My Genealogy Hound

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.

* * * *

MATTHEW S. NOXON. Industry, economy and good management will secure a competency for any man. This is strikingly proven in the case of our subject, who was left an orphan when one year of age, and started in life without a dollar. Matthew S. Noxon is a son of Claudius and Lodunia (Farington) Noxon, and was born in Delaware county, New York, April 12, 1822. The maternal grandfather, Matthew Farington, lived in Fishkill, Dutchess county, N. Y., where subject’s mother was born. He had a son, Daniel M. Farington, who came to Westfield town in 1832, and died in 1881, aged eighty-six years. He was the foster-father of Matthew S. Noxon. Claudius Noxon was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., married there and followed farming until his death in 1823. His wife was born in 1799, and lived until 1881. She was a member of the Baptist church.

Matthew S. Noxon lived in Dutchess county, until nine years of age, when he was sent to live with his uncle, Daniel M. Farington, who reared him. He attended the Westfield schools where he received his education and having learned practical farming with his uncle, when grown to manhood he began to farm on his own account. One of the finest farms in Portland, consisting of one hundred and ten acres, upon which is eighteen acres of neat vineyard, is his property, where he has a pretty home.

On March 28, 1860, he married Ermina Weaver, who was born in Allegany county, February 21, 1832, a daughter of John Weaver, who still lives in Westfield town, aged eighty-seven years. The latter’s wife was Ann Benton, a gentle Christian woman who died in 1850, when but forty-five years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Noxon have an adopted daughter: Lizzie, aged twenty-two years.

M. S. Noxon affiliates with the Republican party and has served the town as school trustee. His success has been due entirely to his individual efforts. Without a dollar’s capital when he began life, he is now one of the town’s substantial citizens, a position he has attained by incessant toil and good management. He is proud of the fact that a blacksmith shop or store has never carried his name on their books, it being his rule to pay cash. Being just and exact in his business transactions he has never been called to answer to a law suit. Having reached nearly seventy years of age he has retired from active labor and is enjoying the reward of his labors.

* * * *

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

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.