of going out into the world. The next forty years, as the seasons came round, he cultivated the farm, saved money, and in 1880 he bought a house and lot, and in the fall of 1881 moved into the village of Fredonia.

On February 24, 1841, he married Marietta McIntyre, a daughter of Nathaniel McIntyre, who was a farmer and shoemaker in Delaware county, this State. They had seven children: Dana A., a conductor on the L. S. and M. S. R. R. married Lena Simons, and was killed in the Buffalo yards September 15, 1886; James died aged five; Miranda married F. H. Koch, a cigar manufacturer of Bradford, Pa.; Ben W. is a conductor in the passenger service on the L. S. and M. S. R. R., and married Adalaide Widner; Alexander T. married Hattie Dodge, and is a baggage-master on a branch of the Northern Pacific R. R. in Oregon; Catherine is the wife of Thomas Goodwin, a merchant in Kansas City, Missouri; Caroline C. died an infant. Mr. Morian suffered the loss of his wife, who died September 29, 1869, and two years later, October 18, 1871 , he married Rachel E. Wooden, a widow, and daughter of James and Eliza Gates. James Wooden was a farmer in the town of Chili, Monroe county, New York, and died on the farm, which he cut out of the virgin forest, at the ripe old age of eighty-nine years. His father was among the earliest settlers of that county.

Mrs. Morian is a direct descendant from General Bradford, on her mother’s side, who came from England in the “Mayflower,” and was governor of the Plymouth Colony until his death. Alexander Morian is a democrat and has served his district by filling the local offices. He is also a member of the Baptist church, being one of its trustees.