My Genealogy Hound

FRED. W. EDMUNDS. A prominent business man and one of the leading butter producers of Chautauqua county is a resident of the village of Sherman. He is a son of Salem and Caroline (Wright) Edmunds, and was born in the town of Villanova, this county, January 10, 1854. The ancestors of Mr. Edmunds came from the north of England and, coming to America in 1630, they settled first in the State of Connecticut and lived there for several generations. The first person of the name to come to this county was Salem Edmunds, Sr., who arrived here about 1830, two hundred years after the name was first planted in the new world. The last named gentleman located at Dunkirk and pursued farming in connection with his trade — stone masoning. He married Rachel Sabin and became the father of nine children, six sons and three daughters. The maternal grandfather was Orin Wright, who entered the world at Edwinston, Otsego county, and came from there to Villanova town, Chautauqua county, where he died. He was a farmer by occupation; married Belinda Underwood, a native of Otsego county. She was a lady of superior attainments and attracted some attention near her home. Mr. and Mrs. Wright were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom Edwin served in the Ninth regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, went to the front as a private September 20th, 1861, and was mustered out July 17th, 1865, with a second lieutenant’s commission. On the paternal side Austin Edmunds, an uncle to our subject, enlisted in the 112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry, and was taken prisoner, dying in the horrible, loathsome, notorious Andersonville prison. He entered the army early in the war and died just before it closed. Hosea Edmunds joined the 9th New York Cavalry and served one year. Salem Edmunds was born in Herkimer county, New York, while his father was en route from Connecticut. He finally located in the town of Villanova and now resides in Sheridan, aged sixty-six years. He was a farmer by occupation and in politics for many years a republican, but is now in the ranks of the prohibitionists. He is a member of the Methodist church, and is the father of three sons and two daughters: Frank died in infancy; Fred. W.; Walter, married Minnie Daniels and is living on the old homestead in Sheridan; Persis died June 17, 1885; and Jennie, now the wife of Fred. C. Kruger, a farmer of Sheridan.

On the 2d of October, 1878, Fred. W. Edmunds married Emma R. Swezey, a daughter of Leonard Swezey, a native of Herkimer, but later a resident of Chautauqua county.

He was educated in the common schools and academy at Forestville, Chautauqua county, and went to work in a cheese factory at Arkwright in 1 873 and stayed one year, and then accepted the management of a cheese factory in Chautauqua town. The next four years were spent in the same capacity at various places until 1878, when he opened a cheese factory near the village of Sherman, and then began the erection of similar establishments all over the county until 1885, when he owned thirteen in the vicinity of Sherman. One year later he consolidated five of these into the Sherman creamery, which is devoted to the manufacture of butter and cheese, principally the former. Mr. Edmunds has pursued this business longer than any other who has ever undertaken it in that community. In 1882 he erected a fine grist-mill in Sherman and runs it in connection with his other business. During the summer of 1891 he will operate sixteen creameries adjacent to Sherman. The output of butter for the year 1890 aggregated three hundred and sixty thousand pounds of butter at the Sherman creamery alone, and during the summer season no less than forty- five men are employed to operate the different factories. Politically he is a prohibitionist, and belongs to the Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. Edmunds have a pleasant family of three children, Edith, Bessie, and Raymond, all of whom are living with their parents.