My Genealogy Hound

SAMUEL SHEPARD CRISSEY is a well-educated man of advanced ideas, and in addition to his labors in his nurseries, frequently contributes to the newspapers valuable, interesting and instructive papers on the subject of farm work. He is a son of Harlow and Anna (Shepard) Crissey and was born in Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York, August 13, 1833. His paternal great-grandfather, John Crissey, was born in Massachusetts in 1700 and married Martha Davenport in July, 1731, at Boston, Massachusetts. By this marriage there were six sons, and three of them came to Stockton, this county, in 1816. The names of these six sons were: John Jr., James Gould, Nathaniel, Samuel and Sylvanus. Samuel Crissey (grandfather) was the fifth son of John (great-grandfather), and was born in Fairfax, Franklin county. In 1816 he settled in the north part of the town of Stockton, on lot thirty-nine, where he resided until his death March 1, 1848, having just passed his seventy- seventh birthday. This lot comprised one hundred acres of wilderness, which he cleared and cultivated. He was one of the founders of the Baptist church in Delanti, and served it occasionally as a preacher. Samuel Crissey was married in 1799 to Lucy Grosvenor of Fairfax, Vermont, by whom he had seven children, three sons and four daughters: Almira, born in 1800, married Ethan Covley, both dead, (she died in 1868) whose daughter, Generva, is the wife of Mortimer Ely; Harlow (father) born in December, 1802; Jason, born in 1805, married Roxanna Winsor and died in 1875, leaving four children: a son, Jirah; a son, Edward J., living in Fredonia N. Y.; a daughter, Mary, wife of Lucien C. Warren, of Stockton; and Sardis, who served in the army, and is in the department of the Interior at Washington, District of Columbia; Lucy, born in 1808, married Chauncey Winsor of Delanti, whose children are Wealthy Ann, widow of B. W. Fields, of Sinclairville, N. Y.; Cynthia, born in 1812, married Zalmon Jennings, removed to Pennsylvania where she died in 1836; Patty, born in 1809 and died in 1821; Samuel, born in 1816, married Julia Grant of Fredonia and resides in Stockton, and has a daughter Lucy, the wife of Cassius Perrin, for several years a justice of the peace; a daughter Myra, wife of George Putnam; and a son Forest. Of the seven children of Samuel Crissey, Sr., none are living, except Harlow. Nathaniel and Sylvanus Crissey, of Vermont, were brothers of Samuel Crissey, Sr. Nathaniel had two sons,
Alson, who died at the age of thirty-one years; and Merrill, who married Eunice Tracy, has been supervisor of Stockton, and had five children: Thomas, and two pair of twin brothers of whom one is dead. Sylvanus Crissey removed with his family to the west. Samuel Shepard (maternal grandfather) was born in Ashfield, Franklin county, Massachusetts, February 13, 1778, and came to Stockton, this county, July 9, 1819, and was the first justice in Stockton. He married Rachel Cobb in June, 1798, by whom he had five children, two sons and three daughters: Ezra, Pamelia, Anna, Polly and Madison, all born in Massachusetts. Samuel Shepard died June 5, 1862, in the eighty-fifth year of his age; Mrs. Shepard preceded him to the better land November 8, 1860. Harlow Crissey (father) came to this country with his father and settled in Stockton, taught school a few years and then purchased two hundred acres of land which he cultivated, and also started one of the first dairy farms in this section, owning forty cows. He was supervisor a few terms and was elected justice of the peace in 1850 on the Whig ticket for one term of three years. In religion he was a member of the Baptist church. Harlow Crissey was married November 2, 1862, to Anna Shepard, a daughter of Samuel Shepard of Stockton, this county, by whom he had four children, all sons: Newton, born April 6, 1828, married Cynthia R. Miller and is a farmer in Stockton; Samuel S.; Seward M., born April 9, 1839, married Lucy Wood and is also a farmer in Stockton; and Elverton B., born June 23, 1843, married Mary Langworthy and is a banker in Jamestown, this county.

Samuel Shepard Crissey was educated in the district school of Stockton until he was eighteen years of age, after which he attended the Fredonia academy for three years, and then taught school three terms. He then engaged in the nursery business and fruit growing, having now eleven acres of most excellent land, four acres of which are devoted to grapes, and last year those four acres produced seventeen tons of the best quality of that esculent fruit. Growing grape roots for market is another specialty in which he indulges. For seven years he has been secretary of the Chautauqua Horticultural society. In religion he is a Baptist, being a member of the church of that denomination in Fredonia. He has been a member of the board of trustees of Fredonia for several terms.

Samuel Shepard Crissey was married in December, 1859, to Mary A. Leonard, a daughter of George V. and Anna Leonard of Fredonia, by whom he has had three children, all sons: Jay, born January 15, 1861, who is principal of the academy at Belmont, Allegany county. New York, and who married Alice Kennedy; George H., born December 24, 1862, and now a resident of California; and Howard B., born February 22, 1864 and died October 11, 1889, while a junior at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Mrs. Crissey died May 31, 1868, and S. S. Crissey married January 15, 1871, Mrs. Ella K. Wright, widow of A. J. Wright, D.Ds., of Fredonia and by her has had two children, sons: Newton K., born July 12, 1873; and Lester, born in 1877 but died in infancy.