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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York published by John M. Gresham & Co. in 1891.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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LAFAYETTE NEAR, a life-long resident and comfortably situated farmer of the town of Ellicott, is a son of John C. and Fannie (Lownsberry) Near, and was born on the old Near homestead, in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua county, New York, April 7, 1843. At the opening of the great Revolutionary struggle the paternal great-grandfather of Lafayette Near came from Germany to the new world with the intention of entering the British army, but after having the situation of the colonies explained to him by some of his countrymen then residing in New York, he enlisted in one of the Continental armies and was killed in a battle on the Mohawk river, while bravely fighting in the cause of this fair land of civil and religious freedom. His son, Conrad Near (grandfather), was seven years of age at the time of his father’s death, and was captured along the Mohawk river by seven Indians, who carried him to Montreal, Canada, where he was held as a prisoner until the close of the Revolutionary war. He then returned to New York, and in 1833 came to the town of Ellery, which he afterwards’ left to settle in Livingston county, where he followed farming until his death. He was an old-line whig, and married a Miss Fox, by whom he had two sons and seven daughters. One of these sons, John C. Near (father), was born in the town of Palatine Bridge, Montgomery county, and, after residing at various places, came, in the year 1833, to the town of Ellicott, where he bought from the Holland Land company a farm of sixty-three acres of land, which he afterwards increased by purchase to eighty acres. He was a republican and a member of the Christian church. He married Fannie Lownsberry, who bore him two sons and seven daughters.

Lafayette Near grew to manhood on the farm, and, after attending the common schools, engaged in farming, which he has made his life-work. He now owns a farm of three hundred acres of land, and is comfortably situated to enjoy life. In 1869 he married Lucinda B., daughter of Henry Shaw, to which union have been born five children, three sons and two daughters: Hercules L., born March 17, 1871; Nellie F., born May 10, 1873; Ora M., born September 16, 1877; Charlotte, born March 23, 1881; and Hilda J., who was born June 20, 1888.

In politics Mr. Near was formerly a republican, but of late years has been an independent, and now favors the principles of the Farmers’ Alliance. He is interested in the improvement of the farming classes, and has been for several years a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.

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This family biography is one of 658 biographies included in Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York published in 1891. 

View additional Chautauqua County, New York family biographies here: Chautauqua County, New York Biographies

View a map of 1897 Chautauqua County, New York here: Chautauqua County, New York Map

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